illegal alien charged in fatal Christmas crash

Metro Police charged Ramon Nerl Olea, 22, with vehicular homicide by intoxication Tuesday in connection with a two-vehicle crash Christmas morning in the 200 block of Haywood Lane.

Olea was driving a Chrysler Seabring northbound on Haywood Lane when he lost control of the car and crashed into a southbound Mitsubishi Gallant driven by Moni Rai, 22, at 8:30 a.m., police said.

Rai’s backseat passenger, Tika Koirala, 46, who was critically injured in the crash, was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he died today, police said. Rai, of Nashville, and two other passengers in the Mitsubishi were taken to Southern Hills Medical Center where they were all treated and released.

Police said Olea, the sole occupant of the Chrysler, smelled of alcohol. A blood sample was obtained for alcohol and drug analysis by the TBI Crime Laboratory. He was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he was treated and released into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, police said.

ICE placed a federal immigration hold on Olea who is suspected of illegally entering the United States.

Source - http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/suspected-illegal-immigrant-charged-fatal-christmas-crash

Illegal Alien Murders Teen for Speaking English in America

I swear we don’t plan this stuff out.

But no sooner than does a series of articles about the Collier County Sheriff’s Office program to deport troublesome illegal aliens conclude than an illegal alien is in the headlines, and not in a good way.

The sheriff’s program, as outlined in stories Sunday and Monday, targets illegal immigrants who run afoul of the law. Deputies, through extra training, are empowered to enforce federal laws and begin deportation proceedings as they see fit. In places without the program, local authorities have to rely on federal agents to undertake the deportation process against known illegal immigrants residing in their jails, a demand the feds are not always prepared to meet.

The program and the articles about it elicited the predictable responses from good-hearted people who see tragedy in the separation of families. They fret over the anxiety experienced by those who skirted the rules to find a better life in the United States yet are one traffic stop away from losing it.

Then along comes Mauricio Escalante. The 33-year-old illegal immigrant was arrested Saturday for stabbing to death a 17-year-old on the streets of Immokalee.

The teenager’s affront that set off the fatal confrontation — daring to speak English in America.

According to Sheriff’s Office reports, around 3 a.m. Saturday Charlie Guzman and some friends gathered at the laundry of an apartment complex on Colorado Avenue. Three others, including Escalante, were already there and the two groups began talking until a dispute erupted over the victim’s group speaking English, not Spanish.

Escalante went to a nearby apartment, got a knife, and fatally stabbed Guzman, according to reports.

So much for the notion that illegal immigrants are universally a hard-working, law abiding set committed to doing the jobs Americans won’t do, all while trying to assimilate.

While plenty of people in the community of illegal immigrants, a majority, no doubt, fit that description, there are bad actors in the group.

The bad actors are the ones targeted by the sheriff’s program. For proof of that, one need look no further than Escalante. A year ago, he wound up in jail because deputies found him so drunk he was deemed to be a threat to himself or others.

But being drunk out of your mind in public isn’t the sort of thing that gets you deported under the sheriff’s system.

“Until the murder, he didn’t have a criminal history with us,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Karie Partington said.

In two years, about 2,200 illegal immigrants have been either deported or are awaiting deportation through the sheriff’s efforts. Among that many cases, there are bound to be a few where the triggering offenses seem minor or the hardship upon family members here legally seems great.

But there are hardships to be borne by turning a blind eye toward illegal immigrants among us.

Ask the family of Charlie Guzman.

Source - http://www.eutimes.net/2009/12/illegal-alien-murders-teen-for-speaking-english-in-america/

Illegal Alien Arrested for Slashing Throat of Elderly Woman

Another illegal turns on his employer.

On Wednesday, police in Slidell, LA, arrested an illegal alien for slashing the throat of his 84-year-old neighbor with a razor blade. The attack left an 8-inch gash in the woman’s throat, her assailant stole about $65 in cash.

The octogenarian victim survived the attack and later identified the man who did odd jobs for her, Ricardo Tenorio-Palma, 20, as the man who tried to kill her.

Slidell Police Capt. Kevin Swann said: “It wasn’t like he demanded money; he stabbed her first. He slashed her first, before he robbed her. He intended to kill her,”

Police allege that on Wednesday afternoon, Tenorio-Palma entered the woman’s home through a door she always left slightly open for her cat.

Punching and kicking, the woman fought off her attacker until the loss of blood and fatigue set in. Left bleeding on the floor, the woman then activated her medical alert necklace.

The victim recently paid the Mexican national to string-up Christmas lights on her house, and in the past, had given him furniture and other household items.

Tenorio-Palma sits in St. Tammany Jail, and has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery. If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of up to 99 years in prison.

Source - http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/2009/12/22/illegal-alien-arrested-for-slashing-throat-of-elderly-woman/

Video - Illegal Alien Cuts Throat of An 84 Year-Old Woman

Video - Congressman Brian Bilbray: No Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants - America's Morning News

Illegal alien caught with someone else's passport

In 13 years in and around New York, Augusto Noguera built an impressive life. From humble beginnings in Paraguay, he became a mainstay of his nation’s expatriate population, running a division of a construction company, working for charitable and political causes, and entertaining visiting dignitaries at his house in Flushing, Queens.

The crowning moment came in September, when President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay appointed him to an administrative post in the government’s New York consulate. It was a job Mr. Noguera had eagerly sought, friends said, as payback for supporting Mr. Lugo and other candidates in last year’s elections.

There was just one problem: Mr. Noguera was an illegal immigrant.

Today, he is locked in an immigration detention center in Arizona, awaiting deportation. His botched appointment has deeply embarrassed the Paraguayan government. And it has stirred a mix of shame, anger and dismay among his countrymen in New York, who have been agitating for a more robust consulate to help them build organizations and raise their community’s profile.

Only Mr. Noguera’s closest friends knew he was in the United States illegally, the men said. Representative Elvis Balbuena, a Paraguayan legislator who was a major supporter of his bid for the job, said Mr. Noguera had sneaked into the United States in the mid-1990s.

Shortly after dawn on Nov. 26, Mr. Noguera was detained by American immigration officials at the border crossing in San Ysidro, Calif., said Rubén Benítez Palma, Paraguay’s consul general in Los Angeles. Mr. Noguera was carrying someone else’s passport, Mr. Benítez said.

“It was legal,” he added. “But it wasn’t his.”

http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2009/12/illegal-alien-caught-with-someone-elses.html

Video - Congressman Brian Bilbray: No Amnesty For Illegal Aliens

illegal aliens Lose Lawsuit Against Atlanta Hospital. Thank God!

ATLANTA — Efforts to force the public hospital here to continue providing free dialysis treatment to a group of immigrants, most of them illegal, suffered a setback on Tuesday when a judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the recent closing of the hospital’s outpatient renal clinic.

A lawyer for the roughly 50 patients said he would appeal. But the ruling for Grady Memorial Hospital brings the patients closer to a Jan. 3 deadline for finding new sources of the life-sustaining dialysis treatment.

When the struggling hospital closed the clinic for fiscal reasons in early October, it agreed to pay for three months of dialysis for the patients at private clinics, either in the United States or in their home countries. That reprieve has nearly expired, and most of the patients have not taken steps to seek treatment elsewhere.

