FBI: Guerro tried to bribe, threaten Mexican police Agent testifies former Hidalgo County district clerk claimed ties to drug cartel

Andres Martinez
June 21, 2007 - 11:49AM
More on Omar!

EDINBURG TX — Mexican authorities kicked Omar Guerrero out of the country in February because he offered a $50,000 bribe to a police commander and threatened him by saying he had ties to the Gulf Cartel, an FBI agent said in a pretrial hearing Thursday.

“He denied he was Omar Guerrero,” said Jorge Cisneros, the FBI agent who picked Guerrero up in Reynosa on Feb. 17.

“He kept saying to me in Spanish, ‘I want my father.’”

Cisneros, who often serves as the FBI’s local spokesman, was a state witness in a pretrial hearing in Guerrero’s sexual assault case before Judge Aida Salinas Flores in the 398th state District Court.

Guerrero, the former Hidalgo County district clerk, is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Mission girl. A warrant was issued for his arrest in December, but he fled to Mexico. Prosecutor Judith Cantu said the fact that Guerrero hid in Mexico for two months proves he admits guilt.

Defense attorney Ric Salinas questioned Cisneros' testimony, because Cisneros had not filed a report about Guerrero's exchange with Mexican police.

Cisneros said it was neither procedure nor customary for an agent executing a warrant for unlawful flight from prosecution to file a report. He added that he passed along any useful information to the FBI agents who were handling the Guerrero case.

Mexican authorities, who had been alerted to the search for Guerrero, arrested him at a Reynosa 7-11 store.

Back at the police station, he told the Mexican officers in Spanish that he was a Mexican citizen and that he was not the man for whom they were looking, Cisneros said.

When immigration police found out he was not a Mexican national, they handed him over to Cisneros.

On Thursday, Cisneros said Guerrero switched to English once he crossed the international bridge and that he claimed Mexican police asked him for a $10,000 bribe.


Jury questions

Judge Flores did not rule whether Cisneros’ testimony would be allowed during the trial.

She did manage to review questions that the defense is expected to use to weed out potential jurors starting next week.

About 150 people are set to receive the questionnaire Monday.

They will fill it out and then the attorneys will have two days to pick a jury.

Flores ordered the unusually large number of potential jurors because she feels there will be some difficulties finding unbiased jurors based on the media coverage surrounding Guerrero.


Heated arguments

So far, the proceedings in the case have been marked largely by the spirited arguments that have taken place between Salinas and Cantu, the attorneys.

Flores has already warned both attorneys that if they continue to attack each other’s credibility she will hold them in contempt.

Thursday was no different.

Twice, the judge admonished the attorneys.

The first time was when Salinas kept interrupting her, complaining about Cantu’s remarks about him.

“You are as guilty of making disparaging remarks as she is,” the judge said to Salinas. “If I am not looking at you, you may not speak.”

Flores’ second warning was directed at Cantu, who complained Salinas was insulting her.

“Do two wrongs make a right?” the judge said.

“Then stop it.”
____
Andres R. Martinez covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.

McAllen Chamber president calls for wall around nation's capital

Tongue-in-cheek petition intented to bring attention to 'silly' federal plan for border fence

James Osborne
June 19, 2007 - 4:56PM

McALLEN TX — What do you do when the federal government announces it’s going to build a large, metal fence through your community and there’s nothing you can do to stop it?

Write your members of Congress, complain on talk radio … suggest a wall be built around Washington, D.C., and e-mail everyone you can think of to make it happen.

Steve Ahlenius, president of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, sent out an e-mail to 140 media outlets nationwide Tuesday morning with the subject line: “McAllen, Texas calls for wall around Washington D.C.”

“We feel the need to protect ourselves from bad legislation, bad ideas and a waste of tax money,” Ahlenius wrote.

“A wall around their homes and businesses will give the legislators and Washington bureaucrats a better understanding of what kind of message this action will send.

“Let’s see if they decide to climb over it, tunnel under it, or walk over it.”

Ahlenius’ grab for the news spotlight comes six weeks after a confidential U.S. Department of Homeland Security map was leaked to the media, detailing the location of 370 miles of security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Federal officials have since called the map “preliminary,” but the document set off a firestorm of protest up and down the Texas border with Mexico.

Ahlenius, who has been vocal about the negative impact the fence could have on McAllen’s burgeoning retail sector, said he wrote the e-mail to try to garner more attention for the issue.

“It’s really a tongue-in-cheek thing to bring some focus in on how silly their proposal is,” he said.

