Josh Randall
Posted on 04/27/2008 9:19:32 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
SWEETWATER, Tenn. — A routine traffic stop on Interstate 75 late Wednesday netted the Monroe County Sheriff’s department a vanload of suspected illegal aliens, authorities said.
Monroe County drug interdiction officer B.J. Johnson said in a police report that he stopped a large Ford window van near mile marker 60 on suspicion of driving under the influence.
In a news release, Monroe County Detective Jennifer Bledsoe said neither the driver nor passenger of the van possessed a legal driver’s license.
Then Officer Johnson discovered 15 Hispanic people riding in the back of the van, none with valid identification cards, she said.
She said Officer Johnson called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Knoxville, who sent three officers within about 20 minutes to take all 17 people into custody.
“B.J. compliments the ICE agents on their responding to the scene,” Detective Bledsoe said. She said no county charges were filed and that the arrest was not a part of any federal or local investigation.
Some of the people in the van told authorities they were traveling to different places, including Tennessee, Georgia, New Jersey, Connecticut and Boston, according to Detective Bledsoe.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said Friday afternoon that no other information was available on the case.
Deputy Johnson and his dog, Rondo, are well known in Southeast Tennessee for their work as an interdiction team combating drug trafficking.
The pair has worked for the Rhea and McMinn County sheriff’s departments. They went to Iraq and worked in security before joining the Monroe County Department.
Yes, ICE came right away...
Sweetwater is about 40 miles from me...
ICE is NICE PING
Sweetwater PinG!
Ranger are you staying out of trouble?
HOw many illegals are getting in because of situations just like this? THose not getting stopped for traffic violations.
We need a bounty system set up rewarding citizens for information on illegal alien activity.
Ping!
In Nashville peiople are upset because illegal aliens are getting arrested when they get stopped...
Davidson County has 287g..
“Oooooooooo you promised to only arrest the violent ones Ooooooooo”
Sob
the story is in The Tennessean so I couldnt post it...
Morons.
I don’t think it matters in Maryland. This is a sanctuary state. Illegals are courted as potential voters.
There have been some local communities who have developed their own public policies against welcoming immigrants, including Taneytown, MD, which is not real far from me. I don’t believe any of the legislation that such communities produce really have any effect, but at least they have some kind of policy on the books, as our state basically allows this illegal activity. Such communities have been villified in the press as being xenophobic and racist. I don’t think that’s true either.
Aren’t those who know about illegal activity and not doing anything about it guilty of aiding and abetting those crimes?
Josh Randall
SLUSH SCANDAL HITS 'FAKE' TENANT GROUP
By ANGELA MONTEFINISE and BRENDAN SCOTT, NY Post
EXCERPT April 27, 2008 -- A Bronx City Councilwoman earmarked thousands of taxpayer dollars for a tenants association in her former apartment building - an association residents say doesn't exist. Councilwoman Maria Baez, a Democrat representing the Fordham and Kingsbridge sections, allocated $7,500 of her Fiscal Year 2008 discretionary funds to the 2401 Davidson Avenue Tenants Association, a group supposedly located in the six-story building she called home until 2005.
The building is also the registered headquarters for her campaign committee, "Friends of Maria Baez," and home to her campaign treasurer, Nilda Velazquez, who lives in Baez's former apartment. But the building's superintendent and more than a dozen residents interviewed at the 60-unit building said there is no tenants association.
"There's no association here," said Elias Guerra, the super. The regular postal carrier said she couldn't remember ever delivering a piece of mail to any tenants organization in the building. Some residents remembered a now-disbanded organization - which last met four years ago. "We don't have one anymore," said Vicky Reyes, listed as the treasurer of the defunct tenants group on an old flier. She said Baez was a member when she lived there. Reyes said the association dissolved after the former president left several years ago, and hadn't been active for about four years. She wasn't aware of anyone trying to revive it.
