Calif. Highway Patrol Officer's Widow Tells of Loss
Domingo Esqueda is led into the courtroom before his sentencing hearing. Esqueda was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing CHP officer Gregory John Bailey while driving under the Influence.
VICTORVILLE "” The widow of a fallen California Highway patrol officer asked the man who killed him who was going to walk her daughters down the aisle and teach her sons to become honorable men.
Domingo Esqueda, the illegal immigrant who hit and killed CHP officer Gregory John Bailey in 2006 while drunk, was sentenced to 10 years Friday morning, but not before hearing the impact his crime had on the friends and family of the officer.
"I relive John's death in my nightmares," said Teresa Bailey. "My children have been sentenced to a life without their father." She, Bailey's mother, best friend and a fellow officer spoke to a packed courtroom, half full of CHP officers struggling to hold back their emotions, about what John meant to them.
"I wish Mr. Esqueda could feel the pain that John felt as he lay on the side of the highway with 11 broken ribs, lacerations to his liver, spleen and kidneys, contusion and bleeding in both lungs and blood filling his abdomen," Teresa said.
A long-time friend of Bailey's also spoke. Mike Walker said that Bailey's mom called him son and they had known each other for most of their lives.
"The true measure of that tragedy cannot be known," said Officer Mike Hootman, who worked with John. "When you look into Teresa Bailey's eyes, when you hold any of John's four young children, when you physically feel the grief and pain of John's parents, you know that no amount of jail time, no amount of penance and no amount of remorse will ever be enough to completely repair the shattered pieces of their lives."
Esqueda, 21, was given the maximum sentence for gross vehicular manslaughter as part of a plea agreement reached last week. A charge of driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, which carries an eight-month sentence, was dropped.
In February 2006, Officer Bailey, 36, of the Rancho Cucamonga CHP pulled over a truck on his way home to Adelanto.
As he was talking to the driver, Esqueda's car veered off of the northbound lane of Interstate 15 striking Bailey. He died due to his injuries less than an hour later. Esqueda had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood.
Teresa said that two months ago, she offered Esqueda the midterm sentence, 6 years, 8 months because she didn't think that she could continue to drag it out in court.
Esqueda refused, only to plead to the maximum sentence last week.
Esqueda, who used an interpreter while in court, showed little emotion during the sentencing. He had his lawyer, Alejo Lugo, speak for him. Lugo said that Esqueda felt a great deal of remorse and prays every night for forgiveness.
Esqueda has 787 days credit for time served. Deputy District Attorney Steve Sinfield said that he will likely serve at least seven years of his sentence depending on his behavior in prison.
The Rancho Cucamonga CHP will hold a memorial for Bailey on Aug. 7.
Ryan Orr may be reached at 951-6277 or rorr@vvdailypress.com.'Top Story' Archives
Traffic Stop Leads To Arrest Of Illegal Previously Deported
Northwest Florida Daily News Staff Reports Friday August 3rd, 2007
A routine traffic stop led to the arrest of a man who had been deported and returned to this country illegally.
On July 26, an Okaloosa County Sheriff deputy pulled over a blue Ford truck that failed to stay in its lane. The driver identified himself as Jose Arnaldo Venegas, according to a Sheriff's Office report. When the deputy could find no driver's license registered to Venegas, the deputy arrested him.
The deputy tracked the insurance information on the car to a woman who identified herself as the man's common law wife. Deputies had responded to a domestic disturbance in 2005 at their address on Tyner Street. The woman's name was the same, but the man's name in that case was Eduardo Rodriquez, who had failed to appear in court for that case and had an active warrant.
The photos of the two men matched.
"I asked Mr. Venegas if he was Eduardo Rodrigues," noted the deputy. "He then forgot how to speak English and refused to answer my question."
Information on the man was sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which responded the next day that Rodriguez had previously been deported and had returned to the county illegally. The case was turned over to an investigator, who will be coordinating with IEC agents.
