*
Immigration Enforcement Group Defends Against Amnesty Push
http://www.alipac.us/article4288.html
The ALIPAC Team
www.alipac.us
PS: Your questions, feedback, progress, reports, and personal messages to Congress are welcome at this tracking link...
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-908939.html#908939
Here is the Department of Homeland Security's Hotline for reporting suspected illegal employees and employers: 866-347-2423
http://www.numbersusa.com
http://www.capsweb.org
http://www.fairus.org
http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com
http://anti-illegalimmigrationevents.com/
http://www.911fsa.org/index.html
http://latinoamericans.org
http://www.veteransforsecureborders.us
http://www.dontspeakforme.org/
http://www.chooseblackamerica.com/
http://www.americanfreedomriders.com/
http://www.minutemanproject.com
http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/
http://www.americanpatrol.com
http://www.SarcasticInk.com
http://www.americanborderpatrol.com/
http://www.immigrationbuzz.com/
http://www.ccir.net
http://www.mothersagainstillegalaliens.org/
http://www.deportaliens.com
http://www.teamamericapac.org/
http://www.thewakeupamericafoundation.com/
http://www.wehategringos.com
http://www.saveourstate.org
http://www.wehirealiens.com/
http://www.reportillegals.com/
http://www.illegalemployers.org
http://www.Vdare.com
http://www.protectourborder.net
http://www.friendsoftheborderpatrol.com/
http://www.americanimmigrationcontrol.com/
http://www.send-a-brick.com
http://www.betterimmigration.com
http://www.noinvaders.org/home.shtml
http://www.unitetofight.org
http://www.forthecause.us
http://www.illegalaliens.us
http://usaborderalert.com
http://firecoalition.com
http://www.immigrationshumancost.org/text/crimevictims.html
http://www.illegalimmigrationjournal.com/index.cfm
http://www.immigrationshumancost.org/
http://www.alipac.us
http://www.americanpatrol.com/
http://www.unitedpatriotsofamerica.com
http://www.thedustininmansociety.org
http://americanworker.org/
http://www.tnrip.org/
http://www.predatoryaliens.com/
http://immigrationcounters.com/
http://www.citizensforaconstitutionalrepublic.com/
http://www.txminuteman.org
http://sovereigntycolorado.com/
http://www.citizencaucus.org/
http://www.susps.org
http://www.desertinvasion.us/
http://www.desertvisions.us/
http://www.technopatriots.com/
http://www.unitedstates.fm
http://www.minuteman.tv
http://www.frostywooldridge.com/
http://www.englishfirst.org/
http://www.proenglish.org/
http://www.usenglish.org
http://www.pahrumpminutemen.com/home.html
http://www.oregonir.org
http://www.ifire.org
http://mfire.org
http://www.ufire.net/
http://wfir.org
http://www.usaforamericans.com
http://oneoldvet.com/
http://www.americans4america.net/
http://mohaveminutemen.com/
https://www.ircot.com/
http://www.limitstogrowth.org/
http://www.steinreport.com/
Friday, July 10, 2009
FBI REPORT ON MEXICAN INVASION 2006
According to the HERITAGE FOUNDATION.org, the Mexican invasion will cost us 3.7 trillion ABOVE what the illegals put into the economy.
New FBI Statistics on Crimes Committed by Illegal Aliens
Who is working for these illegals? In the DEM’S war for open borders.... FEINSTEIN, BOXER, PELOSI, REID, HARMAN, ESHOO, WAXMAN, LOFGREN, CHAVEZ, KENNEDY, CLINTON, BACA, FARR, BECERRA, HARMAN, and BARACK OBAMA on behalf of the EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGALS, AS FRONTED BY THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND THE FORTUNE 500 WHICH ARE MAJOR DONORS TO LA RAZA, THE RACIST MEXICAN SUPREMACIST POLITICAL PARTY.
The Violent Crimes Institute in Atlanta is a real place. They did a real study. These are the real results. 'Based on a one-year in-depth study, Deborah Schurman-Kauflin of the Violent Crimes Institute of Atlanta estimates there are about 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders in the United States who have had an average of four victims each. She analyzed 1,500 cases from January 1999 through April 2006 that included serial rapes, serial murders, sexual homicides and child molestation committed by illegal immigrants.'
FBI DIRECTOR: GANGS 2006
"The violent MS-13 - or Mara Salvatrucha - street gang is following the migratory routes of illegal aliens across the country, FBI officials say, calling the Salvadoran gang the new American mafia. MS-13, has a significant presence in the Washington area, and other gangs are spreading into small towns and suburbs by following illegal aliens seeking work in places such as Providence, R.I., and the Carolinas, FBI task force director Robert Clifford said.
"The migrant moves and the gang follows," said Mr. Clifford, director of the agency's MS-13 National Gang Task Force."
INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants 2006 (First Quarter) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants CRIME STATISTICS
95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.
86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.
75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens. 24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually
53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.
71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or “transport coyotes".
47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.
63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens
66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66% 98% are illegal aliens.
BIRTH STATISTICS 380,000 plus “anchor babies” were born in the U.S. in 2005 to illegal alien parents, making 380,000 babies automatically U.S. citizens.
97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid by the American taxpayers. 66% plus of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers
New FBI Statistics on Crimes Committed by Illegal Aliens
Who is working for these illegals? In the DEM’S war for open borders.... FEINSTEIN, BOXER, PELOSI, REID, HARMAN, ESHOO, WAXMAN, LOFGREN, CHAVEZ, KENNEDY, CLINTON, BACA, FARR, BECERRA, HARMAN, and BARACK OBAMA on behalf of the EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGALS, AS FRONTED BY THE U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND THE FORTUNE 500 WHICH ARE MAJOR DONORS TO LA RAZA, THE RACIST MEXICAN SUPREMACIST POLITICAL PARTY.