A hospital spokesman disclosed Tuesday that three of the patients had died since the clinic’s closing, two of them in Mexico and one in Atlanta. None of the deaths, he said, appeared related to inadequate access to dialysis.

“Based on the best information that we have, the patients’ deaths were not caused by a lack of dialysis care but by other health issues,” said Matt Gove, the Grady spokesman.

The hospital, which provides charity care to patients regardless of their immigration status, has lost five dialysis patients in each of the last two years, Mr. Gove said. Nationally, about one in five dialysis patients dies within a year of starting treatment, and about two in three die within five years, according to government figures.

The hospital has said its offer to assist patients in relocating will end on Jan. 3, and patients have signed forms stating that they understand as much. But that may not mean they will be cut off from care after that date.

Grady has a contract with a large dialysis provider, Fresenius Medical Services, that covers the patients’ treatment until September 2010. If the patients continue to go to Fresenius clinics, and the clinics continue to treat them, Grady will presumably be billed for their continuing care.

Because of their immigration status, the patients are not eligible for Medicare, the federal insurance program, which covers the prohibitive costs of dialysis for American citizens and longtime legal immigrants.

At a hearing on Tuesday morning, Judge Ural D. Glanville of Fulton County Superior Court provided little reasoning for granting the hospital’s request to dismiss the patients’ lawsuit. The patients’ lawyer, Lindsay Jones, had contended among other claims that Grady had illegally abandoned the patients. A lawyer for the hospital, Bernard Taylor, said the patients were asserting a constitutional right to medical care that does not exist in law.

Several patients said they were saddened by the ruling. “I’m a person who loves life, who wants to live,” said Reina Andrade, 32, one of the plaintiffs. “If I return to my village in Honduras, I know I will die.”

Mr. Gove, the hospital spokesman, said he could not name the three patients who had died or discuss details of their cases. But one of them is Adriana Ríos Fernández, a 23-year-old mother of two whose father said she died in Durango, Mexico, on Nov. 28.

Ms. Ríos was receiving only two dialysis treatments a week, rather than the standard regimen of three, said her father, Adrian Ríos Zuñiga. Five or six hours after each treatment, he said, her lungs would fill with fluid, making it difficult to breathe. Mexican nephrologists briefed on her case said it was possible that more dialysis would have made a difference.

But Ms. Ríos left Atlanta in August, shortly after Grady announced that the clinic would close and before the hospital offered its deal for three months of paid dialysis, Mr. Ríos said. He said his family had paid the $118 cost of her treatments out of pocket and could not afford more than two sessions a week.

“We sold rings, we sold chains, we got money from cousins and friends,” he said. “A lot of people did try to help us, but unfortunately it came to an end.”

Mr. Gove would not comment on whether the hospital kept track of Ms. Ríos after her departure, or whether Grady felt any obligation to patients who left the country before the hospital made its offer of assistance.

“We’ve done everything we can to see that patients, if they chose to go back home, had safe travel and the support they needed,” he said.

http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20091216/ZNYT04/912163009

Video - Ray Stevens - We The People

Want to sneak into U.S.? There's an app for that

Illegal aliens crossing the U.S.-Mexico border now have a cell-phone tool to chart the best route, find food and locate people who will help them enter the country – courtesy of a professor at a state-funded university.

Ricardo Dominguez, a University of California, San Diego tenured visual arts professor and activist, designed the Transborder Immigrant Tool, an application much like a global-positioning system used in cars, to help illegals find the best locations for food, water and groups to assist them as they sneak into America.

Dominguez is also co-founder of the Electronic Disturbance Theater, or EDT, a group that developed virtual-sit-in technologies in 1998 in solidarity with the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico. He also helped set up a website-jamming network called the FloodNet system to attack official sites of the U.S. Border Patrol, White House, G8, Mexican embassy and others.

"It allowed anyone with Internet access to overload the websites of several governmental entities," he told Vice Magazine.

Dominguez also called for a three-day virtual sit-in on the Minuteman Project website in 2005, targeting it with denial-of-service attacks, according to an account in "Tactical Media."

Dominguez said his research lab at the California Institute for Telecommunications & Information Technology, or CALIT2, on the UCSD campus is called BANG Lab, which stands for Bits, Atoms, Neurons and Genes. He said he's been focusing on developing "border-disturbance technologies."

To create the Transborder Immigrant Tool, Dominguez used a Motorola i455 cell phone, which includes a free GPS applet.

"We were able to crack it and create a simple compass-like navigation system," he explained. "We were also able to add other information, like where to find water left by the Border Angels, where to find Quaker help centers that will wrap your feet, how far you are from the highway – things to make the application really benefit individuals who are crossing the border."

Dominguez told the North County Times, "The primary goal of the tool is to offer those crossing a way not to die."

But Jim Gilchrist, founder and president of the Minuteman Project, told WND the tool goes a step further.

"It helps illegals avoid all of the Border Patrol hot spots," he said. "It helps them to illegally infiltrate the United States."

Gilchrist said Dominguez is aiding and abetting people who break the law.

"What he's doing is not developing something to put in a cell phone to summon 9-1-1 in case they're stuck in the desert and in trouble and they need help," he said. "He's providing them a detailed, mapped pathway into the United States so illegals can bring in their drugs, anchor babies, illegal alien cargo, armaments and anyone who wants to come into the United States, regardless of our rule of law. That's what this professor is doing. He should be indicted."

He continued, "This is serious. What is next? Someone using that to get someone in the United States to kill a member of law enforcement or a bunch of kids at an elementary school in the name of some god or some culture from the anti-American mantra? Who knows what the consequences could be?"

Messages left with Dominguez had not been returned at the time of this report.

According to the BANG blog, the Transborder Immigrant Tool was the winner of "Transnational Communities Award" and was funded by CALIT2 and two awards from the UCSD Center for the Humanities.

Dominguez said he has plans to "interface with communities south of the border," including nongovernmental organizations, churches and communities that deal with people who are preparing to illegally cross the border.

"How can we train them to use this? What is the proper methodology? Those are really going to be the most nuanced and difficult elements with, let's call it, the sociological aspect of the project," he said.

Border Patrol spokesman Mark Endicott said smugglers have used GPS devices in the past, and the application won't hinder law-enforcement efforts, the Associated Press reported. But Gilchrist disagrees with that assessment.

"Yes, it will," he said. "It's going to be another tool of encouragement to come to the United States. It'll tell them this nation is no longer a nation of laws; it's a nation of mob rule as far as our immigration laws are concerned. Just come on over, and we're going to help you."

Asked what other projects he is working on, Dominguez told Vice Magazine, "We've got a lab where we're working with similar applications using nanotechnology and labs where we teach researchers about electronic civil disobedience and border-disturbance technologies."

He said UCSD graduate students recently completed a project in which they installed a Skype system on a pay phone near the border in Tijuana, Mexico. The students direct illegals to the free pay phone when Homeland Security drops them off on the Mexico side of the border.