“In Washington (D.C.) they don’t speak the language and understand the culture down here.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, Ahlenius said he had only received a couple of media phone calls, one from an Univision outlet in Miami that conducted a quick interview.

Still, McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez — who had yet to read the e-mail when contacted Tuesday afternoon — dropped high praise on Ahlenius for his efforts.

“I’m glad he’s taking a proactive role in bringing attention to this issue,” the mayor said. “There has not been a proper debate on the issue of the border fence and immigration yet.”

As for Ahlenius, while Congress probably won’t be approving his plans for a wall around Washington, D.C., anytime soon, he remains hopeful plans for the fence here will be scaled back.

“Like us putting a wall around Washington (D.C.), how silly is that for us to talk about? That’s how we feel about what they’re doing,” Ahlenius said.

“We’re trying to put to people — what would you do if they decided to build a fence around your town?”
____

James Osborne covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428.

Cartel's enforcers outpower their boss Zetas grow into paramilitary group now hitting Mexico's casinos

12:03 AM CDT on Monday, June 11, 2007
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchado@dallasnews.com

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico – Even in a country accustomed to gangland violence, the news is disquieting.

In coordinated strikes, armed men rob at least five casinos in four states, killing a bystander and escaping with bundles of money. In the northern state of Sonora, an attack on a police station leaves five officers dead and announces the arrival of a new criminal force in the region. The likely culprit in both cases: the Zetas, a ruthless organization that was virtually unheard of just five years ago.

The Zetas, created by a group of highly trained military deserters to work as enforcers for the Gulf drug cartel, have become so powerful that their old handlers are quickly losing control, authorities said.

The group, first concentrated along Mexico's border with Texas, has evolved into a powerful threat in its own right, spreading its brand of brutal violence into 31 Mexican states as it battles for control of new regions and key border entry points, U.S. and Mexican authorities say.

"The Zetas have clearly become the biggest, most serious threat to the nation's security," said Raul Benitez, a Mexico security expert at American University in Washington, D.C.

"Now they want to control the nation's drug routes and along the way topple the traditional cartel leaders," said Mr. Benitez. "We're witnessing a classic coup under way."

Among the newly targeted border areas is Ciudad Juárez, the city across the border from El Paso and long the stronghold of the Juárez cartel, authorities said. The Zetas also have made inroads in Acapulco, Monterrey and Veracruz, usually with a flurry of high-profile killings of police and other officials.

Working with brutal Central American gangs and former death squads from Guatemala known as Kaibiles, the Zetas have morphed into a 2,000-member paramilitary organization operating in most of Mexico, including the Federal District, Mexico City, according to U.S. law enforcement officials and academic experts who monitor the group. Mexican authorities declined to estimate the size of the force.

"The combination of Kaibiles and former Mexican elite military units forms a deadly triangle that represents the perfect threat to Mexico," Mr. Benitez said.

Former Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas, who recruited the original Zetas – numbering about 50 and many with training in the U.S., Israel and Colombia – was extradited to the U.S. in January. With him out of the picture, the group has become more independent, officials say.

Growing rift
One U.S. law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said clear signs have emerged of a growing rift between the Gulf cartel and their enforcers. The mistrust is so great that leaders of both organizations – Jorge Eduardo Costilla-Sanchez, known as El Coss, the reputed leader of the Gulf cartel, and Heriberto Lazcano, known as El Verdugo, "The Executioner," head of the Zetas, communicate strictly via teleconference or through intermediaries.

"The Gulf cartel created the lion, but now the lion has wised up and controls the handler," said the U.S. law enforcement official, on condition of anonymity. "This has resulted in the lion roaming free and leaving a bloody trail of chaos. The Zetas don't ask the Gulf cartel permission for anything anymore. They simply inform them of their activities, whenever they feel like it."

Elements of the Zetas have been operating in U.S. cities as well, including Dallas, where hits have been ordered for at least three years now, according to a 2005 U.S. Justice Department memo. In March, a man who killed a Dallas police officer had apparent ties to a possible associate of the Zetas, Dallas police said.

Across Mexico, the Zetas' tentacles have spread from Nuevo Laredo and the state of Tamaulipas to more than 24 other states, including Nuevo León, Tabasco, Veracruz, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sonora, Baja California, Chihuahua and even Mexico City, which previously was largely exempt from the executions recorded almost daily elsewhere.

Police recently found unexploded grenades in two subway stations, and there has been a steady number of drug-style executions. Signs have gone up in key intersections urging the Zetas out of the nation's capital.

In Ciudad Juárez, across from El Paso, at least six law enforcement officials have been killed in the last two weeks, apparently the work of the Zetas, U.S. authorities say. Police officers are on high alert, and many have canceled vacations.

