SEALTHEBORDER's Blog

HERE IS A REAL EYE OPENER FOR YOU.






Another Monster Layup/Rest Area Discovered by MCDC AZ SEARCH & RESCUE

This is criminal. Food meant for honest children and seniors instead is being diverted to be given to illegal aliens.

The real problem is that our government prefers illegal aliens to innocent, good people.

This needs to stop immediately. In order to get benefits, the immigration status needs to be checked. Citizens get the food, those here illegally deported.

This is theft of food by illegal aliens. Shame on us for allowing the government to give benefits to illegal aliens. Now that we know this, will the Feds fix it or allow it to continue?

SEE STORY BELOW

Senator George Runner has a ballot measure, "Safe Neighborhoods Act" that will give the justice system more funds to control gangs and illegal aliens.

Democrats like Congresswoman Barbara Lee, demand we stop opposing criminals and give the money to other causes.

I proudly support the Runner effort and am working for it on a daily basis.

With Lee and her Lefties opposing it, you know it must be a good measure.

If you would like to help, please sign up here

SEE STORY BELOW

By Steve Geissinger, Contra Costa Times, 5/7/08

SACRAMENTO — Civil rights groups, teachers and clergy — many from the Bay Area — plan to form a coalition today to oppose a pending ballot initiative that they say would divert funds needed for schools and health care into misguided attacks on crime.

The "Safe Neighborhoods Act: Stop Gang, Gun, and Street Crime" aims to bolster law enforcement funds and toughen gang-related crime penalties.

Republican lawmakers and other authors of the proposed initiative submitted petitions bearing voters’ signatures to election officials April 25 in hopes of qualifying it for the November statewide ballot.

U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said in a statement Tuesday that the "so-called Safe Neighborhoods Act will not lead to safer streets, less crime or a reduction in drug dealing in our community."

"The initiative doesn’t address the core problems or create real solutions," she said. "In light of the current California budget crisis, we cannot afford to irresponsibly spend even more California tax dollars on a failed policy of only funding prisons and criminalizing youth."

Jakada Imani of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights said that the proposal "makes us less safe." Effective public safety results from employment and a strong economy, which is based on a strong school system,’’ Imani said.

Opponents include the California NAACP, the California Federation of Teachers, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and California Church Advertisement IMPACT, the advocacy arm of the California Council of Churches.

Foes of the proposal plan to hold similar news conferences today in Los Angeles and Fresno. Safe Neighborhoods initiative co-author George Runner, a Republican state senator from Lancaster, said in submitting initiative petitions that supporters had "received passionate responses from voters up and down the state for this ballot measure."

"But we are not surprised by their enthusiasm,’’ he said. "Our constituents tell us all the time that they are fed up with gangs and the violence and destruction they bring to our neighborhoods." Other supporters include the senator’s wife, Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, and Mike Reynolds, who championed California’s crime-penalty toughening "three-strikes" law.

A report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office on the proposal says it would boost funding for police, sheriffs, district attorneys, jails and probation offices by about $365 million annually.

The initiative also would require a few hundred million dollars for operation of prisons that would house additional inmates imprisoned for longer periods.

The measure would bolster penalties for various crimes, including those related to gang participation and recruitment, intimidation of individuals involved in court proceedings, possession and sale of methamphetamine, vehicle theft and gun possession.

Border busts coming and going

A van driver unloads luggage belonging to several passengers being detained by federal agents at the checkpoint just north of the border. The operations occur at random, unannounced times.

 By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 7, 2008

SAN DIEGO -- U.S. border authorities no longer apprehend illegal immigrants only as they enter the country. Now they're catching them on the way out.

At random times near the Tijuana-San Diego border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have been setting up checkpoints, boarding buses destined for Mexico and pulling off people who don't have proper documentation. The operation appears to be an expansion of a broader federal crackdown targeting illegal immigrants in jails, airports and workplaces across the country.

The checkpoints, which are not announced in advance, are set up on southbound Interstate 5 about 100 yards north of the border. Vehicles in all lanes must stop. Vincent Bond, an agency spokesman, said departing immigrants are fair targets.