Also featured on the BANG lab website are Dominguez's fellow UCSD researchers, Elle Mehrmand and Micha Cardenas. Cardenas is described as "a transgender artist" and lecturer in the visual arts department at UCSD. Mehrmand and Cardenas have participated in several demonstrations called "Technésexual" in Tijuana, San Francisco and Montreal where the two engage in erotic acts on a stage and use biometric sensor devices to amplify their heartbeats before a live audience.

As for the Transborder Immigrant Tool, Dominguez has said he hopes to make it available for free on the Internet.

Gilchrist questioned where Dominguez's loyalties lie.

"What is a real American? Is it someone who hates America and encourages lawlessness? Is that an American?" he asked. "I don't think he's an American at all. I think he's an anarchist."

He added, "Instead of Dominguez saying, 'You should not be breaking U.S. laws. I am an American. I respect the rule of law in my country, and I encourage you to stay in Mexico and Central America,' he's just saying, 'Come on over. May the rule of law be damned.'"

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=117865

Video - Senator Mike Crapo

Boat carrying 21 illegal aliens is seized off La Jolla coast, U.S. officials say

A small boat carrying 21 illegal immigrants tried to flee from federal agents before being stopped Wednesday morning about 14 miles off the La Jolla coast, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said today.

The 25-foot boat had been spotted farther up the coast near Leucadia by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. A Blackhawk helicopter and a Midnight Express Interceptor vessel were dispatched to help track down the skiff-like boat, known as a panga.

The boat's driver was arrested as a suspected smuggler. The other people – 20 men and one woman, all of them Mexican citizens – were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Smugglers operating from beaches near Baja California's Rosarito Beach frequently subject illegal immigrants to dangerous and arduous journeys by sea. In this case, the suspected smuggler at least provided the immigrants with flotation devices, authorities said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/us-agents-seize-boat-with-21-illegal-immigrants-off-la-jolla-coast.html

Healthcare proposal provides backdoor amnesty for illegal aliens

President Obama's national healthcare bill mandates that employers must provide health coverage to all employees. This proposal would seemingly include coverage for tens of millions of illegal immigrants.

This is an outrage. There are close to 60 million illegal immigrants in this country. Effectively forcing Americans to subsidize cradle-to-grave healthcare costs for these people would cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars annually, while further incentivizing illegal immigration.

This is a public policy nightmare. Moreover, it would do so at a time when nearly every American citizen is struggling for his or her economic well-being.

During his campaign run, Obama promised that his healthcare proposal would not benefit illegal aliens. Yet that is precisely what his current proposal would accomplish, by forcing employers to cover illegal citizens who obtained false identifying information.

This is no different than if President Obama levied an illegal alien health tax on the public. This cannot go unnoticed. In these difficult economic times, it is a slap in the face to American citizens to force them to underwrite healthcare for the illegal aliens who are taking their jobs.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/69719-healthcare-proposal-provides-backdoor-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants

Illegal alien burns elderly woman alive

An illegal alien has been sentenced to life in prison for breaking into an 83-year-old woman's home, grabbing her by the throat, smashing her head into furniture, saturating her with gasoline and setting her body on fire while she was still alive – all to cover up his check-fraud scam after she hired him to cut her lawn.

Ramon Alvarado, 33, and his cousin, Jose Alvarado, 37, were hired to do yard work for Lila Meizel at her home in Wheaton, Md. They worked for the woman for two years, and Meizel often gave the men soda, food and extra tips.

Jose's wife, Ana Rodas, 33, was also arrested in connection with the murder that took place the day before Thanksgiving last year. Ramon was convicted of murder, arson and conspiracy in October. On Monday, he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms – one without parole – plus an additional 30 years for arson.

A Montgomery County jail official confirmed that all three were illegal aliens. According to reports, they are from El Salvador and have lived in the United States for more than 10 years. The Gaithersburg Gazette reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detainers on all three defendants, flagging them for possible federal charges and deportation proceedings.

According to prosecutors, Meizel gave the men a $75 check for landscaping work. Jose added two zeros to the number, agreeing to give his cousin $1,200 and Rodas $1,000. They used the $7,500 to buy a car, computer and clothes. Ramon and Jose pre-emptively conspired to kill Meizel when the two believed they might be caught.

Firefighters found Meizel in her burning home and pulled her outside, but they were unable to resuscitate her. A firefighter and two police officers sustained injuries in the blaze.

Both Ramon and Jose Alvarado had previous criminal records in Montgomery County. Jose had a history of check fraud, according to the Washington Examiner. Ramon had a warrant out for his arrest for driving a car without a license or registration. Rodas had no criminal history.

Montgomery's top prosecutor called the murder case the most horrific he has seen since taking office, according to the Washington Post.

An autopsy revealed Ramon caused Meizel to suffer a brain hemorrhage and fractured seven of her ribs. She had soot in her lungs and burned tissue in the back of her throat, indicators that she was alive when he set her on fire. Most of her body was charred and her face was unrecognizable.

"The inhumane manner you chose to exterminate a lady well into the autumn years of her life strongly suggests that you are sadistic," Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Terrence J. McGann told Ramon Alvarado. "A civilized society demands that you be in prison for the remainder of your life."

During Ramon's trial, Judge McGann said he could not look at the autopsy photos "very long without gagging."

"I'm going to put these in the envelope so they don't turn anyone else's stomach," he said.

According to the report, Ramon Alvarado spoke only about his concern for his mother.

"I am thinking about what my mother is going to think of me after I get sentenced," he said through an interpreter. "I'm concerned about my mother. When she finds out what happens to me, she can get quite ill."

Jose Alvarado pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on June 3 and faces up to life in prison. Rodas pleaded guilty June 3 to accessory after the fact and faces up to five years in prison.

"I lost my head," Jose Alvarado told the Washington Post, speaking from a pay phone last year inside the Montgomery County jail. "I don't know what to say. It just happened suddenly. I was tempted by demons."

Meizel's daughter described her mother as "a very trusting woman," saying she was satisfied with Ramon's services.

"When it came to hiring people for her lawn, she was happy with this man," she said.

"May God forgive me for what I did," Ramon Alvarado reportedly told police shortly after the murder.

Just after Meizel's murder last year, WND reported another case where an illegal alien fatally beat a 64-year-old woman who gave him a home. In December, Julio Cesar Ramos – who had been deported more than a dozen times – was charged with first-degree murder after allegedly beating Paulette Locklear to death when she took him in, built a small house on her property for him, gave him work and treated him like family.

She called 9-1-1 just before being beaten to death with a blunt object outside of her home.

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=117083

Don’t pander to illegal aliens

RANDOLPH — No matter how you sugarcoat the words, an undocumented immigrant is an illegal alien.

The words “undocumented” and “illegal” are not synonymous.

If illegal aliens are academically eligible for college, that means they have probably already received all or part of their elementary, middle school and high school education free at the taxpayers’ expense.

When does it stop?

The advocates on this issue are quick to point out that many states qualify illegal immigrants for in-state tuition.

Does that make it right?

Are the states who don’t, wrong?

The last time this was addressed the in-state tuition bill would require them to legalize their immigration status.

Not only do you want to give them a break on tuition now, you want to give them amnesty.

