23 illegal immigrants found on boat (San Diego Union-Tribune)

23 illegal immigrants found on boat

Posted by Karen Kucher | 08:07 AM

Twenty-three illegal immigrants were found on a fishing boat intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents early today off the coast of Torrey Pines, officials said.

The marine agents spotted the panga about 4 miles off the coast around 4 a.m., said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. No information about the gender, age or nationality of the immigrants was immediately released.

Investigators are still interviewing the detainees, Mack said.

"We are attempting to locate or identify a smuggler or smugglers. If we do identify one, we will make an arrest," Mack said.

Community Watch: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, GOLDEN SHORES (Mohave Daily News)

Community Watch (6th item)
Sunday, February 1, 2009 9:48 PM CST

Daily News staff

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, GOLDEN SHORES - At about 11:34 a.m. Friday, Mohave County Sheriffs deputies conducted a traffic stop on County Route 1 at milepost 2.5. Deputies identified as Amador Angeles-Altamirano, 25, of Santa Maria, Calif. Deputies observed 10 passengers in the vehicle. Angeles-Altamirano provided deputies with a Mexican identification card.

With the assistance of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, all 11 occupants were determined to be illegal immigrants. The 11 subjects were taken into custody and transported to the Mohave County District II Substation where ICE later took them into custody. The 1997 Chevrolet van was towed from the scene.

Supporters rally behind El Salvadoran (Aspen Daily News)

Supporters rally behind El Salvadoran
by David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent
dfrey@aspendailynews.com
Sunday, February 1, 2009

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Four years ago, home for José Mendoza Turbin was a little town in the highlands of western El Salvador, a place that could be as beautiful as it was dangerous. Despite its remoteness, Tacuba, like many small rural Salvadoran towns, was wracked by gang violence. Mendoza Turbin could count at least five friends killed by gangs. Others he knew had their hands chopped off.

Caught between rival gangs, Mendoza Turbin fled here on his own at age 17. Since then, Glenwood Springs has been his home. After fighting unsuccessfully for asylum for years, he now faces the imminent threat of deportation. An outpouring of support from teachers, students and community members has come to his aid, though, as supporters pressure immigration officials to let him stay. They say Mendoza Turbin isn’t just a kid who sneaked across the border; he’s a community asset.

“We have a very caring community here,” said Ginny Badger, a teacher’s assistant for English Language Learners at Glenwood Springs High School. “If we can just get the government to see how important this kid is and how much he means to us, we’ll be OK, but we’ve just hit a brick wall.”

Badger rallied some 20 supporters to plead his case in front of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Grand Junction last month. They’re hoping to convince ICE’s top agent in Denver that although Mendoza Turbin, now 21, arrived in this country illegally, and although his plea for asylum has been rejected, he should be allowed to stay. He has made such an impact on the community already, they say, and if he’s allowed to follow his dream to become a nurse, he will make even more of one.

“One of the ironies is that we as teachers are not allowed to ask for papers on whether or not they’re here legally,” Badger said. “We are just here to educate them. Then another branch of our government deports them. Here we’ve got a kid who we’ve invested three or four years in, whose every intention is in becoming a nurse, who’s an ideal role model, yet the government doesn’t want to hear it because of a technicality of law. To me there’s a point where law isn’t serving the community.”

‘Education changed my life’

By his teachers’ accounts, Mendoza Turbin was no ordinary student. Arriving with few math skills and speaking no English, he huddled over flash cards before school, and met with teachers after school, to catch up to other students.

“Once you meet the kid, he’s so sincere, so genuine, so very appreciative of his education and appreciative of everything everyone has done for him since he came here,” said Joseph Sustar, who had been his sophomore math teacher. After moving to Belleville, Ill., Sustar came back to appear at the immigration meeting in Grand Junction.

“I’m just 100 percent behind his effort to stay here and I figured if it could help him a little bit, it was worth the trip,” Sustar said.

When Mendoza Turbin first arrived at Glenwood High, Sustar said, he didn’t even know his multiplication tables. A year later, he was tackling high school algebra, and translating it for other Spanish-speakers in the classroom.

“They saw how hard he was working and worked to catch him,” Sustar said, “and they finished at the top of the class with him.”

When Sustar addressed the graduating class last year, he singled out Mendoza Turbin for his accomplishments. When Mendoza Turbin walked across the stage to get his diploma, he got a standing ovation from his classmates.

Now, he’s seeking a nursing degree through Colorado Mountain College.

“I believe education changed my life,” Mendoza Turbin said.

Gang target

Mendoza Turbin’s grew up in the rugged mountains of western El Salvador, in the shadow of El Imposible national park. His parents were poor farmers who rented the land they worked. His mother had never attended school. His father hadn’t gotten much farther.

Glenwood Springs High School staffers have rallied behind Jose Mendoza Turbin in his efforts to stay in the country legally. Among them are, pictured here left to right, Joe Mollica, John Mount, Linda Flohr, Ginny Badger, Paul Freeman, Britten Boyd, Amy Treese and Wade Lewis.

