AZMEX SPECIAL-2 6 FEB 2020
Hundreds of illegal aliens re-arrested after California jail failed to notify ICE of their release
By Sam Dorman | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/us/inmates-rearrested-rape-california-jail-ice
ICE cracks down on NYC's sanctuary city policies
Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich reports.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported on Wednesday that hundreds of Orange County Jail inmates
on whom the agency had active detainers were re-arrested over the past two years on charges including rape, assault with a deadly weapon and child sex offenses
-- after local authorities released them without notifying ICE.
According to county data, officials at the Southern California jail didn't notify ICE when it released 2,121 inmates with detainers on them over 2018 and 2019.
Over that same period, another 1,315 were released "to ICE upon completion of their local sentences in accordance with"
California's sanctuary regulations laid out in Senate Bill 54, an ICE press release said.
According to ICE, 411 of the released inmates have been rearrested and booked into the Orange County Jail on additional charges,
which also include domestic violence, identity theft, and driving under the influence.
The agency's statement noted that number does "not account for individuals who may have been released and committed crimes in other jurisdictions."
ICE CALLS OUT ILLINOIS COUNTY FOR RELEASING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITH CRIMINAL RECORDS
Senate Bill [SB] 54, which became law in 2017, prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from detaining illegal immigrants
for violating immigration laws except in cases where they have been convicted of serious or violent felonies.
Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Don Barnes has called the policy a "social science experiment" undertaken by lawmakers in Sacramento.
Video
"SB 54 has made our community less safe," he said in a statement.
"The law has resulted in new crimes because my deputies were unable to communicate with their federal partners
about individuals who committed serious offenses and present a threat to our community if released.
"The two-year social science experiment with sanctuary laws must end. Rather than protect our immigrant community, the law has enabled offenders to be released,
often times [sic] back into the immigrant communities they prey upon, and create new victims."
Democratic politicians have argued that sanctuary laws help deter crime by building trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities.
But according to Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence, those policies "do nothing but ensure that criminals are released back into the community,
where many re-offend, instead of being turned over to ICE."
"These are preventable crimes, and more importantly, preventable victims.
As the data released by Sheriff Barnes clearly demonstrates, all communities are safer when local law enforcement works with ICE," he added.
Last month, ICE similarly called out Cook County, Ill., accusing local authorities of denying more than 1,000 detainer requests.
Those cases included the release of a South African national who was accused of indecent exposure
and a Nicaraguan national who was arrested on charges of domestic violence.
Sanctuary policies have long been controversial but the issue resurfaced in January
when 21-year-old Guyanan Reeaz Khan allegedly raped and killed 92-year-old Maria Fuertes after his release from a New York jail.
ICE claims it issued a detainer request for Khan after authorities arrested him for assaulting his own father.
According to the New York Daily News, the NYPD denied receiving a detainer after that first assault.
END
Thursday, February 6, 2020
AZMEX SPECIAL 6 FEB 2020
Arizona state lawmakers revive private border wall bill
By Associated Press
Published 1 hour agoU.S. Border Wall
Associated Press
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-state-lawmakers-revive-private-border-wall-bill
New border wall system being built, shown in drone video captured by Customs and Border Protection ( Courtesy: CBP )
PHOENIX - A week after it fell one vote short of passage, Republicans state lawmakers on Thursday revived a measure
that would make it easier for property owners on the U.S.-Mexico border to build a wall.
The measure, sponsored by Republican Rep. Warren Petersen, would allow people to sidestep permitting requirements to build a border wall.
It passed in a 31-29 party-line vote and goes next to the Senate.
GOP lawmakers say it would prevent political interference from local officials philosophically opposed to a border wall.
"If we're going to be a humane society we do not want to encourage people, especially young children,
to come across the border and risk life and limb," said Republican Rep. Bob Thorpe.
Republican Rep. Kelly Townsend said the measure would ensure that local officials who approve building permits
wouldn't be bribed or threatened by drug cartels.
Democrats said a border wall promotes a message of exclusion.
They also point to potential safety and environmental hazards that permitting requirements are meant to prevent.
"I'm against this bill because I think its branding Arizona in the wrong light," Democratic Rep. Robert Meza said.
Last week, Republican Rep. Tony Rivero joined all 29 Democrats in opposition, leaving the bill one vote short of passing.
He joined his fellow Republicans in the re-vote on Thursday. He did not explain his change of heart.
END
By Associated Press
Published 1 hour agoU.S. Border Wall
Associated Press
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-state-lawmakers-revive-private-border-wall-bill
New border wall system being built, shown in drone video captured by Customs and Border Protection ( Courtesy: CBP )
PHOENIX - A week after it fell one vote short of passage, Republicans state lawmakers on Thursday revived a measure
that would make it easier for property owners on the U.S.-Mexico border to build a wall.
The measure, sponsored by Republican Rep. Warren Petersen, would allow people to sidestep permitting requirements to build a border wall.
It passed in a 31-29 party-line vote and goes next to the Senate.
GOP lawmakers say it would prevent political interference from local officials philosophically opposed to a border wall.
"If we're going to be a humane society we do not want to encourage people, especially young children,
to come across the border and risk life and limb," said Republican Rep. Bob Thorpe.
Republican Rep. Kelly Townsend said the measure would ensure that local officials who approve building permits
wouldn't be bribed or threatened by drug cartels.
Democrats said a border wall promotes a message of exclusion.
They also point to potential safety and environmental hazards that permitting requirements are meant to prevent.
"I'm against this bill because I think its branding Arizona in the wrong light," Democratic Rep. Robert Meza said.
Last week, Republican Rep. Tony Rivero joined all 29 Democrats in opposition, leaving the bill one vote short of passing.
He joined his fellow Republicans in the re-vote on Thursday. He did not explain his change of heart.
END
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
AZMEX SPECIAL 5-2-20
AZMEX SPECIAL 5 FEB 2020
Agent with local ties named chief of the Border Patrol
Nogales International Jan 24, 2020 Updated Jan 31, 2020
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/agent-with-local-ties-named-chief-of-the-border-patrol/article_ce6b93f8-3f18-11ea-ba11-1bb3df752e79.html
Rodney S. Scott, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol with ties to the local area, has been selected as the agency's new chief.
Scott's selection was announced on Friday by Mark A. Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
who said in a news release that Scott "brings an exceptional depth and breadth of experience and knowledge about the border security mission
and a commitment to service to the nation and the Border Patrol workforce."
Scott, who had most recently served as chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego Sector, replaces retiring Chief Carla Provost.
A CBP news release announcing Scott's appointment to lead the San Diego Sector in 2017 said that he was born in Indiana and raised in Nogales.
KQED, an NPR-member radio station in California, reported in 2018 that Scott moved to Nogales when he was 16.
According to The Associated Press, Scott said his father commuted to work at a factory in Nogales, Sonora.
Scott joined the Border Patrol in 1992 and his first assignment was at the Imperial Beach Station in San Diego.
He later served as chief patrol agent of the El Centro Sector, in a number of leadership positions in the San Diego Sector,
as assistant chief at CBP's Office of Anti-Terrorism in Washington, D.C.,
and as director/division chief for the Incident Management and Operations Coordination Division at CBP Headquarters.
Friday's announcement did not mention any assignments in Arizona, though in a declaration given in a federal court in California in 2018,
Scott said he was promoted in 2012 to field operations supervisor at the Nogales Station,
"where I became involved in national level policy development, specifically for traffic checkpoint operations."
Scott appeared in two Nogales International articles published in late 2002 and early 2003
in which he was cited as the Border Patrol's community relations/public information officer.
"Chief Scott is the absolute embodiment of the U.S. Border Patrol's motto, 'Honor First,'
and I am confident that under his leadership, the men and women of the Border Patrol will be well served,
the laws of this nation will be enforced, and our borders will be secured," Morgan said.
END
Agent with local ties named chief of the Border Patrol
Nogales International Jan 24, 2020 Updated Jan 31, 2020
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/agent-with-local-ties-named-chief-of-the-border-patrol/article_ce6b93f8-3f18-11ea-ba11-1bb3df752e79.html
Rodney S. Scott, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol with ties to the local area, has been selected as the agency's new chief.
Scott's selection was announced on Friday by Mark A. Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection,
who said in a news release that Scott "brings an exceptional depth and breadth of experience and knowledge about the border security mission
and a commitment to service to the nation and the Border Patrol workforce."
Scott, who had most recently served as chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego Sector, replaces retiring Chief Carla Provost.
A CBP news release announcing Scott's appointment to lead the San Diego Sector in 2017 said that he was born in Indiana and raised in Nogales.
KQED, an NPR-member radio station in California, reported in 2018 that Scott moved to Nogales when he was 16.
According to The Associated Press, Scott said his father commuted to work at a factory in Nogales, Sonora.
Scott joined the Border Patrol in 1992 and his first assignment was at the Imperial Beach Station in San Diego.
He later served as chief patrol agent of the El Centro Sector, in a number of leadership positions in the San Diego Sector,
as assistant chief at CBP's Office of Anti-Terrorism in Washington, D.C.,
and as director/division chief for the Incident Management and Operations Coordination Division at CBP Headquarters.
Friday's announcement did not mention any assignments in Arizona, though in a declaration given in a federal court in California in 2018,
Scott said he was promoted in 2012 to field operations supervisor at the Nogales Station,
"where I became involved in national level policy development, specifically for traffic checkpoint operations."
Scott appeared in two Nogales International articles published in late 2002 and early 2003
in which he was cited as the Border Patrol's community relations/public information officer.
"Chief Scott is the absolute embodiment of the U.S. Border Patrol's motto, 'Honor First,'
and I am confident that under his leadership, the men and women of the Border Patrol will be well served,
the laws of this nation will be enforced, and our borders will be secured," Morgan said.
END
AZMEX UPDATE 5-2-20
AZMEX UPDATE 5 FEB 2020
Former mayoral candidate and newspaper publisher pleads guilty to Drug-smuggling
Nogales International Jan 30, 2020 Updated Jan 30, 2020
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/former-mayoral-candidate-and-newspaper-publisher-pleads-guilty-to-drug/article_b68a738e-43b5-11ea-8575-3bbf20ca96e7.html
Then-mayoral candidate Ramon Alberto Fuentes is interviewed by the Nogales International in this photo from July 2014.
File photo
A former Nogales mayoral candidate and businessman agreed this week to plead guilty to federal drug-smuggling charges.
Ramon Alberto "Beto" Fuentes, 52, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2014 and published the now-defunct Spanish-language newspaper El Heraldo,
signed a deal with prosecutors on Wednesday in which he agreed to plea guilty to illegally importing cocaine and heroin from Mexico in 2017.
According to a copy of the plea agreement filed at U.S. District Court in Tucson, each offense is punishable by a minimum prison sentence of 10 years,
though language in the deal suggests the possibility of a downward adjustment.
According to the factual basis included in Fuentes' plea agreement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry
seized 10 packages of cocaine weighing a total of 25 pounds from a 1999 Chevy Silverado driven by one of Fuentes' associates on Jan. 30, 2017.
Investigators searched the suspect's phone and found a recently missed call from Fuentes.
They also found that the suspect had sent a photo to Fuentes via WhatsApp on Jan. 18
showing a white truck with money in its tailgate that another alleged co-conspirator had been busted with on Jan.13.
CBP reported at the time that its officers at the Mariposa Port of Entry found almost $211,000 in unreported U.S. currency
in a Chevy truck during an outbound inspection on Jan. 13, 2017.
A photo released by the agency a few days after the bust showed a white truck with cash laid out on its tailgate.
This photo of a cash bust at a local port of entry on Jan. 13, 2017
matches the description of a case that Ramon Alberto Fuentes was reportedly connected to.
CBP photo
As for the driver of the Silverado who was caught with the cocaine load two weeks later, applications for search warrants
filed by federal investigators in the case identified him as Efrain Corrales Perez, who had been one of Fuentes' biggest financial contributors
when he ran for mayor, donating $2,500 to the campaign.
Corrales was listed on Fuentes' campaign finance documents as a Nogales resident and commercial director of OOMAPAS,
the water authority for the municipal government of Nogales, Sonora.
Fuentes' plea deal states that he now admits that from January to October 2017,
he conspired with others to smuggle cocaine into the United States from Mexico.