Legalization of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States would require an additional $17.4 billion in spending on programs to teach the newcomers English, a Washington think tank says.
The analysis, prepared by the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, is the first of its type to offer an estimate on the cost of teaching English to the country's illegal immigrants if Congress ever approves comprehensive immigration reform.
To survive, learning English is the most important challenge facing the 1.8 million legal immigrants who arrive in the United States every year.
"With this study, we hope to promote a balanced and realistic dialogue on the impact of a future legalization program on programs for teaching English," Margie McHugh, co-director of the center and one of the study's authors, told Efe Tuesday.
"What we're saying is that if there is going to be an increase in costs for programs that teach English, there must also be a way of covering those expenses," McHugh said.
She argued in favor of investing in the "human capital" of the immigrants because that would help increase the country's tax base, reduce spending on social welfare programs and ease the process of integrating them into the country.
"Many people complain that immigrants do not want to integrate, but with this report we are telling those responsible for making policy that we can find ways of facilitating the process," McHugh said.
The study used U.S. Census Bureau data to estimate the number of legal and illegal immigrants in the United States, their educational level and English skills, calculating the number of hours of instruction the immigrants would need to achieve assimilation.
The need for English classes for foreigners far exceeds the capacity of the current system, and the gap between supply and demand only underscores the urgent need to correct this problem, according to the study.
The center estimated that some 5.8 million adult legal residents would need "nearly 277 million hours of English instruction every year for six years."
If only half of these foreigners took formal English classes, and some 10 percent studied outside the classroom, the additional cost to the government would be around $200 million during that time.
Were Congress to approve comprehensive immigration reform, like the legislation that required learning English and failed in the Senate, the cost associated with teaching the language to 6.8 million illegal immigrants - the number of adults estimated to potentially benefit from an overhaul of the current system - $2.9 billion would be needed a year for six years, according to the study.
That sum factors in around 319 million hours of English instruction during the period, according to the study, which calculated that an immigrant would need an average of 110 hours of instruction to learn the language.
As for costs, the study only took into account immigrants already in the country, not future immigrants.
The basic cost would be around $10 per hour of academic instruction per student. That figure translates into $1,100 per immigrant by level of proficiency in the language.
McHugh said the report proposed several ideas for financing language instruction programs, including using a combination of federal, state and local funds in areas with large numbers of immigrants.
The government could also use money from a fund containing some $30 billion paid into Social Security by illegal immigrants that they cannot claim because of their status, McHugh said. EFE
Nothing about this website should be construed as advocating hostile actions or feelings toward immigrant Americans. (Even illegal aliens deserve humane treatment as they are detected, detained and deported.)
Unfortunately, to write about problems of immigration is to risk seeming to attack immigrants themselves. Even worse is the risk of inadvertently encouraging somebody else to show hostility toward the foreign-born as a group.
I encounter too many immigrants and children of immigrants in daily affairs where I live in northern Virginia to take those risks lightly. From five continents, members of immigrant families have passed through my home, especially in the persons of friends of my sons. They are among the physical therapy patients of my wife; they are participants in youth activities which I lead; they are friends at my church, which has received national recognition for creating local service to new immigrants; they are neighbors; they are business clerks and owners where I trade.
Thus, as is the case for millions of other Americans, I have a very personal stake in not wanting to provoke hostility or discrimination toward the foreign-born who already are living among us.
But our kindly feelings toward immigrants must no longer stifle public discussion about the effects of immigration numbers.
To talk about changing immigration numbers is to say nothing against the individual immigrants in this country. Rather, it is about deciding how many foreign citizens living in their own countries right now should be allowed to immigrate in the future.
None of this is to suggest that no immigrants are scoundrels or contribute to problems of immigration because of their bad personal behavior. It is not unfair, nor does it constitute immigrant bashing, to criticize the behavior of specific immigrants who violate our laws or otherwise behave in a manner unworthy of guests who have been invited into this country.
