Congress penalizes U.S. troops, legal U.S. residents in attempt to punish Undocumented immigrants.




When Congress passed an economic-stimulus package giving hefty rebates to most taxpayers, it tried to make sure that Undocumented immigrants didn't get any of the cash.
But in doing so lawmakers inadvertently penalized at least a million legal U.S. residents - and tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed overseas - simply because their spouses lack a Social Security number.

"Imagine an American soldier in Iraq whose foreign-born wife is waiting for an immigration petition to be approved and doesn't have a Social Security card. Now the couple can't even get a rebate," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose. "That is really stupid."

Others in the predicament include legal residents whose spouses are still overseas because of long immigration queues and hundreds of thousands of H-1B work visa holders in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

The scope of the problem is only now becoming clear as the government begins sending out rebate checks. The first checks were electronically deposited in bank accounts last week.

Because illegal immigrants don't have Social Security numbers and instead routinely use "tax identification numbers," Congress banned rebates for taxpayers who use the IRS-issued numbers.

If a married couple files jointly and one spouse doesn't have a Social Security number, the couple won't get the $1,200 checks that other couples will receive. They're also ineligible for the $300 rebate per child.

Many Armed Forces

members stationed overseas have foreign spouses who can't get Social Security numbers.

William Luong, stationed at a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, said some of his fellow seamen resent that they've landed in the same category as illegal immigrants.

"They understand the reason they're getting the shaft," said Luong, 21, who is from the Los Angeles area. "But a lot are frustrated or angry about it."

More than 288,000 troops are stationed overseas, according to the Pentagon - not counting those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many live in places - Korea, Japan and Germany - where extended stays often result in marriages to locals.

The unintended situation developed after the House in late January passed the economic-stimulus legislation at the urging of President Bush. But anti-illegal immigration groups then lobbied the Senate to add the Social Security requirement, fearing that illegal immigrants would get their hands on the checks.

The Federation for American Immigrant Reform - whose members went on radio talk shows to bash the House version of the stimulus bill - has no apologies.

"No law was ever written that doesn't find someone falling through the cracks," said Ira Mehlman, a FAIR spokesman, who said he hoped government officials will come up with some way to help Armed Forces members.

But legal immigrants who are being denied rebates say they want some justice, too.

"If the government collects taxes from us, we should be able to get rebates given to other legal residents, it should be a level-playing field," said Parveen Kumar, an H-1B visa holder who lives in Sunnyvale.

Kumar moved to Silicon Valley from India with his wife three years ago. He now works as an engineer at Intelliswift Software in Fremont. But his wife, Anu, is on a H-4 "dependency visa" that doesn't allow her to work.

After he found out about the rebate law, he went to the Mountain View office of the Social Security Administration and asked if he could get a number for his wife. He was told no.

John Johnston, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, confirmed on Wednesday that the agency's policy is not to issue Social Security cards simply for the purpose of issuing tax rebates.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, there are now between 600,000 and 800,000 H-1B visa holders in the United States. Exactly how many are married to spouses ineligible to work in this country is unclear.

Another group of immigrants - about a million nationwide - are non-citizen green-card holders who are already facing seven-year waits to get permission for their spouses to immigrate to their country.

"I've been in America for well over 20 years, and I consider myself an American," said Amir Nikpouri of Orland Park, a suburb of Chicago. "All I'm trying to do is obey the laws, but this one seems really unfair."

Nikpouri, 31, was married three years ago, but his wife won't be eligible to immigrate from Iran for a few more years.

"We are here legally and paying taxes and enjoying what a married family should be enjoying," said Aung Moe of San Jose, 33, a Burmese political refugee who works as an engineer at Applied Materials. His wife, Mon, is an electrical engineer who is forced to live separately from her husband in Singapore.

"Already we cannot be together, and now she cannot get a Social Security number," he said. "This needs to be fixed."

McCain Wants Immigrants Treated Humanely.


Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Monday that the focus on illegal immigration during the Republican primary season harmed his party's image among Hispanics.

His comments came the same day that he launched a Spanish version of his campaign Web site and announced he would be attending the La Raza annual convention. The gathering by the powerful advocacy group is scheduled for July 14 in San Diego.

McCain spoke to reporters in Phoenix on Cinco de Mayo.

On this day in 1862, a small group of Mexican troops overcame overwhelming force to win the Battle of Puebla," McCain said. "Today, we join together to remember the sacrifice that these Mexican patriots endured, as well as the struggles of all those around the world striving for freedom. We recognize as well the important friendship that exists between our country and Mexico, and celebrate the many contributions Mexican-Americans have made to our society, culture, security and economy."

McCain said that Hispanic citizens want America's borders secured and illegal immigrants to be treated humanely, adding that low-income Hispanic citizens are vulnerable to losing their jobs to the lower wages accepted by illegal immigrants.

On the subject of broader immigration policies, McCain said local governments would not have to take on immigration problems had the federal government overhauled the country's immigration policies

We Are Workers, Not Criminals. .






In the big immigrant marches that swept the country on May Day in 2006 and 2007, 2008 one sign said it all: "We are Workers, not Criminals!" Often it was held in the calloused hands of men and women who looked as though they'd just come from work in a factory, cleaning an office building, or picking grapes.

The sign stated an obvious truth. Millions of people have come to this country to work, not to break its laws. Some have come with visas, and others without them. But they are all contributors to the society they've found here, not people who mean it harm. Again this May Day, immigrant workers filled the streets, making the same point.

Yet today the federal government is taking actions that make holding a job a criminal act. Some states and local communities, seeing a green light from the Department of Homeland Security, are passing measures that go even further. These actions need a reality check.

Last summer, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff proposed a rule requiring employers to fire any worker who couldn't correct a mismatch between the Social Security number they'd provided their employer, and the SSA database. The regulation assumes those workers have no valid immigration visa, and therefore no valid Social Security number.

With 12 million people living in the United States without legal immigration status, the regulation would lead to massive firings, bringing many industries and businesses to a halt. Citizens and legal visa holders would be swept up as well, since the Social Security database is often inaccurate.

Under Chertoff the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted sweeping workplace raids, arresting and deporting thousands of workers. Many have been charged with an additional crime—identity theft—because they used a Social Security number belonging to someone else to get a job. Yet workers using another number actually deposit money into that holder's social security account, and these immigrants will never collect benefits their contributions paid for.

The Arizona legislature has passed a law requiring employers to verify the immigration status of every worker through a federal database called E-Verify, which is even more incomplete and full of errors than Social Security. They must fire workers whose names get flagged. And Mississippi passed a bill making it a felony for an undocumented worker to hold a job, with jail time of 1-10 years, fines of up to $10,000, and no bail for anyone arrested. Employers get immunity.

Congress is now debating two bills, the SAVE Act and the New Employee Verification Act that would require similar use of the E-Verify database.

In 1986 the Immigration Reform and Control Act made it a crime, for the first time in our history, to hire people without papers. Defenders argued that if people could not legally work they would leave. Life was not so simple.

Undocumented people are part of the communities they live in. They will not simply go, nor should they. They seek the same goals of equality and opportunity that everyone else in our country believes in.

For most, there are no jobs to return to in the countries from which they've come. Rufino Dominguez, a Oaxacan community leader in Fresno, says, "The North American Free Trade Agreement made the price of corn so low that it's not economically possible to plant a crop anymore. We come to the United States to work because there's no alternative."

When Congress passed NAFTA, six million displaced people came to the United States as a result. If Congress stops passing new free trade agreements, and instead faces the damage NAFTA and other pro-corporate measures did in Mexico, the poverty and desperation that fuel migration can eventually be reversed.