The search warrant applications show that on Feb. 17, 2017, Fuentes and a relative of Corrales were reportedly stopped by a CBP officer at the Mariposa port
when they tried to drive into Mexico. Fuentes was allegedly found with $6,722 in U.S. currency in his pockets and his passenger had another $5,000.
It didn't appear that the two were charged in connection with the cash, which fell below the threshold for a required declaration.
Still, according to the warrant applications,
authorities confiscated a phone from Fuentes at the time that contained "illicit communications" that allegedly further tied him to drug-smuggling activity.
Then on Sept. 14, 2017, Fuentes was sent for a secondary inspection at the Mariposa port as he tried to enter the United States
in a Chevy Malibu registered in his name in Arizona.
According to his plea agreement, officers opened the car's trunk and found three boxes of cement compound,
each of which turned out to contain one package of heroin.
The total weight of the drugs was more than seven pounds.
Fuentes was indicted by a grand jury on Aug. 1, 2018 at U.S. District Court in Tucson on four criminal counts
related to his drug-smuggling activities.
In exchange for his guilty pleas on two of the counts, federal prosecutors agreed to drop the others.
His sentencing hearing is set for April 13.
END
Former mayoral candidate and newspaper publisher pleads guilty to Drug-smuggling
Nogales International Jan 30, 2020 Updated Jan 30, 2020
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/former-mayoral-candidate-and-newspaper-publisher-pleads-guilty-to-drug/article_b68a738e-43b5-11ea-8575-3bbf20ca96e7.html
Then-mayoral candidate Ramon Alberto Fuentes is interviewed by the Nogales International in this photo from July 2014.
File photo
A former Nogales mayoral candidate and businessman agreed this week to plead guilty to federal drug-smuggling charges.
Ramon Alberto "Beto" Fuentes, 52, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2014 and published the now-defunct Spanish-language newspaper El Heraldo,
signed a deal with prosecutors on Wednesday in which he agreed to plea guilty to illegally importing cocaine and heroin from Mexico in 2017.
According to a copy of the plea agreement filed at U.S. District Court in Tucson, each offense is punishable by a minimum prison sentence of 10 years,
though language in the deal suggests the possibility of a downward adjustment.
According to the factual basis included in Fuentes' plea agreement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry
seized 10 packages of cocaine weighing a total of 25 pounds from a 1999 Chevy Silverado driven by one of Fuentes' associates on Jan. 30, 2017.
Investigators searched the suspect's phone and found a recently missed call from Fuentes.
They also found that the suspect had sent a photo to Fuentes via WhatsApp on Jan. 18
showing a white truck with money in its tailgate that another alleged co-conspirator had been busted with on Jan.13.
CBP reported at the time that its officers at the Mariposa Port of Entry found almost $211,000 in unreported U.S. currency
in a Chevy truck during an outbound inspection on Jan. 13, 2017.
A photo released by the agency a few days after the bust showed a white truck with cash laid out on its tailgate.
This photo of a cash bust at a local port of entry on Jan. 13, 2017
matches the description of a case that Ramon Alberto Fuentes was reportedly connected to.
CBP photo
As for the driver of the Silverado who was caught with the cocaine load two weeks later, applications for search warrants
filed by federal investigators in the case identified him as Efrain Corrales Perez, who had been one of Fuentes' biggest financial contributors
when he ran for mayor, donating $2,500 to the campaign.
Corrales was listed on Fuentes' campaign finance documents as a Nogales resident and commercial director of OOMAPAS,
the water authority for the municipal government of Nogales, Sonora.
Fuentes' plea deal states that he now admits that from January to October 2017,
he conspired with others to smuggle cocaine into the United States from Mexico.
The search warrant applications show that on Feb. 17, 2017, Fuentes and a relative of Corrales were reportedly stopped by a CBP officer at the Mariposa port
when they tried to drive into Mexico. Fuentes was allegedly found with $6,722 in U.S. currency in his pockets and his passenger had another $5,000.
It didn't appear that the two were charged in connection with the cash, which fell below the threshold for a required declaration.
Still, according to the warrant applications,
authorities confiscated a phone from Fuentes at the time that contained "illicit communications" that allegedly further tied him to drug-smuggling activity.
Then on Sept. 14, 2017, Fuentes was sent for a secondary inspection at the Mariposa port as he tried to enter the United States
in a Chevy Malibu registered in his name in Arizona.
According to his plea agreement, officers opened the car's trunk and found three boxes of cement compound,
each of which turned out to contain one package of heroin.
The total weight of the drugs was more than seven pounds.
Fuentes was indicted by a grand jury on Aug. 1, 2018 at U.S. District Court in Tucson on four criminal counts
related to his drug-smuggling activities.
In exchange for his guilty pleas on two of the counts, federal prosecutors agreed to drop the others.
His sentencing hearing is set for April 13.
END
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
AZMEX UPDATE 4-2-20
AZMEX UPDATE 4 FEB 2020
Federal judge reverses convictions of 4 Arizona border activists
Published 1 hour ago
Immigration
Associated Press
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/federal-judge-reverses-convictions-of-4-arizona-border-activists
TUCSON, Ariz. - A federal judge in Tucson has reversed the misdemeanor convictions of four activists,
saying members of the humanitarian group No More Deaths were led by "sincere religious beliefs" when placing water and food for migrants
in Arizona's protected Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Judge Rosemary Marquez wrote in the opinion filed Monday that Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse, and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick
met the guidelines for establishing they acted on their beliefs.
The four had appealed another judge's ruling a year ago finding them guilty of federal misdemeanors.
They were cited by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services officers in 2017 after driving a truck into the wilderness area and left bottles of water
and other supplies for migrants who cross the region.
( "migrants" means illegals )
Four other volunteers with the group were tried a month later in a separate, similar case, but prose
cutors dropped the charges and issued civil infractions.
Another No More Deaths volunteer, Scott Warren, was acquitted in November on felony charges of illegally harboring two migrants in southern Arizona.
Warren, 37, said neutrality guides his work and denied ever helping migrants hide or avoid authorities.
Thousands of immigrants have died crossing the border since the mid-1990s when increased enforcement pushed many to Arizona's scorching desert.
END
Federal judge reverses convictions of 4 Arizona border activists
Published 1 hour ago
Immigration
Associated Press
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/federal-judge-reverses-convictions-of-4-arizona-border-activists
TUCSON, Ariz. - A federal judge in Tucson has reversed the misdemeanor convictions of four activists,
saying members of the humanitarian group No More Deaths were led by "sincere religious beliefs" when placing water and food for migrants
in Arizona's protected Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Judge Rosemary Marquez wrote in the opinion filed Monday that Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse, and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick
met the guidelines for establishing they acted on their beliefs.
The four had appealed another judge's ruling a year ago finding them guilty of federal misdemeanors.
They were cited by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services officers in 2017 after driving a truck into the wilderness area and left bottles of water
and other supplies for migrants who cross the region.
( "migrants" means illegals )
Four other volunteers with the group were tried a month later in a separate, similar case, but prose
cutors dropped the charges and issued civil infractions.
Another No More Deaths volunteer, Scott Warren, was acquitted in November on felony charges of illegally harboring two migrants in southern Arizona.
Warren, 37, said neutrality guides his work and denied ever helping migrants hide or avoid authorities.
Thousands of immigrants have died crossing the border since the mid-1990s when increased enforcement pushed many to Arizona's scorching desert.
END
Saturday, February 1, 2020
AZMEX UPDATE-2 1-2-2020
AZMEX UPDATE-2 2 FEB 2020
Tucson man sentenced to 17 years for human smuggling, shooting at Border Patrol agents
January 31, 2020
10:42 pm
https://kvoa.com/news/2020/01/31/tucson-man-sentenced-to-17-years-for-human-smuggling-shooting-at-border-patrol-agents/
Carla Litto
TUCSON - A 23-year-old Tucson man was sentenced by the U.S. District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps to 204 months in prison on Friday.
Roberto Ramirez, the defendant, previously pleaded guilty back in August
to one count of Transportation of Illegal Aliens for Profit Placing in Jeopardy of Life,
three separate counts of Assault on a Federal Officer with a Deadly Weapon,
and one count of Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person.
On Christmas Eve 2017, Ramirez transported two undocumented immigrants for profit
and fled from the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-19 at speeds close to 100 mph,
according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona.
As three Border Patrol agents were in pursuit, Ramirez tried to ram their patrol vehicles with his own.
When Border Patrol agents did not back down from their pursuit,
Ramirez then proceeded to fire shots at the agents with a revolver.
The firearm eventually lost ammunition and when this happened,
Ramirez lost control of his vehicle which then rolled multiple times.
One of the two undocumented individuals was not properly secured in the car and was ejected from the Ramirez's vehicle.
That individual suffered head trauma which caused him to be in a coma, and sustained a broken shoulder and collarbone
resulting in the permanent disfigurement of one of his shoulders, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona.
The other individual suffered a permanent injury to one of his eyes that will affect his vision for the rest of his life.
The following is statement from Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge, Scott Brown:
"This case highlights the dangers involved with illegal alien smuggling. Recklessly, the driver caused bodily harm to two other people
during the rollover, as he callously attempted to flee law enforcement officers while shooting at them.
HSI continues to aggressively target and dismantle transnational criminal organizations that profit from the suffering of individuals."
Scott Brown, Homeland Security Investigations
The investigation in this case was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations.
United States Attorney Michael Bailey said that smugglers like Ramirez present a danger to everyone
and that law enforcement officials will partner to "aggressively prosecute these cases."
END
Tucson man sentenced to 17 years for human smuggling, shooting at Border Patrol agents
January 31, 2020
10:42 pm
https://kvoa.com/news/2020/01/31/tucson-man-sentenced-to-17-years-for-human-smuggling-shooting-at-border-patrol-agents/
Carla Litto
TUCSON - A 23-year-old Tucson man was sentenced by the U.S. District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps to 204 months in prison on Friday.
Roberto Ramirez, the defendant, previously pleaded guilty back in August
to one count of Transportation of Illegal Aliens for Profit Placing in Jeopardy of Life,
three separate counts of Assault on a Federal Officer with a Deadly Weapon,
and one count of Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person.
On Christmas Eve 2017, Ramirez transported two undocumented immigrants for profit
and fled from the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-19 at speeds close to 100 mph,
according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona.
As three Border Patrol agents were in pursuit, Ramirez tried to ram their patrol vehicles with his own.
When Border Patrol agents did not back down from their pursuit,
Ramirez then proceeded to fire shots at the agents with a revolver.
The firearm eventually lost ammunition and when this happened,
Ramirez lost control of his vehicle which then rolled multiple times.
One of the two undocumented individuals was not properly secured in the car and was ejected from the Ramirez's vehicle.
That individual suffered head trauma which caused him to be in a coma, and sustained a broken shoulder and collarbone
resulting in the permanent disfigurement of one of his shoulders, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona.
The other individual suffered a permanent injury to one of his eyes that will affect his vision for the rest of his life.
The following is statement from Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge, Scott Brown:
"This case highlights the dangers involved with illegal alien smuggling. Recklessly, the driver caused bodily harm to two other people
during the rollover, as he callously attempted to flee law enforcement officers while shooting at them.
HSI continues to aggressively target and dismantle transnational criminal organizations that profit from the suffering of individuals."
Scott Brown, Homeland Security Investigations
The investigation in this case was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations.
United States Attorney Michael Bailey said that smugglers like Ramirez present a danger to everyone
and that law enforcement officials will partner to "aggressively prosecute these cases."
END
AZMEX UPDATE 1-2-2020
AZMEX UPDATE 1 FEB 2020
FBI investigates border wall gun battle that left two wounded in California
A border barrier separates the United States and Mexico in the San Diego area.
CAROLYN VAN HOUTEN/THE WASHINGTON POST
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/fbi-investigates-border-wall-gun-battle-that-left-two-wounded-in-california-1.617232#gallery
By NICK MIROFF AND JOSH DAWSEY
| The Washington Post |
Published: February 1, 2020
A shootout at a border wall construction site near San Diego that wounded two Mexican security guards last summer is now under FBI investigation,
according to private contractors and government documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The incident, which has not been publicly disclosed, occurred on the night of July 1 east of the San Ysidro border crossing,
when Mexican security guards came under fire while protecting materials and equipment for Texas-based Ultimate Concrete,
according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report.