It IS immigrant bashing, however, to ascribe those bad characteristics to whole groups of people based on their ethnicity or foreign-born status. All of us should be careful of the language we use so as not to inadvertently appear to be making such negative generalizations.
Not only is it ethically wrong to engage in such stereotyping, it is tactically short-sighted. There is much to suggest that most immigrants already among us would support reductions in immigration numbers. The reasons are not surprising. Virtually any reduction designed to help native-born Americans would be even more beneficial to foreign-born Americans. That is why so many immigrants are supporters of NumbersUSA.com.
Perhaps the greatest "immigrant bashers" are those Members of Congress who refuse to look at the abysmal conditions of so many immigrant Americans and who every year insist on adding more than a million more immigrants into their occupations, schools and communities.
Based on an essay first published by W.W. Norton & Co. (1996) A Passage from The Case Against Immigration The chief difficulties that America faces because of current immigration are not triggered by who the immigrants are but by how many they are.
The task before the nation in setting a fair level of immigration is not about race or some vision of a homogenous white America; it is about protecting and enhancing the United States' unique experiment in democracy for all Americans, including recent immigrants, regardless of their particular ethnicity. -- Roy Beck, "The Case Against Immigration"
Colorado Illegal Immigrants Will Get College Aid In New Mexico
By The Denver Post John Prieto 07/16/2007
Fort Collins - At least 10 illegal immigrants from Colorado will get to attend classes at the University of New Mexico this fall, with many not having to pay for tuition or books.
A new Colorado law prohibits state colleges from providing in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants.
In New Mexico, the state is barred from denying education benefits based on immigration status, said Terry Babbitt, director of admissions for the University of New Mexico.
While New Mexico's state financial aid is intended for residents, Poudre High School counselor Isabel Thacker in Colorado found a way for her students to receive in-state tuition, plus scholarships to cover it.
"Students can enroll for up to six credit hours and get the in-state rate (at UNM)," said Alex Gonza***, associate director of the scholarship office at UNM. "They can then go across the street to Central New Mexico Community College and enroll for another six hours and continue to pay the UNM in-state tuition rate. They then are counted as full-time UNM students."
A full year of tuition at UNM, 12 credit hours per semester, costs $4,570.80, Gonza*** said. An institutional scholarship available to illegal immigrants covers $5,000 of their tuition and book expenses.
By Lisa Kennedy Denver Post Film Critic Article Last Updated: 08/03/2007 08:46:17 AM MDT
"El Cantante", directed by Leon Ichaso. Courtesy of Nuyorican Productions and R-Caro Productions. Photo credit: Eric Liebowitz. (picturehouse.wireimage.com | Eric Liebowitz)Lovely news: "El Cantante" is not a vanity project.
With documentary-style flourishes, director Leon Ichaso's biopic begins in black-and- white as Puchi defiantly walks into a room for an interview about her deceased husband.
Lavoe died in 1993 of AIDS complications at the age of 46.
At times *****ly, at times nostalgic, Puchi declares that 1984 was the "end of the good times." But as "El Cantante" shows, even the best decades were often tinged with sorrow. Underscoring this
See the trailer Watch the story of salsa's bad boy. fact, the film's vibrant color returns to mournful black-and- white again and again.
In the production notes, Anthony tells a story about the one time he met Lavoe. He arrived at the legend's apartment in the company of Lavoe's nephew, Little Louie Vega. Lavoe gave the barest of acknowledgments. Anthony proceeded to sit on a couch and watch TV with the king of a musical style that stirred j***, rock and other musical influences into a tasty stew of Afro-Caribbean beats.
At one point, Lavoe looked sideways at the young Anthony. "My God, that is the ugliest woman I've ever seen," he said.
The singer was rechristened Lavoe when he and trombone maestro Willie Colon became part of the Fania record company family. Ruben Blades renamed him again when he gave Lavoe the song that became his signature: "El Cantante" - the Singer.
