SEALTHEBORDER's Blog

Illegal alien pastor sentenced in case of unrecognized Indian tribe

Authorities say a Miami family married illegal aliens  for cash

MIAMI - Federal authorities in Miami say one family has been marrying illegal aliens for money.

The Miami-Dade state attorney's office has charged five people with bigamy in connection with the case. They're accused of marrying undocumented immigrants for cash to help them earn legal U.S. residency.

Authorities say 46-year-old Eurice Rodriguez married three times without ever divorcing her first husband. She was arrested this week and posted bond Tuesday. Court documents do not list an attorney for her. A phone listed for a Eurice Rodriguez in Miami has been disconnected.

Two other family members were also charged this week, one for 12 illegal marriages. Authorities are looking for both of them.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorid
a/sfl-0611immigrant-marriage,0,7008218.story

Superior technical computers skills will help get you to the head of the line for visas to enter the United States.

Running a greeting card store on Long Island should not, federal officials said yesterday in arresting three Suffolk men as part of a nationwide roundup of six Indian nationals in a complex immigration fraud scheme.

The scheme centered on a computer consulting firm in Edison, N.J., Cygate Software & Consulting. Its principal, Nilesh Dasondi, certified that the three Long Islanders had technical skills that were needed by his company, but for which United States citizens could not be easily found, officials said.

People with those kinds of skills can enter the United States with special visas called H-1Bs.

Dasondi, who also was charged, falsely placed the three - and at least three others in New Jersey, Chicago and Arizona - on his company's payroll, the court papers said.

Between 2004 and 2007, the three Long Islanders provided monthly payments totaling tens of thousands of dollars to Dasondi, according to the papers filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Burt Ryan.

The money was used in a process called "running the payroll," the papers said, and outlined the scheme as follows:

First, false pay stubs, paychecks and health insurance payments were created and submitted to the government as "proof" of the employment of the three as computer experts at Cygate.

Next, some of the money was used to pay state and federal taxes owed on supposed pay.

Lastly, an unidentified amount of the money given to Dasondi was returned to the three, and Dasondi kept some.

The three people arrested on Long Island, and the amount they paid Dasondi, were identified in court papers as:

Kishor Parikh, 42, of 8 Avenue J, Ronkonkoma, who operated VMR Cards and Gifts, Medford, and paid $73,000 to Dasondi.

Devang Patel, 31, of 143 Webster Ave., Ronkonkoma, who operated the 50% Off Card Store, 312 Portion Rd., Lake Ronkonkoma, and L & A Cards, 209 W. Main St., Sayville. He paid $104,000.

Chetan Trivedi, 40, also of 143 Webster Ave., Ronkonkoma. His employment was unknown, and he paid $71,000.

Dasondi, a naturalized citizen, was held for a bail hearing today in U.S. District Court in Newark, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Moser. Parikh, Patel and Trivedi will have bail hearings today in U.S. District Court in Central Islip.

Trivedi's attorney, Paul Rethier of Sound Beach, said his client was "an upstanding gentlemen" but added he wasn't yet familiar with the details of the case. Ryan declined to comment. Attorneys for the other three and a spokesman for the company could not immediately be reached.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/crime/ny-livisa1
15722155jun11,0,3987393.story

Opponents complain laborers will park in ACT V for free, site encourages crime; councilwomen say it’s a good deal for city.

Updated: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 1:19 PM PDT

The city took action Tuesday to become the landlord instead of the tenant of the Day Labor Center on Laguna Canyon Road.

A united City Council approved the purchase of the property from Caltrans for $18,000, subject to the approval of the California Transportation Commission.

“Caltrans offered the property to certain agencies about five months ago, and Laguna Beach was the only agency that made an offer,” City Manager Ken Frank said.

The city’s offer was put on hold at the request of Sen. Tom Harman, who thought the state should get more money for the property, but no one else made an offer for the 16,810-square-foot site.

Caltrans officials notified the city May 21 that they were ready to deal, with certain conditions embodied in the purchase and sale agreement, approved Tuesday by the council.

The conditions included a requirement that the city pass a resolution authorizing the purchase and stipulating the use of the property for specific public purposes, which the city identified as park and recreational and open-space purposes.

Frank recommended the purchase.

Laguna Beach resident Eileen Garcia, an opponent of the deal, said she spoke on behalf of thousands of residents who are fearful of reprisals from by the city manager.