One of the guards was shot in the lower right buttock, and another suffered a light shoulder wound.
The assailants were not identified, but security camera footage of the incident showed that a group of six or seven gunmen approached a job site
where U.S. contractors had been installing steel barriers during the day.
"Three men in the vicinity of the border wall immediately opened fire" on the two security contractors, according to the Army Corps account.
"Both men took immediate cover and began returning fire," repelling the assailants.
For U.S. authorities, the episode raised questions about use-of-force rules for the Mexican companies hired to protect southern access to worksites
where U.S. crews are building Trump's wall.
The report also describes concerns raised by U.S. Border Patrol agents who encountered Mexican security guards
crossing back and forth across the international boundary without authorization.
SLS, the primary contractor that hired Ultimate Concrete, revised its security protocols after the incident
to make sure its security personnel on both sides of the border have met U.S. screening standards, the report stated.
FBI agents made an unannounced visit to the San Diego area offices of SLS on Jan. 22, and executives from the company
immediately sent a letter to the Army Corps expressing shock and concern that federal investigators had arrived to ask questions about the shooting.
SLS has been awarded contracts worth more than $1.5 billion for barrier construction at multiple locations, government records show.
Liz Rogers, a spokeswoman for SLS, said the company is cooperating with investigators. She declined to provide details because the investigation is ongoing.
"SLS fully complied with the FBI's requests and voluntarily answered all questions," said Rogers, who is the marketing director for the firm, which is based in Galveston, Texas.
"The agents were very professional and the entirety of their visit was less than one hour."
The FBI also issued a subpoena to Jesse Guzman, who owns Ultimate Concrete, documents show.
Reached by telephone, Guzman referred questions to the FBI.
Officials with the Army Corps referred questions to the FBI. The FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection
did not respond to requests for comment on the incident or the investigation.
According to the Army Corps report, dated July 29, Ultimate Concrete hired the Pinkerton agency to provide security at the job site,
but the two men injured in the shooting were working for another Mexico-based firm, NSSP.
The shooting victims received medical treatment and had "returned to full duty," the report states.
NSSP had not been vetted by the Army Corps or U.S. Customs and Border Protection to work at the job site,
according to the report, a step considered unnecessary because the firm was hired to work on the south side of the border.
"When NSSP personnel were interviewed, they stated they were all prior Mexican National Army
and had been trained on when to use deadly force," the report states.
The Mexican security guards would take snapshots of the worksite every evening when they came on duty to guard equipment and materials overnight,
largely to show supervisors the following morning that nothing had been missing.
NSSP personnel communicated with a security manager for Ultimate Concrete via the WhatsApp messaging app
but sometimes strayed north across the border onto the job site, according to the report.
U.S. border agents saw the Mexican security agents crossing into and out of the United States, making what appeared to be unauthorized entries into U.S. territory.
At a job site that essentially straddled an open border, the crisscrossing Mexican security guards drew the attention of U.S. agents.
"The concern was that there were two Mexican nationals 'either posing as or working for Pinkerton on the north side of the border wall,'
and that both the Ultimate Concrete and Pinkerton contractors on site denied any knowledge of additional security being hired," according to the report
. "When confronted, the Mexican national security personnel again reiterated they were Pinkerton employees."
The report found that the Mexican security guards did not violate rules of engagement during the shootout,
having come under attack from assailants before returning fire.
Construction progress on Trump's new "border wall system" is more advanced in the San Diego area than nearly anywhere else
the government has added new fencing, resulting in the biggest and most elaborate barrier system along the entire 2,000-mile boundary with Mexico.
Across most of the San Diego border area, a "primary" steel bollard fence is backed by a "secondary" 30-foot barrier,
with a road running between them that allows U.S. agents to corral smugglers and migrants in a dedicated "enforcement zone."
The Tijuana-San Diego area is the busiest and most lucrative drug trafficking corridor on the border, according to U.S. officials,
and mafia violence on the Mexican side has surged in recent years. Border Patrol agents and other CBP personnel working
in the area did not make changes to their security posture after the shooting incident, according to the report.
END
FBI investigates border wall gun battle that left two wounded in California
A border barrier separates the United States and Mexico in the San Diego area.
CAROLYN VAN HOUTEN/THE WASHINGTON POST
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/fbi-investigates-border-wall-gun-battle-that-left-two-wounded-in-california-1.617232#gallery
By NICK MIROFF AND JOSH DAWSEY
| The Washington Post |
Published: February 1, 2020
A shootout at a border wall construction site near San Diego that wounded two Mexican security guards last summer is now under FBI investigation,
according to private contractors and government documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The incident, which has not been publicly disclosed, occurred on the night of July 1 east of the San Ysidro border crossing,
when Mexican security guards came under fire while protecting materials and equipment for Texas-based Ultimate Concrete,
according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report.
One of the guards was shot in the lower right buttock, and another suffered a light shoulder wound.
The assailants were not identified, but security camera footage of the incident showed that a group of six or seven gunmen approached a job site
where U.S. contractors had been installing steel barriers during the day.
"Three men in the vicinity of the border wall immediately opened fire" on the two security contractors, according to the Army Corps account.
"Both men took immediate cover and began returning fire," repelling the assailants.
For U.S. authorities, the episode raised questions about use-of-force rules for the Mexican companies hired to protect southern access to worksites
where U.S. crews are building Trump's wall.
The report also describes concerns raised by U.S. Border Patrol agents who encountered Mexican security guards
crossing back and forth across the international boundary without authorization.
SLS, the primary contractor that hired Ultimate Concrete, revised its security protocols after the incident
to make sure its security personnel on both sides of the border have met U.S. screening standards, the report stated.
FBI agents made an unannounced visit to the San Diego area offices of SLS on Jan. 22, and executives from the company
immediately sent a letter to the Army Corps expressing shock and concern that federal investigators had arrived to ask questions about the shooting.
SLS has been awarded contracts worth more than $1.5 billion for barrier construction at multiple locations, government records show.
Liz Rogers, a spokeswoman for SLS, said the company is cooperating with investigators. She declined to provide details because the investigation is ongoing.
"SLS fully complied with the FBI's requests and voluntarily answered all questions," said Rogers, who is the marketing director for the firm, which is based in Galveston, Texas.
"The agents were very professional and the entirety of their visit was less than one hour."
The FBI also issued a subpoena to Jesse Guzman, who owns Ultimate Concrete, documents show.
Reached by telephone, Guzman referred questions to the FBI.
Officials with the Army Corps referred questions to the FBI. The FBI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection
did not respond to requests for comment on the incident or the investigation.
According to the Army Corps report, dated July 29, Ultimate Concrete hired the Pinkerton agency to provide security at the job site,
but the two men injured in the shooting were working for another Mexico-based firm, NSSP.
The shooting victims received medical treatment and had "returned to full duty," the report states.
NSSP had not been vetted by the Army Corps or U.S. Customs and Border Protection to work at the job site,
according to the report, a step considered unnecessary because the firm was hired to work on the south side of the border.
"When NSSP personnel were interviewed, they stated they were all prior Mexican National Army
and had been trained on when to use deadly force," the report states.
The Mexican security guards would take snapshots of the worksite every evening when they came on duty to guard equipment and materials overnight,
largely to show supervisors the following morning that nothing had been missing.
NSSP personnel communicated with a security manager for Ultimate Concrete via the WhatsApp messaging app
but sometimes strayed north across the border onto the job site, according to the report.
U.S. border agents saw the Mexican security agents crossing into and out of the United States, making what appeared to be unauthorized entries into U.S. territory.
At a job site that essentially straddled an open border, the crisscrossing Mexican security guards drew the attention of U.S. agents.
"The concern was that there were two Mexican nationals 'either posing as or working for Pinkerton on the north side of the border wall,'
and that both the Ultimate Concrete and Pinkerton contractors on site denied any knowledge of additional security being hired," according to the report
. "When confronted, the Mexican national security personnel again reiterated they were Pinkerton employees."
The report found that the Mexican security guards did not violate rules of engagement during the shootout,
having come under attack from assailants before returning fire.
Construction progress on Trump's new "border wall system" is more advanced in the San Diego area than nearly anywhere else
the government has added new fencing, resulting in the biggest and most elaborate barrier system along the entire 2,000-mile boundary with Mexico.
Across most of the San Diego border area, a "primary" steel bollard fence is backed by a "secondary" 30-foot barrier,
with a road running between them that allows U.S. agents to corral smugglers and migrants in a dedicated "enforcement zone."
The Tijuana-San Diego area is the busiest and most lucrative drug trafficking corridor on the border, according to U.S. officials,
and mafia violence on the Mexican side has surged in recent years. Border Patrol agents and other CBP personnel working
in the area did not make changes to their security posture after the shooting incident, according to the report.
END
Friday, January 31, 2020
AZMEX I3 31-1-2020
AZMEX I3 31 JAN 2020
After crackdown, Mexico president sees caravans as waning
https://www.local10.com/news/2020/01/31/after-crackdown-mexico-president-sees-caravans-as-waning/
MEXICO CITY – President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday that he expects more caravans of Central American migrants and asylum seekers to emerge,
but he sees the phenomenon which became a political football in the United States in recent years as waning.
A week after armored National Guard troops and immigration agents broke up what was left of the most recent caravan in southern Mexico,
loading men, women and children onto buses for likely deportation, López Obrador suggested that fewer will come in future groups.
"Surely they are organizing other caravans. …
Only each time they have fewer migrants," he said. "There is more and more information."
Hours earlier a group numbering in just the low dozens set out before dawn from the bus terminal in San Pedro Sula, Honduras,
in response to the latest call for a caravan, a far cry from the kind of numbers seen previously.
Mexico has made clear that it will no longer allow large caravans to pass through its territory,
following intense pressure and threatened trade tariffs from Washington last year.
Early caravans beginning in late 2018 were largely permitted passage, at times receiving humanitarian aid and transportation from local communities and governments.
But now Mexico has thousands of National Guard troops deployed to support immigration enforcement,
and Guatemala, too, returned hundreds from the most recent caravan to Honduras.
When negotiations with a de facto spokesman for the caravan broke down along a highway in the southern state of Chiapas last week,
Mexican guardsmen banging batons against riot shields advanced and engaged.
There was shoving and pepper spray in the chaos. Many sobbed as they allowed themselves to be escorted to the buses,
while others fled or resisted and were cornered or subdued.
López Obrador on Friday praised the troops, saying,
"The National Guard behaved very well. It resisted, it held firm, it did not give in to provocations."
The president also said there were no human rights violations. Some human rights groups have expressed concerns about the operation,
including the detention of children and other vulnerable people in the caravan.
López Obrador said 5,000 people from its various splinters, most of whom were from Honduras, had been returned home.
He alleged that they had been "lied to" about a supposed agreement for them to advance through Mexico to the U.S. border.
Local "shelters" — the government's term for immigration detention centers — were currently at about half capacity, the president said.
López Obrador added that authorities are pleased to be seeing fewer women and children migrating compared with previously.
He also criticized what he called leaders "without any convictions, some of them conservatives disguised as progressives
(and) supposedly defenders of social causes" such as the environment, labor and indigenous rights.
"They have no backing. They have no followers," the president said.
López Obrador's comments follow a week of tension between his government and migrants' advocates over a series of mixed signals
and orders that initially barred social and religious organizations from accessing migrant detention centers.
More than 40 groups denounced what they called the government's "erratic" policies
and expressed concern that their work with detained migrants could be harmed.
Late Thursday the National Immigration Institute, a federal entity, said it had been in contact with NGOs
and that they could once again have access to the detention centers.
It added that it would meet with the National Guard "to learn about its protocols for acting in migration control."
END
After crackdown, Mexico president sees caravans as waning
https://www.local10.com/news/2020/01/31/after-crackdown-mexico-president-sees-caravans-as-waning/
MEXICO CITY – President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Friday that he expects more caravans of Central American migrants and asylum seekers to emerge,
but he sees the phenomenon which became a political football in the United States in recent years as waning.
