Archive for October 2006

CRIMINAL IMMIGRATION BY THE NUMBERS

• 125: Federal criminal cases related to immigration filed in Kansas in 2005.

• 200: Federal criminal cases related to immigration estimated to be filed in Kansas this year.

• 50: Approximate percentage of cases in the Kansas office of U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren where the defendants are foreign nationals.

• 33.3: Approximate percentage of those cases with foreign nationals involving drugs.

• 66.7: Approximate percentage of those cases with foreign nationals charged with one of the following crimes: returning after being deported, including those who have been convicted of prior felonies; use of false documents or identity theft; transporting illegal immigrants.

• 18,783: Number of federal prisoners nationwide serving time for immigration offenses (as of last month).

• 10.6: Percent of the federal inmate population serving time for federal immigration crimes.

• 32,347: Number of Mexican citizens in custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

• 261: Inmates in Kansas prisons who report foreign citizenship (as of last month).

• 175: Mexican citizens in Kansas prisons.

• 2.9: Percent of Kansas prison population who are not U.S. citizens.

• $23,429: Average cost per year for one federal inmate.

• $1,200: Estimated cost per month for an inmate in the Butler County Jail, where some federal immigration suspects are detained awaiting the outcome of their cases.

The banners at the meeting read “Somos America,” or “We are America.” Mexican and Asian immigrants there invoked the dignity of all immigrants, whether legal or not, and declared the current system for entering this country “broken.”

Outside, a small group of U.S. citizens held signs of their own: “Wake up and smell the invasion,” and “Honk if you want the borders secured.”

This showdown took place Oct. 22–not in El Paso, Texas, or Tucson, Ariz., but in the western suburb of Carol Stream. Nearly 1,500 miles from the Rio Grande, border security and illegal immigration have emerged as defining issues in two bitterly contested congressional races in the Chicago suburbs.

Consider: A recent Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll found that illegal immigration is the top concern for Republicans in the 6th and 8th Congressional Districts, a swath of suburbia that ranges from DuPage to Lake County.

The American Immigration Law Foundation released a study Tuesday that estimates 81,000 undocumented immigrants live in those districts, with the 8th District seeing a 43 percent increase since 2000.

This is the new suburban political landscape, where immigrants–legal and illegal–play a central role in the region’s economy but where many residents watch the influx with dismay, seeing these newcomers as economic drains.

Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the party is running immigration ads in most of the three dozen contested suburban House districts nationwide.”In most suburban districts, like the Illinois 6th, the two issues that tend to move votes the most are taxes and then immigration,” Collegio said.

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Yesterday, 28th October, the most extraordinary happenings took place!

However, we must go back three weeks to the start of our story.

There was, shock, horror and rioting on the streets of Windsor. Well, one street, and it centred on a Muslim dairy. Now Windsor, unlike its neighbour on the other side of the Thames, Slough, does not yet boast a minority indigenous population and is a pretty laid back place. Be this as it may, the locals did not take kindly to a part of this dairy being used for prayers by such a large number of Muslims – so large in fact that they were blocking the access to the homes of local people and were quite unconcerned by it. (As was the police!)

Things got out of hand when a group of Muslims attacked and beat up a woman and her daughter, and wrecked the daughter’s car. Needless to say the police were still not too bothered - but local residents were!

Today, and we are now back to the nub of the story, we had 34, yes 34, activists out in Windsor and we leafleted the entire area!

“Humbled by reception from residents!”

It was as if the cavalry had ridden over the hill! Motorists were actually drawing up along side our leafleting teams, who was operating in the vicinity of the scene of the riots, to request leaflets. We were so well received that we were humbled by it! It was as if we were missionaries spreading the very word that the population was waiting to hear.

We are all still in a state of shock as a result of this overwhelming show of support.

Bring on next May!!

SASABE, Mexico – Somewhere north of this Mexican cattle outpost, U.S. National Guard troops man 24-hour observation posts and better-equipped U.S. Border Patrol agents roam the desert, searching for illegal immigrants.