"If our officers come upon people who are here illegally . . . regardless of whether they're leaving the country, we detain them, make a record of the fact they were here illegally and return them to Mexico," Bond said.

Immigrant rights groups and other critics say the crackdown is a sad reflection of growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the country.

"The policies of the Bush administration are designed to make life so difficult for immigrants in the U.S. illegally that they're forced to leave. . . . Now they're arresting people who they are actually driving out of the country. . . . Unbelievable," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, a Washington-based immigration reform group.

But some GOP politicians and anti-illegal immigration organizations praise federal authorities for widening their enforcement efforts. A spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) said agents were simply doing their job.

"Whether people are coming or going . . . checkpoints are just another line of defense that targets illegal behavior," Joe Kasper said.

Customs and Border Protection, which typically provides detailed statistics on apprehensions, would not disclose details of the checkpoint operation. Nor would they say how long it has been underway.

The checkpoints have been randomly deployed since the Sept. 11 attacks, with inspectors typically looking for fugitives, stolen vehicles, weapons, drugs and other contraband.

Illegal immigrants became targets for arrest at the checkpoints only a few months ago, according to immigrant rights groups and human rights organizations in Mexico. It is unclear how frequently the checkpoints have been set up.

But Enrique Morones, president of the Border Angels, a San Diego-based group, said he believes that hundreds of immigrants have been arrested since the crackdown began.

Over a half-hour period April 30, agents appeared to be pulling over every bus and van heading for the border. But any vehicle, including cars, that agents deem suspicious may be stopped and searched.

Inspectors detained five young men from one bus traveling from Los Angeles to Puebla, a city southeast of Mexico City. After the inspectors made their apprehensions, only two passengers remained on-board.

"Pobrecitos (poor people)," said Lily Lujan, who watched the immigrants being arrested as she walked to the border crossing. "They were almost home. If they're already leaving the country, what's the problem?"

Federal agents say the checkpoints are a productive way to stop dangerous criminals, drug shipments and money launderers.

The illegal immigrants they apprehend are typically turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol for processing. Unless they have serious criminal records or numerous immigration violations, most are returned to Mexico within a few hours, the agents say.

Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center of Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego, said he was not aware of similar crackdowns in the past. The checkpoints make sense for intercepting contraband, but targeting illegal immigrants voluntarily leaving the country is a "bizarre" way of handling the illegal immigration question, he said.

Other critics call it an enormous waste of resources and say it could be counterproductive and discourage immigrants from going home.

"There are people that want to go back, and even though they haven't done anything wrong, they might be intimidated from leaving," said Morones of the Border Angels. "It makes no sense."

But groups that fight illegal immigration praise federal authorities for showing more willingness to enforce existing immigration laws aggressively. Focusing on the criminality of people entering the country is only part of the job of border agencies, they say.

Rick Oltman, spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization, said he hoped that the crackdown on departing illegal immigrants would be expanded to other exit points across the country.

He said apprehended immigrants who returned home to Mexico would become "ambassadors of enforcement" and might help deter illegal immigration.

"Each one of these people will then report increased enforcement to family and friends when they do get home, and that will give them second thoughts about sneaking back into the U.S.," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-checkpoint7
-2008may07,0,671538.story

Sen. John McCain, the de facto Republican presidential nominee, announced he will attend the national convention of La Raza, a radical Hispanic lobby tied to the movement to reconquer the Southwestern U.S. that was part of Mexico before the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848.

Though La Raza bills itself as a civil rights organization, the group's name literally means "The Race."

La Raza was condemned in 2006 by Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., as a radical "pro-illegal immigration lobbying organization that supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland."

Norwood has called on La Raza to renounce its support of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan – which sees "The Race" as part of an ethnic group that one day will reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.

McCain, who steadfastly opposed efforts to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border and supported legislation to permit illegal aliens to remain in the U.S., also announced the launch of his campaign's Spanish language website.

The announcements came on Cinco de Mayo, the day commemorating an 1862 battle fought by Mexican troops.

"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," said McCain in the statement. "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."