In the aftermath of a bloody civil war, El Salvador found itself plagued by gang violence, and his hometown of Tacuba was no exception.

“These gangs targeted me because I was young,” Mendoza Turbin said.

Two rival gangs, MS13, the Mara Salvatrucha, and MR18, the Mara Negra, had their sights on him, and Mendoza Turbin confesses he joined with both of them from time to time, stealing or hitting someone to please them.

They would stop him on the way to school, he said, and they became impossible to escape. He and his family decided the only safe thing to do would be to leave.

“They were doing bad things,” he said. “Killing. “Hitting. Stealing money. That’s what I could do. My parents taught me my values. That’s why I couldn’t join them.”

Alone and scared

Mendoza Turbin’s brother was already living in Glenwood, where he came as a refugee after a devastating earthquake rocked the country a few years before. Mendoza Turbin set out to join him, crossing Guatemala and Mexico by bus and hitchhiking until he came to the U.S. border.

“It’s scary, you know?” he said. “I was alone and you had to be strong to come to this country.”

He joined with a group of immigrants who blitzed across the Rio Grande into El Paso, Texas. When the Border Patrol came, some fled to safety. Mendoza Turbin got caught. After two days in detention, they released him, and he made his way to Glenwood Springs, where he showed up in school midyear. He wasn’t a great student, he said, and he was scared.

“I really didn’t give him much hope,” Badger said. “He was literally so disoriented. His skills were so low. He probably had about a 5th grade education, and that’s probably being generous.”

But Mendoza Turbin dedicated himself to studying, and teachers met with him before school and after school to help. He became interested in a nursing career as a way to give back.

“I want to show all the people that helped me a lot that the education they gave me, advice and everything, really, I got it,” he said. “Show how grateful I am to them. Because a lot of people have been kind to me. I want to give them something. They gave me this community.”

Running out of options

Since he arrived, he’s been working to find a way to stay legally. After four years of trying, he’s running out of options. He pleaded for asylum, based on the danger he said he faced from gangs, but he was rejected by an immigration judge and appeals court. He’s pleaded for a stay of deportation, but that’s been rejected twice. He’s trying again, with his teachers and community members lining up behind him.

“Any fight that is not fought is the worst fight,” Badger said. “You don’t see us clamoring for every student. This kid is special.”

Their last hope lies with an agent in Denver who can grant a stay of deportation.

“It is not just any other case,” said his attorney, Shelley Wittevrongel, of Boulder, who has begun working on Mendoza Turbin’s case for free. “I think Jose is exceptional in that he has come here, used his time in the United States and really dedicated himself to taking advantage and giving back to the community. So when the community came to me and said, ‘We don’t want this kid to have to go back,’ I tried to put my creative juices to work to figure out what could be done.”

His past pleas have been turned down because his asylum claim was rejected, Wittevrongel said. Officials have never ruled based on the claim that he’s a community asset. That’s one reason a stay of deportation can be granted. If it seems like a long shot, she said, it didn’t use to be. In recent years, immigration officials have been more reluctant to offer stays, she said.

“It’s not just a sob story,” said Sustar, his former math teacher. “We’re not just trying to save him from El Salvador. He came to Glenwood Springs High School. We enrolled him. All this public money has already gone into his education. It just seems from a dollars and cents perspective, it just makes sense that the community should reap the benefit of having him here.”

Immigrant arrests prompt protest in Sequim (Peninsula Daily News)

Immigrant arrests prompt protest in Sequim

By Tom Callis
Peninsula Daily News

Last modified: February 01. 2009 4:45AM

SEQUIM -- The arrests of two Sequim men by the Border Patrol sparked a small protest at the intersection of Sequim's busiest intersection on Saturday.

Jose Antonio Hernandez, better known as Tony Hernandez, and Daniel Rodriguez were detained Friday morning and taken to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Tacoma, confirmed Michael Bermudez, Border Patrol spokesman, on Saturday.

At 1 p.m. Saturday, four demonstrators stood on the corner of Washington Street and Sequim Avenue holding signs that said "Stop Homeland Security fear tactics" and bring "Tony & Daniel home."

Hernandez and Rodriguez work for OJ's Landscaping and were driving in a work truck Friday morning on Sequim Avenue not far from Sequim High School when they were stopped by Border Patrol agents, said Mario Gonzales on Saturday, who notified protest organizer Lois Danks of the detentions.

Gonzales, who is the uncle of the owner of the landscaping company, knows both men and played soccer and basketball with Rodriguez, he said from his Sequim home.

Bermudez said the two men were not stopped at a checkpoint.

Last summer, agents operated roadblocks north of Forks and near the Hood Canal Bridge to check identification.

Agents have been reported stopping Olympic bus line buses.