Enough is enough!

http://www.patriotledger.com/opinions/letters_to_the_editor/x511161320/YOUR-OPINION-Don-t-pander-to-illegal-aliens

Sweep nets 80 arrests. 13 are illegal aliens

YAKIMA, Wash. -- More than 80 people have been arrested and a variety of drugs, firearms and cash seized in a sweep across Central Washington that targeted gang-related crime.

The arrests, which began in the early hours of Wednesday and ended Friday, included 21 in Yakima and more than 60 in the Tri-Cities.

The eight-week operation targeted street- and mid-level drug traffickers, illegal immigrants and fugitives who were suspected to be members or associated with street gangs in the two areas, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Spokane.

Among the seizures are eight firearms, including three believed to be stolen and two assault rifles, plus hundreds of rounds of ammunition, authorities said.

Also seized were what were described as small amounts of marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine; three stolen vehicles and more than $14,000 in cash. The government believes the money is related to drug activity and will request that the money be forfeited, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The suspects were arrested for a variety of drug or weapons violations and other crimes and are expected to face charges in state or federal court. Others taken into custody on immigration charges will face a deportation hearing, authorities said.

In a separate news release, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said 13 of the suspects are facing charges in connection with previous deportations, possession of fraudulent documents, or being an illegal alien or felon in possession of a firearm.

Twelve others, all Mexican citizens, were arrested on administrative immigration violations and face deportation, ICE said.

The sweep was carried out by a wide array of local, state and federal agencies, including seven federal enforcement agencies and 10 police departments and sheriff offices in Central Washington.

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/11/20/sweep-nets-80-arrests

New GPS tool helping illegal aliens cross the border

There seems to be a mobile phone application for just about everything these days -- even illegal border crossing.

An application still in the testing stages is designed to point border-crossers to nearby water, show them safer routes and provide them with a series of poems to make them feel welcome along their way.

Individuals trekking north may soon be able to download the program into an inexpensive web-enabled cellular phone that is supposed to help them safely navigate the treacherous desert crossing between Mexico and the United States, known as the Devil's Highway.

"The point of the project is to offer multiple spaces of sustenance," said Ricardo Dominguez, who led the creation of the tool. Dominguez, an associate professor of visual arts at UC San Diego, leads a team at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology where he is a principal investigator.

The team -- which involved a collection of researchers from different disciplines of study -- is hoping to have the application, called a Transborder Immigrant Tool, officially up and running by mid-2010 after a series of test runs in the desert to adjust the kinks and make necessary tweaks. For now, the invention is in its beta stage.

While U.S. Border Patrol officials say they are not worried by the invention, which they see as more of a nuisance, the news has already made its way into anti-illegal immigration Web chat rooms, enraging members of that movement.

"He is aiding and abetting criminal activity," said Barbara Coe, founder of Huntington Beach-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform. "He should be arrested and prosecuted."

Dominguez, who calls himself an Artivist -- a cross between an artist and activist -- said he's expecting a flurry of criticism from what he calls the "hard-core conservative Lou Dobbs community." He claims that he isn't bothered by it.

"We're not trying to resolve the border issues...," Dominguez said. "We're just trying to create a poetic safety tool. Anyone can agree on safety as a far as a core human right."

The idea for the tool began with a Virtual Hiker Tool, developed by a university colleague with an impaired sense of direction who favored desert hikes.

"Then we began to speak about another possibility It was kind of a non-event," Dominguez said. "Here we are in the border. We know people are dying crossing. To us it was obvious...It was 'how can we tweak this GPS algorithm and develop it for another concern -- the question of people dying on the border.' "

The tool pairs cheap cell phone technology with a global-positioning system and consistently updated online data to guide individuals who are trying to cross international borders. The GPS system, however, doesn't contact all three satellites so authorities would not be able to triangulate where the person is, unless he or she used the phone to make a call.

Border Patrol officials said the device won't stop them from nabbing border-crossers.
"The technology is not new...," said U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Mark Qualia. He added that he's seen these sort of tools used before. "That's the nature of our job. We have to learn to overcome and to adapt."

While he said the tool may provide border-crossers with a slight advantage, he said the agency has a variety of detection tools at their disposal.
"We have ground radar. We have cameras. Our enforcement and technology that we are using is not onefold," Qualia said. "But once there is detection if they cross and hit a sensor the GPS is not going to help them."

As for whether the government would go after someone like Dominguez, Qualia said he could not answer and that it would be up to the U.S. Attorney's Office to prosecute, if they deem appropriate.

Dominguez said he's not worried about the government cracking down on his project.
"If we were the kind to sit around and be concerned about that, the last 20 years of my research would never have gotten done," he said. "We're not hiding. We're not anonymous. We're not sneaking around. We're willing to have a discussion on multiple levels."

Dominguez said he is in contact with non-governmental organizations on the border and churches that already help individuals with safe passage north, hoping to ultimately form a partnership for free distribution and training of the devices.
Some immigrant rights activists are already praising his work.

Enrique Morones, founder of Border Angels in San Diego, said the device would help save lives in the desert.

"Ricardo just wants to save people's lives. He's not encouraging people to cross," Morones said.

His group is known for setting water out in the middle of the desert for border-crossers.

"I get calls every week about a person lost out there," he said. "If he could save the life of one person with that device, all of that work would be worth it. You can't put a price on someone's life."

Others, however, are skeptical of the device's effectiveness.

Jorge-Mario Cabrera, spokesman for Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said the device won't solve what he called the real problem.

"We have pushed migrants to go into remote areas such as the Arizona desert," Cabrera said. "This is more of an issue of policy, not the lack of technology that is producing these deaths."

Minuteman Britt Craig, who splits his time between the Campo border and his home in Mission Viejo, said he understands Dominguez' invention on a humanitarian level.
"I'm sure his intentions are good. He doesn't want people to die in the desert. I don't want people to die in the desert either," said Craig, 60.

Still, he said, the device won't do the border-crosser or the American people any favors.

"As soon as they get over here the problem hasn't ended, it's just begun," he said. "They are in an immediate state between a slave and a legal free man laborer. They are totally at the mercy of the people who hire them and they just begin ruining the economy for the people who are legal to work here."

Craig said he doesn't believe the device will keep people from dying in the desert. He said he fears that it may have an opposite affect of emboldening some to make the journey on their own with the device.

"It may give people the confidence to go out and not be able to physically cross it and die," he said. "He may actually lead someone to their doom with the device... an unintended consequence. If they think a cell phone is going to get them through 80 miles of desert, south of Yuma. They are mistaken."

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/border-220422-people-desert.html

Video - Congressman Brian Bilbray on Illegal Immigration

Video - Michael Savage Talks To Hero Congressman John Culberson

Part I



Part II

Database program nets arrests of 22,000 illegal aliens with criminal records

More than 22,000 illegal immigrants with criminal charges or convictions have been arrested in Texas through a 1-year-old program that links FBI and federal immigration databases, Homeland Security officials said Thursday.

About 12 percent of them, or 2,700 people, were charged or convicted of what authorities call "level one" crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping or narcotics violations with a sentence of more than one year.

"We, in a world of limited resources, are focusing on the worst of the worst," John Morton, assistant secretary of Homeland Security who oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a telephone news conference.