SEE PRESS RELEASE BELOW

For Immediate Release
May 5, 2008

Contact: Press Office
703-650-5550

ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain today issued the following statement on Cinco de Mayo as his campaign announced several new Spanish efforts:

"Cinco de Mayo commemorates an important moment in the history of Mexico's path to freedom. On this day in 1862, a small group of Mexican troops overcame overwhelming force to win the Battle of Puebla.  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."

The Cinco de Mayo statement can now also be found on the Spanish section of the official campaign website at http://espanol.johnmccain.com, which the campaign launched today. This part of the website will feature regular updates in Spanish throughout the election.

Finally, as part of his commitment to talking with all Americans during this presidential campaign, the McCain presidential campaign announced that John McCain will attend the La Raza Annual Convention in San Diego on July 14, 2008.

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressRelea
ses/6dfbbff2-9e17-4dd1-b2a1-87e4287e69fb.htm

The biggest incentive for illegal aliens to come to the United States is to find work. If there are no employers willing to hire the illegal aliens, then the flood of illegal aliens will subside.

So the purpose of this website is to expose "alleged" employers of illegal aliens. In this effort we need your help. First, if you know of a suspected employer of illegal aliens report them here.

Second, search or browse the "alleged" employers of illegal aliens and, if you are compelled by the evidence, email them telling them you will no longer patronize their business. In the same email, make sure they know that you will also tell everyone you know NOT to patronize their business. We've got pre-written emails to help you do this.

Finally, use our website to report these "alleged" employers to the proper authorities. Again, we've got emails already written that you can send off at the touch of a button.

Success Stories

Managers confront employee at Southwest Point of Sale with information from WeHireAliens.com. The employee admitted to falsifying immigration documents and was subsequently terminated. Great job Southwest Point of Sale!
--WeHireAliens.com account from email correspondence with Southwest Point of Sale

"I just wanted to let you know that we found out we were on this website and investigated what had been reported. I am a new owner of this business and was not aware of the hiring practices that had been going on. We took over this business in January of this year. In my finds I had found that we did have illegal aliens working at our restaurant. I let go 20 employees within one work day due to illegitimate papers. "

"Regarding your listing of Korda copied below. The illegal reported here quit the day following report of this website to Korda management. "
--WeHireAliens.com User from Wooster, Ohio
--Chad Head, Corky's BBQ, Brentwood, TN

Click Here More Success Stories...

Hall of Shame

Click here to search all employers.

Kenny Norfleet

Savage Builders

ttp://www.wehirealiens.com/

TWENTY FIVE AMERICANS DIE AS A DIRECT RESULT OF ILLEGAL ALIENS EVERY DAY ON AMERICAN SOIL!...THAT'S 9,125 AMERICANS A YEAR, EVERY YEAR!!!...IN PERSPECTIVE 4,041 U.S. SOLDIERS HAVE DIED IN IRAQ IN FIVE YEARS!...IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED YOU'RE NOT PAYING ATTENTION!!!

DON'T TREAD ON ME 

 
MAY 1, 2008

 American Flag Rallies

Plus  Santa Ana Mexican Consulate Rally

 
6:30am  Los Angeles County  Thursday  May 1
American Flag Rally on the 210 Freeway Overpass next to the Claremont Unified School District Office - street side parking.  LOCATION: 2080 N Mountain Ave, Claremont, CA 91711  Arrive on time as we will stage for about half an hour - if you arrive later, stage your own American Flag rally

 
8am - 10am  Orange County Thursday  May 1
Lupe's Rally at the Santa Ana Mexican Consulate
Mexican Consulate on Broadway - between Civic Center LOCATION:828 N Broadway, Santa Ana, CA 92701  Parking around the area runs from $5.00 to $8.00 . There is also street parking, bring quarters BRING:  American Flags and signs

 
1:00pm Orange County Thursday  May 1
American Flag Rally on Imperial Highway 57 Freeway Overpass
Park in the Denny's/shopping center parking lot at LOCATION:1623 E Imperial Hwy, Brea, CA  Arrive on time as we will stage for about half an hour - if you arrive later, stage your own American Flag rally

 
5:00pm San Bernardino County Thursday  May 1
American Flag Rally on Sapphire Street  210 Freeway Overpass LOCATION: 6525 Sapphire Street, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91701  Arrive on time as we will stage for about half an hour - if you arrive later,  stage your own American Flag rally

 
* * *

WHAT IF 20 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS VACATED AMERICA?