"Their modus operandi is very similar to operations in [the states of] Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Tabasco," said Julio Fentanes, a spokesman for the Juárez's municipal police. "Their style of operation, use of brand-new stolen SUVs [and] high-powered weapons, is similar to those of other commando groups that we have heard of in other territories."

The Gulf cartel is battling the Sinaloa cartel for control of key drug distribution routes, including Interstate 35, which begins across the border from Nuevo Laredo. Nationwide, more than 1,200 people have been killed in Mexico this year, according to an unofficial tally by the Mexico City newspaper El Universal.

Since winning by a narrow margin in last year's election, Felipe Calderón has made confronting the drug cartels the focal point of his presidency. He has deployed troops in several states, including Michoacán, Guerrero and Tabasco, and the cities of Tijuana and Monterrey.

So far, most of those killed have been drug traffickers, soldiers and law enforcement officials, but a few civilians have been killed.

On Wednesday, an 18-year-old student identified as Karen Siller Gomez was killed as she and her sister were entering the Caliente casino bar in Saltillo, Coahuila. Last week, casinos in the states of Nuevo León, Veracruz, Coahuila and Baja California were robbed in what a U.S. law enforcement official says were coordinated hits by the Zetas to pressure casino owners to let them in on the business.

On Sunday, Mexico City's Reforma newspaper reported that 26 casinos in 11 states had shut down because of pressure from drug cartels.

Control regions
Mexico's leading news magazine, Proceso, quoted Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora as telling Mexican legislators that the Zetas are in control of several regions of the country and have also been "taking control of several of our police forces, corrupting them. ... They're taking our police away." A spokeswoman later confirmed Mr. Medina Mora's comments.

The Zetas' strategy is to gain control of distribution routes into the U.S. by controlling border entry points and transshipment points, U.S. and Mexican authorities said.

In recent months, a shadowy new group known as La Gente Nueva, or "the new people," has entered the scene. La Gente Nueva, according to both U.S. and Mexican authorities, represents an effort to counter the Zetas' growing reach. The band of mostly former police officers appears to be receiving funding from the Sinaloa cartel and has set out also to avenge the lives of hundreds of police officers killed by the Zetas, authorities said.

La Gente Nueva is also known for brutality, with torture and decapitation of its victims shown on videos, some of them posted on Web sites. Some authorities have compared the group to Colombia's Los Pepes, a vigilante group formed in the 1990s to track down and kill drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. Los Pepes evolved into the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, a paramilitary group whose human rights abuses continue to haunt the South American nation.

The latest threatening note allegedly written by La Gente Nueva was left on a decapitated head in the Gulf state of Veracruz. It accused the state's top law enforcement officials of protecting the Zetas, saying, "[The officials] who work for the disgusting Zetas are going to end up just like this guy."

Police testify immigrant was drunk, combative after fatal wreck

By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
June 22, 2007

The first officer to arrive at the scene of Saturday’s fatal car wreck that killed TSU senior Joycelyn Gardiner testified on Thursday that the driver of the large SUV that collided with the victim’s sedan was belligerent, combative and smelling of alcohol, and that he tried multiple times to flee the scene.

The driver of that Ford Expedition, Victor Benitez, 24, has been charged with vehicular homicide. Following his arrest, he was identified as an illegal immigrant from Mexico and is still being held in the Metro jail indefinitely at the request of federal immigration authorities.

Benitez on Thursday made his first court appearance since the crash. He glared angrily at witnesses testifying against him as he listened under headphones to the proceedings being translated into Spanish.

One of those witnesses, Metro Police Officer William Williams, testified that when he arrived at the scene at the intersection of Nolensville Road and Old Hickory Boulevard, he approached Benitez’s window after calling for an ambulance for the driver of the sedan.

Immediately, Williams smelled “a strong smell of alcoholic beverage” coming from Benitez and saw that his eyes were bloodshot and his speech — littered with expletives —was slurred, he testified.

“He began to use profanity,” Williams continued. “He stated that he didn’t hit anybody, was not involved in the crash and that he was just going to go home.”

Benitez even attempted to restart his disabled car in an apparent effort to drive away, Williams said.

Williams also said Benitez, who showed signs of being under the influence, later attempted to resist his arrest.

“When we got him out of the car he balled up his fists and made a motion like he was going to resist us,” Williams said.

Benitez has not been charged with any other offense other than vehicular homicide. Prosecutor Jim Sledge explained that the state is charging only the most serious offense for the time being, but that Benitez may be indicted on additional charges.