Yet even as the Bush administration points to a drop in apprehensions at the border as proof that the new security measures are working, thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans still gather daily in border towns like this, willing to risk anything for a slot in the U.S. labor market.

“There’s a lot of migra now, mucha migra, but I must keep trying,” said Felipe Perez, 30, using the name migrants collectively call the border forces.

Perez wiped away rivulets of sweat as he shouldered his backpack for a second attempt in 48 hours to climb over the wire cattle fence dividing this section of Mexico’s Sonora state from Arizona. Once over, he planned to walk toward Phoenix, through the kind of 100-plus-degree heat that killed 267 migrants in Arizona alone last year.

But Perez’s determination is no blind desperation – like most others making the trek, he not only knows he’ll find work in the United States, he knows exactly what he will be doing, for whom and where.

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Georgi Parvanov will be re-elected President of Bulgaria after the runoff on Sunday ‘unless the Danube runs dry’, a story published in the Greek daily Kathimerini read.
Parvanov will be the first to raise a glass of champagne on January 1, 2007 and say ‘cheers’ for the country’s accession to the EU. Parvanov will be the winner, but the face of these Presidential elections is with no doubt the nationalist leader of Attack Volen Siderov, who reached to runoff, gathering 21.2% of the votes in Bulgaria, while Parvanov had 64%. Parvanov was not elected due to the fact that the voter turnout was under 50%.
Called “the Bulgarian Le Pen” or “the Bulgarian Heider” he certainly stands no chances of victory, but what does it matter?

From 9% to 21.2%

What matters is that his ideas found rich soil among one-fifth of the voters, and even more at the run-off vote, which showed that they are fascinated by the extreme populism, xenophobic racism, refined anti-Europeanism, and as a whole, by the aggression of the “bold and militant journalist”, who reveals everything.

Last year Siderov established a party and taking 9% at the parliamentary elections he made a strong blow at the political stage, and is now taking Parvanov to measure swords and see who would be elected president of the republic.

It will be interesting to check some of the positions and standpoints of the newly emerged political leaders. He is in conflicts with the gypsies; he is appealing to his country fellows to impede the Turkeyzation of Bulgaria, which according to him is being realized by a “Trojan Horse” by the strong Turkish minority; he has also written a book where he defines the Holocaust as the “myth of the Zionists”; he claims that the country’s joining the European union has been done in a humiliating way and insists the issue be reconsidered. Briefly, Siderov declared that the political system, which in his words has robbed the state’s properties by privatization, is corrupt.

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By Virginia Deane Abernethy, Ph.D.

The Census Bureau’s much-heralded announcement in October that the United States has reached the population milestone of 300 million is another scene in a great charade. The Census Bureau (CB), it appears, is massaging statistics, possibly in the service of policy rather than accuracy.

The CB also claims there are roughly 9 million illegal aliens in the United States, and that the U.S. population will reach 600 million by the year 2100. But can we believe these statistics? Many estimates, along with some conservative mathematical calculations, suggest that the U.S. population is already nearing 330 million, and that we could have a billion people in America by the year 2076.

Illegal Calculations

In February 2002, a Border Patrol supervisor of 27 years service testified before Congress that the number of illegal aliens was several times the Census Bureau (CB) estimate. He stated, “According to various Mexican media and official Mexican government sources, the country of Mexico has 18 million of its citizens residing illegally in the United States at this very minute.”

That is not to mention other illegals: Filipinos, Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Eastern Europeans, Irish, Brazilians, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Haitians.

Using financial and employment data, analysts for Bear Stearns Asset Management also put forth a number much higher than anything considered by the CB. They concluded in early 2004 that, “The number of illegal immigrants in the United States may be as high as 20 million people, more than double the official 9 million people estimated by the Census Bureau.”

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CLICHY-SOUS-BOIS, France (Reuters) - Armed men set fire to two buses in a rundown Paris suburb on Friday, the first anniversary of the start of the worst riots in the French capital in nearly 40 years.