The Violent Crimes Institute in Atlanta is a real place. They did a real study. These are the real results. 'Based on a one-year in-depth study, Deborah Schurman-Kauflin of the Violent Crimes Institute of Atlanta estimates there are about 240,000 illegal immigrant sex offenders in the United States who have had an average of four victims each. She analyzed 1,500 cases from January 1999 through April 2006 that included serial rapes, serial murders, sexual homicides and child molestation committed by illegal immigrants.'
FBI DIRECTOR: GANGS 2006
"The violent MS-13 - or Mara Salvatrucha - street gang is following the migratory routes of illegal aliens across the country, FBI officials say, calling the Salvadoran gang the new American mafia. MS-13, has a significant presence in the Washington area, and other gangs are spreading into small towns and suburbs by following illegal aliens seeking work in places such as Providence, R.I., and the Carolinas, FBI task force director Robert Clifford said.
"The migrant moves and the gang follows," said Mr. Clifford, director of the agency's MS-13 National Gang Task Force."
INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants 2006 (First Quarter) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants CRIME STATISTICS
95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.
86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.
75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens. 24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually
53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.
71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or “transport coyotes".
47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.
63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens
66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66% 98% are illegal aliens.
BIRTH STATISTICS 380,000 plus “anchor babies” were born in the U.S. in 2005 to illegal alien parents, making 380,000 babies automatically U.S. citizens.
97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid by the American taxpayers. 66% plus of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers
MAINE.... Mexican Drug Cartel Market... your community next?
From the Los Angeles Times
COLUMN ONE
Small-town cops in coastal Maine face a big problem
The coast of Maine is a long way from Mexico, but to drug cartels it's an emerging market for heroin and cocaine. Just ask the band of detectives on the front lines.
By Scott Kraft
July 10, 2009
Reporting from York, Maine — The obituary in the York Weekly was heartbreaking.
Just 17, Bethany Fritz was a high school senior hoping to study art at the University of Maine. She lived in an affluent coastal community of tidal pools, winding roads and thick stands of maple and oak. She loved her family and friends, her two cats and her dog, Farleigh.
Unmentioned was her cause of death: an overdose of heroin.
"We were completely flabbergasted that someone could get heroin here," said Sarah Lachance, one of Bethany's older sisters. "We thought heroin was something only junkies in the city did."
New England may be thousands of miles from the producers and brutal drug enterprises of Mexico and Colombia. But a busy pipeline from Mexico resolutely moves heroin and cocaine to emerging markets as far away as coastal Maine, where more and more addicts fill courtrooms, jail cells, treatment facilities and morgues.
"It's just unbelievable what we've seen here," said Edward Strong, police chief in nearby Kittery. "I can remember when people around here didn't know what the word 'heroin' meant. Now, it's everywhere -- cheaper, more available and demand is high."
When Bethany died in 2004, York's small police department didn't have a full-time narcotics investigator. Tom Cryan, the detective assigned to the case, acknowledged, "I wasn't getting anywhere."
Then he got an offer of help from Steve Hamel, the full-time narcotics detective in Kittery, another tiny coastal community one exit south on Interstate 95. Hamel already was working closely with a narcotics officer in the next town down the coast, Portsmouth, N.H.
Detectives from the three departments banded together to trace the source of the heroin and, eventually, helped send Bethany's boyfriend and his supplier to prison.
Now, the detectives have created an unofficial partnership, impishly dubbing themselves the Seacoast Narcotics Interdiction Force, or SNIF. Although their home cities have a combined population of only 40,000, they've shut down several local heroin and cocaine rings and racked up dozens of arrests in three states.
But, Hamel said, "you could have 30 guys at every police department doing drug enforcement and you still couldn't keep up."
Most days, southern Maine's preeminent narcotics officer looks like a suburban father on his way to the hardware store: bluejeans, work boots and a New England Patriots cap shading a sunburned face.
The son of a New Hampshire state trooper, Hamel has spent most of his 21-year career working undercover, investigating biker gangs and drugs. At 47, he actually is a suburban father who coaches and referees high school and college basketball and runs a landscaping business on the side.
Hamel's counterpart across the Piscataqua River in New Hampshire is Stephen Arnold, a stocky 45-year-old father of four with a round, bearded face, a thick brogue and a fondness for baseball hats and Marlboro Lights.
Rounding out SNIF are two detectives from York, the Beverly Hills of the coastal burgs. Cryan, 44, father of a teenage boy, has been investigating crimes in York for two decades. His colleague Mark Clifford, 40, is a former golf pro who came out of a patrolman's uniform several years ago as York's first full-time narcotics detective.
The members of SNIF all answer to their own chiefs, but they function as an independent unit on the ground. Keeping in contact by cellphone, text message and two-way radio, they share information and informants and take turns making undercover buys and running surveillance.
They also work with the Drug Enforcement Administration and follow cases where they lead, roaming three states and towns as far south as Lawrence, Mass., the source for most of the narcotics in New Hampshire and Maine. In Lawrence, the drug trade is run by Dominican dealers with ties to Mexican cartels.
SNIF's efforts have resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in confiscated homes, cars and cash, which is divvied up among the departments to help fund drug enforcement efforts.
Along the way, Hamel and Arnold have been teaching their York colleagues the dangerous art of undercover drug work.
"No one teaches you to be a street narc in the academy," Hamel said. "And most guys look at the work and say, 'Not for me, dude.' "
As they waited for an informant to arrange an undercover buy recently, the veterans teased Clifford about a York heroin addict he had turned into an informant a few months earlier -- an informant who was robbing banks to feed his habit even as he helped the police.