Trying to push people out of the United States who've come here for survival simply won't work. The price of trying is that the vulnerability of undocumented workers will increase. Unscrupulous employers use that vulnerability to deny overtime, minimum wage, or fire workers when they protest or organize. Increased vulnerability ultimately results in cheaper labor and fewer rights for everyone. Children live in fear that their parents will be picked up in raids.

After deporting over 1,000 workers at Swift meatpacking plants, Chertoff called for linking "effective interior enforcement and a temporary-worker program.'' The government is really after giving cheap labor to large employers. Deportations, firings, and guest-worker programs all make labor cheaper and union organizing harder. They contribute to a climate of fear and insecurity for everyone.

Instead of making work a crime and treating immigrants as criminals, we need a humane, equality, economic security, jobs, and rights for everyone.

Immigration around the Globe: Canada. Immigration: A broken and dysfunctional system.


Canada's border agency doesn't know the whereabouts of 41,000 people ordered to leave the country, makes flawed decisions about when to lock up suspected illegals and keeps poor tabs on spending when it does usher them out of Canada, says the federal auditor general.

In a report Tuesday, Sheila Fraser criticized the Canada Border Services Agency for failing to monitor its detention and removal decisions across the country to ensure they are being made properly.

Fraser says as a result, growing numbers might be in Canada illegally, jeopardizing the integrity of Canada's immigration program.

"If people can come into the country and stay here illegally, why would they go through what was a very long and complicated process to become a resident in Canada?" she said.

Some of the problems were traced to difficulties with a major new computer system that lagged years behind schedule.

"The agency needs to track the status of cases at a national level according to its priority areas - which are to remove dangerous individuals and criminals first," the auditor's report says.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the government was acting on Fraser's advice.

"CBSA has already put in place quite a few of the recommendations that she's talked about, so we're improving. It's not perfect yet but it's a big improvement over what it has been."

In her review of other federal activities and programs, Fraser also found:

-Children on native reserves across Canada are eight times more likely to wind up in unevenly funded, poorly tracked foster care that appears to be failing them.

-Renovating drafty and crumbling 24 Sussex Drive, the prime minister's residence, would involve about $10 million of intensive repairs that could take as long as 15 months.

-Foreign Affairs lumps an unfair consular services fee of $25 - a kind of travel insurance for Canadians who might need assistance abroad - into the $85 cost of an adult passport.

-Several weaknesses in how Transport Canada has managed the transition to a new approach for overseeing air transportation safety.

-The federal Public Health Agency of Canada risks not reporting the spread of infectious diseases to the World Health Organization in a timely way because it lacks information-sharing agreements with the provinces.

The report tabled in Parliament marks the second time the auditor general has come down hard on the border services agency, created in December 2003 as part of a government reorganization to bolster national security. Previously she found weaknesses allowed many potentially dangerous people and goods to slip into the country.

The auditor general undertook the latest review following a request by the House of Commons public accounts committee to report on whether management of detentions and removals had improved under the border agency since 2003.

The agency has the power to detain foreign nationals and permanent residents considered a risk or danger to the public, and to remove people ruled ineligible to enter Canada.

In 2006-07, it held more than 9,000 people in its own facilities and another 3,500 in provincial cells.

Fraser found, however, the border agency failed to ensure it meets its standards for treatment of detainees. And it has not established backup plans for bed shortages. For instance, the Toronto holding centre has sometimes increased space by placing sleeping bags and blankets on the floor.

"In another region, holding cells for individuals awaiting hearings, which are designed for three people, had been used to hold 10, without enough space for some to sit."

New Democrat immigration critic Olivia Chow decried the conditions: "This is not Afghanistan. This is Canada. We can't treat our deportees that way."

Further, the auditor concluded the agency was not effectively managing detention costs, which amounted to more than $36 million in 2006-07.

Fraser says the agency has increasingly used alternatives to detention, such as releasing individuals on condition they post a sum of money. But she noted 368 of 2,038 cash bonds posted in 2004-05 were forfeited because the individuals failed to comply with terms of release.

The agency has located 178 of these people, removing 146 from Canada. But it doesn't know what happened to the remaining 190 who forfeited their bonds, and has issued warrants for their arrest. Eighteen have criminal histories.

"While infrequent, there have been cases where individuals who have been released on condition committed violent crimes," the report says.

Both the border agency and Citizenship and Immigration have power to allow people into the country under temporary resident permits even if they would otherwise be ineligible. Exceptions include humanitarian grounds or economic benefit to Canada - for instance a visiting performer or athlete with a criminal record.

The auditor found, however, that reasons for issuing the permits were often poorly documented and the border agency did not monitor whether the individuals with permits left the country upon their expiry.

Fraser found while the number of people removed from Canada annually has climbed in the last five years, there is still cause for concern.

As of September 2007 there were 63,000 people slated for removal. Among these were 22,000 facing formal orders, whose whereabouts were known to the border agency. However, the agency lacked contact information for another 41,000 due for removal under immigration warrants.

"How do we know that all 41,000 are harmless? We don't know," said Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh, who wondered what Day was doing about the problem.

"What kind of a minister do we have?"

Part of the difficulty stems from an aborted plan to replace a computerized case management system, originally intended to be in place three years ago.

"As a result, the agency's ability to track individuals in the detention and removal process remains limited," the report says, adding five-year-old recommendations from her office on case tracking remain to be addressed.

Fraser noted that the precise number of people remaining in Canada illegally is impossible to determine due in part to the fact Ottawa does not record departures from the country.

Chow said the entire immigration system is broken, noting the thousands of removal lists include undocumented workers in trades like construction who are badly needed in Canada.

People considered violent or a potential flight risk are escorted by officers to their destination country, which can cost thousands of dollars per case and tallied more than $8 million in 2006-07. Fraser said there was no assurance escorted removals were being done cost-effectively.

The border services agency agreed with all of the auditor's recommendations for improvement.

Immigration around the globe: Ireland. Bill for asylum seekers to hit 300 thousands.



The cost of dealing with asylum seekers will reach €300m this year, with Irish lawyers making a killing from an estimated 1,200 judicial reviews of deportation cases by people who have entered the country illegally.

Each of the reviews is likely to cost the State at least €30,000 to €50,000 and some €20m is being set aside to cover legal costs to the Exchequer, as all are on legal aid.

It has also emerged that of the 3,985 applications for asylum made last year 502 applications for asylum were made in the name of children under the age of three.

These are nearly all children born to asylum seekers living here and who have already been turned down for asylum. In some of these cases it is the second or third child in the same family to make the application.
Documents seen by the Sunday Independent also show how a large number of asylum applicants are arriving here by air but then claiming they have no passport or travel documents.
More than 3,400, or 85 per cent of those who claimed asylum here last year, appeared in the country and then made their application for asylum directly at the Office of Refugee Application Commissioner in Mount Street, Dublin.
The Government currently has legislation before the Dail seeking to reduce the time in which asylum seekers can use the judicial review system to stay in Ireland, which usually extends their stay here for a year or a year and a half, often while receiving benefits.
The documents also give details of social welfare and other scams being operated by illegal immigrants.
Last year gardai with the Garda National Bureau of Investigation, working with UK Immigration, detected a large number of frauds being perpetrated on the social welfare system here, many by illegal immigrants who were also claiming benefits in Britain and Northern Ireland.
Some were travelling back and forward to countries, particularly Nigeria, while keeping up benefit frauds here and in Britain.