A week after armored National Guard troops and immigration agents broke up what was left of the most recent caravan in southern Mexico,
loading men, women and children onto buses for likely deportation, López Obrador suggested that fewer will come in future groups.
"Surely they are organizing other caravans. …
Only each time they have fewer migrants," he said. "There is more and more information."
Hours earlier a group numbering in just the low dozens set out before dawn from the bus terminal in San Pedro Sula, Honduras,
in response to the latest call for a caravan, a far cry from the kind of numbers seen previously.
Mexico has made clear that it will no longer allow large caravans to pass through its territory,
following intense pressure and threatened trade tariffs from Washington last year.
Early caravans beginning in late 2018 were largely permitted passage, at times receiving humanitarian aid and transportation from local communities and governments.
But now Mexico has thousands of National Guard troops deployed to support immigration enforcement,
and Guatemala, too, returned hundreds from the most recent caravan to Honduras.
When negotiations with a de facto spokesman for the caravan broke down along a highway in the southern state of Chiapas last week,
Mexican guardsmen banging batons against riot shields advanced and engaged.
There was shoving and pepper spray in the chaos. Many sobbed as they allowed themselves to be escorted to the buses,
while others fled or resisted and were cornered or subdued.
López Obrador on Friday praised the troops, saying,
"The National Guard behaved very well. It resisted, it held firm, it did not give in to provocations."
The president also said there were no human rights violations. Some human rights groups have expressed concerns about the operation,
including the detention of children and other vulnerable people in the caravan.
López Obrador said 5,000 people from its various splinters, most of whom were from Honduras, had been returned home.
He alleged that they had been "lied to" about a supposed agreement for them to advance through Mexico to the U.S. border.
Local "shelters" — the government's term for immigration detention centers — were currently at about half capacity, the president said.
López Obrador added that authorities are pleased to be seeing fewer women and children migrating compared with previously.
He also criticized what he called leaders "without any convictions, some of them conservatives disguised as progressives
(and) supposedly defenders of social causes" such as the environment, labor and indigenous rights.
"They have no backing. They have no followers," the president said.
López Obrador's comments follow a week of tension between his government and migrants' advocates over a series of mixed signals
and orders that initially barred social and religious organizations from accessing migrant detention centers.
More than 40 groups denounced what they called the government's "erratic" policies
and expressed concern that their work with detained migrants could be harmed.
Late Thursday the National Immigration Institute, a federal entity, said it had been in contact with NGOs
and that they could once again have access to the detention centers.
It added that it would meet with the National Guard "to learn about its protocols for acting in migration control."
END
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
AZMEX SPECIAL 29-1-20
AZMEX SPECIAL 29 JAN 2020
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Victor Manuel Felix Beltran escaped from prison, was to be extradited
Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat TY BB Follower Infobae
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2020/01/victor-manule-felix-beltran-escaped.html#more
Víctor Manuel Félix Beltrán, "El Vic", identified as a main financial operator of Joaquín Guzmán Loera "El Chapo ",
escaped from the South Reclusorio of Mexico City on January 29 at dawn.
He and two other inmates named Luis Meza and Yael Osuna did not get ready this morning, which alerted the authorities.
After inspecting the facilities, they realized that the three criminals had managed to escape.
Beltrán and Meza, originally from Sinaloa, were charged with crimes against health,
while Navarro de Nayarit was locked up by criminal association.
After his disappearance was announced, the Attorney General of Mexico City conducted an investigation within the prison, but reported no findings.
He also alerted the Command, Control, Computing, Communications and Citizen Contact Center of Mexico City (C5)
to try to locate the fugitives through the cameras.
The head of government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum published on her Twitter account a statement
about the escape of the three prisoners of the South Reclusorio:
"We report on the evasion of three prisoners from the South Prison. In coordination
@SSP_CDMX @FiscaliaCDMX @SSPCMexico @SeGobCDMX
They activated protocols. The Government Secretary
We will be reporting In a few minutes in a press conference."
Who is Víctor Manuel Félix Beltrán?
In 2015, the Treasury Department described Félix Beltrán as "a high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel trafficker."
That same year, the Northern District of Illinois charged him with drug trafficking and money laundering,
charges from which he remained a fugitive until his apprehension in 2017.
It is believed that Félix Beltrán was the point man in the cartel's distribution hubs in Chicago
after the arrests of Pedro and Margarito Flores, also known as the Flores Brothers.
Three years ago his rather was tried in San Diego, California, United States. He was given a sentence of 14 years.
END
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Victor Manuel Felix Beltran escaped from prison, was to be extradited
Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat TY BB Follower Infobae
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2020/01/victor-manule-felix-beltran-escaped.html#more
Víctor Manuel Félix Beltrán, "El Vic", identified as a main financial operator of Joaquín Guzmán Loera "El Chapo ",
escaped from the South Reclusorio of Mexico City on January 29 at dawn.
He and two other inmates named Luis Meza and Yael Osuna did not get ready this morning, which alerted the authorities.
After inspecting the facilities, they realized that the three criminals had managed to escape.
Beltrán and Meza, originally from Sinaloa, were charged with crimes against health,
while Navarro de Nayarit was locked up by criminal association.
After his disappearance was announced, the Attorney General of Mexico City conducted an investigation within the prison, but reported no findings.
He also alerted the Command, Control, Computing, Communications and Citizen Contact Center of Mexico City (C5)
to try to locate the fugitives through the cameras.
The head of government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum published on her Twitter account a statement
about the escape of the three prisoners of the South Reclusorio:
"We report on the evasion of three prisoners from the South Prison. In coordination
@SSP_CDMX @FiscaliaCDMX @SSPCMexico @SeGobCDMX
They activated protocols. The Government Secretary
We will be reporting In a few minutes in a press conference."
Who is Víctor Manuel Félix Beltrán?
In 2015, the Treasury Department described Félix Beltrán as "a high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel trafficker."
That same year, the Northern District of Illinois charged him with drug trafficking and money laundering,
charges from which he remained a fugitive until his apprehension in 2017.
It is believed that Félix Beltrán was the point man in the cartel's distribution hubs in Chicago
after the arrests of Pedro and Margarito Flores, also known as the Flores Brothers.
Three years ago his rather was tried in San Diego, California, United States. He was given a sentence of 14 years.
END
AZMEX UPDATE 29-1-20
AZMEX UPDATE 29 JAN 2020
'Exclusively a drug tunnel': Longest illegal border tunnel found in San Diego
http://fox5sandiego.com/2020/01/29/longest-illegal-cross-border-tunnel-found/
POSTED 1:01 PM, JANUARY 29, 2020, BY FOX 5 DIGITAL TEAM AND JEFF MCADAM, UPDATED AT 02:55PM, JANUARY 29, 2020
SAN DIEGO — The longest illegal cross-border tunnel was recently discovered by authorities in San Diego,
the United States Border Patrol said Wednesday.
The tunnel is approximately 4,309 feet long, with one off-shoot from the main tunnel that extends several hundred feet before abruptly ending.
The tunnel is about 5.5 feet in height and 2 feet in width, authorities said.
Border Patrol agents said the tunnel featured an air ventilation system, a drainage system,
a rail system and an elevator at its entrance when it was operational.
It wasn't in use at the time authorities discovered it, agents said.
RELATED STORY
Border Patrol seizes $300K in cash near North County
The tunnel was initially uncovered in the Otay Mesa area in August.
With help from Mexican authorities and intelligence gathering efforts, Border Patrol agents and Department of Homeland Security officials
said they were able to determine over the following months how far the tunnel extended into Tijuana.
According to Lance Lenoir, a Border Patrol agent with the San Diego Sector's tunnel team,
the tunnel was most likely used to transport illegal materials into the United States with help from the rail system built inside.
"In my experience, this is exclusively a drug tunnel," Lenoir said.
No arrests have been made in connection with the tunnel's construction.
Authorities said it was unclear how long the tunnel was operational and said the investigation into its construction and use was ongoing.
Border Patrol agents have shared news of a handful of tunnel discoveries in recent years.
One tunnel unearthed in 2016 stretched nearly a half-mile between Otay Mesa and Tijuana
and was outfitted with lights, a ventilation system and an elevator.
END
'Exclusively a drug tunnel': Longest illegal border tunnel found in San Diego
http://fox5sandiego.com/2020/01/29/longest-illegal-cross-border-tunnel-found/
POSTED 1:01 PM, JANUARY 29, 2020, BY FOX 5 DIGITAL TEAM AND JEFF MCADAM, UPDATED AT 02:55PM, JANUARY 29, 2020
SAN DIEGO — The longest illegal cross-border tunnel was recently discovered by authorities in San Diego,
the United States Border Patrol said Wednesday.
The tunnel is approximately 4,309 feet long, with one off-shoot from the main tunnel that extends several hundred feet before abruptly ending.
The tunnel is about 5.5 feet in height and 2 feet in width, authorities said.
Border Patrol agents said the tunnel featured an air ventilation system, a drainage system,
a rail system and an elevator at its entrance when it was operational.
It wasn't in use at the time authorities discovered it, agents said.
RELATED STORY
Border Patrol seizes $300K in cash near North County
The tunnel was initially uncovered in the Otay Mesa area in August.
With help from Mexican authorities and intelligence gathering efforts, Border Patrol agents and Department of Homeland Security officials
said they were able to determine over the following months how far the tunnel extended into Tijuana.
According to Lance Lenoir, a Border Patrol agent with the San Diego Sector's tunnel team,
the tunnel was most likely used to transport illegal materials into the United States with help from the rail system built inside.
"In my experience, this is exclusively a drug tunnel," Lenoir said.
No arrests have been made in connection with the tunnel's construction.
Authorities said it was unclear how long the tunnel was operational and said the investigation into its construction and use was ongoing.
Border Patrol agents have shared news of a handful of tunnel discoveries in recent years.
One tunnel unearthed in 2016 stretched nearly a half-mile between Otay Mesa and Tijuana
and was outfitted with lights, a ventilation system and an elevator.
END
Monday, January 27, 2020
Fwd: [FWD: UN Pressures Mexico To Stop Deporting Fake Refugees Bound For US Border]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: UN Pressures Mexico To Stop Deporting Fake Refugees Bound For
US Border
From: Roger Ogden <roger@patriot-fire.net>
Date: Sat, January 25, 2020 2:53 pm
To:
A subscriber thought my post about this was being shadow banned by Facebook. So, I put it on Wordpress and am distributing it via email.
UN Pressures Mexico To Stop Deporting Fake Refugees
UN Pressures Mexico To Stop Deporting Fake Refugees
This Article is by Univision. The article in spanish is at the link. Google translation with minor corrections b...
Roger OgdenSan Diego, Ca
Friday, January 24, 2020
AZMEX SPECIAL 24-1-2020
AZMEX SPECIAL 24 JAN 2020
Homicide rate in Mexico, 4 times larger than in the United States
Report. Colima, with a level of violence higher than El Salvador: Zero Impunity.
Last year the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants nationwide was 23.23, while in 2018 it was 23.22. (Special)
IGNACIO ALZAGA
Mexico City / 22.01.2020 00:34:45
https://www.milenio.com/policia/mexico-tasa-homicidios-4-grande-unidos
Mexico is the most violent country of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
with a four times higher rate of malicious homicides than in the United States,
a situation that will continue in the long term not to reverse the high levels of impunity that surround these crimes,
whose probability of clarification is only 1.3 percent.
We recommend:
Perception of insecurity in Puebla, does not scare away investments: Peniche
This is revealed by an analysis of the Zero Impunity organization in which it indicates that in 2018 the levels of violence
in Colima, Baja California, Guerrero, Chihuahua and Guanajuato were above those recorded
in El Salvador, Jamaica and Honduras, the most violent nations in the world.
He says that the level of impunity in Mexico explains the limited deterrent capacity of the criminal system on the growth of violence,
so that the policy of increasing penalties for more frequent and high-impact crimes has an "irrelevant" effect to reduce criminal incidence
In the document "Impunity in intentional homicide in Mexico, report 2019",
coordinated by investigators Guillermo Zepeda Lecuona and Paola Jiménez Rodríguez, they emphasize that the effects of the
"very low capacity of criminal investigation" of the prosecutors and prosecutors throughout the country,
the "erosion" of institutions and corruption magnify homicidal violence, as a murderer knows that it is very difficult for him to be arrested and convicted.