Both York detectives have picked up valuable lessons along the way, including the importance of a plausible cover identity.
"If you're 130 pounds soaking wet and have smooth hands, like Cliff here, you can't pretend to be a bricklayer," Hamel said. "You have to look the part."
One reason the overdose death of Bethany Fritz was such a shock was the setting: York is a family resort town with a rich, 350-year-old history, located just over an hour's drive north of Boston.
"It really opened our eyes," Cryan said, "and made us realize we had issues."
Before that, police in Maine had been primarily concerned with OxyContin, a highly addictive prescription painkiller. Now cocaine and heroin have emerged as major problems, and the cause is a combination of supply and demand.
"People who get hooked on it create their own demand, soliciting customers so they can pay for their habit," said Strong, the Kittery police chief.
In 2007, for example, SNIF detectives uncovered a cocaine ring operated by Leslie Smith, who did body work at a Kittery garage. Smith, 44, and three friends were making daily trips to Lawrence for cocaine, using some of it themselves and selling the rest in Kittery and Portsmouth at a 300% markup.
The detectives, working with a DEA-led task force in Lawrence, arrested Smith and his friends. They also got his source, a Dominican dealer in Massachusetts, after Hamel made several undercover buys. All are in federal prison.
In the last year, though, heroin has flooded Maine and New Hampshire as OxyContin addicts turn to heroin. A bag of heroin costs about $5 on the street here today, compared with $50 for an OxyContin tablet.
"Heroin arrests are up 100% from just three years ago," Hamel said. "And I can't remember the last junkie I busted for heroin who didn't say he started with OxyContin. And why not? They can get a hit of heroin for less than a six-pack of beer."
At Counseling Services Inc., an addiction treatment facility in Maine, Medical Director Dr. Patrick Maidman said the number of people seeking help for addiction to opiates such as OxyContin and heroin had been overwhelming.
"We're not able to manage the volume of people looking for help," he said.
It was five years ago that Bethany spent her last night at her best friend Amanda Corey's house, a New England colonial nestled in woods near I-95 and a sign that reads: "Welcome to Maine. The Way Life Should Be."
Amanda tried for several hours to wake her friend that morning and finally called an ambulance in the early afternoon. Bethany never regained consciousness and died later that day.
"If you had asked me back then how many teenagers were using heroin, I'd have said very few and I couldn't name one," Cryan said. "Today, I can name 20."
The detectives traced the heroin to Scott Fisher, Bethany's 20-year-old boyfriend. Hamel began making undercover buys from Fisher and eventually arrested him.
Fisher, now serving a 12-year federal prison term in Allenwood, Pa., recalls that time with sadness.
"I wish I had made different choices," he said in a telephone interview from prison. Heroin and cocaine "were so easy to obtain. It was just always easy. And it seemed like everyone was using."
Bethany's family saw him as a victim. "Scott was just a kid who got caught up in this whole thing," said Lachance, Bethany's sister. "It was a tragedy not only for our family but for him."
The SNIF detectives also tracked down Fisher's source, Juan Delacruz, an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic who worked in Lawrence as a drug runner. Delacruz is serving an eight-year sentence. The drug boss, a man known by the street name King Louie, returned to the Dominican Republic, authorities said.
For the SNIF detectives, that was the first battle in an escalating war.
Hamel unlocked the Kittery police evidence locker recently, revealing piles of yellow envelopes stuffed with heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, chalky "re-rock" cocaine and tablets of OxyContin and other prescription drugs.
Each envelope represented a recent arrest -- the fruits of a small band
COLUMN ONE
Small-town cops in coastal Maine face a big problem
The coast of Maine is a long way from Mexico, but to drug cartels it's an emerging market for heroin and cocaine. Just ask the band of detectives on the front lines.
By Scott Kraft
July 10, 2009
Reporting from York, Maine — The obituary in the York Weekly was heartbreaking.
Just 17, Bethany Fritz was a high school senior hoping to study art at the University of Maine. She lived in an affluent coastal community of tidal pools, winding roads and thick stands of maple and oak. She loved her family and friends, her two cats and her dog, Farleigh.
Unmentioned was her cause of death: an overdose of heroin.
"We were completely flabbergasted that someone could get heroin here," said Sarah Lachance, one of Bethany's older sisters. "We thought heroin was something only junkies in the city did."
New England may be thousands of miles from the producers and brutal drug enterprises of Mexico and Colombia. But a busy pipeline from Mexico resolutely moves heroin and cocaine to emerging markets as far away as coastal Maine, where more and more addicts fill courtrooms, jail cells, treatment facilities and morgues.
"It's just unbelievable what we've seen here," said Edward Strong, police chief in nearby Kittery. "I can remember when people around here didn't know what the word 'heroin' meant. Now, it's everywhere -- cheaper, more available and demand is high."
When Bethany died in 2004, York's small police department didn't have a full-time narcotics investigator. Tom Cryan, the detective assigned to the case, acknowledged, "I wasn't getting anywhere."
Then he got an offer of help from Steve Hamel, the full-time narcotics detective in Kittery, another tiny coastal community one exit south on Interstate 95. Hamel already was working closely with a narcotics officer in the next town down the coast, Portsmouth, N.H.
Detectives from the three departments banded together to trace the source of the heroin and, eventually, helped send Bethany's boyfriend and his supplier to prison.
Now, the detectives have created an unofficial partnership, impishly dubbing themselves the Seacoast Narcotics Interdiction Force, or SNIF. Although their home cities have a combined population of only 40,000, they've shut down several local heroin and cocaine rings and racked up dozens of arrests in three states.
But, Hamel said, "you could have 30 guys at every police department doing drug enforcement and you still couldn't keep up."