“I am not intimidated by Ken Frank,” said an obviously irate Anne Frank, no relative of the city manager.

“The center works for us, and if you don’t like it, go away.”

Barbara Coe was among those who don’t like the center. She called it a sanctuary for criminals.

“Do you want to see your children gunned down?” she asked.

History would seem to indicate that crime is not among the job opportunities at the center, which has been in operation since 1993.

“I know of no incidence of slavering predators attacking anyone in Laguna Canyon,” attorney Gene Gratz said.

“One reason I am speaking is because I don’t want anyone to think that what they have heard [from opponents] reflects Laguna Beach, California or even the United States.”

The center was created at the request of North Laguna residents who didn’t want job seekers gathering on their neighborhood corners.

Garcia also complained about Frank’s proposal to allow the workers to park free at ACT V, in lieu of parking on Caltrans property across Laguna Canyon Road from the center. Caltrans officials expressed some concern about the drivers running across the road, Frank said.

“We have standard agreements that local agencies will enforce all traffic violations on conventional highways,” Gorniak said. “Because of the agreements, the state has no liability.”

Gorniak said, however, that people running across the road outside of a crosswalk make problems for motorists.

“I don’t think it has been a significant problem, but parking at ACT V seems to make sense,” Frank said. “Our goal is to keep the day workers in the canyon, not on city street corners, reasonably safe and reasonably comfortable.”

Garcia said allowing the day workers to park free was discriminatory. She demanded to know whether others would have the same privilege and if so, how it would enforced.

“People with shoppers permits park free there,” Frank said. “And I don’t care if anybody parks there for free 10 months out of the year.”

The mechanics are still to be worked out.

“I have to think about it and I have to think about what we might do with the center,” Frank said. “I would sure like to plant some more trees there.”

The use of the property as a hiring center was not on the agenda.

“This is a good land deal, and that is all I am approving,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson said. “Where else could we get about 17,000 square feet for $18,000?”

Councilwoman Toni Iseman said the purchase of the property will resolve a longtime problem in Laguna and should serve as a model for the rest of the country.

“If Laguna could solve the immigration problem, maybe some of the discussion would not be so irrational,” Iseman said.

The Day Laborer center could be zoned as open space based on a recent deal CalTrans has offered. The center will permanently stay at the site. Don Leach / Coastline Pilot

http://www.coastlinepilot.com/articles/2008/06/10/poli
tics/cpt-laborsite060608.txt

Judge Takes Special Order 40 Lawsuit Dismissal Motion Under Submission

Violent Attacks from Mexico on the Rise

June 11, 2008

Illegal Alien Guard At Marijuana Field Sentenced

Source: The Greeneville Sun

Mexican Man, 58, Was The Only One Of Four Persons Caught In Raid

By BILL JONES

Staff Writer

An illegal immigrant who was guarding a massive marijuana field in western Greene County, Tennessee  when it was raided by Third Judicial District Drug Task Force agents on Sept. 13, 2007, was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Monday morning to 15 years (180 months) in federal prison.

Bedo Pineda-Infanti, 58, a Mexican national, had pleaded guilty last Dec. 5 to conspiracy to manufacturing 1,000, or more, marijuana plants; possessing a Glenfield Model 60 .22-caliber rifle and a Chinese-made Norinco MAC90 7.62-by-39-mm rifle in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime; and being an illegal alien in possession of firearms.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer on Monday ordered Pineda-Infanti to spend five years on supervised probation after he completes his 15-year prison sentence.

A federal criminal complaint filed against Pineda-Infanti by FBI Special Agent Kevin Keithley on Sept. 18, 2007, alleged that from Sept. 1 until "on or about Sept. 13," Pineda-Infanti "and other persons, known and unknown," conspired to manufacture 1,000, or more, marijuana plants.

The complaint says that on Sept. 13, agents of the Third Judicial District Drug Task Force, who were investigating a report of a large marijuana growing operation, located Pineda-Infanti and the marijuana patch in Greene County.

The plea agreement in the case said that on Sept. 13 "a citizen of Greene County reported to law-enforcement (that) he had come upon a marijuana field."

3 Suspects Got Away

On that day according to the plea agreement, Third Judicial District Drug Task Force agents came upon the marijuana field.

"Four individuals were in the field when DTF agents arrived," the plea agreement states.

"Three individuals fled, (with) one of them dropping the Norinco MAC90 rifle. Agents found defendant Bedo Pineda-Infanti a short distance from the main marijuana patch, cultivating a marijuana plant."