Velazquez declined comment through family members. Staffers at Baez's Bronx district office told a Post reporter, "You're not welcome here." Baez accused The Post of harassing her staff members, and said she only allowed constituent business to be conducted in her office. She declined to answer specific questions about the tenants group. "I will not allow anyone to assassinate my character as a Latina woman," she said. She added that the organizations she funds are "good organizations" that "provide important services for the community." She would not say when or why the funding was nixed. Baez said, "I have nothing to hide. I've done nothing wrong. I work very hard."
The mysterious member item is the most recent revelation in a growing scandal that came to light when The Post revealed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's office was allocating $4.7 million in taxpayer dollars to phony organizations. A close look at Fiscal Year 2008 member items shows Black Councilman Larry Seabrook earmarking $912,244 for the 11-month-old African American Chamber of Commerce, which happens to share the same address as his district office in The Bronx.
Latino Councilman Erik Dilan (his father is state Senator Martin Malave-Dilan D-Brooklyn) allocated nearly $200,000 to the North Brooklyn Community Council, a nonprofit run by his wife, Jannitza Luna.
Jannitza Luna, district leader for the Brooklyn Democrats, was on husband Erik Dilan's staff before she started
running North Brooklyn Community Council, whose office is on Wilson Ave. PIC Ward for NY Daily News
Erik Dilan. NY Daily News pic Kathy Villacorta
NY State Sen Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn)
The largest allocation was nearly $600,000 to the Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, a well-respected organization founded by powerhouse Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez, chairman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. The member item was sponsored by "the Brooklyn delegation."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04272008/news/regionalnews/slush_scandal_hits_fake_tenant_group_108296.htm
Youuuuuhoooo.
I’m not sure to whom your question is directed toward; elected representatives, enforcement officers or private citizens?
In many ways, Maryland is a lawless state.
ICU!
The question was directed to whoever knew the answer. I was refering to all citizens. If they know of illegal activity, such as a company employing illegal aliens, they should report that company for those activities. The follow up is that ICE should arrest and deport all illegal aliens rounded up. Anyone not doing their job in this regard should be reprimanded, fined, arrested or whatever.
There have been some successful efforts in VA to photograph day labor vehicles that pick-up illegals. But it’s kind of a mixed bag, some of the day labor centers have actually been built and funded by the local governments ~ and they know that the purpose is to encourage illegals.
Now things are turning around a bit in Northern VA. Most people, no matter how liberal are tired of their tax money being used up by the illegals. They’re also tired of people living 25 to a single family home and having 8 vehicles parked outside of suburban houses, gangs and problems with school. A conservative firebrand (Corey Stuart) swept into office last november against some pretty stacked odds and much to the chagrin of the liberal local press.
In Maryland, the former mayor of Baltimore actually welcomed illegals to come to Baltimore city. This is a city with many urban problems, including no tax base to speak of. That mayor is now the governor of our state and he does very little to impede the invasion of illegal aliens. The welcome mat is out for them with a wink.
County and local communities seem loathe to do anything. A few have tried to developed policies proclaiming english as the first language. My county seat just created a law stating that it would not provide county documents in other languages, but it’s my understanding that this will be ignored.
Crime is up in my county, which is a transitioning rural area. Some of the worst crimes have been of the domestic variety; several involving men killing their wives and children. A percentage of the worst crimes were by hispanics. When I moved here 15 years ago, they really didn’t even have a murder rate. It was something that did not happen.
Taneytown, MD has been in the news on several occassions; a bust of former supreme court judge Roger Taney was protested against by the NAACP. I’m pretty certain that Taney was primarily responsible for writing the Dred Scott decision. Taneytown also developed a policy by which they merely stated that illegal immigrants were NOT welcome in their community (I think this is modeled after the legislation in not so far away Hazelton, PA).
Only miles away Walkersville has tried to stop a Muslim group from building a 10,000 acre religious community in their town without subsidizing any of the necessary infrastructure.
These communities are pretty normal, maybe on the lower end of middle-class, but good folks. They have been characterized as racists by the bigger media groups in the region and villified on a national level.
Many in these communities don’t real care what the press says about them. It’s alonely fight here in Maryland.
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