Two others who took the stand, including an eyewitness, confirmed additional details about the crash.

Kent Redgrave III, who was in a taxi stopped at the intersection, said he saw Benitez’s SUV “fly by” the cab, go through their red light into the intersection and plow into the victim’s sedan.

“There was no sound of brakes or anything,” Redgrave said.

Metro Police crash investigator Officer Joseph Jakes confirmed the absence of skid marks from Benitez’s vehicle, which indicated he did not brake prior to the impact.

Jakes also testified that he was able to establish that Benitez was speeding, and that his excessive speed was a contributing factor to the severity of the crash.

Redgrave said that, as soon as the cars had come to a stop, he rushed over to Gardiner’s car, checked for her pulse and unbuckled her seatbelt to help her breathe.

“I could see her chest rising and falling so I knew she was breathing,” Redgrave said.

Gardiner was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where she was pronounced dead approximately one hour and 15 minutes after the crash.

Family and friends of Gardiner — a Texas native, TSU women’s track team member and future law student — sat in the back of the courtroom for most of the hearing, but left early, declining to speak with any reporters.

Sledge described them as “the sweetest family in the world” and said they have suffered a terrible tragedy.

“This lady was simply driving down the road, going home to get a change of clothes,” Sledge said. “Ninety-eight percent of people that are killed in vehicular homicide cases, either by reckless driving or intoxication, are completely innocent victims… I can’t even tell you how traumatic these cases are.”

June 22, 2007, 9:27PM
Houston Chronicle

Republicans propose immigration crackdown amendment

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — New requirements to track down, deport and permanently bar people who overstay their visas would be added to a broad immigration bill under a GOP bid to attract more Republican support.

The amendment, which also would prevent illegal immigrants from gaining lawful status until they pass a background check, is one of those the Senate will consider next week when it returns its attention to the immigration measure. The bill is likely to see a final vote by month's end.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., an architect of a broader deal to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants, said today that the amendment "will help substantially" in persuading his Republican colleagues to support the compromise.

He is sponsoring the proposal with GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mel Martinez of Florida.

The legislation has sparked outrage among conservatives who contend it gives amnesty to lawbreakers, and has been met with deep suspicion by Republicans who say their constituents have no faith that laws cracking down on illegal immigrants will be enforced.

Kyl said the outcry in the country is such "that senators appreciate the fact that we've got to show that we're serious now."

To assuage the concerns, Democrats and Republicans already have added $4.4 billion in mandatory spending to the bill to be used for border enforcement efforts and weeding out illegal workers from U.S. workplaces.

Still, the enforcement amendment is necessary "to illustrate to people that we're really serious about making this bill as good as it can possibly be," Kyl said.

Senate leaders plan to revive the stalled immigration measure on Tuesday, with a test-vote and consideration of a limited list of amendments designed to win enough converts to carry it to passage by the end of the week.

They're facing an uphill battle, though, given that many GOP waverers targeted as potential supporters are saying they won't back resurrecting the measure.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and Georgia Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson have all said they would oppose the effort, despite the fact that proposals by Hutchison, Chambliss and Isakson all won coveted slots on a list of two dozen amendments that would be considered before the bill is completed.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. — whose amendment to help family members of citizens and legal permanent residents qualify for green cards also is slated for a vote — accused leaders of rigging next week's debate to give the advantage to Republicans bent on weighing down the bill with punitive measures.

"The process is tilted far to the right, far to the right and it has provided little to no chance for those of us trying to bring the bill closer to where it was last year — which is to the middle — that opportunity," Menendez said.

His proposal would award more points to relatives of citizens and permanent legal residents in a new merit-based system for allocating green cards. It would strip a condition that such family credit only counts if an applicant has substantial other qualifications, such as education, skill-level and English proficiency.

The bill would end the practice of granting relatives of citizens and permanent legal residents permanent residency based solely on family ties.

"All our amendment says is, 'Hey, what has been a bedrock principle of immigration law for well over four decades should not be totally abandoned, and that family, in our society, does have a value,'" Menendez said.

Kyl called Menendez's amendment "a nonstarter" that would have a "pernicious effect on the work-visa merit system."

Many of the proposals up for debate next week would pose major problems for the bill if approved. Republican amendments to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to gain legal status or permanent residency would likely alienate enough Democrats to put the bill in jeopardy. Democratic attempts to boost family based immigration similarly could peel off Republican support for the measure.

The Bush administration is vigorously fighting a bipartisan amendment by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., to replace the employee verification system with one that would require fewer workers to be checked for legal status.