In New York, he meets Dominican band leader Johnny Pacheco (Nelson Vasquez) and musician Colon (John Ortiz).
The '60s and '70s are succulent times. Scenes of Lavoe, Puchi and entourage in the late '70s recall scenes from "Super Fly" and remind us that in the arts, crossover and cross-pollination are the American way.
Yet the movie's narrative feels bony. There's flavor in the marrow, but "El Cantante" leaves us hungering for more.
Anthony does a deft job of capturing the way El Cantante's voice found its footing over the years. Another fine touch was the director's decision to translate the Spanish lyrics in onscreen type as Lavoe hits achy, ribald, festive notes.
The way the story orbits around Puchi's interviews robs "El Cantante" of some of its power to wow those unfamiliar with Lavoe's artistry.
It's not that Puchi "from around the block" isn't compelling. She is. And Lopez captures a streetwise clarity that verges on haughtiness. But Puchi's point of view overemphasizes a scenes-from-a-marriage drama over an artist bio.
When Puchi retrieves her husband from one of a number of heroin-shooting galleries to take him to a concert - he is chronically late for performances - she's a combination of stage mom, addict sponsor, and, yes, enabler.
In the back of a limo, Lavoe tells his wife he loves her.
Yet "El Cantante" never nails the ecstatic moment of musical collaboration we crave from this genre. Where is the scene that gives us a fly-on-the-wall view of salsa's creation?
Note to Ichaso and his two co-writers: Those moments don't happen in office suites where contracts are negotiated. They happen where the new sounds are brewing. They happen where the salsa gets mixed.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com. Be sure to check out Diary
of a Mad Moviegoer at denverpost.com/blogs.
"El Cantante"
R for drug use, pervasive language and some sexuality|1 hour, 46 minutes|BIOPIC|Directed by Leon Ichaso; written by Ichaso and David Darmstaedter and Todd Anthony Bello; photography by Claudio Chea; starring Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, John Ortiz, Manny Perez |Opens today at area theaters
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Guardsman's Family Held In Smuggling Couple Accused Of Helping Soldiers Harbor Illegal Immigrants
08:37 AM CDT on Friday, August 3, 2007 Associated Press
LAREDO – The sister and brother-in-law of a Texas National Guardsman accused of leading an immigrant smuggling ring have been indicted in the case, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Luisa Pacheco, 31, and her husband, Jerry Zuniga, 29, were indicted this week on charges of conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants and harboring five illegal immigrants in their Laredo home. Ms. Pacheco's brother, 25-year-old Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco, and two other Guard soldiers were arrested and later indicted on charges that they were involved in the smuggling ring.
The smuggling ring was uncovered in June when 24 illegal immigrants were found inside a National Guard-leased van driven by 26-year-old Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres that was stopped along Interstate 35 near Cotulla, about 90 miles southwest of San Antonio.
Ms. Pacheco and Mr. Zuniga were arrested at their Laredo home late Wednesday. Both appeared Thursday in federal court, where a magistrate judge set bail at $75,000 for Ms. Pacheco and $100,000 for her husband.
According to the U.S. attorney's office in Houston, Ms. Pacheco and Mr. Zuniga are alleged to have harbored 112 illegal immigrants between May and June. It was unclear whether the couple have hired lawyers.
Sgt. Pacheco, Pfc. Torres and 36-year-old Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr., all assigned to help the U.S. Border Patrol as part of President Bush's Operation Jump Start, were arrested after Pfc. Torres was stopped and detailed the smuggling scheme to investigators, according to court records.
All three soldiers have pleaded not guilty and remain jailed in Laredo.
Federal investigators have alleged that Sgt. Pacheco recruited Sgt. Hodge and Pfc. Torres to help smuggle 112 illegal immigrants from the border city of Laredo to Cotulla and San Antonio. Sgt. Pacheco and Pfc. Torres are natives of Laredo, and Sgt. Hodge is from Houston.