The Dallas County Sheriff's Department was one of the first law enforcement agencies in the country to use the new program, part of an initiative called "Secure Communities."

Those using the program in the Dallas-Fort Worth area include jails in Dallas, Kaufman , Denton, Collin, Tarrant, Johnson, Grayson and Hunt counties. Others include the police departments of Irving, Farmers Branch , Carrollton, Mesquite and Richardson.

Before Secure Communities, prisoners' immigration status was only checked if jailers called federal authorities or if ICE agents were stationed in the jails.

Under the new system, fingerprints are run simultaneously through a national database to check criminal history and through a Homeland Security database to check the person's immigration status. All those arrested in jurisdictions using Secure Communities will have fingerprints checked in both databases, Homeland Security officials said.

"A key point is we do this for everyone," Morton said. "There is no distinction between citizen and noncitizen."

Morton said such blanket use would reduce racial profiling.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/DN-secure_13met.ART.State.Edition1.4b86a11.html

Seafaring smugglers' attempts to land illegal aliens in U.S. foiled

Mexican immigrant trafficking groups continue trying to smuggle illegal immigrants by boat, with federal authorities disrupting three attempts to land immigrants on San Diego County beaches and harbors since Saturday, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The most recent incident occurred early Tuesday morning, when agents spotted a 15-foot boat heading toward Beacon's Beach in Encinitas. Agents arrested 21 illegal immigrants -- 19 men and two women -- on the beach.

On Saturday, agents intercepted an 18-foot Bayliner carrying eight illegal immigrants off Imperial Beach near the border. The next day, 10 Mexican citizens and three Bolivians were arrested at the Oceanside Harbor marina after being dropped off by a 22-foot Cobalt boat.

The latest incidents are part of a surge in maritime smuggling attempts as traffickers avoid increased enforcement on land.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/3-attempts-to-smuggle-immigrants-by-boat-disrupted-since-saturday-officials-say.html

Video - Illegal Aliens Use Children As Slaves In America

Survey Suggests Amnesty Would Encourage More Illegal Aliens To Come To The U.S.

A new poll by Zogby International has found Mexicans believe an amnesty that would grant legal status to undocumented immigrants would prompt more people to enter the U.S. illegally, the Center for Immigration Studies (CRS) has said.

The survey noted that 56 percent of respondents thought that legalizing the status of illegal immigrants in the U.S. would make it more likely that people they know would go there illegally. It also found that interest in immigrating to the U.S. remains strong, despite the recession, and that 36 percent of Mexicans say they would move north if they could.

That percentage represents 39 million people.

"As the top immigrant-sending country for both legal and illegal immigrants, views on immigration in Mexico can provide insight into the likely impact of an amnesty," says the CRS.

Meanwhile, Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) has launched a campaign aimed at stemming population increase, and says immigration is the number one factor driving the growth in the U.S.

The organization has also pointed out the environmental consequences of immigration, citing studies which suggest immigrants create four times more carbon emissions when they arrive in the U.S. compared with their behavior at home.

Says Diana Hull, president of CAPS, " Cutting immigration to the U.S. isn’t the only thing we should do to solve the global warming problem, but stopping mass immigration, especially from low carbon use nations, will go a long way towards a solution because it is a significant contributor to the problems we face."

http://www.personalliberty.com/news/survey-suggests-amnesty-would-encourage-illegal-immigration-19411924/

Illegal alien linked to hundreds of bogus IDs

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) - A Mexican citizen prosecutors have linked to thousands of U.S. birth certificates produced for illegal immigrants faces a Jan. 11 sentencing in a separate identity theft case.

Donna Calabrese, director of the state's Office of Vital Statistics, says she hopes the new case against Jorge Alvarez Rivera is taken seriously.

The current prosecution against Rivera - also known as Daniel Salas - comes more than a decade after his activities first surfaced during a 1998 automobile accident in which 830 Kansas birth certificates were found in his trunk. He was never prosecuted for it.

The 62-year-old Mexican citizen pleaded guilty last month to making a false claim of U.S. citizenship and identity theft.

http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Illegal-immigrant-linked-to-hundreds-of-bogus-IDs/mr3cqgTRPky-dE_kRLo6Jg.cspx

Poll: Amnesty Will Increase The Illegal Alien Population

Over half of Mexican nationals polled in a recent survey by Zogby International say that amnesty would create a massive influx of illegal immigrants from Mexico. With Mexico being the major source nation for illegal immigrants, this should serve as a wake up call to those in Congress calling for amnesty. Yet, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and others continue to claim that legalization measures within comprehensive immigration reform are the answer to the illegal immigration problems of the US. Apparently, the pro-amnesty camp is not worried about letting history repeat itself.

After the last amnesty bill in 1986, the US did indeed see a flood of illegal immigrants crossing the border. Numbers soared from an estimated 3 million illegal immigrants in the country to 12 million today. It should come as no surprise that upon seeing those already in the country being handed legal status and a path to citizenship, others sought to come to the US and simply wait out their chance. By granting another amnesty, we will not solve the illegal immigration problem, but simply put the country in the same place in another twenty years.

No matter what amnesty proponents claim, the amnesty of today will not end up looking any different from 1986. An honest solution to illegal immigration instead needs to increase border security, create avenues for legal immigration through temporary worker programs, build economic development in Latin America, and increase enforcement to force people to return home. Only by means of these actions can we truly begin to solve the problem of illegal immigration in the US.

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/16/poll-amnesty-will-increase-illegal-immigration/

17 Illegal Alien Suspects Arrested on Boats

SAN DIEGO - Three boats intercepted in just two days. The U.S. Coast Guard says it's seeing a dramatic rise in the number of smugglers using the water to bring drugs and people into this country illegally.

"We are seeing a lot of smuggling," says Petty Officer Henry Dunphy.

By air, the Coast Guard helps to intercept a boat with 14 undocumented people floating in Mission Bay.

"They were actually stopped inside of Mission Bay and that is pretty unusual," says Dunphy.

Within hours of the Mission Bay interception, another boat is stopped on the beach in Encinitas carrying about one thousand pounds of marijuana.

On Tuesday a third boat was stopped after dropping off half a dozen people in Carlsbad. Two more suspected smugglers who are in this country illegally are taken into custody.

The Coast Guard says it's seeing a dramatic increase in the amount of smugglers it's helping to catch off our coast. It's spokesperson says the number of people being smuggled is up 30% over last year. The number of arrests for drug smuggling has risen from 9 in 2008 to 41 so far this year.

The numbers are troubling to people who live along the coast.

"We have to get a grip on this because we don't want this community to start seeing drug wars or people fighting over drugs at the beaches," says Encinitas resident Bruce Sallee.

San Diego has a joint operations center that allows Border Patrol agents, Customs agents, and the Coast Guard to share information in real time. They say that information sharing directly led to the most recent interceptions.

http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/San-Diego-Mission-Bay-Encinitas-immigrant-boat/s2p_vf1zBkydEbEaE4TewA.cspx

Illegal alien indicted in deadly crash

CONROE – A Montgomery County Grand Jury indicted an illegal alien on manslaughter charges last Thursday in the July 26 death of a Conroe woman in a midday, head-on collision on FM 3083 at Willis Waukegan Rd. (east side) and Texaco Rd. (west side).