These include:
A Nigerian man registered in this State with his wife and children on 'Irish-born Child' or (IBC) status who was claiming EU Treaty rights in the UK based on a bigamous marriage to a Belgian woman living in England. He claimed that he married the Belgian national in order to stay in the UK. His Nigerian wife here was found to be claiming benefits on his behalf as well as herself and children.
A Nigerian man detained in Belfast who was found to be officially living in the Republic with his wife and Irish-born children. "On searching his luggage it transpired that this person is residing back in Nigeria where he runs his own legal practice. He admitted that he earns approximately $8,000 per month as a result of this practice," the Garda report states. His wife, who has rights to remain here until 2010 because of the Irish-born children, has been claiming benefits for both him, herself and children.

Another Nigerian man stopped in the George Best Airport, Belfast, in March this year where he was met by another Nigerian man. He claimed to own a successful haulage business in Nigeria. A search of his suitcase uncovered documents showing he had been claiming benefits here for two years.

A Brazilian woman who was also detained at the airport in Belfast in February this year had previously been detained in January 2007. "By her own admission she operates as a prostitute and travels through Belfast to enter this State as she had previously been refused entry to the State at Dublin Airport. She has conditions in the UK based on marriage to a British national," the report states.

A Somali man also stopped in Belfast on April 28 last year was found to be carrying a large suitcase full of the drug 'quat', a type of natural amphetamine much used by Somalis but not illegal in the UK or here. He was found to have an address in Dublin and also to be in receipt of welfare payments.
An overview of the asylum seeker situation estimated that 90 per cent of claims are bogus; that many are seeking asylum simultaneously in Britain and Ireland while travelling back and forth to their home countries; that Northern Ireland is the most frequent route into and out of the Republic because of the absence of any Border checks; and that people who fail to gain asylum status immediately move from one jurisdiction to the other.

The 'top five countries' of origin of asylum seekers last year are: Nigeria, with 1,028 or 25 per cent of the total; Iraq, with 285 or 7.2 per cent; China, with 259 or 6.5 per cent; Pakistan, with 185 or 4.6 per cent; and Georgia, with 174 or 4.4 per cent.
A total of 468, or 11.7 per cent, of those who claimed asylum here last year were found, under the new pan-European fingerprinting EURODAC system for applicants, to have already applied for asylum in other EU countries.
More than half of those who applied for asylum here claimed to have arrived in Ireland without any documents.
Gardai said that the amount of fraud and false claims being made is making life even more difficult for the genuine asylum seekers who have escaped tyrannical regimes or countries where they face persecution for reasons ranging from religious and non-religious beliefs to political association or ethnicity

Immigration around the globe: Thailand. Human rights and exert pressure on the Lao government to end human rights violations committed against Hmong living in the jungle.



Over the years Thailand has been providing temporary protection to hundreds of thousands of people who have fled persecution and conflict in neighbouring Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

For decades, Thailand has served as the main hosting country in the region for Lao Hmong asylum-seekers. The total number of Lao Hmong seeking international protection in Thailand is not clear, but some 7,000 people claiming to have fled Laos due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted currently reside in an informal refugee settlement in Huay Nam Khao, in northern Phetchabun province. Much smaller numbers live in other places across the country, notably in the border areas and the greater Bangkok region.

The vast majority of Lao Hmong in Thailand have not had access to a determination process to assess their refugee claims, as so far, UNHCR has not had access to the refugee camp in Huay Nam Khao. In consequence, it is not known how many of these are in need of international protection. As long as the status of these people is unknown, any attempts to return them to Laos places the Thai government at risk of breaching its obligations under international law.

In the past 15 months at least around 100 individuals have been unlawfully deported back to Laos. On three occasions Lao Hmong asylum-seekers were rounded up and held either at police stations or in Immigration Detention Centres for some time inside Thailand before being handed over to authorities in Laos.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Thai authorities not to forcibly return people who would be at risk of severe human rights violations, including torture, in keeping with Thailand's obligations under inter¬national law, inclu¬ding under the ICCPR, to which Thailand is a state party.(49) The Human Rights Committee, the body entrusted under the Covenant with monito¬ring its applica¬tion by states parties, has main¬tained that Article 7 of the Covenant provides an absolute prohibition on return to torture or other ill-treatment. In its General Comment on Article 7, the HRC stated the following:

In the view of the Committee, States parties must not expose individuals to the danger of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment upon return to another country by way of their extradition, expulsion or refoulement.(50)

Non-refoulement is a principle of customary international law which is binding on all states regardless of whether or not they have ratified a relevant treaty, such as 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.

At the time of writing, around 350 Lao Hmong men, women and children are held in Thai detention and face the risk of imminent deportation. At least 153 of them are recognized refugees under UNHCR's mandate, but the majority of them have not had access to a screening process to have their protection needs ascertained.

One attempt has already been made at deporting the recognised refugees, in clear breach of international law:

In the morning of 30 January 2007 following a bilateral agreement between Thailand and Laos reached some six weeks earlier, authorities attempted to deport 153 refugees. Immigration officials dragged women and girls crying and screaming out of their cell in the Immigration Detention Centre in the north-eastern town of Nong Khai where they had been held since 17 November. They were then loaded onto buses that drove them to the Lao border. Two of the women were eight months pregnant and one had a baby who had been born weeks earlier in the detention centre.

Two seriously sick men were also put into vehicles, after having been taken from their hospital beds where one had been receiving care for a serious liver condition and another for a bullet wound to the face.

The women and sick men were kept in the buses at the border awaiting the men, who had barricaded themselves in the male cell in an attempt to evade deportation. Police tried to saw through the bars to gain access to the cell. Witnesses also reported that police released a gas-like substance, possibly tear gas, three times, despite the fact that 20 children, all boys, were in the cell.

By afternoon, the deportation attempt was halted, a decision that Amnesty International welcomed. The women, girls and sick men were later taken back to the immigration detention centre at Nong Khai. Thai authorities said they would not deport the refugees against their will, but instead pledged to agree to them being resettled in third countries.

Meanwhile, Lao government spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy blamed the Thai government for having been ill-prepared ahead of the deportation and urged for the deportation to go ahead:

"The Lao side requests Thailand continue to ready the group for repatriation and ensure the security of Lao officials who will accompany the group." (51)

Thai authorities have yet to confirm that the deportation of these refugees, which with a new-born now number 154, has been permanently halted. Amnesty International remains concerned about their safety. The organisation is also concerned about the possible risk of forcible return of many other Lao Hmong people who may also be in need of international protection.

Recommendations

Amnesty International makes the following recommendations:

To the Lao authorities

• Immediately stop all armed attacks against Hmong people living in the jungle;

• Ensure that the security forces immediately end the use of arbitrary detention, rape and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees, and in particular the unlawful detention and ill-treatment of children;

• Ensure prompt, independent and impartial investigation of all allegations of attacks by the security forces on Hmong living in jungle encampments or other unlawful use of force against them, including killings, torture or other ill-treatment, rape and other sexual abuse, and bring the perpetrators to justice in proceedings which meet international standards of fairness and without the imposition of the death penalty;

• Enable the people living in jungle encampments to realise their basic economic, social and cultural rights, in particular their right to an adequate standard of living, including access to food, water, shelter, and essential health care, including through permitting access by international humanitarian organisations to the areas of concern;

• Allow and assist those Hmong who want to reintegrate into mainstream society and have not committed any internationally recognizably criminal offence to do so, while ensuring respect for their human rights during this process, including the right to life, liberty and security of person, an adequate standard of living, and liberty of movement and freedom to choose their place of residence. Any resettlement should be with the free and informed consent of those affected who should be involved in the planning and management of their relocation;

• Allow international monitoring, including by UN human rights bodies and experts, of such reintegration.

