Free Republic

Thursday, September 13, 2007 WON'T THIS WOMAN JUST PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP? I happened on a television yesterday .. and tuned in Fox News for a moment. There she was, Elvira Arellano, the fugitive criminal alien who was deported to Mexico last month. Now Elvira has decided just who to blame for her troubles. You do remember Elvira, don't you? She's the Mexican criminal alien who was deported from the U.S. once, and then sneaked back in, stole a Social Security number and then stole a job from a legal American worker. She then hid in some storefront church...

(AP) MEXICO The Mexican government said Tuesday it is talking with U.S. officials about whether a deported illegal migrant and activist could return to the United States. Elvira Arellano was arrested and sent back to her native Mexico last month after taking refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid a deportation order. Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa said she approached U.S. authorities on Arellano's behalf after the 32-year-old asked Mexican President Felipe Calderon to help her return to the United States legally as a "peace and justice" ambassador. Espinosa did not say whether Mexico planned to give...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Lawmakers in Mexico are getting involved in the case of an illegal immigrant who was deported by the United States. A Mexican Senate committee is urging President Felipe Calderon (fay-LEE'-pay kahl-duh-ROHN') to send a diplomatic note protesting the deportation of Elvira Arellano (el-VEE'-ruh ah-ray-AH'-noh). She's the activist who had taken refuge in a Chicago church for a year. The committee also approved a scholarship to help her 8-year-old U.S.-born son, Saul, who is staying in the United States. Arellano became a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents by defying her deportation order and speaking out from...

Alejandro Rivera Gamboa, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested four times on drunken driving charges in Oregon. But until police charged him last week with choking the life from a 15-year-old girl, immigration authorities had never heard his name. Juan Lizcano had at least two run-ins with the law in Texas. Both went unnoticed by immigration officials until Lizcano, who entered the country illegally in 2001, was charged with killing Dallas Police Officer Brian Jackson in 2005. In New Brunswick, Ricardo Cepates, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, already had an outstanding deportation order when he was arrested for holding...

For the first time, the Mercury News was invited along to watch as the arrests were made, an effort by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to show Bay Area media the inner workings of a growing national crackdown on immigrants who are deportable because of criminal convictions, and others who have been ordered deported. The invitation came months after a comprehensive immigration reform bill was stymied in Congress and weeks after federal authorities announced they would step up enforcement of current laws by punishing businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Critics of the program said thousands of illegal immigrants who have...

One of six men charged with the execution-style killings of three college students in Newark, N.J., said yesterday in Prince George's County District Court that he will fight extradition to New Jersey. "I want to stay here and fight it," said Rodolfo Godinez, 24, a Nicaraguan national who was arrested Saturday in Oxon Hill. Judge Leo E. Green Jr. ordered Mr. Godinez held without bail until a hearing Sept. 20. Mr. Godinez's half-brother Alexander Alfaro, 16, who is being held in the Prince William County jail in Woodbridge, declined to waive extradition yesterday...He will be held pending a court hearing...

"Activist arrested in L.A.: Deported to Tijuana, pastor says." That's the headline for an August 20 Chicago Tribune story on convicted Social Security fraudster and serial border-jumper Elvira Arellano. Reporter Antonio Olivo mentioned the conviction, but deep in the article in the 14th paragraph: Much of the anger from across the political spectrum surrounding illegal immigration has been crystallized by Arellano's story. After entering the country illegally twice, she became an activist shortly after she was arrested in 2002 during a federal sweep at O'Hare International Airport, where Arellano cleaned airplanes. She was later convicted of using a fake Social...

Deported: Church Sanctuary-Seeking Immigration Activist Sent Back to Mexico LOS ANGELES (AP) - An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son has been deported to Mexico, the church's pastor said.

Los Angeles (AP) -- An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son has been deported to Mexico, the church's pastor and immigration officials said. Elvira Arellano became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her religious sanctuary. She held a news conference last week to announce that she would finally leave the church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers for change. She was arrested Sunday outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church in Los...

The man accused of running a stop sign and causing a crash this week that killed a 17-year-old Port Washington boy is an illegal immigrant who was convicted in Wisconsin in December of first-offense drunken driving, authorities confirmed Friday. A criminal complaint charging Eddie Carbajal-Lile with hit and run resulting in death also indicates that he consumed five or six beers before the crash Tuesday that killed Paul Watry. Prosecutors would have needed evidence such as a blood test showing he was intoxicated at the time of the crash to charge Carbajal-Lile with homicide by intoxicated use of a motor...