None of the other three people in the field when agents raided it have been located, or charged, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Hebets.

The Glenfield Model 60 .22-caliber rifle was leaned against a tree next to the marijuana plant defendant Pineda-Infanti was cultivating, according to the plea agreement.

8,000 Marijuana Plants

The main marijuana field, according to the plea agreement, was "approximately 50 yards wide and 600 to 700 yards long" and contained an estimated 8,000 marijuana plants.

Pineda-Infanti, according to the plea agreement, admitted that he was in the United States illegally and told federal investigators that he had been recruited to guard the marijuana field and was to be paid $100 per day for doing so.

He also admitted to patrolling the marijuana field and said he had been given the .22-caliber rifle "to protect the marijuana from bandits."

Only In Area 13 Days

"Bedo Pineda-Infanti had only been in East Tennessee for approximately 13 days when he was arrested," defense attorney R. Alexander Brown wrote in a sentencing memorandum to the court.

"In hopes of a better life he entered the United States and sought work in May of 2004. In late August [2007] he was approached while working in a Chinese restaurant making $5.15 per hour and told that he could make as much as $100 a day working construction in Tennessee."

He had previous construction experience in Houston, and traveled to East Tennessee as a result, according to the defense sentencing memo. After he arrived, he met an individual who took him to the field and a nearby house. He was told that he could not leave and that there were bandits nearby. Mr. Infanti had no money and did not know where he was.

"From the time he was arrested he has cooperated and given information to the arresting agents. He met with his attorney, expressed his remorse and entered a plea of guilty. He then met with the government and gave as much information as he had," the defense sentencing memo said. "Basically, [that was] everything he knew, which was not much considering that he had only been involved for approximately two weeks."

Sons Asked Leniency

In letters sent to the court earlier this year, Pineda-Infanti's sons, Daniel Pineda and Jose Luis Pienda asked Judge Greer to show leniency in sentencing their father.

Daniel Pineda wrote that he works as a waiter in an Italian restaurant in Illinois and is studying English in a college there.

"I never saw my father consume any type of drugs, nor much less buy or carry any type of weapon," Daniel Pineda wrote. "On the contrary, during our upbringing he always insisted to me, as well as to my brothers, that we not have anything to do with anything illegal or consume any kind of drugs. He even recommended that we stay away from people who participated in these activities.

"My father is a family man, caregiver to his sons and to his mother. Indeed, his mother, who is very advanced in age, and his sister, who is handicapped, receive moral and economic help from my father. For that reason, the situation that my father is going through now has had an impact, not only on his sons, but also on those in Mexico who depend on him."

Daniel Pineda also wrote that in Mexico, his father had "dedicated his life" to agriculture.

"He worked cultivating corn, which he enjoyed and which gave meaning to his life," Daniel Pineda wrote. "His work companions always admired him as well for his dedication, honesty and enthusiasm."

Daniel Pineda also asked Judge Greer to give his father a second chance.

"I understand that my father has committed an error and, like all human beings, I feel that he deserves a second chance," Daniel Pineda wrote. "That is why I ask the judge to show leniency toward my father, taking into account that he has a reputation of being a good and decent man who, perhaps, has been a victim of circumstances."

Jose Pineda's Letter

Jose Pineda, another of Bedo Pineda's sons, also wrote a letter to the court seeking leniency for his father at sentencing.

In that letter Jose Pineda noted that his father had raised six children.

"He has always [been] a wonderful father, husband, son and grandfather," Jose Pineda wrote of Bedo Pineda. "He taught us the importance of hard work, family and good manners. One thing I am very proud of [about] my father is the fact that he built a home for his family and he also included me and my brothers [in] the project."

Jose Pineda also wrote that his father never finished elementary school in Mexico.

http://www.greenevillesun.com/story/295652

The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated: 06/10/2008 12:50:54 AM MDT

A prostitution sting in St. George resulted in 21 arrests Saturday, and all of the suspects could face deportation.

    Thirteen people face criminal charges related to prostitution or soliciting prostitutes, while eight other people are being held on suspected immigration violations. All of the suspects are Mexican nationals, according to St. George police. Miguel Estrada, the resident agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations in St. George, said prostitutes were brought to St. George from Las Vegas. The sex was performed at the homes of the johns, Estrada said.