Gonzales said that Hernandez, 28, is a legal resident, but was arrested because he didn't have his alien registration -- or "green" -- card with him, and therefore could not prove his status.

Rodriguez, 18, is not a legal resident, he said.

Bermudez didn't have the details of the two arrests on Saturday.

He said that a person holding a green card won't be arrested unless there has been a violation of legal status.

"If he did have a green card, he was arrested because he violated his status," he said.

Court date

Gonzales said Hernandez, who has a wife and four-year-old son in Sequim, has an immigration court date in Tacoma on Monday to prove his residence status.

The arrests, particularly the detention of Hernandez, exacerbates the apprehension of Hispanic immigrants in Sequim, said Gonzales, who has been a U.S. citizen for nearly nine years.

"We are all on the same page," Gonzales said.

"If they detain me, I don't really have nothing to prove that I am a U.S. citizen.

"It's tough for us to prove we are U.S. citizens unless we carry a passport everywhere we go."

Danks, coordinator of the Stop the Checkpoints Committee, which held Saturday's protest, said Hernandez was at the group's meeting earlier this month. The group formed in September.

Hernandez told the group that he had been stopped by the Border Patrol while getting lunch.

Danks said it is her understanding that Hernandez was carrying his green card during that incident.

Hernandez wasn't the only Hispanic immigrant at the meeting concerned about the Border Patrol, Danks said.

Increase in contacts

"They came because they said the harassment of immigrants had been on an abrupt increase in Sequim in the last two weeks," she said, "that people had been stopped, held at gunpoint when their ID was checked."

Danks was referring to an incident that Gonzales said involved his brother-in-law, who is a U.S. citizen, nearly three weeks ago.

Gonzales said his brother-in-law was among a group of people helping a friend move in Sequim. He said that Border Patrol agents had them lie on the ground at gunpoint while their identification was checked.

A few of the people there were arrested on immigration charges, but his brother-in-law was not one of them, he said.

Bermudez couldn't confirm if that incident occurred.

He added that, if guns were drawn, he is confident that the agents complied with the Border Patrol's use of force policy.

"Border Patrol agents wouldn't just draw their guns for no reason," he said.

"In order for us to draw our weapons, the agent has to feel that their life, their partners' life, or a third party member is being threatened with lethal or egregious bodily harm."

Bermudez said the agents review the use of force policy four times a year.

Gonzales said the incident has left his brother-in-law troubled.

"Every time we talk about immigration, he gets all shaky," he said.

"Having someone pointing a gun at you is going to scare you."

Border Patrol activity has been on the rise on the North Olympic Peninsula, and along the rest of the northern border of the United States.

The number of agents based in Port Angeles increased from four to 24 in two years as part of an increase in personnel across the U.S.-Canadian border mandated by former President George W. Bush.

The federal Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to build a facility, with a short-term detention area, in Port Angeles later this year.

The Border Patrol's mission, Bermudez has said, is to maintain "operational control of our nation's borders."

That includes apprehending terrorists, deterring illegal entrance into the United States, stopping smugglers of drugs and people, developing smart border technology and cutting crime in border communities.

Police: 38 immigrants found in 'drop house' (Arizona Republic)

Police: 38 immigrants found in 'drop house'

by Lisa Halverstadt - Feb. 1, 2009 10:33 AM
The Arizona Republic

A whispered call for help led police to 38 people huddled inside an El Mirage home early Saturday. Police believe those people, all of whom were in the country illegally, may have been part of smuggling operation.

Just after 7 a.m. Saturday, a 911 operator received a call from someone who provided no response to questions. When the dispatcher requested officers check the welfare of the caller, the operator heard a male voice whispering that he needed help, El Mirage assistant police chief Bill Louis said.

After that information was relayed to officers, police worked with a phone company to determine the location of the call.

GPS revealed the call was coming from the area of 123rd Avenue and Columbine Drive.

As officers began to knock on doors there, the 911 operator informed them of a chirping noise, similar to that of a smoke alarm out of batteries, Louis said.

When police came upon that sound at a home nearby, they knocked on the door and rang the doorbell with no response.

Eventually, they entered the home through an open window, Louis said. Upon walking upstairs, the officers found 17 people huddled in one bedroom. Another of the rented home's three bedrooms was packed with 21 people, Louis said.

Police soon found the man who had called for help. He told officers he was having trouble breathing after being involved in a car accident hours earlier. Firefighters took him to Sun Health Boswell Hospital in Sun City.

When authorities from Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived, they found that 34 of the people were likely Mexican nationals. Three others appear to be from Honduras, Louis said.

A handgun and other evidence recovered from the scene led police to believe the people may have been part of a smuggling operation.

Officers later contacted the landlord who had leased out the home and she is cooperating with the Police Department's investigation, Louis said.

The 37 men and one woman are now being detained by ICE. Authorities are continuing to investigate. Anyone with information should call El Mirage police at 623-433-9500.