The investigation into the execution-style murder of three college students took a shocking turn Friday afternoon with a report that two of the victims may have been sexually assaulted before they were killed. FOX 5 New York reported that a sexual attack may have occurred before college students Terrance Aeriel, Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey were shot to death, and 19-year old Natasha Aerial was critically wounded. Authorities charged a third suspect with three counts of felony murder in the killings Friday evening, according to an Associated Press report. The suspect was described as a 15-year-old boy by Essex County...

Latino Man, 31, Surrenders in N.J. Students' Execution-Style Murders Thursday, August 09, 2007 By Heather Scroope E-MAIL STORY PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION Aug. 6: Terrance Aeriel was one of three college students killed in an execution-style shooting in Newark, N.J. Aug. 6: Terrance Aeriel was one of three college students killed in an execution-style shooting in Newark, N.J. NEWARK, N.J. — DEVELOPING STORY: A 31-year-old Latino man surrendered in connection with the execution-style killings of three college students in New Jersey, officials said. Jose Carranza, 31, whose fingerprint was lifted from a bottle, turned himself in on Thursday afternoon. Mayor Cory...

Two cousins accused of killing a teenager during her visit to Oregon acknowledged entering the country illegally from Mexico. This is from a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. The Oregonian reports 24-year-old Alejandro Rivera Gamboa went unnoticed by immigration officials even though he was arrested four times on drunken driving charges since 2000.

LONDON (AFP) - Authorities were still hunting Monday for 14 illegal immigrants, all convicted criminals, who escaped from a detention centre. Twenty-six men went on the run from the Campsfield House Immigration Detention Centre in Oxfordshire, southern England, on Saturday after detainees started fires and broke out. Police officers in riot gear were called in to deal with the blaze, while helicopters and dogs have been used in the hunt for those still at large. Police have rounded up 12 of those who fled, but 14 remain on the run and the Home Office has warned that they are all...

Even as Sen. Barack Obama found himself under fire from the Hillary Clinton campaign over what she called his "naive" intention to meet with leaders of countries hostile to the U.S., the presidential hopeful praised the recent court decision overturning one city's attempt to protect itself from hostile foreigners filling their streets with drugs, crime and gangs as "a victory for all Americans." On Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Munley overturned Hazleton, Pa.'s "Illegal Immigration Relief Act" in a 206-page opinion that declared states and municipalities have no authority to stem illegal immigration.

A man who was in the United States illegally was sentenced today to 48 months in prison for his role in a fatal vehicle crash that killed a Kenyon, Minn., man earlier this year. Dakota County Court Judge Karen Asphaug handed down the punishment to Antonio Alatorre-Garcia, 25, who pleaded guilty June 12 to one count of criminal vehicular homicide. Alatorre-Garcia, who is from Mexico, was living in Minneapolis when he was involved in a two-vehicle accident Feb. 17 that killed Mark Berkeland, 56. According to a records, Berkeland, a U.S. Postal Service employee, was on his way to work...

A 27-year-old Eagan man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for purposely crashing his minivan into another vehicle, killing a 72-year-old woman from Apple Valley. Juan Canizal's minivan crashed into the car driven by Carmen Espersen she drove through Eagan on Highway 13. Just before the crash, authorities said Canizal told his passenger that he was going to kill himself. Canizal survived the crash. He pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide on Monday in Dakota County District Court. Dakota County District Judge Kathryn Messerich sentenced him to four years and nine months in prison -- nine months...

"I disgraced myself, and my mother deserves a better son than me.” Terapon Adhahn said those words to a counselor 17 years ago, during treatment for a sex offense he admitted committing. What he said to Tacoma police Thursday is unknown, but information from Adhahn, 42, led investigators to the body of 12-year-old Zina Linnik, missing since July 4. "It is with great regret and sorrow that I am informing our community that we have located the body of Zina Linnik," Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell said Thursday, Ramsdell provided little more information, saying only that Linnik’s body was found...

HAMILTON — An illegal immigrant previously convicted of a sex offense and deported back to Mexico was arrested Tuesday in Butler County. A tip led Butler County Sheriff's deputies to Jose Valenzuela, 37, living in the 1200 block of Pater Avenue in Hamilton. Valenzuela was convicted in 1998 of gross sexual imposition involving a juvenile girl and was deemed a sexually oriented offender by the court, according to the sheriff's office. He was required to register with the sheriff's office annually for 10 years, but in 2004, the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement office deported him. Deputies received information that...

An 18-year-old man on Wednesday was deported to Mexico after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl at his family's daycare center. Reyes Salazar-Clara on June 13 was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Salazar-Clara is a citizen of Mexico who illegally entered the United States in June 2005, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The deportation is part of the agency's Operation Predator, a four-year initiative aimed at those who sexually exploit children. According to a criminal complaint, police were called to the Hennepin County Medical Center on Feb. 21, where they found a 3-year-old girl suffering from...