Tina Griego, journalist for the Denver Rocky Mountain News wrote a column titled, "Mexican visitor's lament" -- 10/25/07

. She interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, "They (illegal aliens) pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes. What happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?"

That's a good question - it deserves an answer. Over 80 percent of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped. But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America? The answers may surprise you!

a. In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupted hospitals and overrun prisons. It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested. Everyone could understand one another as English became the dominate language again.

b. In Colorado, 500,000 illegal migrants plus their 300,000 kids and grandkids - would move back "home," mostly to Mexico. That would save Coloradans an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 BIL) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs. It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone.

c. Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens. Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.

d. Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67 percent drop out/flunk out rate via thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado. Denver's four percent unemployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage.

e. In Florida, 1.5 million illegals would return the Sunshine State back to America, the rule of law and English.

f. In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience.

If 20 million illegal aliens returned "home," the U.S. economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local state and city coffers.

No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No more confusion in American schools that now must content with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.

We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country. In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the "18th Street Gang" would vanish from our nation. No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans!

No more foreign rapists and child molesters!

Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!

Drain on America's economy; taxpayers harmed, employers get rich. Over $80 billion annually wouldn't return to their home countries by cash transfers. Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America's economy - which currently suffers an $8.7 trillion debt.

At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia, and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupted out of existence because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act. Americans wouldn't suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country-brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders.

Our cities would see 20 million less people driving, polluting and grid locking our cities. It would also put the "progressives" on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11 percent of our greenhouse gases.

Ariz. border enforcement gets 21 more prosecutors

"How Do You Admit The ILLEGALS!!?"

Agent Ramos' youngest son is SEVERELY ill and under a physician's care.

Preliminary tests are being conducted - results pending, the youngster is extremely ill.

Agent Ramos' family does not have medical insurance....

T A K E   A C T I O N

SEND A GET WELL CARD TODAY!!! 

 Get your kids or grand-kids to send  a card too

Jacob Ramos
P.O. Box  972925
El Paso, TX  79997

FULL STORY BELOW

It's been 464 days on a 4015 day sentence!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

"How do you admit the illegals?"

Monica & Nacho's youngest son, has been hospitalized. Currently tests are being run so there has not been an absolute diagnosis, however hospital professionals are suspecting meningitis.

The hospital almost denied J's admittance since Monica does not have health insurance (a status of many Americans today). Monica of course is fierce! And she asked the hospital "How do you admit the illegals?" After some debate, the hospital did admit J, but demanded a $1000 deposit. Funds the Ramos family simply does NOT have at this time.

If you could ask your lists/listeners to send donations to the family, this would be useful for them in their time of need. Their address is Ramos Family, P.O. Box 972925, El Paso, TX 79997. Also PRAYERS!! And finally please ask all to call the White House (yet again) to DEMAND the release of Ramos & Compean!!! (Still no word from the appellate court, but of course the drug smuggler admitted in court last week to being a drug smuggler!!)

White House comment line: 202-456-1111
White House email: comments@whitehouse.gov

I love the Ramos family. J has definitely been the most affected child during this whole horrible ordeal with Nacho. How much more does this poor family need to go through? Is this how we pay back a hero who served and protected our country? Shame on this Bush administration!!!!!

Thank you everyone! Please use discretion when forwarding information. And I appreciate each of you!!

http://agentramos.blogspot.com/

Identity theft linked to illegal immigration

The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), April 23, 2008

Kansas City, MO -- Nobody likes getting a letter from the IRS. So imagine Amanda Bien's reaction last Valentine's Day when the agency wrote to demand $3,300 in back taxes.

For jobs she never worked. Five of them. In multiple states.

A Lenexa, Kan., Taco Bell. A Wendy's restaurant. Two Target stores, one in California. The Engineered Air manufacturing plant in De Soto, Kan. Someone, somewhere, got Bien's name and Social Security number and gave it a workout.