Most days, southern Maine's preeminent narcotics officer looks like a suburban father on his way to the hardware store: bluejeans, work boots and a New England Patriots cap shading a sunburned face.
The son of a New Hampshire state trooper, Hamel has spent most of his 21-year career working undercover, investigating biker gangs and drugs. At 47, he actually is a suburban father who coaches and referees high school and college basketball and runs a landscaping business on the side.
Hamel's counterpart across the Piscataqua River in New Hampshire is Stephen Arnold, a stocky 45-year-old father of four with a round, bearded face, a thick brogue and a fondness for baseball hats and Marlboro Lights.
Rounding out SNIF are two detectives from York, the Beverly Hills of the coastal burgs. Cryan, 44, father of a teenage boy, has been investigating crimes in York for two decades. His colleague Mark Clifford, 40, is a former golf pro who came out of a patrolman's uniform several years ago as York's first full-time narcotics detective.
The members of SNIF all answer to their own chiefs, but they function as an independent unit on the ground. Keeping in contact by cellphone, text message and two-way radio, they share information and informants and take turns making undercover buys and running surveillance.
They also work with the Drug Enforcement Administration and follow cases where they lead, roaming three states and towns as far south as Lawrence, Mass., the source for most of the narcotics in New Hampshire and Maine. In Lawrence, the drug trade is run by Dominican dealers with ties to Mexican cartels.
SNIF's efforts have resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in confiscated homes, cars and cash, which is divvied up among the departments to help fund drug enforcement efforts.
Along the way, Hamel and Arnold have been teaching their York colleagues the dangerous art of undercover drug work.
"No one teaches you to be a street narc in the academy," Hamel said. "And most guys look at the work and say, 'Not for me, dude.' "
As they waited for an informant to arrange an undercover buy recently, the veterans teased Clifford about a York heroin addict he had turned into an informant a few months earlier -- an informant who was robbing banks to feed his habit even as he helped the police.
Both York detectives have picked up valuable lessons along the way, including the importance of a plausible cover identity.
"If you're 130 pounds soaking wet and have smooth hands, like Cliff here, you can't pretend to be a bricklayer," Hamel said. "You have to look the part."
One reason the overdose death of Bethany Fritz was such a shock was the setting: York is a family resort town with a rich, 350-year-old history, located just over an hour's drive north of Boston.
"It really opened our eyes," Cryan said, "and made us realize we had issues."
Before that, police in Maine had been primarily concerned with OxyContin, a highly addictive prescription painkiller. Now cocaine and heroin have emerged as major problems, and the cause is a combination of supply and demand.
"People who get hooked on it create their own demand, soliciting customers so they can pay for their habit," said Strong, the Kittery police chief.
In 2007, for example, SNIF detectives uncovered a cocaine ring operated by Leslie Smith, who did body work at a Kittery garage. Smith, 44, and three friends were making daily trips to Lawrence for cocaine, using some of it themselves and selling the rest in Kittery and Portsmouth at a 300% markup.
The detectives, working with a DEA-led task force in Lawrence, arrested Smith and his friends. They also got his source, a Dominican dealer in Massachusetts, after Hamel made several undercover buys. All are in federal prison.
In the last year, though, heroin has flooded Maine and New Hampshire as OxyContin addicts turn to heroin. A bag of heroin costs about $5 on the street here today, compared with $50 for an OxyContin tablet.
"Heroin arrests are up 100% from just three years ago," Hamel said. "And I can't remember the last junkie I busted for heroin who didn't say he started with OxyContin. And why not? They can get a hit of heroin for less than a six-pack of beer."
At Counseling Services Inc., an addiction treatment facility in Maine, Medical Director Dr. Patrick Maidman said the number of people seeking help for addiction to opiates such as OxyContin and heroin had been overwhelming.
"We're not able to manage the volume of people looking for help," he said.
It was five years ago that Bethany spent her last night at her best friend Amanda Corey's house, a New England colonial nestled in woods near I-95 and a sign that reads: "Welcome to Maine. The Way Life Should Be."
Amanda tried for several hours to wake her friend that morning and finally called an ambulance in the early afternoon. Bethany never regained consciousness and died later that day.
"If you had asked me back then how many teenagers were using heroin, I'd have said very few and I couldn't name one," Cryan said. "Today, I can name 20."
The detectives traced the heroin to Scott Fisher, Bethany's 20-year-old boyfriend. Hamel began making undercover buys from Fisher and eventually arrested him.
Fisher, now serving a 12-year federal prison term in Allenwood, Pa., recalls that time with sadness.
"I wish I had made different choices," he said in a telephone interview from prison. Heroin and cocaine "were so easy to obtain. It was just always easy. And it seemed like everyone was using."
Bethany's family saw him as a victim. "Scott was just a kid who got caught up in this whole thing," said Lachance, Bethany's sister. "It was a tragedy not only for our family but for him."
The SNIF detectives also tracked down Fisher's source, Juan Delacruz, an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic who worked in Lawrence as a drug runner. Delacruz is serving an eight-year sentence. The drug boss, a man known by the street name King Louie, returned to the Dominican Republic, authorities said.
For the SNIF detectives, that was the first battle in an escalating war.
Hamel unlocked the Kittery police evidence locker recently, revealing piles of yellow envelopes stuffed with heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, chalky "re-rock" cocaine and tablets of OxyContin and other prescription drugs.
Each envelope represented a recent arrest -- the fruits of a small band
CA The People Move to Stop MEXICAN WELFARE STATE
From the Los Angeles Times
Illegal immigrants again in the budget spotlight
The economic downturn has activists pushing for a measure that would limit the services Californians provide.