To the Thai authorities

• Ensure that under no circumstances persons are returned to Laos if they face a risk of serious human rights violations, including violations of the right to life, torture or other ill-treatment;

• Ensure that Lao Hmong asylum seekers inside Thailand, including approximately 7,000 Lao Hmong at the camp in Huay Nam Khao, are provided access to a fair determination process in order for their protection claims to be assessed either by UNHCR or national bodies, in keeping with international human rights law and international refugee law;

• Ensure that those who are in need of international protection inside Thailand are provided with such protection and that all attempts at finding durable solutions, including local integration and resettlement are explored.

To UN agencies and the international community

Whenever possible open up dialogue with the Lao authorities about human rights and exert pressure on the Lao government to end human rights violations committed against Hmong living in the jungle;

Call on the Lao government to accept independent monitoring of the concerned areas inside the Lao jungles and areas where groups from the jungle have resettled so as to ascertain their needs and assure their well-being;

Those states in a position to do so make clear to the Lao government their willingness to provide international assistance to support the authorities in meeting its minimum core obligations with regard to ensuring the economic, social and cultural rights of the groups in the jungle as well as of those who reintegrate in to the mainstream

Immigration around the Globe: Indonesia. Indonesia deports four over Timor attack.




Four former East Timorese soldiers deported from Indonesia face jail terms of up to 25 years if they are convicted over attacks on East Timor's leaders, prosecutors say.

Indonesia on Monday deported the four men under heavy security, two weeks after they were caught in Indonesia's West Timor and the capital Jakarta.

The men fled East Timor after the February 11 attacks on East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

East Timor's Prosecutor General Longuinos Monteiro said the men would be interrogated in Dili later Monday.
They are Jose Gomez, 28; Edigio Lay Kalfayo, 26; Ismael Sansao Monis Soares, 26 and Tito Tilman, 25.

Their cases would be presented to a Dili court on Tuesday to determine their detention status, he said.

"We haven't investigated them here. After they arrive in Dili then they will be questioned," Monteiro told reporters in Bali, where the group transited before flying to East Timor.

"This case has a maximum penalty of 25 years for main perpetrators, and less for the accomplices.

"The charges we will go with are premeditated murder."

Monteiro said the men were former soldiers under the command of slain rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, who was shot dead in the February attack on the president's house.

He said the group crossed illegally into Indonesia using the "mice route", along the 239km border.

"They went through the land border, which is very long (and) without security," Monteiro said.

The men's deportation comes almost a week after 12 other rebels, including their leader Gastao Salsinha, surrendered in Dili.

Ramos Horta, who was shot twice in the attack on his home, said last month that some others involved in the attempt on his life may also have fled to Australia.

The 58-year-old head of state also said "elements" outside the country had provided support to fugitive rebel leader Reinado for at least a year, including money, communications equipment and clothing.

Ramos Horta has made a fresh appeal for his countrymen to stop messing about with violence and weapons in East Timor, which has been plagued by instability since gaining independence from Indonesia in 2002.

Meanwhile, East Timor's major opposition party Fretilin has taken steps to form a government in the future.

Fretilin said one of the government's ruling political parties, the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT), had quit the governing coalition, and formed an alliance with Fretilin instead.

In a joint statement, the two parties branded the current government, headed by Gusmao, as "full of nepotism, corruption, collusion and injustice

Immigration around the Globe: Nepal. Virginia man is back home after Nepal deportation over 'Free Tibet' flag.



It's back to the day job for William Brant Holland, international man of intrigue.

He's $20,000 poorer and with little to show for it, except a mark on his passport indicating he's been deported. And there's a letter of rebuke from the Nepalese office of tourism, which Monday banned him from Mount Everest for two years.

"They said they were going to go easy on me," Holland said. "They were very nice about it, really."

He sipped his first beer Wednesday since his dream of reaching the summit of Mount Everest this month failed. He was back on Cary Street, wearing a green Patagonia polo shirt and canvas pants. His face was sunburned except where his beard was and where the mask covered his face from the cold on the mountain

He's come to this conclusion about it all:

"The mountain isn't going anywhere. I'll be back."

At 26, Holland has attained a distinction that he never invited or imagined.

A $10, 2-foot-square banner carrying the words "Free Tibet" got Holland booted off Everest, the first victim of new regulations designed to avoid any unpleasantness over the Chinese government's plan to haul the Olympic torch to the mountain's summit, probably in the next few days.

Holland's plan to get a picture of himself at the top of Everest with the banner in hand backfired.

He said someone informed authorities, the flag was confiscated, and then he was told to report to tourism officials in Katmandu.

"I did the walk back (from base camp) in three days. I was pretty upset and needed to figure out what was going on," Holland said.

News of the ouster went worldwide and Holland says now he never imagined that his plan would become public or arouse suspicion.

"If I'd meant to cause trouble I could have bought a $20 permit and been leading demonstrations or something at the base camp. That's not what was going on."

A 2000 graduate of Midlothian High School, where he wrestled and played football, Holland is leading a rarified life.

The son of a prominent cardiologist and the nephew of two retired state senators, he's set on summitting the world's seven tallest peaks. Everest was next on the list; he's done five, immersing himself in foreign cultures.

"If there's not some sort of danger involved, I figure it's not going to be much of an adventure," Holland said.

He planned to do Everest without the help of Sherpa carriers, handling hundreds of pounds of equipment by himself by moving it up the mountain in stages.

Braided wrist bands from Tanzania and Peru and a green stone necklace from New Zealand speak to past adventures.

He's seen the stunning beauty of Denali in Alaska and yearns to see the deserts of Ethiopia.

"My biggest problem is learning to be patient; you have to learn to take one day at a time," he said.
Adversity is an adventure, and he said he's putting off a more stable life until the world has worn out some of its welcome.

"I can put everything I own in the back of a pickup," he said.

He made it to China in January, after riding across the United States on a bicycle in 36 days. He flew to China and then took trains and more bikes to the western part of the country.

He was aware of China's crackdown on Buddhist monks in Tibet but never equated the uproar with his plan for the flag, hatched when he spotted the emblem in a Katmandu souvenir shop.

Now he's got to recoup his losses, collect his equipment, and get back to cutting trees. His Ridgeline Trees LLC has funded all his adventures.

"I'll find three guys to work for me and it will be back to work six days a week, from sunrise to 10 p.m. each day," he said

Sooner or later he wants to go the medical school. "Something like Doctors Without Borders is appealing to me," he said.

But old age won't come without a fight and more adventures.

"In my family, the saying is, 'It's better to live till 50 like a bull than to 100 like a mouse."

Immigration around the Globe: U.K. Congolese rapist with HIV who raped mother of three fights deportation because of 'dangers' in his own country.




A man who raped a frail mother of three while HIV positive is trying to escape deportation.
Linkoy Muhuri, a failed asylum seeker from the Congo, claims he faces dangers in his own country because of his medical condition and his ethnicity.

The former hairdresser, 40, was jailed for ten years after attacking the Aids counsellor, 34, who has sickle cell anaemia and had her feet covered in bandages at the time.

During his prison sentence, he has been eligible for free treatment for HIV worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Despite a judge recommending him for deportation on his release, his wife and two children were allowed to stay in Britain so they could visit him.

Muhuri, who came to Britain in 1999, has now served his sentence. But appearing before an Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in Brentford, West London, yesterday he produced more reasons as to why he should be allowed to stay.

As well as medical and family reasons, his lawyer secured him a two-month reprieve by arguing that his "ethnicity" could put him in danger in the Congo.

While his father is Congolese, his mother is Rwandan and may have been involved in politics, the tribunal heard.

Muhuri, who is understood to be a Hutu, also claims he was tortured in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for his political views.

He was originally denied asylum because Home Office officials did not believe he was fleeing for his life.