Pfc. Torres was accused of driving the immigrants, who investigators say were picked up at the house Ms. Pacheco shared with Ms. Zuniga, while Sgt. Hodge allegedly let the van through a Border Patrol checkpoint the soldiers were assigned to monitor.
Prosecutors say Sgt. Pacheco, a Purple Heart winner in Iraq, organized the ring that successfully smuggled 88 immigrants and covered more than 1,200 miles in the three weeks before Pfc. Torres was stopped during the seventh trip.
Investigators said they found a series of text messages between the soldiers planning the smuggling trips. In the latest indictment, authorities allege that Ms. Pacheco also sent text messages to Pfc. Torres giving him directions to her house.
Pfc. Torres told authorities he earned between $1,000 and $3,500 for each smuggling trip. It is unclear how much money the others are alleged to have made or who paid them.
"This problem with illegal immigration is nothing new. In fact, the Indians had a special name for it. They called it 'white people.'" --Jay Leno
"Even though it's a little bit controversial, President Bush supports the effort to make English our national language. The president says making English our national language is not 'discriminatious.'" --Conan O'Brien
"The good news is that Congress is cracking down on illegal immigration. The bads news: a head of lettuce will now cost $300." --Jay Leno
"Happy TGIF! Do you know what TGIF stands for? ... The Greencard Is Five Grand." --Jay Leno
"As part of the ongoing immigration debate, the Senate on Thursday voted 64 to 34 to make English America's national language. Coming in second: '70s jive talk." --Tina Fey
DPS RESPONDS TO FOREIGN NATIONALS OBTAINING FAKE LICENSES AGENCY CLOSES LOOPHOLE, SAYS COLLECTING CANCELED LICENSES IS NO EASY TASK
12:06 AM CDT on Saturday, August 4, 2007 By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News eramshaw@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN – It was the ultimate Dallas vacation package, at an unbeatable – and criminal – price.
For $500, the all-inclusive, immigrants-only tour included an airport pickup, two nights at an area motel and a crucial souvenir: a fraudulent Texas driver's license.
The trips were a hot sell.
Nearly 400 foreign nationals – most of them Middle Eastern, and half of them living illegally in the United States – took advantage of a gaping hole in Texas' driver's license requirements between 2003 and 2005, before federal authorities caught up with Isaac Banai, the Israeli-born taxi driver accused of orchestrating the scheme.
But despite warnings from federal immigration officials and the U.S. attorney's office, the Texas Department of Public Safety waited more than a year to cancel the licenses – the result of an e-mail miscommunication, the agency says, and questions over whether the department had the right to invalidate them.
While DPS has changed its driver's license requirements since the abuse, officials close to the investigation say the agency's perceived indifference in getting the ID cards back or checking for similar fraud in the system has riled federal authorities and Gov. Rick Perry's office.
DPS officials say it's not indifference. They have no jurisdiction to go traipsing across the country retrieving canceled licenses, though they've been more than willing to work with other states. But with 21 million driver's license or identification card records in the state system, they say, it's not realistic to search for patterns indicative of other fraud rings.
"The governor hopes no state agency charged with the security of our citizens takes a cavalier approach as if 9/11 never happened," said Perry spokesman Eric Bearse. While there's no indication the applicants had any interest other than overstaying their visas, he said, some of them "come from countries with ties to terrorist activities."
"Four of the 9/11 hijackers had valid driver's licenses," he said. "A driver's license in the wrong hands can get the wrong people on an airplane, or another place where security is paramount."
Federal investigators say that Mr. Banai, a U.S. citizen by marriage, knew that for many foreign nationals in the country on six-month tourist visas, a valid driver's license is key to staying past the expiration date.
He also knew Texas issued licenses to people with a passport and a visa, officials say. Unlike many other states, Texas didn't require I-94s – immigration papers that ensure a visa is current.