By Anna Gorman and Teresa Watanabe
July 10, 2009
As California lawmakers struggle with a budget gap that has now grown to $26.3 billion, one of the hottest topics for many taxpayers is the cost to the state of illegal immigrants.
The question of whether taxpayers should provide services to illegal residents became a major political issue in California's last deep recession, culminating in the ballot fight over Proposition 187 in 1994. That history could repeat itself in the current downturn, as activists opposed to illegal immigration have launched a campaign for an initiative that would, among other things, cut off welfare payments to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. Those children are eligible for welfare benefits because they are U.S. citizens.
State welfare officials estimate that cutting off payments to illegal immigrants for their U.S.-born children could save about $640 million annually if it survives legal challenges.
California has roughly 2.7 million illegal residents, according to an April 2009 report from the authoritative Pew Hispanic Center, accounting for about 7% of the state's population. State officials estimate that they add between $4 billion and $6 billion in costs, primarily for prisons and jails, schools and emergency rooms. Beyond those services, the illegal population adds to the overall cost of other parts of local government, from police and fire protection to highway maintenance and libraries.
On the other side of the ledger, illegal residents pay taxes -- sales taxes on what they buy, gasoline taxes when they fuel their cars, property taxes if they own homes. The total is hotly debated, although most researchers agree that the short-term costs to state and local government are bigger than the revenues.
Many companies that hire illegal workers also withhold Social Security and income taxes from their paychecks, based on workers' invalid Social Security numbers. That money goes mostly to the federal government, not to localities. The Social Security Administration estimates that in 2007, illegal residents nationwide contributed a net of $12 billion to the system.
The largest costs to California's budget from its illegal residents are in three areas:
* Education: The state has no official count of how many students are in the country illegally because school districts do not ask. But the state legislative analyst estimated, based on data from the Pew Hispanic Center, that the state's 6.3 million public school students include about 300,000 illegal residents. At an annual cost of about $7,626 each, the total comes to nearly $2.3 billion.
* Prisons: In fiscal year 2009-10, California expects to spend about $834 million to incarcerate 19,000 illegal immigrants in the state's prisons. In Los Angeles County, illegal immigrants add between $370 million and $550 million annually to criminal justice costs, including prosecution, defense, probation and jails, according to Supervisor Mike Antonovich.
* Healthcare: The expected state tab for healthcare in fiscal 2009-10 is $703 million for as many as 780,000 illegal immigrants. Of that, $486 million goes to emergency services. But low-income illegal residents are also eligible for some nonemergency health services, including prenatal and postpartum care, abortions, breast and cervical cancer treatment and certain types of long-term care, such as stays in nursing homes. Most of the nonemergency care for illegal immigrants was authorized by the Legislature in the 1980s.
Much of those costs are beyond the control of state officials. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that the Constitution forbids school districts to turn away children who are illegal immigrants. And federal law requires emergency rooms to treat everyone, regardless of citizenship.
How serious a problem those costs are is a subject of constant debate. "It is a catastrophic hit . . . on every level of government," Antonovich said.
State Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San Diego) who heads the Senate budget committee, counters that illegal immigrants are net contributors through their taxes and labor in farming and other industries. Cutting services to illegal residents is "penny wise and pound foolish," Ducheny said.
The Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, based in Palo Alto, has analyzed research on the costs of illegal immigration. Most studies show that at least in the short term, illegal immigrants, who tend to be poorer and have more children than average, use more in public services than they contribute in taxes, the center found.
But the center's director, Stephen Levy, said some of the long-term effects were positive. Educating illegal immigrant children, for instance, helps them eventually land better jobs and higher salaries, benefiting Californians with increased tax payments and more sophisticated work skills.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said it is wrong to blame illegal immigrants for the state's fiscal problems. He has, however, proposed to limit welfare and nonemergency healthcare for illegal immigrants and their families. So far, the Legislature has rejected his plans.
One of the governor's proposals would place a five-year limit on state welfare payments to the U.S.-citizen children of illegal immigrants. That would affect approximately 100,000 U.S.-born children in about 48,000 California households headed by illegal immigrants, who receive a monthly average of $472. The measure could save $77 million annually, according to the governor's office.
Under another proposal, the governor could commute the sentences of some illegal immigrant felons in state prisons and shift them to federal detention centers. It costs the state $48,000 to incarcerate a prisoner, and the federal government reimburses about 12 cents on the dollar, according to state finance officials. The administration estimates that commuting sentences of 8,500 felons, along with other sentencing changes, could save $182 million, although other state analysts question that.
State cuts in health services could shift costs to counties, some of which have begun denying treatment to illegal immigrants to close their own budget gaps. "It really is a punt," said Farra Bracht of the Legislative Analyst's Office. "We just keep shoving more and more to the counties. . . . They are the providers of truly last resort."
Many state officials have called on the federal government to increase the payments it makes to the state for costs associated with illegal immigrants, because controlling the borders is a federal responsibility. So far, however, Washington lawmakers, faced with large deficits of their own, have not been willing.
And others say the nation's humanitarian traditions and long-term interests compel extending a helping hand to people such as Delia Godinez.
Godinez, a 43-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant, left an abusive family and lives in transitional housing. Four of her five children are citizens and receive a total of about $650 each month from the state's CalWorks program. She also receives about $500 in federal food stamps and other vouchers.
Without the aid, the unemployed Godinez said, she wouldn't be able to provide for her family. She is studying English and hopes one day to open a business and get off welfare.
"I don't want to be my whole life with that help," she said.
Many advocates say the ultimate solution is to reduce illegal immigration, not to cut off critical services that could jeopardize public health and safety.
"When people come into the U.S., even illegally, they cross more than a physical barrier; they cross a moral barrier," said Steven Camarota of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates immigration restrictions. "We don't like it if someone can't go to the emergency room. That's just our way."