Yesterday, immigration judge Lynn Verity delayed the full deportation hearing until June to give the Home Office the opportunity - if it wished - to look into Muhuri's latest claim.

She added that a full four-hour hearing would be required to hear all the "complex issues" in his case, including his "medical issue" and the "regard to family life".

"This is not part-heard, we haven't even started yet," she said.

During the hearing Muhuri, who was dressed smartly in a suit and tie, glanced at two women, believed to include his wife, in the public gallery.

Grace Brown, for Muhuri, said he felt the "interests of justice" may not be served if the Home Office were not given time to review his claim.

Muhuri raped his victim seven years ago, three and a half months after marrying his girlfriend Nothemba Jozi in North London.

He lived in Tottenham at the time. It will be up to the asylum and immigration panel to make a final decision on deportation. However, Muhuri could then still appeal

Immigration around the Globe: Fiji. No warning of deportation. He Was deported to Australia.



An Australian newspaper publisher in Fiji has been deported from the South Pacific country and put on a flight to South Korea, after being branded a security threat.

Publisher of the Fiji Times newspaper, Evan Hannah, was put on a plane leaving Nadi Airport this morning at 9.35am local time (7.35am AEST), according to a spokesman for News Ltd, which owns the paper.

Director of corporate affairs at News Ltd, Greg Baxter, said Hannah had been forced aboard Korean Air flight KEO138 by Fiji authorities after they ignored a court order aimed at preventing his deportation.

"Attempts were made by Fiji authorities to initially put him on an Air Pacific flight to Australia and Air Pacific refused to take him," Baxter said.

"They then tried to put him on a Solomon Islands flight and they refused to take him. They then insisted that Korean Air take him. We believe that occurred with some persistence.

"It wasn't a negotiation, it was basically an order," Baxter said.

He said arrangements were being made to have Hannah met by Australian officials in Seoul and placed on a flight to Sydney.

If he can get a seat on the earliest flight out of Seoul, at 8.30pm (7.30pm AEST) tonight, he would be scheduled to arrive in Sydney at 7.30am AEST Saturday, Baxter said.

Since staging a military coup in Fiji in December 2006 and appointing himself prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama has been accused of waging a campaign of intimidation against journalists in the country.

Fiji's interim foreign affairs minister, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, told Fiji television on Thursday night that Hannah was being deported because he was a threat to national security.

In March, Hannah was summoned to the office of Fiji's interim Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who is understood to have complained about the political coverage of the Fiji Times.

Sayed-Khaiyum told AAP on Friday he had just returned from an overseas trip and did not know whether Hannah had been deported.

"I just got off the plane myself. I am not fully aware of what is happening," he said.

Soon after the 2006 coup troops occupied some offices of media companies and demanded the right to scrutinise reports before they were aired or published.

More recently the Australian publisher of the Fiji Sun newspaper, Russell Hunter, was thrown out of the country after writing articles critical of a minister in the military government.

Hannah's wife, Dr Katarina Tuinamuana, said her husband had been prepared for the possibility he would be deported.

"After the deportation of Russell Hunter we knew that anything could happen. It did come as a surprise to us that it happened now. We did think things were starting to calm down a bit," Tuinamuana said.

Editor of the Fiji Times, Netani Rika, said his newspaper would continue to fearlessly report politics in the country.

"We have been bullied and intimidated for the last 18 months. We have been bullied and intimidated by previous governments. It hasn't stopped us in the past and it won't stop us now," Rika said.

Fiji's interim national security and immigration minister, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, later said in a statement: "Based on credible evidence and advise (sic) furnished to me, Mr Hannah's actions were breaching national security of the country.

Hannah had been removed under a section of the Immigration Act relating to prohibited immigrants, he said.

"The security interests of the sovereign state of Fiji at this point in time are of paramount importance. Mr Hannah was previously cautioned of the implications of his actions. He, however, chose to ignore this," Ganilau said.

He also defended government staff who put Hannah onto a plane bound for South Korea, despite a High Court order to stop the deportation.

"(The) court order issued by the High Court had not been officially received by the Director of Immigration before Mr Hannah was removed from Fiji this morning," Ganilau said.

"(The) court order needs to be sighted first by the Director of Immigration before officials can act on it."

Australia, the United States and New Zealand have condemned the deportation of the Australian newspaper publisher from military-ruled Fiji.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) issued a statement that called the deportation "extraordinary and very disappointing".

"This is yet another reprehensible act in a disturbing pattern of behaviour since the coup of December 2006 which has resulted in the severe erosion of fundamental human rights and the rule of law in Fiji," the DFAT statement said.

"The United States Government is very concerned by the Fiji interim government's expulsion of Fiji Times publisher Evan Hannah," the US State Department said in a statement.

"This is the second time the interim government has expelled a newspaper publisher in less than 10 weeks, raising serious questions about the interim government's respect for the freedom of the press.

"The United States continues to condemn the military coup and the interim government's actions to suppress the freedom of speech of those in the media."

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Fiji's military-led interim government was trying to muzzle the media.

"The regime clearly does not place a high value on freedom of the press," Clark said.

"Such actions are not conducive to creating the kind of environment needed for free and fair elections to be held in Fiji by March 2009" as promised by coup leader and self-appointed prime minister Frank Bainimarama, she said.

Clark said her country's acting high commissioner was seeking an urgent explanation for Hannah's deportation, in defiance of an order from the Fiji High Court

Five men likely to be deported because they were fishing without a license.




Racial profiling to Latinos will continue until the Federal Goverment reacted to pass a Humane comprehensive Immigraton reform.

Five men fishing. That's the new focal point in our community over the immigration debate that continues to play out in our nation.

The Hall County Sheriff's Office has begun enforcing a new initiative known as 287 (g) that requires local law enforcement officials to turn over to federal immigration officials anyone who is arrested and lacks proper documentation.

The law was supposed to be enforced some time back but it took awhile for the feds to hook up the database computers deputies use to check the legal status of those arrested. Now that the equipment is up and running, Sheriff Steve Cronic and his staff are enforcing the statute by checking documentation and informing the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency when an arrestee does not have legal status.

Such was the case for five Mexican migrant workers who were picked up for fishing without a license April 5 at Wahoo Creek by a Department of Natural Resources officer. When they could produce no legal identification, they were booked and found to be in the country illegally, then turned over to the ICE. All five now face likely deportation, all because they were fishing without a license, hardly a crime that threatens society.

But the incident that led to their arrest isn't the real issue. Cronic and his deputies are merely applying the 287 (g) initiative as required by the federal government, no matter what charge may have led to the original arrest.

Local immigration lawyers Arturo Corso and David Kennedy claim that law officers are targeting Hispanics and running them through the ICE process unnecessarily. They believe the 287 (g) requirement should apply only to those who commit more serious crimes, such as drug offenses and violent crimes.

"There's no way five people fishing in the middle of the day would cause anybody alarm or concern," Corso said.

"My guess is there are some officers out there who are using this program to harass immigrants," Kennedy said.

Cronic and his deputies are in a no-win position when it comes to enforcing 287 (g). If they ignore it, they aren't complying with federal law. If they only apply it to those whom they feel are serious criminals, they are picking and choosing which laws to enforce, which is not their job. But if they do what the law requires, as in the case of the fishermen, they are accused of targeting Latinos.

We don't envy Cronic for the dilemma. His department knows that keeping strong relations with the Latino community is important, and that all local residents, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity, should be able to count on their protection. To that end, Cronic says the 287 (g) statute is only being applied to those arrested and not witnesses or other complainants. He also says his department monitors the record of those who are pulled over, cited or arrested to check for patterns that could be considered profiling.