    Estrada said his agency began investigating because they were worried the ring might have forced or coerced women into providing sex. But Estrada said there's no evidence of coercion and it appears the women were willing participants.

     - Nate Carlisle

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9
536451

Police: illegal alien restrained, raped victim; $100K bail set

PORTSMOUTH — A Mexican native who has been living in the country illegally went to a woman for a haircut Saturday afternoon, when he pushed her down, restrained her by force and raped her, say police.

Arraigned in Portsmouth District Court Monday, Alfonso Mendoza, 52, of the Stonecroft Apartments, was charged with "aggravated felonious sexual assault forcible rape" and ordered held on $100,000 cash-only bail.

Prosecutor Corey MacDonald told the court Mendoza had propositioned the victim, a barber, in the past but she repeatedly refused his advances. After Mendoza raped her, said MacDonald, he went to his job at a Newington restaurant, phoned the alleged victim and told her "not to tell anyone."

"He told her the police won't believe her because she does not speak English and he does," said MacDonald.

"I am innocent," said Mendoza by video from the Rockingham County House of Corrections.

Judge Sawako Gardner set the $100,000 cash-only bail and ordered Mendoza to have no contact with the victim, to stay away from the Stonecroft Apartments and to return to the court for a June 17 probable cause hearing. MacDonald said he will be notifying immigration authorities in the meantime.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AI
D=/20080609/NEWS/80609015/-1/PUBLICRECORDS05

Illegal alien faces life for meth trafficking

The Des Moines,  Register, June 2, 2008

A man who returned illegally to the United States after he was deported to Mexico has pleaded guilty of methamphetamine trafficking.

The U.S.Attorney’s office in Sioux City reports that Cenovio Paz-Cruz, 26, was arrested and sent back to Candelaria, Mexico in September 2006.

Prosecutors say he returned to the United States shortly thereafter and helped smuggle more than six pounds of meth from Omaha, Neb. for sale in the Fort Dodge area.

Paz-Cruz was arrested when he sold nearly a pound of the illegal stimulant to a federal informant in January. Paz-Cruz told authorities that his drug buyers paid him through wire transfers. He was also charged with money laundering.

Paz-Cruz faces from 30 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced Aug. 20 in Sioux City.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti
cle?AID=/20080602/NEWS/80602010/-1/LIFE04

Insurance checkpoints wind up arresting illegal aliens

The KTBS News (Shreveport, LA), June 2, 2008

A checkpoint looking for drivers without licenses or proof of insurance today wound up with the arrests of nine people in Bienville Parish on suspicion of being illegal aliens.

State Police set up checkpoints around Arcadia this morning after the local sheriff asked for help in cracking down on motorists without driver's licenses and insurance.

In two hours, troopers found 10 people without proper paperwork. Nine of those were working at the House of Raeford chicken processing plant near the checkpoint.

The men, all Hispanic, were taken to the parish jail and State Police called in immigration agents to verify their residency status. Three of the men were later released on bond but the others face likely deportation.

Ballance said State Police will have checkpoints throughout Bienville Parish all this month.

http://www.ktbs.com/news/Insurance-checkpoints-wind
-up-arresting-illegal-aliens-12575/

Monday, June 2, 2008

 Irvine man may lose U.S. citizenship for lying on documents

By AMY TAXIN

The Orange County Register

 SANTA ANA - A federal judge on Monday sentenced an Irvine man convicted of lying on his U.S. naturalization application to 4 1/4 years in prison and a loss of his citizenship if he fails to win his case on appeal. Hares Ahmadzai, 35, was found guilty last year of lying about his criminal history on his application to become a U.S. citizen – which meant he could lose his status here.

As a child, Ahmadzai and his family fled the war in his native Afghanistan and was granted asylum in the United States. He obtained a green card and became a U.S. citizen in 1994.

Years later, federal immigration officials realized Ahmadzai had failed to disclose on his citizenship paperwork that he had past convictions for false impersonation, drug sales and battery. They brought a case against him for naturalization fraud, which he lost last year.

That led U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna to order that Ahmadzai be stripped of his U.S. citizenship if he fails to win his case on appeal.

"It's as if the order is signed and post-dated," said David Kaloyanides, Ahmadzai's attorney.

Naturalized U.S. citizens can lose their status if they are found to have obtained their citizenship through fraudulent means -- but such cases are relatively uncommon, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office.