Another problem is that high-impact crime investigation areas are exposed to the penetration and attack of organized crime groups.
Based on information from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), corresponding to 2017,
Mexico registered an average of 24.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants
and was followed very far away by the United States with a rate of 5.3.
"The difference remains abysmal if we compare our situation with Chile, the other Latin American country belonging to the OECD,
whose homicide rate is 4.3.
Among the countries analyzed, the one with the lowest rate is Japan with 0.2 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants ".
In 2018, 33,521 intentional murders were recorded in Mexico, which represented a rate of 26.7 per 100 thousand inhabitants,
that is, almost two percentage points more than the previous year, placing it again as the country with more crimes within the members of the OECD
Impunity Zero already warned that 2019 would become the most violent in history in the country,
a fact that confirmed the figures of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System released last Monday.
Impunity Zero stresses that malicious killings are the sixth leading cause of death nationwide;
however, the proportion they represent has increased in recent years: it went from 3.6 percent in 2016 to 5.1 percent in 2018.
Regarding the most violent entities, it indicates that that year Colima had a rate of 93 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants,
followed by Baja California with 89.1; Guerrero with 68.1, Chihuahua with 58.7 and Guanajuato 53.8.
These levels are above the most violent countries in the world,
since the rate of El Salvador was 61.8, that of Jamaica 57 and that of Honduras 41.7, the study refers.
END
Homicide rate in Mexico, 4 times larger than in the United States
Report. Colima, with a level of violence higher than El Salvador: Zero Impunity.
Last year the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants nationwide was 23.23, while in 2018 it was 23.22. (Special)
IGNACIO ALZAGA
Mexico City / 22.01.2020 00:34:45
https://www.milenio.com/policia/mexico-tasa-homicidios-4-grande-unidos
Mexico is the most violent country of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
with a four times higher rate of malicious homicides than in the United States,
a situation that will continue in the long term not to reverse the high levels of impunity that surround these crimes,
whose probability of clarification is only 1.3 percent.
We recommend:
Perception of insecurity in Puebla, does not scare away investments: Peniche
This is revealed by an analysis of the Zero Impunity organization in which it indicates that in 2018 the levels of violence
in Colima, Baja California, Guerrero, Chihuahua and Guanajuato were above those recorded
in El Salvador, Jamaica and Honduras, the most violent nations in the world.
He says that the level of impunity in Mexico explains the limited deterrent capacity of the criminal system on the growth of violence,
so that the policy of increasing penalties for more frequent and high-impact crimes has an "irrelevant" effect to reduce criminal incidence
In the document "Impunity in intentional homicide in Mexico, report 2019",
coordinated by investigators Guillermo Zepeda Lecuona and Paola Jiménez Rodríguez, they emphasize that the effects of the
"very low capacity of criminal investigation" of the prosecutors and prosecutors throughout the country,
the "erosion" of institutions and corruption magnify homicidal violence, as a murderer knows that it is very difficult for him to be arrested and convicted.
Another problem is that high-impact crime investigation areas are exposed to the penetration and attack of organized crime groups.
Based on information from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), corresponding to 2017,
Mexico registered an average of 24.8 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants
and was followed very far away by the United States with a rate of 5.3.
"The difference remains abysmal if we compare our situation with Chile, the other Latin American country belonging to the OECD,
whose homicide rate is 4.3.
Among the countries analyzed, the one with the lowest rate is Japan with 0.2 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants ".
In 2018, 33,521 intentional murders were recorded in Mexico, which represented a rate of 26.7 per 100 thousand inhabitants,
that is, almost two percentage points more than the previous year, placing it again as the country with more crimes within the members of the OECD
Impunity Zero already warned that 2019 would become the most violent in history in the country,
a fact that confirmed the figures of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System released last Monday.
Impunity Zero stresses that malicious killings are the sixth leading cause of death nationwide;
however, the proportion they represent has increased in recent years: it went from 3.6 percent in 2016 to 5.1 percent in 2018.
Regarding the most violent entities, it indicates that that year Colima had a rate of 93 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants,
followed by Baja California with 89.1; Guerrero with 68.1, Chihuahua with 58.7 and Guanajuato 53.8.
These levels are above the most violent countries in the world,
since the rate of El Salvador was 61.8, that of Jamaica 57 and that of Honduras 41.7, the study refers.
END
Thursday, January 23, 2020
AZMEX UPDATE 23-1-2020
AZMEX UPDATE 23 JAN 2020
Phoenix PD: $3 million in fentanyl pills seized in major bust
Posted: 3:50 PM, Jan 23, 2020 Updated: 6:04 PM, Jan 23, 2020
By: abc15.com staff
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/phoenix-pd-3-million-in-fentanyl-pills-seized-in-major-bust
PHOENIX — Phoenix police say nearly 170,000 fentanyl pills were seized recently as part of a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force operation.
Officers and agents working with the DEA were actively tracking 24-year-old Marcelino Ontiveros Quintero for drug activity.
He was recently taken into custody by the Arizona Department of Public Safety,
with approximately 165,000 blue "M-30" fentanyl pills located in his possession.
Police and the DEA asked DPS to conduct the traffic stop on the vehicle, in which Quintero was a passenger at the time.
The driver, Norma Ibarra Justo, also had fentanyl in her possession and was arrested.
Task Force members then searched additional locations connected to Quintero and located another 4,000 pills.
In total, Phoenix police say the pills have a street value of approximately $3 million.
"It's nearly impossible to tell the difference between street fentanyl and legitimate oxycodone tablets
but the fentanyl can lead to deadly consequences," Phoenix police said in a statement.
"The DEA is warning all Arizonans not to take any pill that isn't prescribed by a medical professional and dispensed through a licensed pharmacy."
ABC15 has reached out to the DEA for additional information on this arrest,
including date and location of his arrest as well as the official charges against Quintero.
END
Phoenix PD: $3 million in fentanyl pills seized in major bust
Posted: 3:50 PM, Jan 23, 2020 Updated: 6:04 PM, Jan 23, 2020
By: abc15.com staff
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/phoenix-pd-3-million-in-fentanyl-pills-seized-in-major-bust
PHOENIX — Phoenix police say nearly 170,000 fentanyl pills were seized recently as part of a Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force operation.
Officers and agents working with the DEA were actively tracking 24-year-old Marcelino Ontiveros Quintero for drug activity.
He was recently taken into custody by the Arizona Department of Public Safety,
with approximately 165,000 blue "M-30" fentanyl pills located in his possession.
Police and the DEA asked DPS to conduct the traffic stop on the vehicle, in which Quintero was a passenger at the time.
The driver, Norma Ibarra Justo, also had fentanyl in her possession and was arrested.
Task Force members then searched additional locations connected to Quintero and located another 4,000 pills.
In total, Phoenix police say the pills have a street value of approximately $3 million.
"It's nearly impossible to tell the difference between street fentanyl and legitimate oxycodone tablets
but the fentanyl can lead to deadly consequences," Phoenix police said in a statement.
"The DEA is warning all Arizonans not to take any pill that isn't prescribed by a medical professional and dispensed through a licensed pharmacy."
ABC15 has reached out to the DEA for additional information on this arrest,
including date and location of his arrest as well as the official charges against Quintero.
END
AZ SPECIAL-2 23-1-2020
NOTE: Introduced version
PREFILED JAN 02 2020
REFERENCE TITLE: international boundary wall; building permits
State of Arizona
House of Representatives
Fifty-fourth Legislature
Second Regular Session
2020
HB 2084
Introduced by
Representatives Petersen: Barto, Biasiucci, Carroll, Cobb, Cook, Fillmore, Finchem, Grantham, Kavanagh, Nutt, Payne, Pierce, Roberts, Shope, Weninger, Senator Gray
AN ACT
AMENDING SECTIONS 9-467 AND 11-321, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES; AMENDING TITLE 37, CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE 5, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES, BY ADDING SECTION 37-325; RELATING TO BUILDING PERMITS.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 9-467, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
9-467. Building permits; issuance; distribution of copies; subsequent owner; international boundary wall
A. Any city or town requiring the issuance of a building permit shall transmit one copy of the permit to the county assessor and one copy to the director of the department of revenue. Permit copies shall provide the permit number, issue date and parcel number. On the issuance of the certificate of occupancy or the certificate of completion or on the expiration or cancellation of the permit, the assessor and the department of revenue shall be notified in writing or in electronic format of the permit number, parcel number, issue date and completion date.
B. A city or town may not require an applicant for a building permit to hold a transaction privilege tax license or business license as a condition for issuing the building permit. A city or town may require a person that has been issued a building permit and that does not otherwise hold a business license from the city or town to apply for a business license within thirty days after issuing the building permit.
C. If a person has constructed a building or an addition to a building without obtaining a building permit, a city or town shall not require a subsequent owner to obtain a permit for the construction or addition done by the prior owner before issuing a permit for a building addition except that nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the enforcement of DOES NOT PROHIBIT ENFORCING an applicable ordinance or code provision which THAT affects the public health or safety.
D. A CITY OR TOWN SHALL NOT REQUIRE A NONPROFIT CORPORATION OR PROPERTY OWNER TO OBTAIN A BUILDING OR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT IF ALL OF THE FOLLOWING APPLY:
1. THE PERMIT IS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY WALL.
2. THE PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION IS ON OR ADJACENT TO THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY LINE.
3. THE LAND OWNER HAS PROVIDED WRITTEN CONSENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION.
Sec. 2. Section 11-321, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
11-321. Building permits; issuance; distribution of copies; subsequent owner; international boundary wall
A. Except in those cities and towns which THAT have an ordinance relating to the issuance of building permits, the board of supervisors shall require a building permit for any construction of a building or an addition thereto TO A BUILDING exceeding a cost of one thousand dollars $1,000 within its jurisdiction. The building permit shall be filed with the board of supervisors or its designated agent.
B. The board of supervisors may not require an applicant for a building permit to hold a transaction privilege tax license or business license as a condition for issuing the building permit.
C. Where deemed of public convenience, the BOARD OF supervisors shall permit ALLOW the application for and the issuance of building permits by mail.
D. One copy of the building permit required by the terms of subsection A of this section shall be transmitted to the county assessor and one copy SHALL BE TRANSMITTED to the director of the department of revenue. The permit copy provided to the assessor and the department of revenue shall have the permit number, the issue date and the parcel number for which the permit is issued. On the issuance of the certificate of occupancy or the certificate of completion or on the expiration or cancellation of the permit, the assessor and the department of revenue shall be notified in writing or in electronic format of the permit number, parcel number, issue date and completion date.
E. If a person has constructed a building or an addition to a building without obtaining a building permit, a county shall not require a subsequent owner to obtain a permit for the construction or addition done by the prior owner before issuing a permit for a building addition except that nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the enforcement of DOES NOT PROHIBIT ENFORCING an applicable ordinance or code provision which THAT affects the public health or safety.
F. A COUNTY SHALL NOT REQUIRE A NONPROFIT CORPORATION OR PROPERTY OWNER TO OBTAIN A BUILDING OR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT IF ALL OF THE FOLLOWING APPLY:
1. THE PERMIT IS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY WALL.
2. THE PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION IS ON OR ADJACENT TO THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY LINE.
3. THE LAND OWNER HAS PROVIDED WRITTEN CONSENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION.
Sec. 3. Title 37, chapter 2, article 5, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 37-325, to read:
37-325. International boundary wall; presumption of approval
A PRESUMPTION EXISTS THAT PERMISSION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY WALL ON STATE-OWNED LAND WILL BE GRANTED BY THE STATE.
END
PREFILED JAN 02 2020
REFERENCE TITLE: international boundary wall; building permits
State of Arizona
House of Representatives
Fifty-fourth Legislature
Second Regular Session
2020
HB 2084
Introduced by
Representatives Petersen: Barto, Biasiucci, Carroll, Cobb, Cook, Fillmore, Finchem, Grantham, Kavanagh, Nutt, Payne, Pierce, Roberts, Shope, Weninger, Senator Gray
AN ACT
AMENDING SECTIONS 9-467 AND 11-321, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES; AMENDING TITLE 37, CHAPTER 2, ARTICLE 5, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES, BY ADDING SECTION 37-325; RELATING TO BUILDING PERMITS.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 9-467, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
9-467. Building permits; issuance; distribution of copies; subsequent owner; international boundary wall
A. Any city or town requiring the issuance of a building permit shall transmit one copy of the permit to the county assessor and one copy to the director of the department of revenue. Permit copies shall provide the permit number, issue date and parcel number. On the issuance of the certificate of occupancy or the certificate of completion or on the expiration or cancellation of the permit, the assessor and the department of revenue shall be notified in writing or in electronic format of the permit number, parcel number, issue date and completion date.