Illegal immigrants again in the budget spotlight
The economic downturn has activists pushing for a measure that would limit the services Californians provide.
By Anna Gorman and Teresa Watanabe
July 10, 2009
As California lawmakers struggle with a budget gap that has now grown to $26.3 billion, one of the hottest topics for many taxpayers is the cost to the state of illegal immigrants.
The question of whether taxpayers should provide services to illegal residents became a major political issue in California's last deep recession, culminating in the ballot fight over Proposition 187 in 1994. That history could repeat itself in the current downturn, as activists opposed to illegal immigration have launched a campaign for an initiative that would, among other things, cut off welfare payments to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. Those children are eligible for welfare benefits because they are U.S. citizens.
State welfare officials estimate that cutting off payments to illegal immigrants for their U.S.-born children could save about $640 million annually if it survives legal challenges.
California has roughly 2.7 million illegal residents, according to an April 2009 report from the authoritative Pew Hispanic Center, accounting for about 7% of the state's population. State officials estimate that they add between $4 billion and $6 billion in costs, primarily for prisons and jails, schools and emergency rooms. Beyond those services, the illegal population adds to the overall cost of other parts of local government, from police and fire protection to highway maintenance and libraries.
On the other side of the ledger, illegal residents pay taxes -- sales taxes on what they buy, gasoline taxes when they fuel their cars, property taxes if they own homes. The total is hotly debated, although most researchers agree that the short-term costs to state and local government are bigger than the revenues.
Many companies that hire illegal workers also withhold Social Security and income taxes from their paychecks, based on workers' invalid Social Security numbers. That money goes mostly to the federal government, not to localities. The Social Security Administration estimates that in 2007, illegal residents nationwide contributed a net of $12 billion to the system.
The largest costs to California's budget from its illegal residents are in three areas:
* Education: The state has no official count of how many students are in the country illegally because school districts do not ask. But the state legislative analyst estimated, based on data from the Pew Hispanic Center, that the state's 6.3 million public school students include about 300,000 illegal residents. At an annual cost of about $7,626 each, the total comes to nearly $2.3 billion.
* Prisons: In fiscal year 2009-10, California expects to spend about $834 million to incarcerate 19,000 illegal immigrants in the state's prisons. In Los Angeles County, illegal immigrants add between $370 million and $550 million annually to criminal justice costs, including prosecution, defense, probation and jails, according to Supervisor Mike Antonovich.
* Healthcare: The expected state tab for healthcare in fiscal 2009-10 is $703 million for as many as 780,000 illegal immigrants. Of that, $486 million goes to emergency services. But low-income illegal residents are also eligible for some nonemergency health services, including prenatal and postpartum care, abortions, breast and cervical cancer treatment and certain types of long-term care, such as stays in nursing homes. Most of the nonemergency care for illegal immigrants was authorized by the Legislature in the 1980s.
Much of those costs are beyond the control of state officials. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that the Constitution forbids school districts to turn away children who are illegal immigrants. And federal law requires emergency rooms to treat everyone, regardless of citizenship.
How serious a problem those costs are is a subject of constant debate. "It is a catastrophic hit . . . on every level of government," Antonovich said.
State Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San Diego) who heads the Senate budget committee, counters that illegal immigrants are net contributors through their taxes and labor in farming and other industries. Cutting services to illegal residents is "penny wise and pound foolish," Ducheny said.
The Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, based in Palo Alto, has analyzed research on the costs of illegal immigration. Most studies show that at least in the short term, illegal immigrants, who tend to be poorer and have more children than average, use more in public services than they contribute in taxes, the center found.
But the center's director, Stephen Levy, said some of the long-term effects were positive. Educating illegal immigrant children, for instance, helps them eventually land better jobs and higher salaries, benefiting Californians with increased tax payments and more sophisticated work skills.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said it is wrong to blame illegal immigrants for the state's fiscal problems. He has, however, proposed to limit welfare and nonemergency healthcare for illegal immigrants and their families. So far, the Legislature has rejected his plans.
One of the governor's proposals would place a five-year limit on state welfare payments to the U.S.-citizen children of illegal immigrants. That would affect approximately 100,000 U.S.-born children in about 48,000 California households headed by illegal immigrants, who receive a monthly average of $472. The measure could save $77 million annually, according to the governor's office.
Under another proposal, the governor could commute the sentences of some illegal immigrant felons in state prisons and shift them to federal detention centers. It costs the state $48,000 to incarcerate a prisoner, and the federal government reimburses about 12 cents on the dollar, according to state finance officials. The administration estimates that commuting sentences of 8,500 felons, along with other sentencing changes, could save $182 million, although other state analysts question that.
State cuts in health services could shift costs to counties, some of which have begun denying treatment to illegal immigrants to close their own budget gaps. "It really is a punt," said Farra Bracht of the Legislative Analyst's Office. "We just keep shoving more and more to the counties. . . . They are the providers of truly last resort."
Many state officials have called on the federal government to increase the payments it makes to the state for costs associated with illegal immigrants, because controlling the borders is a federal responsibility. So far, however, Washington lawmakers, faced with large deficits of their own, have not been willing.
And others say the nation's humanitarian traditions and long-term interests compel extending a helping hand to people such as Delia Godinez.
Godinez, a 43-year-old undocumented Mexican immigrant, left an abusive family and lives in transitional housing. Four of her five children are citizens and receive a total of about $650 each month from the state's CalWorks program. She also receives about $500 in federal food stamps and other vouchers.
Without the aid, the unemployed Godinez said, she wouldn't be able to provide for her family. She is studying English and hopes one day to open a business and get off welfare.
"I don't want to be my whole life with that help," she said.