After weeks of trying to prevent a Twin Cities suburban mom from being deported, a family learns on Wednesday that Sara Munoz Gonzalez has lost her battle to stay in the United States. Her husband, Nixon Avandano, consoled his five children moments after the family was told that Gonzalez is on her way back to Mexico. Her husband is here legally, living with their U.S. born children in St. Michael, Minn. The family was not allowed to say goodbye before she boarded the plane. "All we ask is for our Mom to come back, that's it. But I can tell...

California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring faced sharp criticism Monday in the wake of the state GOP's immigration scandal involving its former top financial officer who resigned Sunday after news surfaced of his battle with U.S. immigration authorities to remain in the country. The party's board of directors hired Bill Christensen, a former statewide executive director of Victory 2006 -- a committee that aids Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's fundraising efforts -- on Monday to fill the top GOP financial post temporarily. Christensen's appointment came after Michael Kamburowski, 35, an Australian native, resigned as the state party's chief operating officer. The Chronicle...

A 28-year-old man was being held Friday on $1 million bail in Los Angeles County Jail on suspicion of carrying out a vicious baseball bat attack last month that killed a mentally disabled man. Ryan Verador, 28, was detained Wednesday night on suspicion of murder in the bludgeoning death of James McKinney, 41, of Los Angeles.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- There is new information about a man accused of driving drunk and crashing into two cars Monday morning on I-40. Federal authorities say the driver, who first said he was Michael Delatorre, is really Ricardo Contreras. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials say Contreras is in the country illegally, and that he had been picked up by ICE officials in California and deported twice in April of 2004. ICE officials have placed a detainer on him at the jail. Contreras made his first court appearance today. State Troopers say he was driving while impaired and crossed the median...

Federal authorities say a Milwaukee police officer is an illegal immigrant who took the name of a dead cousin as a teenager. Immigration agents arrested Jose Morales, 24, on Wednesday. They would not say how they caught on to him. Michelle Jacobs of the U.S. Attorney’s office says a decision on charges will be made today (Thursday), and he could appear in federal court before the day is through. Morales became a police aide five years ago. He’s been a patrol officer since late 2004. Morales is on a paid suspension at the moment. Police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said a...

Alexis Flores, a convicted felon, was added to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list on June 2, 2007. Flores is wanted for his alleged participation in the murder of a five-year-old girl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The child was found strangled to death in an apartment in August of 2000. Flores has been charged with kidnapping and murder. REWARD: The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of Alexis Flores. CONTACT: If you have any information concerning this case, please contact your local FBI office. LINKS: Alexis Flores' Top Ten Poster...

MILWAUKEE - A 5-year veteran of the Milwaukee police force is on suspension and accused of living under a false identity since taking the name of a dead cousin eight years ago. Federal prosecutors said the identity change by Oscar Ayala-Cornejo was documented in high school yearbooks of 1999: one showed he attended Pulaski High School under his own name before moving to Hamilton High School and attending as Jose A. Morales, the name of his cousin. A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court Thursday said Ayala-Cornejo, 24, was born in Mexico and is not a U.S. citizen but...

Federal officials say they've taken a large bite out of Camden's illegal cocaine trade. Authorities say tackling crime in the city will have an impact on most of south Jersey. Prosecutors were able to arrest a total of 58 people thanks to information obtained from Raymond Morales, a man who ran a large cocaine ring and ordered the murders of six people. Officials compare the 35 year old to a "capo" in a typical crime family, who was feared and respected by other criminals in the city. U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Chris Christie says tackling the city's drug trade...

Leaders in Longmont Try to Explain What Happened LONGMONT -- Officials in the city of Longmont are trying to explain how an illegal immigrant got master keys to some of the city’s secure buildings, including the police department building. The Longmont Daily Times-Call reports that police arrested the man earlier this week outside of a building. Investigators say he lied to them about his identity. But officers said they recognized him, because they say he was part of the crew that had just cleaned the police department building. Investigators say Jesus Orrantia, 23, is an illegal immigrant from Mexico, and...

PHOENIX - A Border Patrol agent was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the shooting of an illegal immigrant at the border in January. An investigation found that Agent Nicholas Corbett's killing of Francisco Dominguez-Rivera, of Puebla, Mexico, was not legally justified, said Cochise County prosecutor Ed Rheinheimer. Corbett is also charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide. Corbett's attorney, Daniel Santander, didn't immediately return a message left Monday afternoon by The Associated Press. The shooting, which drew condemnation from the Mexican government, occurred while Corbett was trying to apprehend Dominguez-Rivera and three others who were trying to enter...