A police source said two hooded men boarded one bus in front of a train station in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb in the early evening and ordered about 15 passengers and the driver to get off before setting it alight.

The second bus was attacked in a similar way by two armed men in another part of the suburb, a local official said.

At least five buses have been attacked in poor suburbs around the capital since Sunday and police have said violence could spiral out of control once again. Four thousand extra police were deployed around France on Friday evening.

Police reported what they called several incidents in the northern suburbs between police and youths but said they did not involve direct clashes. There were also two cases of youths throwing petrol bombs.

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Scared students who fear being bullied are fueling a “growing concern” in the Venice area, say police officers. They’re forming their own gangs to fight back.

That is the chilling reality, officers explained to an audience of more than 100 parents, students and concerned citizens Monday evening at a Venice High gang recognition presentation.

“This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg,” Sarasota Police Officer K. Swatts told the audience. “The kids who are bullied are either strong and take it, or they join the gang out of fear, or make their own gangs to protect themselves. That’s what we see happening.”

Sarasota County’s gang unit and school resource officers (police officers on school campuses) were on hand to make presentations and answer questions. It was one of the best turnouts during the week-long annual series held at all five high schools throughout the county, officials said.

Wanna-bes

Swatts named a half dozen loosely knit Venice-area gangs, mostly around South Venice. They don’t fit the traditional idea of what a gang looks like, with no group ideology and little or no organized criminal activity, but they are well on their way, Swatts said. They have names and signs and are involved mostly in fighting and petty vandalism, she said.

It’s a concern for residents because gang activity is on the rise in Sarasota County — to the point where established gangs are recruiting middle and elementary school students, even in South County

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Dramatic sweep includes 200 officers, ‘flash-bang’ grenades

In a second such raid this year, 200 federal and local law-enforcement officers targeting one of Northern California’s most violent street gangs swooped down on North Richmond on Wednesday, arresting 15 people on drug charges.

The arrests took place during simultaneous 10 a.m. raids as Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies, Richmond police and FBI SWAT team members served 12 federal arrest warrants and 14 search warrants.

As a sheriff’s helicopter circled overhead, FBI agents dressed in camouflage jumpsuits swarmed the area during the raids, during which authorities lobbed “flash-bang” grenades to disorient suspects.

Several people were detained in the area of Fifth and Market streets in North Richmond, an unincorporated community of 4,000 residents that police say is a hotbed for drug sales, shootings and violence.

“Our goal is to take the violence out of North Richmond,” Contra Costa County sheriff’s Lt. Kitty Parker said at the scene.

Nearly a pound of methamphetamine was recovered during the raids, said Jimmy Lee, Contra Costa County sheriff’s spokesman.

At least six suspects sought Wednesday face federal drug and gang-related charges that will remain sealed pending their appearances today before U.S. Magistrate Wayne Brazil in Oakland, said Special Agent Joseph Schadler, FBI spokesman in San Francisco.

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Nine members or associates of the Vineland Boys were convicted Thursday of federal charges aimed at crippling the street gang.

Jurors deliberated for nearly seven days before reaching their decision. All nine defendants were found guilty of conspiring to distribute drugs and other drug-trafficking charges that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Seven of the nine were also convicted of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison.

Prosecutors alleged the seven participated in a criminal enterprise that was responsible for the murder of Burbank police officer Matthew Pavelka during a traffic stop in 2003.

“This is the first time in Southern California that the RICO statute has been used to dismantle the leadership of an entire street gang,” said U.S. Attorney Debra Wong Yang. “As criminal organizations become more sophisticated and more international in scope, we will apply whatever methods are necessary to end their senseless acts of violence.”

All nine defendants were scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 8.

Authorities believe the San Fernando Valley gang started as a group of football buddies in the 1980s and grew into a criminal enterprise that engaged in murder, drug dealing and intimidation.

The gang had an extensive drug-trafficking network, which distributed cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana throughout the Los Angeles area, as well as in Hawaii, Indiana and the East Coast.

A total of 36 people have been convicted as a result of an indictment that charged the gang with various RICO counts.

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