For two years, the 44-year-old hawked his driver's license vacations, including posting advertisements in an Israeli newspaper in New York, according to a 32-count indictment. Most of his clients were Israeli, but he also had customers from Egypt, Syria, Iraq and several countries in Europe and Central America.
They flew to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, paying Mr. Banai $500 to pick them up, take them to a Motel 6 and spend two days training them to pass the written and driving portions of the state license test. When he escorted them to apply for their licenses, the clients listed the Motel 6 address and phone number as their current residence.
After passing the test, the clients returned to their homes in New York or New Jersey.
Mr. Banai is accused of negotiating with Motel 6 employees to hold the clients' mail and sending the IDs to the clients when they arrived – a cycle he allegedly repeated 398 times between 2003 and 2005. He was caught after federal immigration officials saw the newspaper advertisements and tracked him back to Dallas, where he was indicted on charges of inducing illegal immigrants to reside in the United States, money laundering and mail fraud, among others.
Mr. Banai pleaded not guilty and is out on bail until his October trial. If convicted, he could face a sentence of 470 years in prison and up to $8 million in fines. Mr. Banai did not return phone calls to his residence and to Kelly Cab, the taxi business to which he is linked. His attorney declined to comment on the case.
Losing patience
Federal authorities never blamed DPS for issuing the fraudulent driver's licenses, even though they believe the agency was violating its own policies.
But they've grown increasingly impatient with the agency over the last 18 months, a high ranking official close to the case said, for not doing more to resolve a mess that it facilitated.
All parties agree that DPS should have canceled the licenses in early 2006.
Six months later, while DPS was still trying to decide what to do, U.S. Attorney Richard Roper contacted Mr. Perry's office, citing the "significant problem" he was having getting DPS to cooperate, according to a letter written by Steve McCraw, Texas homeland security director .
Still, DPS officials didn't move until January 2007, when they got a letter from federal immigration authorities asking them to take action. Rather than canceling the licenses, they asked the U.S. attorney's office for a letter directing them to invalidate the ID cards.
The U.S. attorney's office sent an e-mail order – instead of the postmarked letter DPS was anticipating – that got lost in the shuffle, said Judy Brown, chief of the DPS Driver's License Division. By the time the agency figured it out and canceled the licenses, it was May 2007.
"It was absolutely unintended, and as soon as it was detected, we began working with the pace this type of situation required," Ms. Brown said. "We dropped the ball internally. We absolutely had a miscommunication."
Federal authorities also are frustrated that DPS has yet to retrieve the fraudulent licenses, despite an order this spring from Mr. Perry's office to work with New Jersey and New York to make that happen, a spokesman for the governor said. Nor has it checked records for patterns that might reveal foreign nationals getting driver's licenses sent to similar addresses, he said.
"That's the most disconcerting thing," Mr. Bearse said. "Who else knew about this flaw in the system, and who else has exploited it?"
A difficult task
Ms. Brown said, there's no way to physically get the ID cards back, unless the holders show up at driver's license offices in their home states. DPS has given officials in New York and New Jersey a list of those with fraudulent licenses so that they'll be apprehended if they try to use the Texas ID to reapply, she said.
DPS officials say they don't have the means to cross-reference the current database for similar cases, but Ms. Brown said the agency has searched the criminal history of those who fraudulently obtained a Texas driver's license.
The action is too little too late, officials in the governor's office say.
At no point has the agency used the Texas Data Exchange, a controversial law enforcement database with information on more than a million Texans, to track down the individuals with fraudulent licenses, DPS officials said. The database, which came under fire during the last legislative session, has become a political tug-of-war between DPS and the governor's homeland security office.
Despite criticism of their response time, DPS officials said they moved quickly to close the driver's license application loophole in February 2006. The action came about a month after the agency learned of the Banai case – and less than a year after Congress passed the Real ID Act. The act goes into effect in December 2009 and sets national standards for state-issued driver's licenses, including requiring proof that applicants are in the U.S. legally.