A 28-year-old illegal alien was later arrested at the De Soto plant and faces ID theft charges.

Though illegal aliens aren't the only ones stealing identities, cases like Bien's illustrate the inability of disparate government agencies to tackle the problem.

While lawmakers in Washington debate ways to crack down on illegal immigration, the market for false documents and stolen Social Security numbers is booming.

Particularly vulnerable, authorities say, are legal residents with Hispanic last names. Or, as in Bien's case, names that could sound Hispanic.

As politicians know and Bien is finding out, it's a problem that defies easy solutions.

The IRS may suspect that multiple people are using the same Social Security number, but the agency doesn't investigate ID theft. Local police and prosecutors cannot deport illegal aliens they arrest.

'I feel like nobody's listening,' said Bien, 23, of Ottawa, Kan. 'If this can happen to me, it can happen to anybody. And if we don't do something about it now, what's going to happen in 10 years?'

Federal estimates indicate that nearly 10 million Americans become victims of identity theft each year. Officials can't say how many of those identities are being used by illegal workers, but prosecutors in Kansas say they see more cases of illegal aliens using fake credentials every year.

It mirrors an increase in overall cases related to illegal immigration. The Kansas U.S. attorney's office received 18 such cases in 1997; in 2007, the number was 106.

Experts expect the trend to continue, and they're finding ID theft in surprising places. Last fall, U.S. prosecutors in Missouri charged five noncitizens with ID theft after they were found working in the Kansas City Federal Building's cafeteria.

'We know there are thousands and thousands of people working here who aren't even supposed to be here,' said Brent Anderson, assistant U.S. attorney for Kansas. 'There is rampant ID theft going on ... and I'm afraid that given the situation we're in right now, this is just the beginning.'

Bien doesn't know how someone gained access to her information, but experts say it can happen in several ways.

Hackers steal databases. Workers with access to records sell them illegally. Sometimes, it's as simple as someone rifling through your mail or garbage for sensitive documents.

And illegal aliens are hardly the only perpetrators. Americans avoiding warrants or child support payments steal identities, too. Scam artists use the information to drain bank accounts or get credit cards.

After her identity was stolen, Linda Foley founded the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center. She said identities can be bought for as little as $30 or much more for quality counterfeits. Often, as in Bien's case, the same identity is sold multiple times.

'Thirty dollars - that's how much your good name is worth,' she said. 'And if you're going to counterfeit a document, it's as easy to make five copies and sell all of them.'

Judy Ancel, director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Institute for Labor Studies, said it's wrong to compare immigrant workers to criminals who take out fraudulent credit cards.

'Identity theft is when you steal someone's identity in order to profit from them,' she said. 'The crime they (illegal aliens with fake identities) have committed is working under somebody else's Social Security number. The attempt to criminalize immigration is the wrong path. ... It's just going to make a bunch of families suffer.'

Once, a made-up name and Social Security number were enough to get a job. But as employers became more diligent, the demand has grown for real identities that can pass database checks.

Children and the elderly, who are less likely to work or watch credit scores, are especially susceptible, Foley said. When Utah officials checked a list of children on welfare against tax rolls, they found that 1,800 children, all under 13, were listed as working.

Bien, a wife and mother, is completing her student teaching, but had to delay her credentialing when she applied for a new Social Security number. She's lost sleep, and she worries that even more people are using her identity.

Still, she's fortunate: Many victims don't learn of the crime until their credit score drops or a loan is denied. In one recent Kansas case, a man found out when he was arrested for a crime committed by an illegal alien using his identity.

After Bien discovered the ID theft, she and her mother drove to De Soto to find the Engineered Air plant. When they asked a sheriff's deputy for directions, he said he had arrested an illegal alien there a week before.

The deputy followed Bien to the plant, where he arrested Rocio Diaz Cano, the woman allegedly claiming to be Amanda Bien. Cano pleaded not guilty last week.