Carlos Solis Gomez, 24, of Conroe was driving a Ford 150 pickup southbound when investigators say he passed in a curve (a no passing zone) and collided head-on with a northbound Toyota Corolla driven by Dorothy Ann Gardner of Conroe.

After a lengthy extrication by the Grangerland Fire Department, medics transported Gardner to a nearby landing zone where a PHI air ambulance was to take her to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. However, she went into traumatic arrest while being loaded onto the helicopter. Medics transported Gardner to Conroe Regional Medical Center where she was pronounced dead. Gardner would have celebrated her 68th birthday on the following Wednesday.

Her 9-year-old female passenger was transported by ground ambulance to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston with non-life threatening injuries. Gomez was uninjured and taken into custody by DPS then transported to Conroe Regional for a mandatory blood draw to determine whether he was intoxicated.
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Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon responded to the scene personally, as part of his administration’s policy of having a representative on the scene of fatalities that are expected to be the focus of a prosecution.

Gomez had no license or insurance and his immigrant status was in question at first because he did have a Mexican Consulate ID card. However, prosecutor Warren Diepraam said those cards are obtained by Mexican nationals through their government and are no indication of immigrant status. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed a hold on Gomez, preventing his release even if someone posted his bond.

He will now stand trial for manslaughter, a second-degree felony. He was originally booked on the charge of criminally negligent homicide, a third-degree felony. The charge was upgraded the next day, after Sgt. Terry Barnhill, with the Texas Department of Public Safety, visited the DA’s Office and presented them with additional evidence. Diepraam said the difference in the two charges was dependent upon whether the person engaging in the activity that caused a death did not realize the danger at the time, or whether they knew their actions were dangerous and chose to engage in them anyway.

Gomez will eventually be deported. If convicted, he will serve a sentence of two to 20 years in the US and will then be deported by ICE. If Gomez is found not guilty, he will be deported immediately.

http://www.montgomerycountynews.net/index.php?module=article&view=925

obama watering-down immigration enforcement in Northern VA

The Prince William Board of Supervisors is meeting today to discuss and implement a new directive from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The new orders will weaken the very successful 287g program, which gives local law enforcement the power to enforce immigration laws.

InsideNova.com has obtained the federal document ordering the changes. It reads:

"[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has made changes to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOA), terminating the original agreement and requiring execution of a new and revised MOA.”

The new agreement also states that "ICE must give approval for an immigration arrest where no state or local charges are made [and] ICE must give prior approval of planned operations where immigration enforcement is the sole function." Another revision "provides levels and types of criminal offenses that ICE directs to be a focus, rather [than] pursuing immigration enforcement based on specific charges.”

The new agreement also states that "ICE must give approval for an immigration arrest where no state or local charges are made [and] ICE must give prior approval of planned operations where immigration enforcement is the sole function." Another revision "provides levels and types of criminal offenses that ICE directs to be a focus, rather [than] pursuing immigration enforcement based on specific charges.”

In other words, the Obama administration seeks to tie the hands of law enforcement in Virginia’s Prince William County, the same way they have done so in Arizona’s Maricopa County, telling Sheriff Joe Arpaio to back off. Of course, Obama is doing this to please the Hispanic voting block who helped put him in office, and to set the stage for another run at amnesty sometime next year.

The fact is, the 287g program has been extremely successful and intstrumental in cleaning up Prince William County, which has been over-run with illegal aliens as well as the problems they bring.

In March of 2002, The Washington Post reported that Virginia's Prince William County experienced a 188 percent increase of TB infections over the previous year.

In 2004, the rate of TB in Northern Virginia rose 17 percent. The Virginia Department of Health blamed the rise on that region's recent flood of illegal aliens. Many strains of TB are being found in certain neighborhoods, which are dominated by illegal aliens from Central America and Mexico.

In addition to deadly diseases, dangerous gangs have made that part of the country home in recent years as well.

MS-13 set up shop in Northern Virginia during the 1990s, lured by the region's fast-growing Salvadoran population, later expanding into the Maryland suburbs of Langley Park and Gaithersburg.

In 2005, Michelle Malkin writing for Human Events said: "Reporting by a reliable Norfolk [VA} source indicates MS-13 members are planning to randomly attack local law enforcement officers in the Tidewater area. Threats of this nature have been termed by gang members as 'green light' notices. Green light notices have continued to increase, prompting the Virginia Gang Association to issue warnings to law enforcement in Virginia and the surrounding states. . . . Additional source information indicates local MS-13 members are equipped with weapons and ballistic vests."

During 2004-2005, there were two machete attacks in the Northern Virginia area. An Alexandria teenager lost four fingers during a savage encounter with MS-13 members, while a Fairfax man also became a victim of an MS-13 machete attack. Both incidents are believed to have been initiation acts.

In 2005, two MS-13 members were convicted in an Alexandria, Va. United States District Court for killing a 17-year-old pregnant girl. A rope was placed around the neck of Brenda Paz, she was then stabbed repeatedly. Her body was then left along the muddy banks of Virginia´s Shenandoah River. The murder was retribution for the girl´s cooperation with a federal investigation into the gang´s activities.

*Reporter’s note: Obama is changing immigration enforcement policies around the country for one very simple reason…They work!

The same reason Obama does not want the 287g program is the same reason he does not want the double-walled security fence along the U.S./Mexican border. That fence, if actually constructed, would stop the flow of illegal aliens into this country by 90-95 percent, as it has in San Diego (the only place the fence has been constructed).

Perhaps, one day Americans will become angry enough with the daily reports of illegal aliens raping women and children, murdering police officers, and driving drunk on our highways that we will elect a President who is more concerned with the employment and general welfare of American citizens than with the needs of foreign nationals who invade this country.

With real unemployment (those no longer eligible for benefits) at 17 percent, and unemployment among 18-24 year-olds at an incredible 52 percent…Why are we allowing non-citizens to come into this country and take our jobs? Any jobs?

Like Bush, Obama has obviously chosen a side in this struggle and his loyalty does not lie with the American people.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8409345525054409629

America's Most Wanted - Illegal alien Jose Reyes Aguilar is wanted for aggravated sexual assault; child

Cops: Accused Child Rapist Could Be In Mexico

Police need the public’s help in finding a disgusting predator who they say robbed a young girl of her innocence.

Cops say Jose Reyes Aguilar -– also known as “Joe” -- repeatedly raped a 12-year-old girl over a period of four years and has been on the run since July 18, 2009.

Authorities say Aguilar slipped out the back window of a San Antonio, Texas apartment minutes before they could take him down. They say he had sexually assaulted the victim just hours before their arrival.

Police say Aguilar stands 5’7” tall, weighs 150 lbs., has black hair and brown eyes, and could have a goatee. They say he usually wears his hair short and has a heavy accent.

Cops tell AMW that one of his most recognizable characteristics is his many tattoos. They say he has the name “Lupita” inked on his left bicep; “Sandra” on his right bicep; and “Elisa” on the left side of his neck. They say he also has three female faces tattooed on his right shoulder.