Springville police arrested two men Wednesday in connection with the hit-and-run accident Sunday afternoon that sent 15-year-old Joshua Evans to the hospital with severe injuries. Police say a 26-year-old male was driving a red Pontiac Firebird on Sunday afternoon when he hit Evans, who was riding his bike. After police asked the public for help locating the vehicle, officers say the man panicked and, with the help of his 19-year-old brother, drove the car up Spanish Fork Canyon on Monday night, put a container of gas in the back and pushed the vehicle off the Thistle Overlook. "He told us...

An illegal immigrant arrested in connection with a collision that killed a father of five was drunk and on drugs, and had four previous drunken driving convictions, law officers said. Jose Pena, 26, was allegedly traveling 90 miles per hour on March 31 when he crossed a double yellow line and hit 33-year-old Kent Boone. He also allegedly had two pounds of crystal methamphetamine in his truck, according to California Highway Patrol officers who later checked Pena's home and found more drugs. Pena was booked into the Solano County Jail on suspicion of murder, driving under the influence and drug...

<p>GREENSBURG, Pa. — A Honduran diplomat was killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when the car she was riding in was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer driven by an illegal immigrant, state police said.</p> <p>Nuria Ortiz Navarro, 31, a trade and investment promotion counselor for the Honduran Embassy in Washington was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision Thursday.</p>

HAZLETON, Pa. - When it comes to illegal immigration, Mayor Lou Barletta has led the way, and towns and cities around the nation have followed him — some right into the courtroom. Since last summer, when the Republican mayor began his high-profile campaign to rid this small northeastern Pennsylvania city of illegal immigrants, more than 100 other municipalities in 27 states have considered laws ranging from penalizing companies that employ illegal immigrants to making English the official language. Opponents of the crackdowns have fought back, mounting a half-dozen legal challenges — all successful — in Hazleton and places like Valley...

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A federal immigration officer says passengers in a van that crashed during a winter storm on an Oklahoma interstate, killing seven, were illegal immigrants being smuggled to North Carolina. Five others survived the wreck on Interstate 40 near Elk City. The van the 12 people were in slid across the highway median about 3:50 a.m. Sunday, spinning and colliding with a semi-tractor trailer.

2 birds, 1 stone It is a time for new beginnings. Both Saddam Hussein and the Republican Congress are recently deceased, and it is arguable as to which demise will be lamented less. And although the Iraqi occupation remains in the hands of the commander in chief, no doubt the newly empowered Democrats on Capitol Hill will be searching for ways to bring about the end of a democratic experiment that has thus far proven to be a complete failure. But perhaps we should not be too hasty to throw out the infant Iraqi republic with the Ba'athist. The failure...

ESCONDIDO – The lawyers who successfully challenged the city's illegal-immigrant housing ordinance said recent statements by council members that legal obstacles can be overcome are unrealistic. They also warned that should Escondido try to enact a similar ordinance, it would cost the city dearly. David Blair-Loy, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said fundamental problems will exist with any ordinance designed to banish illegal immigrants. Last week, after the Escondido council agreed to rescind an ordinance adopted in October, several council members said they hoped to create a better one in the...

Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels blasted a local judge on Thursday for giving a lenient sentence to an illegal immigrant in the name of saving taxpayer money. Kern County Superior Court Judge Richard Oberholzer sentenced Jose Richard Leiva to three years in prison in October for having sex three times with a 13-year-old girl. This happened while Leiva was on probation for a misdemeanor conviction of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl. “In my 30 years as a prosecutor, I thought I had seen every conceivable example of judicial wackiness, but I was wrong,” Jagels wrote in...

The father of a man charged in the random slaying of a north Dallas office worker said Wednesday that he was confused and saddened by the accusation against his son. Police, acting on a tip, when to the northwest Dalls home of Jose Castro, 24, and took him in for questioning. Castro was formally arrested about 3:30 a.m. at police headquarters and then transferred to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center. He was in a Dallas County jail early Wednesday on a charge of capital murder with bail set at $750,000. Police said Castro also is wanted by the Immigration and...

An illegal immigrant has been sentenced to a 13-year jail term after pleading guilty to the rape of a 51-year-old North Bergen woman last year in James J. Braddock Park. Judge Camille M. Kenny sentenced Esbin Amadeo Garcia, 26, in state Superior Court in Jersey City after he plead guilty to aggravated sexual assault, said John Mulkeen, an assistant Hudson County prosecutor. County sex crime investigators arrested Garcia, a laborer from Fairview, on Oct. 30, 2005. He was found in a bar at 71st Street and Bergenline Avenue in North Bergen after police traced a call he made using the...