B. A city or town may not require an applicant for a building permit to hold a transaction privilege tax license or business license as a condition for issuing the building permit. A city or town may require a person that has been issued a building permit and that does not otherwise hold a business license from the city or town to apply for a business license within thirty days after issuing the building permit.
C. If a person has constructed a building or an addition to a building without obtaining a building permit, a city or town shall not require a subsequent owner to obtain a permit for the construction or addition done by the prior owner before issuing a permit for a building addition except that nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the enforcement of DOES NOT PROHIBIT ENFORCING an applicable ordinance or code provision which THAT affects the public health or safety.
D. A CITY OR TOWN SHALL NOT REQUIRE A NONPROFIT CORPORATION OR PROPERTY OWNER TO OBTAIN A BUILDING OR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT IF ALL OF THE FOLLOWING APPLY:
1. THE PERMIT IS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY WALL.
2. THE PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION IS ON OR ADJACENT TO THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY LINE.
3. THE LAND OWNER HAS PROVIDED WRITTEN CONSENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION.
Sec. 2. Section 11-321, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
11-321. Building permits; issuance; distribution of copies; subsequent owner; international boundary wall
A. Except in those cities and towns which THAT have an ordinance relating to the issuance of building permits, the board of supervisors shall require a building permit for any construction of a building or an addition thereto TO A BUILDING exceeding a cost of one thousand dollars $1,000 within its jurisdiction. The building permit shall be filed with the board of supervisors or its designated agent.
B. The board of supervisors may not require an applicant for a building permit to hold a transaction privilege tax license or business license as a condition for issuing the building permit.
C. Where deemed of public convenience, the BOARD OF supervisors shall permit ALLOW the application for and the issuance of building permits by mail.
D. One copy of the building permit required by the terms of subsection A of this section shall be transmitted to the county assessor and one copy SHALL BE TRANSMITTED to the director of the department of revenue. The permit copy provided to the assessor and the department of revenue shall have the permit number, the issue date and the parcel number for which the permit is issued. On the issuance of the certificate of occupancy or the certificate of completion or on the expiration or cancellation of the permit, the assessor and the department of revenue shall be notified in writing or in electronic format of the permit number, parcel number, issue date and completion date.
E. If a person has constructed a building or an addition to a building without obtaining a building permit, a county shall not require a subsequent owner to obtain a permit for the construction or addition done by the prior owner before issuing a permit for a building addition except that nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the enforcement of DOES NOT PROHIBIT ENFORCING an applicable ordinance or code provision which THAT affects the public health or safety.
F. A COUNTY SHALL NOT REQUIRE A NONPROFIT CORPORATION OR PROPERTY OWNER TO OBTAIN A BUILDING OR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT IF ALL OF THE FOLLOWING APPLY:
1. THE PERMIT IS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY WALL.
2. THE PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION IS ON OR ADJACENT TO THE INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY LINE.
3. THE LAND OWNER HAS PROVIDED WRITTEN CONSENT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION.
Sec. 3. Title 37, chapter 2, article 5, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 37-325, to read:
37-325. International boundary wall; presumption of approval
A PRESUMPTION EXISTS THAT PERMISSION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY WALL ON STATE-OWNED LAND WILL BE GRANTED BY THE STATE.
END
AZMEX SPECIAL 23-1-2020
AZMEX SPECIAL 23 JAN 2020
Arizona bill would make building private border wall easier
• Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated Press Writer
• Posted 5 hrs ago
https://www.azfamily.com/news/ap_cnn/arizona-bill-would-make-building-private-border-wall-easier/article_22fe5eec-3de2-11ea-af05-b31dc5585d6d.html
In this Jan. 10, 2020, photo, people work at a portion of border wall which is under construction in Yuma, Ariz.
Illegal border crossings have plummeted as the Trump administration has extended a policy
to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico for court hearings in the U.S.
(Source: AP Photo/Elliot Spagat)
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature would let property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border build a wall
without seeking a city or county construction permit under a measure that advanced Wednesday.
Republicans on the House Federal Relations Committee approved the measure in a 4-3 party-line vote,
saying state and local officials shouldn't be able to throw up barriers if they're philosophically opposed to building a border wall,
a signature promise of President Donald Trump.
[RELATED: GOP-backed bill would make it easier to build border wall on private property in Arizona]
"We all know President Trump can't do everything on his own," said Rep. Warren Petersen, a Gilbert Republican
and the House majority leader who sponsored the legislation.
"There's private companies, private property owners who are willing to help build the wall on their property."
Tom Tancredo, a former Colorado Republican congressman and high-profile anti-illegal immigration advocate,
pointed to a nonprofit organization that encountered red tape from local officials when it built a border wall on private land
near the New Mexico-Texas state line.
Tancredo is an advisory board member for the group, We Build the Wall.
[CBS 5 INVESTIGATES: Winners, losers with President Trump's border wall]
Art Del Cueto, vice president of the union representing Border Patrol agents, also urged lawmakers to advance the bill.
Most of Arizona's borderlands are publicly owned and would not be subject to the streamlined permitting process.
But Democrats questioned whether it was worth eliminating local control over construction projects to advance a barrier
they say is ineffective at stopping drug traffickers.
[RELATED: Federal judge allows private border wall construction to move ahead in Texas]
"I don't believe a border wall, no matter how tall you build it, is going to stop anything,"
said Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Democrat from Tucson.
There's no indication that state or local regulations have prevented Arizona landowners from building a wall on their own property,
said Rep. Reginald Bolding, a Democrat from Laveen.
The same committee also voted to require approval of the governor and Legislature before land could be sold to the federal government.
Rep. Mark Finchem, an Oro Valley Republican who sponsored the bill, said it would prevent the erosion of the property tax base,
which pays for a variety of state and local government services.
The federal government does not pay taxes on property it owns, which represents about 40 percent of the land in Arizona, according to state data.
Critics, including environmental and sportsman groups, (??)
said public lands provide recreational opportunities enjoyed by many Arizona residents and visitors.
[APP USERS: Click here for poll]
END
Arizona bill would make building private border wall easier
• Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated Press Writer
• Posted 5 hrs ago
https://www.azfamily.com/news/ap_cnn/arizona-bill-would-make-building-private-border-wall-easier/article_22fe5eec-3de2-11ea-af05-b31dc5585d6d.html
In this Jan. 10, 2020, photo, people work at a portion of border wall which is under construction in Yuma, Ariz.
Illegal border crossings have plummeted as the Trump administration has extended a policy
to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico for court hearings in the U.S.
(Source: AP Photo/Elliot Spagat)
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature would let property owners along the U.S.-Mexico border build a wall
without seeking a city or county construction permit under a measure that advanced Wednesday.
Republicans on the House Federal Relations Committee approved the measure in a 4-3 party-line vote,
saying state and local officials shouldn't be able to throw up barriers if they're philosophically opposed to building a border wall,
a signature promise of President Donald Trump.
[RELATED: GOP-backed bill would make it easier to build border wall on private property in Arizona]
"We all know President Trump can't do everything on his own," said Rep. Warren Petersen, a Gilbert Republican
and the House majority leader who sponsored the legislation.
"There's private companies, private property owners who are willing to help build the wall on their property."
Tom Tancredo, a former Colorado Republican congressman and high-profile anti-illegal immigration advocate,
pointed to a nonprofit organization that encountered red tape from local officials when it built a border wall on private land
near the New Mexico-Texas state line.
Tancredo is an advisory board member for the group, We Build the Wall.
[CBS 5 INVESTIGATES: Winners, losers with President Trump's border wall]
Art Del Cueto, vice president of the union representing Border Patrol agents, also urged lawmakers to advance the bill.
Most of Arizona's borderlands are publicly owned and would not be subject to the streamlined permitting process.
But Democrats questioned whether it was worth eliminating local control over construction projects to advance a barrier
they say is ineffective at stopping drug traffickers.
[RELATED: Federal judge allows private border wall construction to move ahead in Texas]
"I don't believe a border wall, no matter how tall you build it, is going to stop anything,"
said Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Democrat from Tucson.
There's no indication that state or local regulations have prevented Arizona landowners from building a wall on their own property,
said Rep. Reginald Bolding, a Democrat from Laveen.
The same committee also voted to require approval of the governor and Legislature before land could be sold to the federal government.
Rep. Mark Finchem, an Oro Valley Republican who sponsored the bill, said it would prevent the erosion of the property tax base,
which pays for a variety of state and local government services.
The federal government does not pay taxes on property it owns, which represents about 40 percent of the land in Arizona, according to state data.
Critics, including environmental and sportsman groups, (??)
said public lands provide recreational opportunities enjoyed by many Arizona residents and visitors.
[APP USERS: Click here for poll]
END
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
AZMEX F&F UPDATE 21-1-20
AZMEX F&F UPDATE 21 JAN 2020
Murder convictions upheld for 2 men in connection with border agent's death
By Associated Press
Published 17 hours ago
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/murder-convictions-upheld-for-2-men-in-connection-with-border-agents-death
PHOENIX - An appeals court has upheld murder convictions for two men in the 2010 fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent
whose death revealed the botched "Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling investigation.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed the murder convictions of Ivan Soto-Barraza
and Jesus Lionel Sanchez-Meza in Agent Brian Terry's death.
Terry was killed in a firefight north of the Arizona-Mexico border between U.S. agents
and men who had sneaked into the country to rob marijuana smugglers.
Two rifles bought by a gun-smuggling ring that was being monitored through
"Fast and Furious" were found at the scene of the firefight.
Authorities who conducted the investigation faced criticism for allowing suspected straw gun buyers
for a smuggling ring to walk away from gun shops in Arizona with weapons, rather than arrest them and seize the guns.
The investigation's failures were later examined in congressional hearings.
In all, seven people were charged in Terry's death.
Soto-Barraza, Jesus Lionel Sanchez-Meza and three others are serving life sentences after pleading guilty or being convicted.
While upholding all but one of their convictions against Soto-Barraza and Jesus Lionel Sanchez-Meza,
the appeals court threw out their conviction for discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
END
Murder convictions upheld for 2 men in connection with border agent's death
By Associated Press
Published 17 hours ago
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/murder-convictions-upheld-for-2-men-in-connection-with-border-agents-death
PHOENIX - An appeals court has upheld murder convictions for two men in the 2010 fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent
whose death revealed the botched "Fast and Furious" gun-smuggling investigation.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed the murder convictions of Ivan Soto-Barraza
and Jesus Lionel Sanchez-Meza in Agent Brian Terry's death.
Terry was killed in a firefight north of the Arizona-Mexico border between U.S. agents
and men who had sneaked into the country to rob marijuana smugglers.
Two rifles bought by a gun-smuggling ring that was being monitored through
"Fast and Furious" were found at the scene of the firefight.
Authorities who conducted the investigation faced criticism for allowing suspected straw gun buyers
for a smuggling ring to walk away from gun shops in Arizona with weapons, rather than arrest them and seize the guns.
The investigation's failures were later examined in congressional hearings.
In all, seven people were charged in Terry's death.
Soto-Barraza, Jesus Lionel Sanchez-Meza and three others are serving life sentences after pleading guilty or being convicted.
While upholding all but one of their convictions against Soto-Barraza and Jesus Lionel Sanchez-Meza,
the appeals court threw out their conviction for discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
END
Sunday, January 19, 2020
AZMEX UPDATE 19-1-20
AZMEX UPDATE 19 JAN 2020
Tucson police to quit taking funds from federal border-security grant
Justin Sayers Jan 18, 2020 Updated 16 hrs ago
https://tucson.com/news/local/tucson-police-to-quit-taking-funds-from-federal-border-security/article
_a7e5d96e-ee26-5a40-a136-eb16ae47bbd5.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
Mayor Regina Romero championed TPD Chief Chris Magnus' decision to reject the Stonegarden grant.