Authorities say Aguilar is a Mexican national and could have returned to his native Zacatecas. They say his only ties to the United States were to a woman he was dating.

Police also say Aguilar would spend most of his time in a San Antonio bowling alley and frequented discount chain stores.

If you know where accused sex offender Jose Reyes Aguilar is, call our hotline right away at 1-800-CRIME-TV.

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=67575

Illegal Alien Man Sentenced for Raping Child

RUSSELLVILLE – A Franklin County man accused of raping and abusing a 10-year-old girl has been sentenced to two 22-year sentences, authorities said.

Gilberto R. Avarado, 34, 980 Franklin 60, Russellville, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree rape, according to Franklin Courthouse officials.

Avarado was arrested on the charges June 5, 2008.

Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said the plea agreement was reached after discussing the case with the victim’s family. He said the girl’s mother approved the agreement based on the child’s age. “As well as not wanting to put her through the difficulty of her having to testify at trial,” Rushing said.

Avarado was accused of abusing the child, who was an acquaintance.

Authorities said Avarado was sexually abusing the child for at least two years. The abuse was reported to the Franklin County Department of Human Resources, which contacted the sheriff’s office.

“DHR and the (Cramer) Children’s Center played a big part in this case,” Rushing said. “Both agencies did an excellent job in interviewing the victim.”

Courthouse officials said Avarado was charged with rape and sexual abuse charges at the time of his arrest. Additional charges were added by a grand jury in September 2008.

The other charges were dismissed upon his pleading guilty to the two first-degree rape charges, authorities said. First-degree rape is a Class A felony and carries a penalty of 10 years to life.

Rushing said Avarado’s sentences will run concurrently.

Investigators said Avarado has been in jail without bail since his arrest because he was deemed a possible flight risk – he had been in Franklin County illegally for at least 10 years.

Courthouse officials said because of his residential status, a hold has been placed on him by the U.S. Department of Immigration since he is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala. Rushing said it is his understanding that Avarado is scheduled to be deported once he completes his prison sentence.

Source - http://www.davidduke.com/general/illegal-immigrant-man-sentenced-for-raping-child_12683.html

Illegal alien caught trying to kidnap two school children in North Carolina

On September 29, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested illegal alien Ruben Garcia-Rosario, 25. He was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree kidnapping, felony conspiracy, carrying a concealed weapon, and driving without a license.

The Mexican national was planning to kidnap two sisters, ages 7 and 8, and hold them for a six-figure ransom. Garcia-Rosario first saw the children when he worked for a painting contractor the family hired a few moths ago.

Family spokesman Howard Teft, told Charlotte‘s WSOC-TV: “They're very thankful to Cornelius and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police departments on behalf of their children and children everywhere. It's a parent's worst nightmare having someone planning on taking your children away from you."

Police began investigating the case after the two children reported Rosario taking pictures of them at their bus stop.

Detectives say Rosario planned to kidnap the little girls and return to Mexico, once he received the ransom payment. Photos of the girls and a ransom note were found on Rosario at the time of his arrest.

Rosario who had been previously deported, is being held in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Jail on a $52,000 bond.

Rosario’s wife Linda Gonzalez, has also been arrested in connection with the case, and has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping.

Kidnapping in Mexico has become very commonplace. Unfortunately, with our growing illegal alien population, it is becoming increasingly common in this country as well.

In August 2008, the FBI´s San Diego field office admitted that they were currently investigating the kidnapping of 16 U.S. residents who were held in Tijuana between October 2007 and May 2008, including many of whom were abducted in San Diego.

According to the Phoenix Police Department, there were 359 kidnappings and more than 300 home invasions during 2008. However, police estimate the actual numbers to be closer to three times as high as the reported figures. Many victims fail to report such crimes, out of fear from further retribution from the notoriously violent cartels.

In November 2008, Phoenix Police Lt. Lori Burgett told CBS News: "It wasn´t uncommon to have a new kidnapping case coming into our offices on a daily basis."

*Reporter’s note: As illegal immigration spreads across this country, every community can expect to hear about more kidnappings. Until our elected officials begin to take seriously the threat posed to American families by criminal aliens, we will continue to see our fellow citizens fall victim to crimes from those who invade this country.

How many more children will be victimized before our border is defended and immigration laws enforced?

http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-norfolk/illegal-alien-caught-trying-to-kidnap-two-school-children-north-carolina

Illegal alien gang member waiting to be deported

Collier County sheriff’s deputies on Friday arrested a Fort Myers man they say has a history of gang-related activity and is in the country illegally.

Othon Agustin Tamariz, 18, 245 Mango Ave., No. 1, Fort Myers, was arrested by deputies at the intersection of Broward Street and U.S. 41. He is being held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and was charged with obstruction of justice after a deputy reported that Tamariz provided a false name during a traffic stop.

Tamariz, who was the front-seat passenger in a stopped car, told the deputy his name was Alex Lopez, but a fingerprint scan returned a different identity, according to the arrest report. Tamariz had tattoos on his knuckles that indicated involvement with a street gang, the report says.

Tamariz eventually admitted to providing a false name, the report states, and told deputies he is on county probation in Lee County and did not want to be deported. Because of his documentation as a criminal street gang member, the report states, an immigration detainer was placed on Tamariz that will prevent him from bonding out of jail.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/oct/04/deputies-street-gang-member-held-deportation/

15 illegal aliens arrested at Duval courthouse site

Fifteen undocumented workers were arrested at or near the construction site for the new Duval County Courthouse in two incidents in September - the second after subcontractors were warned they needed to check all of their workers.

U.S. Border Patrol officials arrested eight employees near the job site on Sept. 11, including one who tried to hide under a parked car, an agent said.

Days later, the city called a meeting with Turner Construction, the company building the courthouse, to emphasize that the contract could be rescinded for using undocumented workers.

Turner sent a letter to subcontractors Sept. 15 and, a week later, seven workers were hauled off the job site.

All 15 employees work for United Forming, the company doing concrete work on the site, said David Reaves, a Turner vice president and operations manager.

Calls to the Florida offices for United Forming were not returned Friday evening.

Reaves said United Forming is still working on the site because Turner has not confirmed the workers who were arrested were illegal immigrants.

Deportation proceedings have begun for all of the people arrested, said Danny Conway, patrol agent in charge of the Border Patrol's Jacksonville office.

Turner began work on the $350 million project in May, and about 175 workers are on-site now.

The city's contract with Turner prohibits employing undocumented workers, said Misty Skipper, a spokeswoman for Mayor John Peyton. No specific penalties are outlined.

Turner's agreements with subcontractors contain the same language, Reaves said.

About a dozen undocumented workers were arrested in 2002 during construction of the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville and Veterans Memorial Arena. The ballpark, arena and courthouse were all funded by the $2.2 billion Better Jacksonville Plan voters approved in 2000.

The courthouse is scheduled to be completed in summer 2012.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/crime/2009-10-03/story/15_undocumented_workers_arrested_at_duval_courthouse_site

illegal alien gets 17 years for, stabbing, suffocating, and throwing her anchor baby in the garbage

STAMFORD -- A South End mother who worked for low wages to pay back the transporter who brought her to the United States illegally acted out of desperation last year when she wrapped her newborn son in a plastic bag, later stabbed him and left his body in a trash bin, a judge said in state Superior Court on Tuesday.