Wearing a mint green prison jumpsuit, Ahmadzai pleaded with the court to reduce his sentence due to his past collaboration with the Irvine police department as an informant on drug cases.

"I would like to apologize to my family for all the humiliation, and the pain and humiliation my actions have caused them," Ahmadzai told the court Monday morning, reading from notes he had prepared. His sister and niece, seated in the courtroom, fought back tears.

Ahmadzai, who has a history of substance abuse, also faces a charge in state court related to the use of false documents, Kaloyanides said.

Ahmadzai has about nine months remaining on his federal sentence and will keep his U.S. citizenship throughout the appeal process. That protects his right to file an appeal – otherwise, he might be deported and face a difficult time arguing his case from abroad.

It also prevents what Selna said could prove a "bureaucratic nightmare" were Ahmadzai to be deported but win an appeal of his conviction and demand his U.S. citizenship be reinstated.

"You're never de-naturalized until you've exhausted your appeals," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Stolper.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ahmadzai-citizen
ship-appeal-2058066-case-court

Illegals Stay Without Jobs

  04 Jun 2008; Illegals are NOT leaving, but jobs are more difficult to find.

    The Pew Hispanic Center today released Latino Labor Report, 2008: Construction Reverses Job Growth for Latinos. Using data through the first quarter of 2008, the report finds the economic downturn having a disproportionate impact on Hispanic workers. From an historic low in late 2006, the unemployment rate for Latinos rose sharply in 2007 and currently stands well above the rate for non-Latinos. 

    Immigrant Hispanics, especially Mexican immigrants and recent arrivals, have been hurt the most by the slump in the construction industry. Weekly earnings for most groups of Hispanic workers, particularly construction workers, also slipped backward in the past year. 

   There are no signs Latino immigrants are leaving the U.S. labor market but they now play a smaller role in the growth of the Hispanic workforce than in recent years. 

 Note: If the illegal aliens are staying without a job, who is paying their bills?

June 03, 2008

SANTA ANA, Calif. - The former office manager of a Los Angeles accounting firm has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for attempting to obtain employment visas for more than 100 Filipino aliens whom she falsely claimed were coming to the United States to work for the firm.

Illuminada "Nida" Quenga, 52, a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Philippines who once served as an office manager for the accounting firm Simpson and Simpson, was sentenced here yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge James Selna.

Quenga was indicted in August 2007 on five counts of visa fraud following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force in Los Angeles, with substantial assistance provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the U.S. Department of Labor - Office of Inspector General, and the California Employment Development Department.

According to court documents in the case, for three years beginning in January 2000, Quenga signed off on employment visa petitions for 120 Filipino nationals, ostensibly to fill specialty jobs at Simpson and Simpson. Owners of the accounting firm subsequently told investigators none of the positions existed, none of the aliens were ever employed, and Quenga had no authority to petition for alien workers on the company's behalf.

"Quite simply, America's immigration system is not for sale," said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for the ICE office of investigations in Los Angeles. "ICE is working closely with its federal and state partners to ensure that those who seek to enrich themselves by compromising the integrity of the visa process pay the price for their crimes."

Adjudications officers at USCIS's California Service Center (CSC) first detected improprieties with petitions involving Simpson and Simpson in 2003. The cases were referred to officers with the Center Fraud Detection Operations who reviewed the fraudulent filings, which spanned a two-year period. The Center's officers worked closely with ICE agents to prepare the case for prosecution.

"The United States offers many benefits and opportunities for eligible legal immigrants," said Christina Poulos, director of the California Service Center. "USCIS officers strive to protect our immigration system from those who attempt to abuse it and will continue to work with ICE and other law enforcement agencies to detect and dismantle these fraud schemes."

Also indicted in connection with the scheme was Dory Ocampo, 36, a recruiter at a Los Angeles employment agency known as BRJ Professional Service. According to investigators, Ocampo prepared the fraudulent visa petitions and collected the fees from the prospective alien workers. Ocampo fled the country shortly following her indictment and is believed to be a fugitive in her native Philippines.

During the course of the probe, the women's alien "clients" told agents they paid from $4,000 to $7,000 to receive approved employment visas. The aliens said it was made clear the money was to secure a fraudulent visa enabling them to stay in the United States.

As for the Ocampo and Quenga's "clients," USCIS moved to revoke any visas granted to aliens who were complicit in the scheme and denied those fraudulent visa petitions that had not yet been adjudicated.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/08
0603santaana.htm