Many advocates say the ultimate solution is to reduce illegal immigration, not to cut off critical services that could jeopardize public health and safety.
"When people come into the U.S., even illegally, they cross more than a physical barrier; they cross a moral barrier," said Steven Camarota of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates immigration restrictions. "We don't like it if someone can't go to the emergency room. That's just our way."
Berekeley CA - GANG WAR while politicians work for OPEN BORDERS
Three arrested in Berkeley-Oakland gang war
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 10, 2009
(07-09) 20:32 PDT OAKLAND --
Three alleged leaders of a violent Berkeley gang were arrested today during raids in which one of the men was shot and wounded by police, authorities said.
The suspects, Coleon Carroll, 19, his brother Joseph Carroll, 22, and Gregg Fite, 34, were at the center of a long-running feud between groups in Berkeley and North Oakland, police said.
A recent flareup resulted in a flurry of shootings, including a May 16 slaying in Berkeley, authorities said. The suspects in that case fled from police, a chase that ended with their car causing a crash that killed two men in North Oakland, authorities said.
Coleon Carroll was shot and wounded by a police officer at about 7 a.m. today when he fled out of a home on Chestnut Court in Hercules through a back window and appeared to be reaching for a weapon, said Michelle Harrington, a spokeswoman for the city.
Carroll was hit in the abdomen and is expected to survive, authorities said.
A gun was found outside the home, Harrington said. The shooting is under investigation by police and the Contra Costa County district attorney's office.
The Hercules home was one of seven locations that were searched as part of an investigation by Berkeley and Oakland police into the gang violence.
Twelve guns, including assault rifles, and an undisclosed amount of drugs were recovered during the raids, said Oakland homicide Lt. Brian Medeiros.
Rather than arrest minor players in the feud, investigators built cases against the three alleged ringleaders, police said.
"We went with the approach of going after their leaders instead of going after a bunch of the hired guns or the middlemen because we felt that we had a better effect of dismantling the gang by targeting the leaders, and that's what we did," said Oakland homicide Sgt. Tony Jones.
Coleon Carroll was being held on suspicion of robbery. Joseph Carroll was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Fite was arrested on suspicion of murder, but details of the case were not immediately available.
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 10, 2009
(07-09) 20:32 PDT OAKLAND --
Three alleged leaders of a violent Berkeley gang were arrested today during raids in which one of the men was shot and wounded by police, authorities said.
The suspects, Coleon Carroll, 19, his brother Joseph Carroll, 22, and Gregg Fite, 34, were at the center of a long-running feud between groups in Berkeley and North Oakland, police said.
A recent flareup resulted in a flurry of shootings, including a May 16 slaying in Berkeley, authorities said. The suspects in that case fled from police, a chase that ended with their car causing a crash that killed two men in North Oakland, authorities said.
Coleon Carroll was shot and wounded by a police officer at about 7 a.m. today when he fled out of a home on Chestnut Court in Hercules through a back window and appeared to be reaching for a weapon, said Michelle Harrington, a spokeswoman for the city.
Carroll was hit in the abdomen and is expected to survive, authorities said.
A gun was found outside the home, Harrington said. The shooting is under investigation by police and the Contra Costa County district attorney's office.
The Hercules home was one of seven locations that were searched as part of an investigation by Berkeley and Oakland police into the gang violence.
Twelve guns, including assault rifles, and an undisclosed amount of drugs were recovered during the raids, said Oakland homicide Lt. Brian Medeiros.
Rather than arrest minor players in the feud, investigators built cases against the three alleged ringleaders, police said.
"We went with the approach of going after their leaders instead of going after a bunch of the hired guns or the middlemen because we felt that we had a better effect of dismantling the gang by targeting the leaders, and that's what we did," said Oakland homicide Sgt. Tony Jones.
Coleon Carroll was being held on suspicion of robbery. Joseph Carroll was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Fite was arrested on suspicion of murder, but details of the case were not immediately available.
DAILY CITY - CA ... WEAR RED, GET MURDERED BY MEXICAN GANG!
Gang members shot men for wearing red, cops say
Demian Bulwa,Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, July 10, 2009
(07-09) 13:44 PDT DALY CITY -- Two suspected members of the MS-13 gang have been arrested and a third is being sought in the Daly City slaying of a 21-year-old college student who was shot because his friends were wearing red - a color claimed by a rival gang - police said Thursday.
One of Moises Frias Jr.'s companions was wearing a red sweater, and another a red-and-white San Francisco 49ers cap, when their car was riddled with bullets near the Daly City BART Station on Feb. 19. Frias died before he could reach the hospital, and two of the other three young men in the car were wounded.
None of the victims had anything to do with gangs, investigators said.
"That's very stupid thinking," Moises Frias Sr. said after learning of the arrests. "They're going to shoot him just because of that? Why don't they just kill each other?"
The father said he would ask San Mateo County prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the killing, which he said devastated his family and made him fear for the safety of his surviving 18-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.
"I would never expect something like this to happen in my life," he said. "These guys, they destroyed my life, me and family, for nothing."
Daly City police Detective Gregg Oglesby noted that Frias' shooting was strikingly similar to the June 2008 killing of a San Francisco father, Tony Bologna, and his two sons in the Excelsior neighborhood. Prosecutors say another member of MS-13 - a subset of the Sureño gang, which claims the color blue - opened fire after mistaking one of the sons for a member of the rival Norteños, who claim red.
"It's a sad day that young Hispanic men can't wear a red sweater without somebody pointing fingers at them and thinking he's a gang member," Daly City police Lt. Jay Morena said.
Around the Bay Area, authorities say several such cases of mistaken gang affiliation in recent years have prompted killings, assaults and robberies. Many young Latino men say they are routinely "checked," or asked whether they are Norteño or Sureño.