June 23, 2007, 3:41AM
Houston Chronicle

GOP seeks more immigration enforcement

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — New requirements to track down, deport and permanently bar people who overstay their visas would be added to a broad immigration bill under a GOP bid to attract more Republican support.

The amendment, which also would prevent illegal immigrants from gaining lawful status until they pass a background check, is one of those the Senate will consider next week when it returns its attention to the immigration measure. The bill is likely to see a final vote by month's end.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., an architect of a broader deal to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants, said Friday that the amendment "will help substantially" in persuading his Republican colleagues to support the compromise.

He is sponsoring the proposal with GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mel Martinez of Florida.

The legislation has sparked outrage among conservatives who contend it gives amnesty to lawbreakers, and has been met with deep suspicion by Republicans who say their constituents have no faith that laws cracking down on illegal immigrants will be enforced.

Kyl said the outcry in the country is such "that senators appreciate the fact that we've got to show that we're serious now."

To assuage the concerns, Democrats and Republicans already have added $4.4 billion in mandatory spending to the bill to be used for border enforcement efforts and weeding out illegal workers from U.S. workplaces.

Still, the enforcement amendment is necessary "to illustrate to people that we're really serious about making this bill as good as it can possibly be," Kyl said.

Senate leaders plan to revive the stalled immigration measure on Tuesday, with a test-vote and consideration of a limited list of amendments designed to win enough converts to carry it to passage by the end of the week.

They're facing an uphill battle, though, given that many GOP waverers targeted as potential supporters are saying they won't back resurrecting the measure.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and Georgia Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson have all said they would oppose the effort, despite the fact that proposals by Hutchison, Chambliss and Isakson all won coveted slots on a list of two dozen amendments that would be considered before the bill is completed.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. — whose amendment to help family members of citizens and legal permanent residents qualify for green cards is also slated for a vote — accused leaders of rigging next week's debate to give the advantage to Republicans bent on weighing down the bill with punitive measures.

"The process is tilted far to the right, far to the right and it has provided little to no chance for those of us trying to bring the bill closer to where it was last year — which is to the middle — that opportunity," Menendez said.

His proposal would award more points to relatives of citizens and permanent legal residents in a new merit-based system for allocating green cards. It would strip a condition that such family credit only counts if an applicant has substantial other qualifications, such as education, skill-level and English proficiency.

The bill would end the practice of granting relatives of citizens and permanent legal residents permanent residency based solely on family ties.

"All our amendment says is, 'Hey, what has been a bedrock principle of immigration law for well over four decades should not be totally abandoned, and that family, in our society, does have a value,'" Menendez said.

Kyl called Menendez's amendment "a nonstarter" that would have a "pernicious effect on the work-visa merit system."

Many of the proposals up for debate next week would pose major problems for the bill if approved. Republican amendments to make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to gain legal status or permanent residency would likely alienate enough Democrats to put the bill in jeopardy. Democratic attempts to boost family based immigration similarly could peel off Republican support for the measure.

The Bush administration is vigorously fighting a bipartisan amendment by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., to replace the employee verification system with one that would require fewer workers to be checked for legal status.

The Mexican Will See You Now J. Emilio

Flores for The New York Times
ON THE BEAT

Gustavo Arellano, an author and a columnist in Orange County, Calif.

By MIREYA NAVARRO
Published: June 24, 2007
SANTA ANA, Calif.

J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

LA FAMILIA Gustavo Arellano, center with his parents, Maria De La Luz and Lorenzo Arellano, and their home in Anaheim, Calif.
IT started out as a joke.

A few years ago, Will Swaim, then the editor of The OC Weekly, had noticed a billboard showing a wildly popular Los Angeles radio morning show D.J., Eduardo Sotelo (known as Piolín or Tweety Bird), posing cross-eyed under a Viking hat.

He had no idea what it meant.

“Why not ask readers to send in questions about Mexicans?” he asked Gustavo Arellano, his food editor and investigative reporter. Mr. Arellano, a Mexican-American and the only Latino on staff of the alternative newspaper in Orange County, complied by making up the first question: “Dear Mexican: Why do Mexicans call white people gringos?” — and answering in jest that “only gringos call gringos gringos.” (He said Mexicans preferred the derogatory term “gabachos.”)

So began a new Q. and A. column, “¡Ask a Mexican!” which made its debut in November 2004 and unleashed a torrent of criticism and attention, not to mention questions. Among them: What’s with the Mexican need to display the Virgin of Guadalupe everywhere? (“We can display our saints as comfortably in a cathedral as we do on hubcaps,” came part of the answer.) Less than three years later, the column appears in two dozen alternative newsweeklies (and it will run in The Village Voice starting this week), and has been compiled in a book of the same name published in May by Scribner.