Rick Wiley / Arizona Daily Star
The Tucson Police Department has notified the federal government that it is withdrawing from participation
in the Operation Stonegarden border security grant program, arguing that it runs counter to TPD's mission
"and the expectation of the community we serve."
The department's move comes as Pima County continues to decide whether to also cease acceptance of the federal funding,
which provides local municipalities funding for costs associated with border security, whether it's for equipment, overtime or other uses.
The Tucson police disclosure was made in a Dec. 30 email to the department from Assistant Police Chief Kevin Hall.
He wrote that officials have advised the Arizona Department of Homeland Security, the governing body that administers the grant,
that it will no longer participate in the program, effective at the end of the month.
The email was obtained by the Arizona Daily Star this week through a public-records request.
"The department's Executive Leadership Team has determined that in the best interests of the department and community as whole,
we will no longer participate in the OPSG program, effective January 30, 2020," Hall wrote.
"The Arizona Department of Homeland Security, which administers the OPSG grant for the federal government, has been notified of this action
and is currently working with us to reconcile past equipment purchases and any residual funding that may extend past Jan. 30.
We appreciate the work and effort all of you have put forth over the years into the program
however it is simply not feasible for us to continue our participation."
The revelation of Tucson's decision comes days before Pima County is set to discuss whether to continue accepting the grant.
The Board of Supervisors had voted last year to accept the grant, with the condition that $200,000
be used to overcome costs incurred at the Casa Alitas shelter for migrants seeking asylum;
however, that request was denied by federal officials, who said the modification provided "no border security operational benefit,"
rendering void the supervisors decision.
Hall cited the federal government's decision regarding humanitarian aid as a reason for the police department's withdrawal.
"It has become increasingly difficult to blend the stated performance metrics/desired outcomes of the grant with TPD's mission
and the expectations of the community we serve," Hall wrote.
"One current example of this is the unwillingness of the federal government to allow even a small portion of OPSG grant funds
to be used to assistant county and municipal governments in addressing the costs associated with asylum seekers coming through our communities."
In an interview on Friday, TPD Police Chief Chris Magnus disclosed that the department made a similar request
to use 20% of their roughly $600,000 in Operation Stonegarden funding for humanitarian aid.
While the department had some previous issues in the more than decade they've utilized the grant,
Magnus said the denial of the reallocation "really seemed like the end of the line."
He ultimately said the grant was "not a great fit for the work we were doing"
and that he doesn't think halting the acceptance of the grant will have a major effect on the department's policing efforts
because the entirety of the money was being used for overtime for the officers.
"We have other overtime dollars that we have the capability using for various projects and activities," he said.
"I don't think this is going to have a significant impact on our ability to do crime prevention in the city." ( You betcha ! )
Tony Archibald, president of the Tucson Police Officers Association disagreed, saying the loss of Stonegarden
"is bad for public safety in our community."
"For years, this federally funded grant has paid for officer overtime to do proactive, on-site activity in high crime areas.
The Stonegarden deployments have resulted in hundreds of arrests that would not have occurred without this federal money.
Additionally, the Stonegarden deployments have taken countless guns and drugs off the streets of Tucson,"
he said in a prepared statement Friday.
"Without these federally funded overtime deployments, an already understaffed police department
will have a hard time addressing these crime issues."
The decision was backed by Mayor Regina Romero,
who said that in conversations with Magnus,
it became clear that continuing to accept the grant under the administration of President Trump would
"not make any sense based on the vision" (?) of the Police Department and City Council.
"We have taken time and again a position of defense of immigrants and refugees and all asylum seekers in our community," Romero said.
"From this discussion, in terms of Stonegarden to taking a position against Trump's border wall
to taking a position in favor of granting DACA recipients their permanent status …
we have taken a position for the benefit of each and every one of our residents, no matter their status."
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Meanwhile, the Pima County Board of Supervisors is set to again discuss whether to accept the grant when it meets Tuesday.
In the wake of the federal government's decision, Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier
asked the board to reconsider accepting the Federal Fiscal Year 2018 grant, which is worth $1.8 million,
with a few exceptions, including limiting the amount of overtime deputies could incur via Stonegarden.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, who previously said he "cannot and will not recommend" the acceptance of Stonegarden
without modification after a county analysis revealed a hefty taxpayer burden for the pension fund of deputies
who received Stonegarden overtime, recommended in a memo on Jan. 16 that the supervisors accept the grant, with some of Napier's conditions.
END
Contact reporter Justin Sayers at jsayers1@tucson.comor 573-4192. Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Facebook: JustinSSayers.
Tucson police to quit taking funds from federal border-security grant
Justin Sayers Jan 18, 2020 Updated 16 hrs ago
https://tucson.com/news/local/tucson-police-to-quit-taking-funds-from-federal-border-security/article
_a7e5d96e-ee26-5a40-a136-eb16ae47bbd5.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
Mayor Regina Romero championed TPD Chief Chris Magnus' decision to reject the Stonegarden grant.
Rick Wiley / Arizona Daily Star
The Tucson Police Department has notified the federal government that it is withdrawing from participation
in the Operation Stonegarden border security grant program, arguing that it runs counter to TPD's mission
"and the expectation of the community we serve."
The department's move comes as Pima County continues to decide whether to also cease acceptance of the federal funding,
which provides local municipalities funding for costs associated with border security, whether it's for equipment, overtime or other uses.
The Tucson police disclosure was made in a Dec. 30 email to the department from Assistant Police Chief Kevin Hall.
He wrote that officials have advised the Arizona Department of Homeland Security, the governing body that administers the grant,
that it will no longer participate in the program, effective at the end of the month.
The email was obtained by the Arizona Daily Star this week through a public-records request.
"The department's Executive Leadership Team has determined that in the best interests of the department and community as whole,
we will no longer participate in the OPSG program, effective January 30, 2020," Hall wrote.
"The Arizona Department of Homeland Security, which administers the OPSG grant for the federal government, has been notified of this action
and is currently working with us to reconcile past equipment purchases and any residual funding that may extend past Jan. 30.
We appreciate the work and effort all of you have put forth over the years into the program
however it is simply not feasible for us to continue our participation."
The revelation of Tucson's decision comes days before Pima County is set to discuss whether to continue accepting the grant.
The Board of Supervisors had voted last year to accept the grant, with the condition that $200,000
be used to overcome costs incurred at the Casa Alitas shelter for migrants seeking asylum;
however, that request was denied by federal officials, who said the modification provided "no border security operational benefit,"
rendering void the supervisors decision.
Hall cited the federal government's decision regarding humanitarian aid as a reason for the police department's withdrawal.
"It has become increasingly difficult to blend the stated performance metrics/desired outcomes of the grant with TPD's mission
and the expectations of the community we serve," Hall wrote.
"One current example of this is the unwillingness of the federal government to allow even a small portion of OPSG grant funds
to be used to assistant county and municipal governments in addressing the costs associated with asylum seekers coming through our communities."
In an interview on Friday, TPD Police Chief Chris Magnus disclosed that the department made a similar request
to use 20% of their roughly $600,000 in Operation Stonegarden funding for humanitarian aid.
While the department had some previous issues in the more than decade they've utilized the grant,
Magnus said the denial of the reallocation "really seemed like the end of the line."
He ultimately said the grant was "not a great fit for the work we were doing"
and that he doesn't think halting the acceptance of the grant will have a major effect on the department's policing efforts
because the entirety of the money was being used for overtime for the officers.
"We have other overtime dollars that we have the capability using for various projects and activities," he said.
"I don't think this is going to have a significant impact on our ability to do crime prevention in the city." ( You betcha ! )
Tony Archibald, president of the Tucson Police Officers Association disagreed, saying the loss of Stonegarden
"is bad for public safety in our community."
"For years, this federally funded grant has paid for officer overtime to do proactive, on-site activity in high crime areas.
The Stonegarden deployments have resulted in hundreds of arrests that would not have occurred without this federal money.
Additionally, the Stonegarden deployments have taken countless guns and drugs off the streets of Tucson,"
he said in a prepared statement Friday.
"Without these federally funded overtime deployments, an already understaffed police department
will have a hard time addressing these crime issues."
The decision was backed by Mayor Regina Romero,
who said that in conversations with Magnus,
it became clear that continuing to accept the grant under the administration of President Trump would
"not make any sense based on the vision" (?) of the Police Department and City Council.
"We have taken time and again a position of defense of immigrants and refugees and all asylum seekers in our community," Romero said.
"From this discussion, in terms of Stonegarden to taking a position against Trump's border wall
to taking a position in favor of granting DACA recipients their permanent status …
we have taken a position for the benefit of each and every one of our residents, no matter their status."
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Meanwhile, the Pima County Board of Supervisors is set to again discuss whether to accept the grant when it meets Tuesday.
In the wake of the federal government's decision, Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier
asked the board to reconsider accepting the Federal Fiscal Year 2018 grant, which is worth $1.8 million,
with a few exceptions, including limiting the amount of overtime deputies could incur via Stonegarden.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, who previously said he "cannot and will not recommend" the acceptance of Stonegarden
without modification after a county analysis revealed a hefty taxpayer burden for the pension fund of deputies
who received Stonegarden overtime, recommended in a memo on Jan. 16 that the supervisors accept the grant, with some of Napier's conditions.
END
Contact reporter Justin Sayers at jsayers1@tucson.comor 573-4192. Twitter: @_JustinSayers. Facebook: JustinSSayers.
TXMEX UPDATE 18-1-20
46-month sentence handed down in ammo smuggling case
Lorenzo Zazueta-Castro - January 18, 2020
https://www.themonitor.com/2020/01/18/46-month-sentence-handed-ammo-smuggling-case/
McALLEN — A man who attempted to smuggle several hundreds of rounds of ammunition into Mexico
faced his punishment Tuesday during a sentencing hearing.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Luis Arnoldo Curiel-Treviño to a 46-month prison sentence for his role
in a July 2019 attempt to enter into Mexico with 800 rounds of ammunition, court records show.
The 58-year-old man was arrested July 17, 2019, at the Hidalgo port of entry as he attempted to cross into Mexico
and after he was referred for a secondary inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the port.
During the secondary inspection, CBP officers found 700 rounds of "38 super ammunition,"
and 100 rounds of "45 auto ammunition" hidden within Curiel's vehicle.
Curiel, who was placed in custody and interviewed, told federal agents he was recruited by an unknown man in Mexico
for the purposes of smuggling illicit drugs into the United States from Mexico.
He told agents he received the money to purchase the ammunition and what ammunition to buy while in the U.S.
"(Curiel) stated (he) had previously purchased ammunition for the unnamed co-conspirator in Mexico
on at least two occasions," the complaint against Curiel read.
Curiel, who has been in custody since his July 2019 arrest, pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling goods
into the U.S. in October 2019, records show.
Curiel does not have legal status to remain in the country
and will likely be deported upon completion of his prison term.
lzazueta@themonitor.com
END
Lorenzo Zazueta-Castro - January 18, 2020
https://www.themonitor.com/2020/01/18/46-month-sentence-handed-ammo-smuggling-case/
McALLEN — A man who attempted to smuggle several hundreds of rounds of ammunition into Mexico
faced his punishment Tuesday during a sentencing hearing.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Luis Arnoldo Curiel-Treviño to a 46-month prison sentence for his role
in a July 2019 attempt to enter into Mexico with 800 rounds of ammunition, court records show.
The 58-year-old man was arrested July 17, 2019, at the Hidalgo port of entry as he attempted to cross into Mexico
and after he was referred for a secondary inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the port.
During the secondary inspection, CBP officers found 700 rounds of "38 super ammunition,"
and 100 rounds of "45 auto ammunition" hidden within Curiel's vehicle.
Curiel, who was placed in custody and interviewed, told federal agents he was recruited by an unknown man in Mexico
for the purposes of smuggling illicit drugs into the United States from Mexico.
He told agents he received the money to purchase the ammunition and what ammunition to buy while in the U.S.
"(Curiel) stated (he) had previously purchased ammunition for the unnamed co-conspirator in Mexico
on at least two occasions," the complaint against Curiel read.