An internal dispute remains at the agency over whether employees were even following state policy when they issued the licenses.
Ms. Brown of the Driver's License Division said in an interview this week that at the time Mr. Banai was allegedly operating, a passport and a visa without an I-94 form were sufficient to get a license. Today, an I-94 is mandatory with a visa in all but a few circumstances.
"We believe we were following policy as it was laid out at the time," she said.
An e-mail from DPS general counsel Mary Ann Courter to the U.S. attorney's office in Dallas appears to contradict this assertion.
DPS' issuance of the licenses using merely passports and visas "was not even in compliance with the version of [the administrative code] in effect at the time," the e-mail says. It also indicates that no type of foreign passport was supposed to be used as a primary document for obtaining a driver's license.
One Sheriff Shows America How To Deal With Illegal Immigration
The Post Chronicle Sat. August 4, 2007 Commentary by Tim Bueler
While politicians have hacked and sloughed their way through the issue of illegal immigration, one sheriff in Atlanta has taken matters into his own hands by doing what the law already allows law enforcement to do -- begin deportation proceedings against illegal aliens who are charged with crimes.
Cobb County is a large, upscale and well-run county just north of the city limits of Atlanta. Once known for a more radical conservative tone, the county is now thought of as a moderate-to-conservative area more interested in promoting economic growth and the arts than promoting political agendas. I say that because the actions of the county's sheriff, Neil Warren, and his chief deputy, Lynda Coker, reflect not some Maricopa County brand of "hang 'em high" justice, but rather a businesslike approach to dealing with the issue of illegal immigrants.
In essence Warren's team is doing the one thing that every law enforcement agency in America could and should be doing, taking advantage of the existing laws and programs that could have an immediate impact on illegal immigration throughout America.
Cobb County sheriff's deputies have been trained by federal immigration officials as to what to look for and how to examine documents in order to determine whether someone arrested and placed in their custody is a legal resident. There may well be other law enforcement organizations in the nation that have availed themselves of such training and are also determining the status of those in their system. The difference is that Sheriff Warren is taking the opportunity that federal law also provides. He and his department have started to initiate, on their own, deportation proceedings once a determination is made that an individual in their custody is in the United States illegally.
In the four weeks since the Georgia county began its new program, removal proceedings have commenced against 42 individuals who either committed crimes or were pending trial for a lesser offense. Those who commit serious felonies are held for trial first, with the issue of deportation to be dealt with after their case is concluded.
It's important to note that the county works with federal officials, and that federal immigration officials must review the case before it goes before a judge. In other words, this is not fly by night justice. It is, truly, businesslike.
The New York Times By CATHERINE BILLEY Published: August 3, 2007
Mirthala Salinas, a broadcaster in Los Angeles who covered politics for Telemundo and became romantically involved with Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, was suspended Thursday for two months without pay.
Her suspension followed an investigation into whether the ethical standards of the station, KVEA-TV, had been violated because of her relationship with the mayor.
The station's news director was also suspended, its general manager reassigned and the station's group president reprimanded.
Hispanics Across America 7 West 44th St, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212-481-1820 Fax: 212-725-6941
Become an HAA member
Hispanics Across America is a not-for-profit organization serving as advocates for Hispanic communities throughout the United States. HAA was founded in 2002 based on the vision of its President, Fernando Mateo. Mr. Mateo envisioned HAA as a grassroots think-tank committed to advancing the educational, social, health and political interests of the Hispanic community. A true believer in the American Dream, Mr. Mateo leads HAA in support of all those who want to make a reality of their dream. Be it through home-ownership or small-business workshops, HAA has as its central mission the goal of improving the quality of life in Hispanic communities by ensuring the full exercise of all the rights we are granted by the Constitution of the United States of America. .