Her attorney, James Conard, said he's handled 10 or 12 similar cases, and said roughly 85 percent of his business is now Spanish-speaking. He said he sympathizes with Bien and said she's a victim of the government's tacit acceptance of illegal immigration.

'I think the federal government is in cahoots with this whole problem,' he said.

Conard noted one example of the mixed messages: Probation, which his client is likely to receive if convicted, often requires the person to stay employed, which illegal aliens cannot do.

Engineered Air President Ric Rambacher said his company follows all employment laws and checks applicants against a federal database of legal workers. But that system doesn't catch ID thieves.

Bien would like to see ID thieves charged with federal crimes. She believes federal authorities could push for greater sentences, and be more likely to start deportation proceedings.

Yet so far, her thieves in other states haven't been charged, even though Bien has given information to local and federal authorities.

Prosecutors say the decision to file charges and deport comes down to manpower, resources and evidence. When local police make an arrest, the case often falls to the county prosecutor. Federal authorities say they must focus on the most serious crimes.

'Like all law enforcement agencies, we prioritize,' said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Tim Counts. 'We have finite resources.'

Johnson County, Kan., District Attorney Phill Kline, whose office is prosecuting Cano, agreed that federal agencies often lack the manpower to take on lesser cases. When Kline was state attorney general, he said, his office helped U.S. authorities in a checkpoint where three vans of illegal aliens were stopped. Immigration officials arrested those in one van, but had to release the others.

Deportation, too, is a federal matter. And ID thieves prosecuted locally are likely to get probation if they have no prior record.

'You can have an illegal (alien) commit a felony with presumptive probation and they'll be right back on the street and not deported,' Kline said. 'We're left with no options.'

Kline has made it his policy not to offer diversion to illegal aliens. Diversion is when a suspect in a low-level crime can avoid a conviction through restitution and community service.

Foley, from the Identity Theft Resource Center, said federal authorities must do more. Too often, she said, agencies don't even share data that could pinpoint ID theft.

'There is no universal database. Who's going to collect it? The IRS is there to find out who isn't paying their taxes, not to look for ID theft,' she said. 'Create a new universal database and suddenly you've created a new target for ID theft.'

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/23/
20080423identity-theft0423-ON.html

Wayne County: Small town police chief frustrated with illegal aliens

Senators renew call to free jailed ex-border agents

San Juan Islanders bothered by ferry spot checks

By Sara Jean Green
The Associated Press, April 22, 2008

Friday Harbor, WA (AP) -- The people of the San Juan Islands tend to be independent sorts, espousing a do-it-yourself, leave-me-be ethos as natural and ever-present as the tide.

But for many of the 17,000 people of this island county, the normal rhythms of small-town life have hit a dissonant chord lately.

A couple of months ago, the U.S. Border Patrol began occasional 'spot checks' of every vehicle and passenger arriving in Anacortes off state ferries, the lifeline between these islands and the mainland.

For some here, it seems like a good idea or, at worst, a minor inconvenience. But for a vocal and active faction, the federal agents' aggressive questioning and demands for identification have spurred outrage.

In the islands' coffee shops and the editorial pages of the local paper, then in a crowded, heated meeting last month, a number of people have complained that islanders are being unfairly treated and questioned, even though they haven't left the country and normally wouldn't be subject to such scrutiny.

Terms like 'police state' are hurled around, as they say the searches are illegal, unconstitutional and just a ruse to catch illegal immigrants and petty drug users.

The Border Patrol responds that the stops are annoying but necessary, the cost of keeping the country safe. It maintains that a terrorist could easily use the same maze of waterways and islands here that for generations has harbored smugglers, rumrunners and drug dealers.

But in this comparatively affluent county, where there isn't a single stoplight, angry islanders are unsatisfied. They've complained to their congressional delegates and recently asked the American Civil Liberties Union to monitor the situation and provide legal advice.

And they have rallied around a family who immigrated illegally from Mexico years ago and were recently caught up in the dragnet. They raised bail for them and paid their rent while they were detained.

The Border Patrol's actions are 'hurting good people, even if they are undocumented,' said the Rev. Raymond Heffernan, priest at Friday Harbor's St. Francis Catholic Church.