FULLERTON -- Life in a government-run shelter for illegal immigrant children might not sound very inviting, but for 16-year-old Sandra it's a vast improvement from what she left behind in Guatemala. For starters, she has enough to eat and nobody beats her. She even gets to study, a luxury she hasn't had since leaving school in third grade. She's been on her own since she was 10, when she fled an abusive home in Guatemala. She was picked up by U.S. immigration authorities two months ago while trying to enter the country illegally through the Arizona desert. She's among two...

A campus discussion about illegal immigration turned violent Thursday evening, when protesters clashed with the MSU College Republicans and Young Americans for Freedom, who sponsored the event. Kyle Bristow, chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom, or YAF, said he was kicked and spat upon by some of the protesters when he was outside the MSU College of Law, where the discussion was being held. "It saddens me that my fellow Spartans would display this type of behavior," he said. "They are racist. It's sad we need police to come to control these radical leftists." Unable to identify the people...

SAN DIEGO A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the city of Escondido from enforcing a law that punishes landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. U.S. District Judge John Houston said he had serious questions about whether the law would survive legal scrutiny and said it may inflict "irreparable harm" on tenants and landlords. The law was scheduled to take effect Friday in the suburb 30 miles north of San Diego, where Hispanics make up 42 percent of the 142,000 residents. Houston did not say how long his order would last, but said he would schedule a hearing in the...

Angelides says he doesn't favor building a big wall to keep illegal immigrants out. Phil Angelides says he doesn't favor erecting "a Great Wall of China" to keep illegal immigrants out of California, adding that he would take a "compassionate and pragmatic" approach as governor to the politically volatile immigration issue.In a meeting with The Bee editorial board Wednesday, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said he favors granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants because doing so would make California's roads safer.And he said he would have signed a recent bill -- vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- to allow illegal immigrants...

Officer fatally shot by suspect in patrol carSuspect is illegal immigrant with past criminal history (9/22/06 - HOUSTON) - A 12-year Houston police officer was shot and killed as he sat in the front seat of his patrol car during a traffic stop, police said. Now Eyewitness News has learned that suspect should not have even been in the United States. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also on ABC13.com: Send news tips | RSS | ABC13 E-lert | Info mentioned on air | Search abc13.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The suspect, Juan Quintero, accused in the murder of Officer Rodney Johnson, 40, appeared in court early Friday...

CROSSVILLE -- Few folks could have forecast it 10 years ago, but the enrollment at the public schools in the heart of this Sand Mountain town is now larger than the town's population of 1,440. The word "crisol" - Spanish for melting pot - might explain it. Nearly 1,700 students attend Crossville's elementary, junior high and high schools, about double the enrollment of 10 years ago, and the reason is the arrival of Hispanic students in the surrounding area.

A Mexican illegal immigrant once embraced by Minnesotans as a deserving charity case pleaded guilty today to breaking and entering in Boston. Francisco Javier Serrano's plea means his strange American odyssey will end where it began: He will be deported to Mexico. Serrano, 22, was found last year living inside a Minneapolis high school, his tale of struggle and homelessness galvanizing locals as news of his plight spread. News accounts dubbed him the "Apple Valley High squatter," and Serrano told his newfound friends that he sought to attend a US college and become an inventor. Soon, he had a rent-free...

A 32-year-old illegal immigrant has been charged in Thursday evening's shooting death of Houston Police Officer Rodney Johnson. Juan Leonardo Quintero has been charged with capital murder in the 248th District Court, said HPD spokesman John Cannon. The suspect is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who has been deported in the past and sometimes expressed concern about immigration officials and worried that he should return, his wife, Theresa Quintero, said in an interview today at their home near Hobby Airport. Mrs. Quintero said the couple has been married since 1997. The HPD spokesman Cannon said the suspect gave "a full...

I am surprised that no one else has posted on this before. A young woman was dragged to death in Colorado by an illegal immigrant.

An 18-year-old man sat in jail Tuesday without bail after an 11-year-old girl walking home from a McDonald's in Davie freed herself from his grasp during a sexual attack, authorities said. Two of the girl's friends were walking nearby and held the suspect down until police arrived, said Davie Police spokesman Lt. Bill Bamford. Police said Rocael Espinoza Andres dragged the girl into an alley as she climbed through an opening in a fence behind a shopping center near the McDonald's in the 13200 block of State Road 84 on Sunday night and forced her into some bushes, police said....