Hispanics Across America wants District Attorney involved in investigation. At 11:35 pm on the night of April 28th 2007 the body of Rene Perez was found on Byram Lake Road in Bedford, New York. What was so disturbing about this case was that this was the third death of a Guatemalan immigrant in the town of Mount Kisco, NY in the past 4 years. Adding further intrigue to this case is the fact that the police department in Mount Kisco was being investigated by the Bedford police, which have led to the appointment of desk duty for the 3 cops involved in the investigation. Hispanics Across America will not rest until the person or persons responsible for these murders are found.
Additional Information :
Hispanic group wants U.S. to probe immigrant killings'
Hispanics Across America claims TV Show Survivor using race card to draw viewers. Hispanics Across America President Fernando Mateo will be holding a press conference at the CBS Headquarters on 51 West 52 Street in New York City on Tuesday August 29th at 1pm to let CBS and Survivor producer Mark Burnett that using racism for ratings is egregious. Joining Mr. Mateo will be the Pastor of The Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York Calvin Butts, Council Member John liu, Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. and Father Brian Jordan. Survivor which will air on September 14th has decided to create four teams of different races which include White, African American, Hispanic and Asian in an attempt to drive up their ratings which have been decreasing every year since it's inception.
HAA encourages all to cheer for Alex Rodriguez. Hispanics Across America and its president Fernando Mateo is encouraging all Yankee fans to get behind A Rod in a show of support that demonstrates to him that we appreciate who he is, and what he stands for as a Yankee and as a great Latin American Ballplayer. (Visit cheerARod.com)
By JOSE MARIA ALVAREZ Associated Press Writer August 4, 2007
TEOCOCUILCO, Mexico (AP) -- For decades, Alejandro Santiago's picturesque hometown in southern Mexico has said goodbye to its youth as they left to seek work in the United States. Now the Oaxacan artist is trying to repopulate his town - at least metaphorically.
With a $100,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, Santiago has undertaken an ambitious plan to create an army of life-size clay figures.
So far, he has created some 1,500 statues, each about 4-foot-4-inches and 150 pounds, to represent the youth who have abandoned this hamlet in impoverished Oaxaca state. No two sculptures are alike, he said, and many of the faces have been sculpted to reflect the hardship of migrants' lives in both Mexico and the United States.
Santiago said the inspiration for the project came six years ago, when he returned home after a three-year stay in Paris and was struck by Teococuilco's empty streets.
Low wages and an inadequate number of jobs drives thousands of Mexicans to migrate every year to the U.S., turning rural communities like Teococuilco into near-ghost towns.
"Where are my friends, my relatives?" he asked the town's remaining residents, mostly young children and the elderly. "They are all in the United States? I kept asking and asking. Night fell and not one soul came to visit me.
"I didn't know how many to make at first, but I knew I had to repopulate the town," he told The Associated Press in an interview this week.
In 2003, Santiago decided to experience for himself what it's like to cross the U.S. border illegally. He bought a bus ticket to Tijuana, met a smuggler who set him up with fake papers and tried to cross.
In Tijuana, Santiago passed by thousands of crosses on the corrugated wall marking the border, placed there by activists to represent those who have died trying to cross. He was quickly caught by U.S. immigration authorities and returned to Mexico, but that image burned into his brain.
He estimated those crosses numbered about 2,500 and settled on that number, plus one, for his project. He says the extra figure symbolizes that there is always one more person who is leaving, risking his or her life to try to reach the United States.
The Rockefeller Foundation grant is helping him complete all 2,501 statues and pay his crew of 35 workers. He expects to finish the collection by the end of August.
The sculptures will then make a journey of their own, traveling to the northern city of Monterrey for their first exhibition in September, Santiago said. He hopes to show them later in the United States and then bring them home to be installed on Teococuilco's empty streets.
When that happens, the artist promised a party.
"We will be celebrating the migrants' return," Santiago said.
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