Curiel, who has been in custody since his July 2019 arrest, pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling goods
into the U.S. in October 2019, records show.
Curiel does not have legal status to remain in the country
and will likely be deported upon completion of his prison term.
lzazueta@themonitor.com
END
Sunday, January 12, 2020
AZMEX SPECIAL 12 - 1 -20
AZMEX SPECIAL 12 JAN 2020
Mexicali border on red alert for the next 72 hours
By Alexandra Rangel
January 10, 2020 8:37 pm
Published
January 10, 2020
11:07 am
https://kyma.com/news/2020/01/10/mexicali-border-on-red-alert-for-the-next-72-hours/
Mexicali border on red alert for the next 72 hours
CBP cannot provide info on actions and response
UPDATE (1:52 P.M.) - Customs and Border Protection is not specifically addressing the threat head-on.
CBP said it cannot generally provide information on their specific law enforcement actions and responses.
"CBP officials are continually vigilant when it comes to securing our borders,
which includes being dynamic in our law enforcement preparations and responses.
On a daily basis, CBP personnel monitor current events and receive and share information from our law enforcement partners,
while making adjustments to operations as appropriate. While we generally cannot provide information
on our specific law enforcement actions and response, CBP is committed to the daily protection of the American people,"
said a CBP spokesperson when asked about the threat.
ORIGINAL
MEXICALI, B.C. (KYMA, KECY) - Mexicali Police Chief Maria Elena Andrade confirmed that a red alert has been issued
at the Mexicali border due to a possible Iranian terrorist threat.
According to Andrade, the terrorist advisory was received Thursday from Customs and Border Protection in Arizona.
"We received reports that four nationals of Iran possibly carrying explosives were going to attempt to cross the border
in the area of San Luis to Mexicali. We were told it was three men and a woman to be on the lookout for, " said Andrade.
Upon the alert issued, Operation Shield has now been activated in Mexicali.
According to Andrade, all law enforcement in the city is currently on high alert.
The chief said CBP asked Mexicali law enforcement to issue the alert for the next 48 hours,
but Andrade said she has extended the alert for 72 hours.
"We have no incident that has happened as of now, we are responding accordingly
and we will not underestimate these threats," said Andrade.
Andrade added that she was in contact with Border Patrol and U.S. Customs this morning.
We are still waiting to hear back from the El Centro Border Patrol Sector to see what they can confirm.
Stay with us as we get more information.
END
Mexicali border on red alert for the next 72 hours
By Alexandra Rangel
January 10, 2020 8:37 pm
Published
January 10, 2020
11:07 am
https://kyma.com/news/2020/01/10/mexicali-border-on-red-alert-for-the-next-72-hours/
Mexicali border on red alert for the next 72 hours
CBP cannot provide info on actions and response
UPDATE (1:52 P.M.) - Customs and Border Protection is not specifically addressing the threat head-on.
CBP said it cannot generally provide information on their specific law enforcement actions and responses.
"CBP officials are continually vigilant when it comes to securing our borders,
which includes being dynamic in our law enforcement preparations and responses.
On a daily basis, CBP personnel monitor current events and receive and share information from our law enforcement partners,
while making adjustments to operations as appropriate. While we generally cannot provide information
on our specific law enforcement actions and response, CBP is committed to the daily protection of the American people,"
said a CBP spokesperson when asked about the threat.
ORIGINAL
MEXICALI, B.C. (KYMA, KECY) - Mexicali Police Chief Maria Elena Andrade confirmed that a red alert has been issued
at the Mexicali border due to a possible Iranian terrorist threat.
According to Andrade, the terrorist advisory was received Thursday from Customs and Border Protection in Arizona.
"We received reports that four nationals of Iran possibly carrying explosives were going to attempt to cross the border
in the area of San Luis to Mexicali. We were told it was three men and a woman to be on the lookout for, " said Andrade.
Upon the alert issued, Operation Shield has now been activated in Mexicali.
According to Andrade, all law enforcement in the city is currently on high alert.
The chief said CBP asked Mexicali law enforcement to issue the alert for the next 48 hours,
but Andrade said she has extended the alert for 72 hours.
"We have no incident that has happened as of now, we are responding accordingly
and we will not underestimate these threats," said Andrade.
Andrade added that she was in contact with Border Patrol and U.S. Customs this morning.
We are still waiting to hear back from the El Centro Border Patrol Sector to see what they can confirm.
Stay with us as we get more information.
END
Thursday, January 9, 2020
AZMEX UPDATE 9-1-20
AZMEX UPDATE 9 JAN 2020
Private Texas company's planned border wall along Rio Grande can proceed, judge rules
By Frank Miles | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/us/private-texas-company-planned-border-wall-can-proceed-judge-rules
Exclusive: Company building border wall prototype speaks out
Fisher Sand & Gravel Company selected as a finalist; President and CEO Tommy Fisher explains his team's design on 'Fox & Friends.'
A federal judge lifted a temporary restraining order against a project to build a privately funded border wall next to the Rio Grande.
KTSM-9 TV reported that U.S. District Judge Randy Crane in McAllen, a southern Texas city,
ruled that the federal government failed to show that building the 18-foot-tall bollard fence made of galvanized steel s
o close to the river would shift the course of the river and disregard a 1970 international water treaty with Mexico.
Dating back to the Secure Fence Act of 2006, the U.S. largely avoided building right next to the Rio Grande.
The meandering river separating the U.S. and Mexico sustains wildlife in Texas
and provides fresh water to both countries through a series of dams and canals, defined by international treaty obligations.
To avoid violating those obligations by causing erosion or rerouting water from the river,
the U.S. has built much of the border wall in South Texas a mile or more away from its riverbank.
AMERICAN FAMILY ATTACKED ON HIGHWAY IN MEXICO SAYS 'BULLETS WERE EVERYWHERE' IN DEADLY RAMPAGE
Tommy Fisher, owner of Fisher Sand & Gravel, a North Dakota-based construction firm,
had been waiting for the chance to prove he can build President Trump's signature border wall faster and better than the government.
The U.S. had sued to stop Fisher's project on behalf of the International Boundary and Water Commission,
which oversees the river under treaty obligations.
The U.S. attorney's office argued the project could shift the river and the international boundary,
which violated the president's authority "to conduct the foreign relations of the United States."
Crane's order was the second federal ruling in two days in favor of border barriers.
On Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court's stay that had prevented the Trump administration
from diverting $3.6 billion from military construction projects to fund 175 miles of border wall.
FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019 photo, Tommy Fisher, right, talks with Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.,
at the lawmaker's office in Washington, D.C. (Sen. Kevin Cramer's office via AP, File)
"We're just happy that we can move forward with construction," Fisher said after the ruling, as KTSM-9 TV reported
. "We are building the right thing in this right position."
Fisher has said his crews could start work as soon as Sunday and finish in eight days.
Fisher has argued the government was being overly cautious by building walls far away from the river.
His crews plan to grade the riverbank and clear brush from the properties, which he says will improve water flow and reduce erosion.
"We've proved you can build right where the agents need it," Fisher said.
"It's not border security when you're a mile, two miles, three miles off the border."
Fisher's construction company, which has already won a $400 million border wall contract in Arizona,
wants to install three miles of steel posts roughly 35 feet from the U.S. bank of the river.
The posts would go on private land, with a concrete road behind them intended for law enforcement.
The project was originally announced by We Build the Wall, a Florida-based nonprofit founded in December 2018,
when Trump demanded $5 billion in wall funding from Democrats in Congress.
When Democrats refused, the resulting standoff led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Fisher's father, Gene Fisher, founded the company in 1952.
It has concrete, asphalt, drilling, mining and paving operations in 14 western states and sells construction equipment worldwide.
Fisher has said the government-funded border project would be the company's second-biggest,
after a $450 million bridge and highway project in Nevada.
"We're an open book. We want all of America to see what border security can be," Fisher said after the ruling,
as KTSM-9 TV reported. "If I didn't believe in this so strongly I wouldn't have taken a $40 million gamble on this."
In the 2018 election cycle, Fisher and his wife donated $10,800 to Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.,
who championed the company's ability to build the wall and made Fisher his guest at Trump's 2018 State of the Union address.
"He loves Donald Trump, and he's a builder like Donald Trump.
Of course, he's a supporter of the president's immigration policy,"
said Cramer, who said he didn't know Fisher until Trump began pushing for a border wall.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
END
Private Texas company's planned border wall along Rio Grande can proceed, judge rules
By Frank Miles | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/us/private-texas-company-planned-border-wall-can-proceed-judge-rules
Exclusive: Company building border wall prototype speaks out
Fisher Sand & Gravel Company selected as a finalist; President and CEO Tommy Fisher explains his team's design on 'Fox & Friends.'
A federal judge lifted a temporary restraining order against a project to build a privately funded border wall next to the Rio Grande.
KTSM-9 TV reported that U.S. District Judge Randy Crane in McAllen, a southern Texas city,
ruled that the federal government failed to show that building the 18-foot-tall bollard fence made of galvanized steel s
o close to the river would shift the course of the river and disregard a 1970 international water treaty with Mexico.
Dating back to the Secure Fence Act of 2006, the U.S. largely avoided building right next to the Rio Grande.
The meandering river separating the U.S. and Mexico sustains wildlife in Texas
and provides fresh water to both countries through a series of dams and canals, defined by international treaty obligations.
To avoid violating those obligations by causing erosion or rerouting water from the river,
the U.S. has built much of the border wall in South Texas a mile or more away from its riverbank.
AMERICAN FAMILY ATTACKED ON HIGHWAY IN MEXICO SAYS 'BULLETS WERE EVERYWHERE' IN DEADLY RAMPAGE
Tommy Fisher, owner of Fisher Sand & Gravel, a North Dakota-based construction firm,
had been waiting for the chance to prove he can build President Trump's signature border wall faster and better than the government.
The U.S. had sued to stop Fisher's project on behalf of the International Boundary and Water Commission,
which oversees the river under treaty obligations.
The U.S. attorney's office argued the project could shift the river and the international boundary,
which violated the president's authority "to conduct the foreign relations of the United States."
Crane's order was the second federal ruling in two days in favor of border barriers.
On Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court's stay that had prevented the Trump administration
from diverting $3.6 billion from military construction projects to fund 175 miles of border wall.
FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019 photo, Tommy Fisher, right, talks with Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.,
at the lawmaker's office in Washington, D.C. (Sen. Kevin Cramer's office via AP, File)
"We're just happy that we can move forward with construction," Fisher said after the ruling, as KTSM-9 TV reported
. "We are building the right thing in this right position."
Fisher has said his crews could start work as soon as Sunday and finish in eight days.
Fisher has argued the government was being overly cautious by building walls far away from the river.
His crews plan to grade the riverbank and clear brush from the properties, which he says will improve water flow and reduce erosion.
"We've proved you can build right where the agents need it," Fisher said.
"It's not border security when you're a mile, two miles, three miles off the border."
Fisher's construction company, which has already won a $400 million border wall contract in Arizona,
wants to install three miles of steel posts roughly 35 feet from the U.S. bank of the river.
The posts would go on private land, with a concrete road behind them intended for law enforcement.
The project was originally announced by We Build the Wall, a Florida-based nonprofit founded in December 2018,
when Trump demanded $5 billion in wall funding from Democrats in Congress.
When Democrats refused, the resulting standoff led to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
Fisher's father, Gene Fisher, founded the company in 1952.
It has concrete, asphalt, drilling, mining and paving operations in 14 western states and sells construction equipment worldwide.
Fisher has said the government-funded border project would be the company's second-biggest,
after a $450 million bridge and highway project in Nevada.
"We're an open book. We want all of America to see what border security can be," Fisher said after the ruling,
as KTSM-9 TV reported. "If I didn't believe in this so strongly I wouldn't have taken a $40 million gamble on this."
In the 2018 election cycle, Fisher and his wife donated $10,800 to Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.,
who championed the company's ability to build the wall and made Fisher his guest at Trump's 2018 State of the Union address.
"He loves Donald Trump, and he's a builder like Donald Trump.
Of course, he's a supporter of the president's immigration policy,"
said Cramer, who said he didn't know Fisher until Trump began pushing for a border wall.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
END
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