Local attorney Joe Diaz told The Times he would like to see Cronic's department apply discretion to the law. But how can a sheriff do that without making up his own laws? Once someone is arrested for whatever reason and turned over to the ICE, it is a federal matter and not up to local jurisdiction.

"We're not judges and it's not our place to be judges," Cronic said. "When you do that, it's a slippery slope you go down. It's not something that should be determined at our level."

Though we sympathize with the attorneys' concerns and their attempt to protect those who lack any kind of legal safety net, we agree with Cronic. The potential for abuse in either direction is too great when law enforcement officers are urged to make up their own minds as to who should and shouldn't be arrested. True justice can only be achieved when the law is applied fairly and without prejudice to everyone.

The whole debate, once again, stems from the key problem involving immigration: Local law enforcement is asked to do what federal officials and lawmakers seem unwilling or unable to accomplish in a more effective way.

For years, Congress has been vilified by us and others for failing to craft a sensible, comprehensive plan to better deal with Undocumented immigration. Most agree that it has to start with stronger border enforcement to keep migrant workers from crossing without documentation. Porous borders have created a large and shadowy underclass frequently exploited by employers and unable to seek protection from the law. No country can allow that to continue, for the sake of immigrants or existing residents.

Once the border is secure, then a plan to deal with those who are already here, whether that be deportations or a guest worker program, is the next step. This is where the differing points of view over the issue split ways, even if they agree on border security.

But whether you are for or against increasing legal immigration, any and all reform has to come from the federal level. Failure to fix a national problem that way merely shuffles it to state and local governments and their law enforcement officers. That results in piecemeal legislation that deals with the symptoms of illegal immigration, often forcing migrants to move to a different town or state. That doesn't make them any more legal, nor solve the problem; it just passes the buck to someone else.

This is an election year, our next best chance to choose leaders to Congress and the White House who will act decisively on this issue. If our new leaders are no more proactive than those already in place, we'll continue to see more burden put upon local sheriff's and police departments who could be using their resources for other concerns.

But until that happens, it's up to Cronic and other local leaders to apply the laws they're given. They cannot be asked to enforce the law in some cases and not others. And they must continue their own outreach to the Latino community to ensure all residents that only those who break the law will come under the scrutiny of the 287 (g) statute and federal agencies.

It's a fine line to walk, and not the ideal way to address immigration. But until Congress acts to solve the issue in a more decisive manner, it's the best anyone can do

Expects 10,000 deaths in cyclone. Hundreds of thousands 'in dire need'





YANGON, Myanmar - The death toll from the cyclone that ravaged Myanmar is expected to reach 10,000, a top official said Monday, with at least 4,000 people already listed as killed and nearly 3,000 others unaccounted for.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win told foreign diplomats at a briefing that the death toll could reach 10,000, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was held behind closed doors.

“The basic message was that they believe the provisional death toll was about 10,000 with 3,000 missing,” a diplomat present at the meeting told Reuters in Bangkok.

Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country, also known as Burma, early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

In the former capital Yangon, food and fuel prices have soared as aid agencies scrambled to deliver emergency supplies and assess the damage in the five declared disaster zones, home to 24 million people.

The government had previously put the death toll countrywide at 351 before increasing it Monday to 3,939.

A radio station broadcasting from the country’s capital, Naypyitaw, said that 2,879 more people are unaccounted for in a single town, Bogalay, in the country’s low-lying Irrawaddy River delta area where the storm wreaked the most havoc.

“Reports are coming out of the delta coast, particularly the Irrawaddy region, that in some villages up to 95 percent of houses have been destroyed,” said Matthew Cochrane at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Geneva headquarters.

“Widespread destruction is obviously making it more difficult to get aid to people who need it most,” said Michael Annear, regional disaster management coordinator for the federation.

The situation in the countryside remained unclear because of poor communications and roads left impassable by the storm.

Hundreds of thousands 'in dire need'

“It’s clear that we’re dealing with a very serious situation. The full extent of the impact and needs will require an extensive on-the-ground assessment,” said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok, Thailand, for United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“What is clear at this point is that there are several hundred thousands of people in dire need of shelter and clean drinking water,” Horsey said.

U.N. agencies were working with the Red Cross and other organizations to see how it can help those affected by the cyclone. UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said the U.N. children’s agency alone has five teams assessing the situation in the country.

The World Food Program has pre-positioned 500 tons of food in Yangon and plans to bring in more relief supplies, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

At a meeting with foreign diplomats and representatives of U.N. and international aid agencies, Myanmar’s foreign ministry officials said they welcomed international humanitarian assistance and urgently need roofing materials, plastic sheets and temporary tents, medicine, water purifying tablets, blankets and mosquito nets.

Neighboring Thailand announced that it would fly some aid in Tuesday.

In Washington, the State Department said the U.S. Embassy in Yangon had authorized an emergency contribution of $250,000 to help with relief efforts. But it added that the Myanmar government initially had refused to allow a U.S. Disaster Assistance Response Team into the country to assess damage.

“We have a DART team that is standing by and ready to go into Burma to help try to assess needs there,” deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters. “As of this moment, the Burmese government has not given them permission, however, to go into the country so that is a barrier to us being able to move forward.”

Two Indian naval ships loaded with food, tents, blankets, clothing and medicines would sail for Yangon soon, Indian’s Ministry of External Affairs said.

Largest city hit hard

The cyclone blew roofs off hospitals and schools and cut electricity in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon. Older citizens said they had never seen the city of some 6.5 million so devastated in their lifetimes.

With the city’s already unstable electricity supply virtually nonfunctional, citizens lined up to buy candles, which doubled in price, and water since lack of electricity-driven pumps left most households dry. Some walked to the city’s lakes to wash.

Many roofs were ripped off even sturdy buildings, suggesting damage would be severe in the shanty towns that lie on the outskirts of the city of 5 million people.

At the city’s notorious Insein prison, soldiers and police killed 36 prisoners to quell a riot that started when inmates were herded into a large hall and started a fire to try to keep warm, a Thailand-based human rights group said.

State television showed military and police units on rescue and cleanup operations in Yangon, but residents complained the junta’s response was weak.

“Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive when there were protests in the streets last year,” a retired government worker told Reuters, referring to protests led by Buddhist monks last year that were swiftly crushed
Hotels and richer families were using private generators but only sparingly, given the soaring price of fuel.

Many stayed away from their jobs, either because they could not find transportation or because they had to seek food and shelter for their families.

“Without my daily earning, just survival has become a big problem for us,” said Tin Hla, who normally repairs umbrellas at a roadside stand.

With his home destroyed by the storm, Tin Hla said he has had to place his family of five into one of the monasteries that have offered temporary shelter to those left homeless.

His entire morning was taken up with looking for water and some food to buy, ending up with three chicken eggs that cost double the normal price.

Vote to go ahead Saturday

Despite the havoc wreaked by Nargis, the military government indicated that a referendum on the country’s draft constitution would proceed as planned on May 10.

“It’s only a few days left before the coming referendum and people are eager to cast their vote,” the state-owned newspaper Myanma Ahlin said Monday.

At the meeting with diplomats, Relief Minister Maj. Gen. Maung Maung Swe said the vote could be postponed by “a few days” in the worst-affected areas. However, the foreign minister intervened to say the matter would be decided by the official referendum commission.

Pro-democracy groups in the country and many international critics have branded the constitution as merely a tool for the military’s continued grip on power.

Should the junta be seen as failing disaster victims, voters who already blame the regime for ruining the economy and squashing democracy could take out their frustrations at the ballot box.

The secretive military, bunkered in their isolated new capital of Naypyidaw, 240 miles north of Yangon, has ruled for 46 years and has been shunned by Western governments after a violent crackdown on Buddhist monk-led protests last September

Cinco de mayo de 1862 - La Batalla de Puebla.