In the process, “¡Ask a Mexican!” has turned its 28-year-old author into both a pundit, sought after by national news media to comment on all things Mexican, and a pariah. Many of his Mexican readers complain in letters to the editor, and now to bookstores, that he reinforces stereotypes, mischaracterizes aspects of the culture and promotes hate under the guise of humor.

Regardless of how Mr. Arellano is viewed, his column has served to open a window on how society sees its largest immigrant population. It seems especially relevant now, with the president’s immigration reform bill having been derailed in part by constituents outraged over an amnesty provision.

“I have no problem with immigrants,” one questioner of Dutch and Irish descent wrote recently to “¡Ask a Mexican!” “What I can’t stand are a bunch of fence-hopping, river-wading illegals telling me I owe them a free education, free health care and free transportation and then making me speak Spanish at every restaurant, car wash and public school.”

The questions pour in at the rate of 50 a week, revealing confusion, curiosity, anger and xenophobia. “Part of the joke is the assumption that the reader doesn’t know any Mexicans,” said Ted Kissell, editor of The OC Weekly. Mr. Arellano, he noted, “is a surrogate Mexican for our English-speaking readership.”

Mr. Arellano, born in Anaheim to Mexican immigrants, one of them a father who crossed the border illegally several times starting in the 1960s, doesn’t deny that his satire is not for everyone. “I use the column to give the straight dope but also be as rude as possible to people who deserve it,” he explained. Accordingly, his responses often cite studies and statistics in a flurry of profanity. And he tackles some questions with the gusto of someone who not only wants to set the record straight but also wants to settle scores.

“Gracias for illustrating the great double standard in America’s immigration policy,” Mr. Arellano wrote in response to a reader who suggested that Mexicans stay in Mexico to improve their own country. “Centuries of immigrant waves chose not to improve their homelands and to try their luck in a new land, and we rightfully celebrate their pluck as pioneers. Yet when Mexicans follow in the footsteps of our gabacho forefathers, we accuse them of lacking self-motivation and want to shut down the border.”

Then, in typical fashion, he used an epithet to refer to the reader and challenged him to give up his cheap labor and “taco-and-enchilada combos.”


ON a recent afternoon at his cubicle, Mr. Arellano scrolled through a 170-page long backlog of questions. He said questions related to culture are the most common, showing his readership’s appetite for understanding everything from Mexicans’ fascination with telenovelas to the lyrics of “La Bamba.” They are all real questions, Mr. Arellano says, even if he grants anonymity to encourage candidness. Most queries come via e-mail, to themexican@askthemexican.net, and many come from Mexicans and other Latinos mystified by aspects of their culture. Mr. Arellano, who holds a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, consults experts, libraries and databanks to lob back the grenades. But he argues that his qualifications also come from growing up in Orange County, which is one third Latino and the birthplace of the Minuteman Project, an anti-illegal immigration group, and Proposition 187, the 1990s voter-approved initiative denying public services to illegal immigrants.

“My father was an illegal immigrant,” he said. “My mom was a tomato canner. They live their lives in Spanish. My parents are the immigrants that conservatives hate.”

But his father later became a citizen and now favors immigration controls, a transformation Mr. Arellano uses to argue that his family, including three siblings, is proof that Mexicans assimilate like any other previous wave of immigrants.

Skip to next paragraph

Lars Klove for The New York Times
Mr. Arellano, who describes his own Spanish as “atrocious,” began writing for The OC Weekly while in college and landed a full-time job there in 2003. In addition to the “¡Ask a Mexican!” column, he writes for the opinion pages of The Los Angeles Times as a contributing editor and answers questions once a month on several local radio shows.

While comfortable in the role of pundit — he’s answered questions on national television like “If anybody should be mad, shouldn’t it be the U.S. toward Mexico?” (Sean Hannity of Fox News) and “Why should I have to press 1 to get English?” (Stephen Colbert, “The Colbert Report”) — he quickly sets straight those who take him for a comedian.

“A movie director told me, ‘You can be the next Cantinflas,’ ” he said, referring to Mario Moreno, a revered Mexican comic actor who died in 1993. “I just said ‘No, no, you’re missing the point. This is satire. Outrageousness mixed in with jarring truth.’ ”

Indeed, Mr. Arellano manages both to amuse and outrage. He sometimes adopts the sexist, homophobic and racist language of some of his readers and is as likely to mock ***s as Guatemalans and Chicano-studies programs.