Island residents 'are concerned about the invasion to their own privacy and the damage it's doing to good people, people who are contributing to the community,' said the 77-year-old priest.

With their location 20 or so miles from Canada, the San Juan Islands have enticed smugglers for more than a century. Complex channels and isolated coves concealed the import of Chinese laborers and opium in the 1880s, moonshine during Prohibition, and more recently, potent marijuana known as 'B.C. bud.'

And the Border Patrol says terrorists could be next.

San Juan Islanders are used to customs inspections in Anacortes if they take the ferry that comes from Sidney, B.C. Before now, though, they were never subjected to checks on domestic ferry runs.

That changed in February, when federal agents started corralling everyone off domestic ferries into a fenced-off area in Anacortes and questioning them about their citizenship. It now happens once, maybe twice a week; no one has any way to know if they will be stopped.

When islanders talk about taking a ferry to the mainland, the joke around town these days is, 'I'm going back to America,' said David Jones, the mayor of Friday Harbor.

'There's a great surge of indignation underneath the surface here,' he said.

So much so that local attorney Carolyn de Roos recently asked three Seattle lawyers to come speak at two meetings about residents' rights and legal options.

Their advice: Don't answer any questions.

Because island residents who board domestic ferries don't cross an international border, they 'have a right not to reveal anything about their legal status,' said Matt Adams, an attorney with the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and a member of the ACLU.

'Once they're inside the country, Immigration doesn't have the right to detain someone without reasonable suspicion,' Adams said. And ethnic background, skin color or language don't meet that threshold.

But if someone admits to being in the country illegally, Border Patrol can arrest the person.

Joe Giuliano, the Border Patrol's deputy chief patrol agent for the Blaine border sector, says he understands that the stops are a hassle for law-abiding citizens.

But he stresses that the threat of terrorism is no joke.

It's conceivable that someone could get to the islands by plane or boat, or board an international ferry in Sidney, B.C., and get off in Friday Harbor instead of Anacortes. Once in an island community, a person with nefarious intentions could mix with the locals and then board a domestic ferry in order to sneak into the country, Giuliano said.

'It's a vulnerability and we're worried that it could be exploited,' he said.

'You have to catch it all to make sure you're not dealing with a terrorist issue. And, if an immigration issue walks up to you, you're pretty much compelled to act on it.'

As for residents who refuse to cooperate or answer questions, Giuliano said, agents will still run their license-plate numbers and search databases, detaining them until it can be determined whether they are here legally. But if an agent doesn't have enough information to make that determination, or doesn't have probable cause to arrest someone, 'the thing is let go,' he said.

Between late February and last week, 43 people 38 of them from Mexico have been arrested in the ferry stops, Giuliano said. An additional 141 people from a total of 33 countries were interviewed by agents before they were let go.

Late last year, rumors began circulating among the islands' Hispanics that the Border Patrol was snaring illegal immigrants who rode the ferries to Anacortes.

So for three months, the Sanabria family Antonio, Amelia and their daughters Guadalupe, 18, and Carmen, 15 never left Friday Harbor.

When they didn't hear of any arrests, they decided to chance it in February so Guadalupe could take her driver's-license test on the mainland.

A Border Patrol agent approached their pickup truck as they got off the ferry in Anacortes. Antonio Sanabria whispered to his family in Spanish: 'Oh, no. They've got us.'

It never occurred to them that they could refuse to answer the agents' questions, said Guadalupe Sanabria, who was 2 when her parents illegally came to the U.S. from Michoacan, Mexico.

The family was sent to a federal detention facility in Pennsylvania. Even before the Sanabrias were escorted onto a plane, Guadalupe was phoning friends back in Friday Harbor.

As it will in small towns, news spread fast. Members of the community managed to raise enough money to get the family out on a $30,000 bond, and they were back in Friday Harbor by the end of March their plane tickets also courtesy of folks back home.

Even so, the Sanabrias know they will probably lose their bid to stay in the United States.

'I'm really thankful our community helped us because if not for them, we wouldn't be back,' Guadalupe said. 'It's in God's hands. We just hope someday there's a way for us to be legal.'

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