Viva el 5 de mayo!!!!!!!!






The 5th of May is celebrated in the United States among the Mexican-American population, especially in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Various Mexican-American societies use the celebrations to commemorate the overthrow of the Mexican Imperial Monarchy headed by Maximilian of Austria. The Imperial Monarchy was imposed from 1864 to 1867 on Mexico by Napoleon III, Emperor of France (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte) and the Mexican conservatives "Club de Notables".

The Mexican-American societies were formed after the Mexican-American war (1846-1848) in response to atrocities committed by US. troops occupying the lands annexed by the US. following the war. The war was settled by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with fifteen million dollars in payment for the annexed lands. The societies originally consisted of home guard units but evolved into social societies as stability returned to the US Southwest. These societies contributed large amounts of material and money to the Mexican Constitutional Government in its fight against the Mexican Imperial Monarchy.
In 1858, Benito Juárez was elected President of the United States of Mexico to defend the Mexican Constitution established on February 5th, 1857. After much internal struggle, Juárez was re-elected in 1861. Because of financial instability, mainly due to the Mexican-American war, the Mexican Congress suspended foreign debt repayment for two years.

The creditors in Europe (England, Spain and France) decided intervention was needed to collect the debts. Unbeknownst to the other two, France had its own agenda. France wanted to dispose of the Mexican Constitutional Government and set up a monarchy favorable to France. Napoleon III, Emperor of the Second French Empire had grandiose plans to impose a monarchical government upon the nations of Central, South America and North America. This was to provide raw materials and trade for the European nations as well as check the growing power of the US Republic following the annexation of California, Arizona and New Mexico.

France's designs were formented and abetted by the plutocratic and conservative land owners of Mexico who feared loss of land and political power to the newly elected constitutional government of Benito Juárez. On December 8th, 1861 the European powers landed and occupied Veracruz, Spain arrived first. By April 11, 1862 after realizing France's intent, England and Spain withdrew their support.

Meanwhile, in Mexico City, President Juárez (a lawyer who had studied to become a priest), was taking countermeasures: "There is no help but in defense but I can assure you... the Imperial Government will not succeed in subduing the Mexicans, and its armies will not have a single day of peace... we must stop them, not only for our country but for the respect of the sovereignty of the nations"(1). Juarez declared martial law and declared all areas occupied by the French in a state of siege.

After reinforcements arrived, a French force of (7,000) seven thousand set out on the (225) two hundred twenty five mile route to Mexico City in early April under the illusion that the Mexican people would welcome them.

This illusion was fostered by Juan N. Almonte, a Mexican reactionary, and by Count Dubois du Saligny appointed French Ambassador to Mexico by Napoleon. Presidente Juárez commanded General Ignacio Zaragoza to block the advance of the French Army with 2,000 soldiers at the fortified hills of Loreto and Guadalupe by the city of Puebla.

On May 5th, 1862, cannons boomed and rifle shots rang out as the French soldiers attacked the two forts. Before the day was over, one fort was in ruins and more than a thousand French soldiers were dead. The Mexicans had won the battle, but not the war. Yet, this date was established as symbolic of the Mexicans' courage against a formidable army.

In June 1864, Maximilian of Habsburg and his wife Charlotte arrived in Mexico City as the crowned Emperor of the newly formed Mexican Empire. Although Maximilian organized the administration, liberated the Indians from servitude, and developed the natural resources of the country, he was unable to avoid the opposition of the Mexican patriots.

The republicans, led by Benito Juárez, did not accept the foreign intervention. They went north and requested assistance from the Californians and other Mexican-American societies to help them with volunteers and financial support.

Finally, Maximilian was overthrown and captured on May 15, 1867, tried by court martial, and executed by firing squad on June 19 at the Cerro de las Campanas along with his generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía.

The 5 de Mayo is a Mexican national holiday. The battlefield is now a park in Puebla with a statue of General Zaragoza riding horseback. One of the forts is a war museum with a display of hundreds of toy soldiers set up to show what had happened that day. But it is in the United States of America where the celebration is more festive consisting of parades, music, folklore, dances and food. These festivities are mainly events and for solidarity among the Mexican-Americans.

Lou Dobbs the Anti Mexican travesty claimed that Mexico is the primary source of Marijuana but ignored the growing indoor farms of pot within the States.


Nothing personal Lou but why you missinformed your viewers. They deserve the fair and balance news. Blame yourself for your ignorance and arrogance.

3 from Lynnwood charged in pot-growing operation. B.C. Budd groups with ties to Canada’s multibillion-dollar marijuana industry are buying houses here and setting up shops.

LYNNWOOD -- Three suspected marijuana growers from Lynnwood have been indicted on federal charges as part of a large-scale operation to shut down indoor dope farms.

The South Snohomish County Drug Task Force was part of a federal investigation into two garden supply companies and a mortgage broker as part of “Operation Green Reaper.” Fourteen people have been indicted as well as the owners of Greenhouse Garden Supply in Tukwila and Scitek Garden Supply in Auburn, federal agents announced this afternoon.

The offices of Jet City Mortgage in Kent and the home of the mortgage company’s owners also were searched today in connection with possible mortgage fraud related to numerous homes where marijuana grows were uncovered.

The garden shops have been under investigation for more than a year. Investigators allege the supply stores provided equipment, advice and trash disposal service to those setting up indoor dope farms. Detectives believe the Auburn shop was connected to grows that totaled more than 14,700 plants. They allege that more than $1.1 million in drug money was laundered through the business, according to court documents.

Lynnwood detectives arrested three people back in February after they discovered more than 1,100 plants in houses in Lynnwood and Everett. Detectives believe the indoor pot farms were set up and tended by drug traffickers connected to Vietnamese criminal groups.

Two of those people, Son Bui, 40, and his girlfriend Tran Luong, 46, both of Lynnwood, were indicted earlier this month in the federal investigation. Ellis Nguyen, 57, of Lynnwood also was named in the indictment unsealed today.

“The scourge of marijuana grow houses that has gripped British Columbia is moving south and invading our neighborhoods,” U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said in a prepared statement. “By targeting the businesses that promote, supply and establish these grows, we hope to stop organized criminal groups that destroy lives while making millions through drug trafficking.”

Drug investigators in Snohomish County and elsewhere have seen a spike in marijuana-growing operations involving people with ties to Vietnam and Canada.

They believe tighter border controls since the Sept. 11 attacks have made it too risky to smuggle “B.C. Bud” into the U.S. Instead, groups with ties to Canada’s multibillion-dollar marijuana industry are buying houses here and setting up shop.

These organized groups are bringing violence, experts said.

Two people were shot to death in July in a south Everett house where hundreds of pot plants were found. A second dope farm was found in a nearby house. The slain couple, Linda Nguyen, 20, and Kevin Meas, 23, were paid to tend the plants in one of the houses. Prosecutors say two Tacoma men shot the couple during an apparent robbery attempt.

Lou Dobbs the Anti Mexican travesty claimed that Mexico is the primary source of Marijuana but ignored the growing indoor farms of pot within the States.



Blame yourself for your ignorance and arrogance.
Authorities raid indoor pot farm where a older lady sold ice cream to kids.

MIAMI — Officers fighting networks of indoor marijuana factories took out what they called a major operation Wednesday in a secluded back room of a house where a nice older lady sold ice cream to kids.

The raid targeted a sophisticated pot-growing operation that could net more than $300,000 a year, authorities said. The woman, Juana Betancourt, sat drinking coffee, appearing calmly resigned to the bust, as local police and federal agents carted away the crop. She wouldn’t comment

Bad luck found Betancourt on a quiet suburban street, the kind that often leaves neighbors dumbfounded when officers show up.