The logo for the column — a smiling mustachioed man with a gold tooth and a sombrero — has brought many complaints, to which Mr. Arellano has jokingly answered that his father looks like that.

Mr. Arellano, who says ultimately his purpose is to debunk myths and misconceptions, said that he is trying to rob stereotypical images and slurs of their power by appropriating them. But Mr. Kissell says letters to the editor run 50-50 for and against the column.

“I don’t see the humor in the way he describes our culture,” said Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County, a civil rights group. “He’s feeding the prurient interest of people who are against Mexicans.”

But admirers appreciate his honesty and some say that Mr. Arellano’s attitude is a function of his youth and education.

“In a way I can say I’m proud that we have someone who has the guts to go out there and tell it like it is,” said Rueben Martínez, owner of Librería Martínez Books and Art Gallery in Santa Ana, where Mr. Arellano drew a throng of 500 people at a book-signing last month (and where employees fielded calls from a few customers urging the bookstore to drop the book.)

Anthea Raymond, president of the Los Angeles Press Club, which last week gave Mr. Arellano its President’s Award for his cultural commentary, said the different reactions to Mr. Arellano’s style may be generational, in the same way the civil rights and hip-hop generations diverge among African-Americans. But she said his humor helps bridge the cultural divide “at a time we really need that.”

Though Mr. Arellano’s job description may be professional Mexican, his ambition is decidedly American: he dreams of being the host of a one-hour radio show about “The Simpsons,” which he cites as a major influence in teaching him how “to be hilarious and offer substance at the same time.” For now, he has another book due for Scribner that is part memoir, part history of Orange County.

With his advance in “the mid-six figures” for the two-book deal, he bought a 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. But always instructive, he noted that doing so was not necessarily a Mexican thing.

“The Mexican thing would be to buy a humongous truck,” he said. “That would be Mexican.”

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Past Coverage

Published: 06.23.2007

Risks for border crossers on Web Site gives chances of dying, based on day's high temperatures

CLAUDINE LoMONACO
Tucson Citizen

There's a 48 percent chance Monday that someone will die illegally crossing the border in Pima County, a 52 percent chance Tuesday, and a 60 percent chance Wednesday, when temperatures are expected to top out at 107 degrees.

The predictions come from a new Web site designed to prevent migrant deaths by advising people how dangerous the U.S.-Mexico border is on any given day.

They are based on research from the University of Arizona's department of emergency medicine that analyzed the number of migrant deaths from 2002-05 in Pima County. The busiest and deadliest corridor for illegal immigrants along the Southwest border is in Pima County, with deaths clustered around the Altar Valley and the Tohono O'odham Nation.

"This is the most lethal disease in Arizona, period," said Dr. Samuel M. Keim, the UA associate professor of emergency medicine who led the study and helped design the Web site. "If there's maybe 1,000 to 2,000 border crossers out in the desert today, and the risk is greater than a 50 percent chance that one or more of them will die, no other disease striking any population in Arizona comes close to that."

The level of risk is tied to temperature and increases dramatically when the temperature goes over 100 degrees, Keim said. The Web site targets those living and working along the border, especially those who work directly with migrants such as humanitarian aid groups and the Border Patrol's rescue unit, BORSTAR.

"A day at 100 is very different than a day at 105, so this will allow them to better distribute their resources," Keim said.

The project will also record a corrido, a popular musical form in Mexico that relates current events, written by UA sociology professor Celestino Fernandez and performed by a professional musician, to get the message to migrants preparing to cross.

"Border crossers aren't watching or reading billboards," Keim said. "They're getting ready to cross, and many of them are listening to the radio."

The bilingual Web site was launched last week at the biannual Arizona Mexico Commission meeting held in Tucson. It can be found at http://borderrisk.med.arizona.edu/crossingRisk.html

Bill punitive enough to pass? Kyl hopes so
Tuscon Citizen
The Associated Press

New requirements to track down, deport and permanently bar people who overstay their visas would be added to a broad immigration bill under a GOP bid to attract more Republican support.

The amendment, which also would prevent illegal immigrants from gaining lawful status until they pass a background check, is one of those the Senate will consider next week when it returns its attention to the immigration measure. The bill is likely to see a final vote by month's end.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., an architect of a broader deal to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants, said Friday that the amendment "will help substantially" in persuading his Republican colleagues to support the compromise.

He is sponsoring the proposal with GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mel Martinez of Florida.