"They don't do much verification of rival gang membership," Oglesby said. "It's a variation of racial profiling, but with potentially deadly consequences."
In the Daly City case, Danilo Velasquez, 28, was arrested early Wednesday in San Francisco. Luis Herrera, 18, was already at San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of auto theft and possession of a gun that was later determined to have been used to kill Frias, police said. Both have been charged with murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, three counts of attempted murder and enhancements for participating in a criminal street gang and weapons possession.
A third alleged gang member, Jaime Balam, 20, was deported to his native Mexico eight days after the shooting - but before he was identified as a suspect - and is still being sought. Police said Balam, who had been deported once before, was picked up by federal immigration agents in San Francisco on Feb. 24.
Frias, who loved to dance to Mexican big band music and play baseball, was studying business at City College and was preparing to transfer to a state university. He was a technician at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission who hoped to build a career at the water agency.
His friends, too, were college students. One was in his first year of law school.
On the night they were attacked, police said, they were listening to loud rap music as they drove toward a restaurant in a Buick Regal. About 7 p.m., while the group was stopped at a light on John Daly Boulevard next to the Daly City BART Station, Velasquez and Balam jumped out of a stolen Honda Civic and sprayed the Buick with bullets from an assault rifle and a .380-caliber pistol, Morena said.
The men got back into the Honda, which was driven by Herrera, and sped onto Interstate 280, police said.
Frias, the Buick driver and another friend were shot. The driver managed to steer 2 miles to Seton Medical Center as the passenger who was unhurt called for help. Doctors met the young men in front of the hospital, but Frias was already dead.
The Honda, which had been stolen in San Francisco's Mission District, was found by police in the Castro a day after the slaying.
Daly City police had few other leads until March 4, when a "very alert" San Francisco police officer stopped a car in which Herrera was a passenger and arrested him on suspicion of auto theft and possession of a loaded .380-caliber pistol, Morena said.
Ballistics tests revealed that the pistol had been used in the Daly City shooting, Morena said.
Demian Bulwa,Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, July 10, 2009
(07-09) 13:44 PDT DALY CITY -- Two suspected members of the MS-13 gang have been arrested and a third is being sought in the Daly City slaying of a 21-year-old college student who was shot because his friends were wearing red - a color claimed by a rival gang - police said Thursday.
One of Moises Frias Jr.'s companions was wearing a red sweater, and another a red-and-white San Francisco 49ers cap, when their car was riddled with bullets near the Daly City BART Station on Feb. 19. Frias died before he could reach the hospital, and two of the other three young men in the car were wounded.
None of the victims had anything to do with gangs, investigators said.
"That's very stupid thinking," Moises Frias Sr. said after learning of the arrests. "They're going to shoot him just because of that? Why don't they just kill each other?"
The father said he would ask San Mateo County prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the killing, which he said devastated his family and made him fear for the safety of his surviving 18-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.
"I would never expect something like this to happen in my life," he said. "These guys, they destroyed my life, me and family, for nothing."
Daly City police Detective Gregg Oglesby noted that Frias' shooting was strikingly similar to the June 2008 killing of a San Francisco father, Tony Bologna, and his two sons in the Excelsior neighborhood. Prosecutors say another member of MS-13 - a subset of the Sureño gang, which claims the color blue - opened fire after mistaking one of the sons for a member of the rival Norteños, who claim red.
"It's a sad day that young Hispanic men can't wear a red sweater without somebody pointing fingers at them and thinking he's a gang member," Daly City police Lt. Jay Morena said.
Around the Bay Area, authorities say several such cases of mistaken gang affiliation in recent years have prompted killings, assaults and robberies. Many young Latino men say they are routinely "checked," or asked whether they are Norteño or Sureño.
"They don't do much verification of rival gang membership," Oglesby said. "It's a variation of racial profiling, but with potentially deadly consequences."
In the Daly City case, Danilo Velasquez, 28, was arrested early Wednesday in San Francisco. Luis Herrera, 18, was already at San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of auto theft and possession of a gun that was later determined to have been used to kill Frias, police said. Both have been charged with murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, three counts of attempted murder and enhancements for participating in a criminal street gang and weapons possession.
A third alleged gang member, Jaime Balam, 20, was deported to his native Mexico eight days after the shooting - but before he was identified as a suspect - and is still being sought. Police said Balam, who had been deported once before, was picked up by federal immigration agents in San Francisco on Feb. 24.
Frias, who loved to dance to Mexican big band music and play baseball, was studying business at City College and was preparing to transfer to a state university. He was a technician at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission who hoped to build a career at the water agency.
His friends, too, were college students. One was in his first year of law school.
On the night they were attacked, police said, they were listening to loud rap music as they drove toward a restaurant in a Buick Regal. About 7 p.m., while the group was stopped at a light on John Daly Boulevard next to the Daly City BART Station, Velasquez and Balam jumped out of a stolen Honda Civic and sprayed the Buick with bullets from an assault rifle and a .380-caliber pistol, Morena said.
The men got back into the Honda, which was driven by Herrera, and sped onto Interstate 280, police said.
Frias, the Buick driver and another friend were shot. The driver managed to steer 2 miles to Seton Medical Center as the passenger who was unhurt called for help. Doctors met the young men in front of the hospital, but Frias was already dead.
The Honda, which had been stolen in San Francisco's Mission District, was found by police in the Castro a day after the slaying.
Daly City police had few other leads until March 4, when a "very alert" San Francisco police officer stopped a car in which Herrera was a passenger and arrested him on suspicion of auto theft and possession of a loaded .380-caliber pistol, Morena said.
Ballistics tests revealed that the pistol had been used in the Daly City shooting, Morena said.
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