Yet it was a case in point in the battle between law enforcement and organized crime syndicates that have moved into the indoor-growing business. Officials from Seattle to Miami are grappling with the spread of sophisticated indoor marijuana farms, often run by ethnic gangs, that produce hundreds of pounds each year.

“You can go into any neighborhood, the nicest neighborhood you want, and the person next door could be a marijuana grower,” said Mark Trouville, special agent in charge of the Miami office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “It really is all about the money. It’s phenomenal.”

The two dozen plants found at Betancourt’s home, each more than 4 feet tall, are known as “mothers” — meant not so much for smoking but as sources of clones for future pot crops. The plants exude an unmistakable strong, sickly sweet smell under bright grow lights and are fed by an irrigation system. Authorities say the electricity used was stolen so the home’s power bill didn’t tip off investigators.

A neighbor, 42-year-old Anthony Williams, said he was shocked that the older couple across the street had such an operation — especially since they had regularly sold ice cream from a truck, often parked in front of the house — to the neighborhood children.

“That’s hard to believe,” Williams said, watchingas cops carried bags of marijuana plants out of the house. “They are just two sweet old people. You’d never suspect them.”

Betancourt and the home’s other occupant, Sixto Campo, each could face up to three years in prison; Campo also declined to comment.

Their arrests are part of a coordinated local and federal law enforcement crackdown on indoor marijuana grow houses.

Last week in Seattle, authorities arrested 15 people and raided two garden shops that were part of a Vietnamese drug trafficking group accused of operating at least 19 marijuana grow houses around Puget Sound.

One San Francisco-based ethnic Chinese drug ring operated at least 50 marijuana grow houses in the Bay area that could produce pot valued on the street at $94 million, authorities claim. Major indoor marijuana rings also have been discovered recently in Atlanta, Houston and New England.

In Florida, such outfits are increasingly operated by Cuban-American crime syndicates. A Cuban-American organization based in Miami is setting up grow houses north in Gainesville, Jacksonville and even into Georgia and the Carolinas.

At a second Miami grow house raided Wednesday, the occupants had constructed two large interior rooms complete with separate air conditioning units. Three dozen plants found there were topped by whitish buds and were nearly ready for their quarterly harvest, when they would bring about $4,000 apiece, or close to $600,000 a year.

The lone unidentified man in the sparsely furnished house was handcuffed and placed in a police car before reporters were allowed in. He didn’t resist arrest.

His neighbor, 75-year-old Clement Aday, said the home had been in foreclosure and was purchased about four months ago by people he rarely saw.

“There’s going to be a lot more of it, because of the economy,” Aday said of the pot crop. “People have to exist one way or another

Lou Dobbs the Anti Mexican travesty claimed that Mexico is the primary source of Marijuana but ignored the growing indoor farms of pot within the States.


Blame Mexico for your own ignorance and arrogance Lou.

3 Arrested After Indoor Elk Grove Pot Farm Found More Than 800 Pot Plants Discovered.

ELK GROVE, Calif. -- Police have arrested three people after discovering another indoor marijuana farm in Elk Grove, officials said Thursday.

Authorities said they found more than 800 pot plants and high-tech cultivation equipment on Wednesday while serving a warrant at a home on Bastona Drive.

Detectives arrested 46-year-old Vi Chi Hoang of Elk Grove, 23-year-old Nan Li of Elk Grove and 30-year-old Katie Li of Sacramento on suspicion of marijuana cultivation, marijuana distribution and conspiracy.
Police have found many such indoor growing operations in Elk Grove and elsewhere in the Central Valley in the past year.

6 Arrested In Oakland Pot Raids worth more than $ 6 million

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A major indoor marijuana growing operation was raided in West Sacramento on Wednesday.

Authorities said the operation was discovered inside a warehouse near a home on Jefferson Boulevard.

Investigators said they received a tip about suspicious activity in the area and staked out the property.

The West Sacramento investigation also led police to four other locations in Oakland. Authorities said four homes were searched and about 1,500 pot plants were found with a street value of $6 million.

Five men and one woman were arrested in Oakland.

Authorities said the bust would not have been possible without a tip from a neighbor.

"It was amazing months ago when we took off several of those groves in Elk Grove, the public became more educated, Elk Grove police, Natomas, West Sacramento started getting phone calls," Narcotics Enforcement Team spokesman Roy Georgie said.

The six people arrested are being held at the Yolo County Jail in Woodland

Lou Dobbs the Anti Mexican travesty claimed that Mexico is the primary source of Marijuana but ignored the growing indoor farms of pot within the States.



Let's clean our houses first Lou..!!!!!!

Indoor Farm yields more than $ 7.5 Million in Marijuana.

More than $7.5 million worth of marijuana was seized at an indoor pot farm in a quiet, upscale Apple Valley neighborhood, officials said Thursday.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Marijuana Eradication Team seized 2,157 marijuana plants at a home in the 23600 block of Yucca Loma Road while serving a search warrant late Wednesday night.

Detectives of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Marijuana Eradication Team received an anonymous tip from WeTip, which led them to the home, said Jodi Miller, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The plants were growing in a special indoor cultivation unit using hydroponic techniques including lights and nutrient-filled liquids, she said.

This indoor growing technique raises the THC levels in the drug, which makes it more pure and much more valuable, officials said.

The various rooms in the home contained plants at several different growing stages.

The entire 3,500 square-foot, six-bedroom home, plus the garage, was used to grow the plants, she said.

Approximately one-quarter of the plants were ready for harvest, each one about three feet tall, Miller said.

In addition, 30 pounds of dried marijuana, worth about $90,000, which had been harvested sometime in the past month and was ready for sale was also found, she said.

Also, the $80,000 worth of electricity needed to power the cultivation equipment was stolen after the pot growers bypassed the meter, officials said.

Nobody was living at the home, however, it’s believed the growers were frequenting the house to check on the cultivation process.

Estimated street value in total for the entire haul was $7,549,500, Milller said.

No suspects have been arrested, she said

Lou Dobbs. The Anti Mexican Travesti ignoring that May 1 is not only the Law Day but the International Workers Day too.!!!!!



Lou Dobbs said: Pro amnesty and left wing groups ignoring national law day -- it is National Law Day in this country. They ignore the fundamental values of the nation and demand an end to the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. We'll have complete coverage of this travesty.

This is National Law Day, Law Day USA, 2008, proclaimed National Law Day first by President Dwight David Eisenhower. Thousands on this pro-law day, thousands of pro-illegal alien activists and their supporters instead joined up with left wing groups and held protests and demonstrations across the nation.

But those protests were much smaller than in previous years, considerably smaller. And the demonstrators were demanding that the federal government immediately stop arresting illegal aliens and they demanded that amnesty be given to 12 to 20 million illegal aliens in this country.

Now ironically these protests coming on the same that day that this nation by law celebrates National Law Day, honoring our rule of law. We have coast-to-coast coverage tonight of the marches, the protests and the impact, if any, on the presidential campaign.

What I see Ironically that Lou Dobbs ignored the International Labor day, the fundamental value of his work, principles and the social economic of the international labour movement as well as the purpose of the Law.
Purpose.— Law Day, U.S.A., is a special day of celebration by the people of the United States—
(1) in appreciation of their liberties and the reaffirmation of their loyalty to the United States and of their rededication to the ideals of equality and justice under law in their relations with each other and with other countries; and
(2) for the cultivation of the respect for law that is so vital to the democratic way of life.

Ouchhh but he criticized the demonstrators as a travesties and ignorants of the law.
Coming for people like Lou Dobbs who's always claimed to be educated; That's really sad.