The legislation has sparked outrage among conservatives who contend it gives amnesty to lawbreakers, and it has been met with deep suspicion by Republicans, who say their constituents have no faith that laws cracking down on illegal immigration will be enforced.
Kyl said the outcry in the country is such "that senators appreciate the fact that we've got to show that we're serious now."

To assuage the concerns, Democrats and Republicans already have added $4.4 billion in mandatory spending to the bill to be used for border enforcement efforts and weeding out illegal workers from U.S. workplaces.

Still, the enforcement amendment is necessary "to illustrate to people that we're really serious about making this bill as good as it can possibly be," Kyl said.
Senate leaders plan to revive the stalled immigration measure on Tuesday, with a test vote and consideration of a limited list of amendments designed to win enough converts to carry it to passage by the end of the week.

Many GOP waverers targeted as potential supporters are saying they won't back resurrecting the measure.

Meanwhile, some Democrats are critical because they perceive the bill to be overly punitive and unfriendly to families.

They are trying to make sure that family members of low-skilled immigrants are treated as well as family members of highly skilled immigrants.

This whole "we'll give you enforcement if you give us amnesty" scam is extortion . It is the government's duty, and especially the executive branch's (that's you Bush), to enforce the laws of our nation. Law enforcement is NOT a bargaining chip. It is an absolute necessity in civilized society.

Make an honest effort to enforce the current immigration law, both at the border and internally, and then (and ONLY then), We can talk about how many more LEGAL immigrants we need, if any.

Published: 06.23.2007
Tuscon Citizen

Illegal migrant deaths climb along with heat

ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
The Associated Press

Temperatures have soared during the past week's run-up to summer in the Southwest, and deaths among migrants crossing Arizona's desert regions are also up - a potentially ill omen, a border county medical examiner says.

Authorities recovered the bodies of 12 suspected illegal immigrants during the past week, a period that saw temperatures top 100 degrees each day in southern Arizona, said Pima
County Medical Examiner Dr. Bruce Parks. His office performs autopsies on many of the illegal immigrants who die crossing into Arizona each year.

One was killed in a car crash, but four died of heat exposure, Parks said. The causes of death for the other seven is not yet certain.

"I expect that the majority of those, if not all of those pending, are going to turn out to be heat-related," Parks said. "That's quite a few in a week's period of time, and it doesn't bode well for the rest of the summer if that trend continues."

Arizona is the busiest location for illegal entries on the Mexico-U.S. border. Except for the last fiscal year, the harsh Arizona desert has taken an increasing toll in lives of illegal immigrants. Pima County is at the center of migrant routes, and the medical examiner here also covers deaths in two nearby counties, Santa Cruz and Pinal.

Typically, the deaths spike during the hottest months, from May through August, when triple-digit temperatures are normal. Agents in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector recovered the remains of a record 72 illegal immigrants in the desert in July 2005. Nearly all died from heat exposure, Parks said.

The nine most recent deaths of suspected illegal immigrants recorded by the Tucson sector occurred Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, according to agency spokesmen.

"It does appear at this point that we're not seeing any change in the amount of people attempting to cross," spokeswoman Dove Haber said. "We're not seeing a slowdown, not at this point."

Parks said it is hard to predict but that the recent deaths could portend a similar jump in numbers over the rest of the summer.

Since the Border Patrol's Oct. 1 fiscal year start, the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office has counted 118 desert deaths in Pima, Santa Cruz and Pinal counties, Parks said. It remains unclear exactly how many of those were heat related.

"One of the biggest causes of death that we end up with each year is 'undetermined,' where the pathologist doesn't feel that he has enough information to determine cause," Parks said. "I think that most of those are heat-related, but decomposition is so advanced that you can't tell."

In other Arizona counties abutting Mexico, nine confirmed heat deaths have been counted since Oct. 1 among illegal immigrants.

Raleigh, North Carolina police stop van full of illegal aliens and turn over to ICE

From Staff Reports

Raleigh police this morning stopped a van they say was transporting illegal immigrants to various places on the East Coast.

Police stopped the van after receiving a report at 4:40 a.m. of a kidnapping near Interstate 440 and Capital Boulevard. When police caught up with the vehicle at I-40 and Aviation Parkway, they found four illegal immigrants who were being transported by a driver and his assistant, said Capt. Chris Bertram.

The family of one of the immigrants had reported the kidnapping, Bertram said. They had called police because the driver and his assistant had refused to let him out of the van when the family couldn't come up with money to pay for his transportation.

Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement took custody of all the van's occupants, Bertram said.

One of the two transporting the immigrants had previously been deported as a felon, he said. He was identified as Edgar lagunas OCampo, though the name may be an alias, Bertram said.

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