"This is a woman who's working at slave wages, sending the proceeds of that effort back to her home country to support her very ill child," Judge Richard Comerford Jr. said as Angelina Sarmiento, 26, formerly of 207 Henry St., Stamford, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of the her newborn. "This is a woman who truly loved her children."

While the prosecutor, Senior Assistant State's Attorney James Bernardi, public defender Howard Ehring and Comerford reiterated several times that the killing was not justified, they pointed to what Bernardi called the twilight status of illegal immigrants as mitigating circumstances that called for reduction of a murder charge. The murder statute requires that the defendant did not act under extreme emotional distress, Comerford said.

In exchange for pleading guilty, Sarmiento is to be sentenced to 17 years in prison Dec. 11. She whispered, "Culpable," the Spanish term for guilty, when asked to plea, and she cried through the statements given by the attorneys.

Bernardi said Sarmiento ultimately admitted to police that she had given birth on her toilet Oct. 29. She told police that her husband, Hermando Sarmiento, came here illegally several years before, and she had followed him.

While her husband was able to pay off the transporter relatively quickly, she struggled to meet the demands while cleaning houses through a company in Stamford for 55 hours to 65 hours a week, earning about $350, less than the federal minimum wage.

Additionally, her attorney, Ehring, said Sarmiento struggled to send money home to a daughter, who is about 12 years old and needs dialysis.

Afraid to go to a doctor for birth control because of her immigration status, Sarmiento purchased through the black market birth control she had used successfully in Honduras, Bernardi and Ehring said. She was surprised to learn she was pregnant. When she discovered the pregnancy, she thought she was six months pregnant, but was in her final month, Ehring said.

She was also afraid to seek care once she discovered the pregnancy, he said.

Sarmiento told police she believed her husband would not want the additional financial burden of a new child, Bernardi said.

Police responded Oct. 30 to a report of a dead infant in a garbage bin near the Henry Street apartment, but did not immediately find the child known in court as Baby Boy Sarmiento. They did find and speak to Sarmiento in the apartment she and Hermando Sarmiento shared with another couple. At first she denied that anything had happened, Bernardi said.

A medical examiner determined that the baby was born alive, and "upon birth had cried and attempted to breathe," Bernardi said. The cause of death was asphyxiation.

Ehring said in April that the two sides were working on a resolution, but shortly thereafter, Bernardi requested DNA tests to make sure Hermando Sarmiento was the baby's father and rule out other possible motives. The case was delayed while both sides awaited the results of the test. Psychiatrists also have been examining Sarmiento for psychological conditions, including postpartum psychosis, Ehring has said.

Hermando Sarmiento returned to Honduras but has since had an accident, leaving him a paraplegic, Ehring said. The family can no longer afford the dialysis for the 12-year-old daughter, he said.

Comerford praised the attorneys involved in the case, and said they understood "the great sin of grinding poverty and the desperation of a woman who found herself in the position this woman did."

Source - http://www.newcanaannewsonline.com/default/article/Stamford-woman-pleads-guilty-in-newborn-s-death-138910.php

Texas - Police: illegal alien brothers video taped sexual assault

WACO - Two men are in the McLennan County Jail on nearly $1,000,000 bond each after police said they assaulted a young boy almost daily for the last several years.

Police say brothers 42-year-old Henry Andres Cortez and 38-year-old Jose Olivera sexually assaulted a young boy and took turns video taping the assault.

According to arrest affidavits obtained by News Channel 25, the attacks took place almost every day for the past several years.

Cortez is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and continuous sexual abuse; he is being held on $1,000,000 bond.

Olivera is also charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and continuous sexual assault. He is jail in lieu of $950,000 bond.

An immigration hold has been placed on both men, meaning neither will be released from custody.

http://www.kxxv.com/global/story.asp?s=11183969

Illegal alien charged with assault on federal officer

An illegal immigrant accused of trying to run over a Border Patrol agent has been charged with assault on a federal law enforcement officer, according to federal court records.

Armando Terriquez Zarate, who was shot during the confrontation on Sept. 16, was also charged Monday with human smuggling, court records showed.

According to an FBI investigation, Zarate borrowed a pickup truck and drove to Monument Road in the Tijuana River Valley to pick up a man and a woman who paid about $3,000 each to be sneaked into the United States.

The pair set off a sensor at the border and agents detained the pair. Zarate sped toward a Border Patrol agent and the agent and his partner opened fire when Zarate refused orders to stop, the FBI said.

Zarate was chased to the nearby neighborhood of Nestor, where he was arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/sep/22/bn22bpshoot-man-charged/?metro&zIndex=170413

Private company plans to build a private prison for illegal aliens in Adelanto

ADELANTO • A private prison operator has plans to build a 2,200-bed detention center that holds illegal immigrants on 51 acres near two other local prisons.

City Council will decide on Wednesday whether to approve the GEO Group Inc.’s development plan and conditional use permit to construct a new correctional facility on the northeast corner of Raccoon Avenue and Rancho Road.

But the proposed facility also hinges on GEO Group winning a federal contract from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to Adelanto City Manager Jim Hart.

Earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security posted a notice saying it would be looking for contractors to construct a possible detention center that can hold up to 2,200 illegal immigrants and others suspected of violating immigration laws. The notice said the center should be located within 120 miles of downtown Los Angeles and privately owned and operated.

However the official request for proposals for the new ICE center has not yet been issued, according to ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice, while the agency undergoes a comprehensive overhaul of its detention system.

http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/adelanto-14600-prison-private.html

Video - Illegal Alien Kills Policeman

Religious leaders seek healthcare for illegal aliens

Calling access to healthcare a moral and spiritual imperative, Los Angeles faith leaders held a religious service and launched a phone bank Friday to urge congressional leaders to include illegal immigrants in any healthcare reform plan.

The question of whether illegal immigrants should have access to a government-sponsored health insurance marketplace has provoked heated debate and criticism of President Obama’s proposals from both the left and right. Obama’s position that his plans do not include illegal immigrants has been attacked as dishonest by some conservatives and as a betrayal by some liberals.

“If we were politicians, this would be definitely political suicide to come out for healthcare reform for those who are undocumented,” said Father Roland Lozano, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church, known as La Placita, near Olvera Street. “But we’re doing it because we believe ... it’s what God wants us to do.”

Father Richard Estrada, who heads an immigrant services organization known as Jovenes Inc., said inclusion of all immigrants was consistent with biblical teachings that all people are children of God who must care for society’s most vulnerable.

And the Rev. Will Wauters, vicar of the Church of the Epiphany, an Episcopal church in Lincoln Heights, said inclusion of all immigrants would benefit the proposed health insurance marketplace by expanding it with those who numerous studies have shown are younger and healthier than native-born Americans.

According to a July 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health, even immigrants with health insurance use less medical care than U.S.-born citizens and are less likely to suffer from arthritis, diabetes, coronary heart disease and other chronic health conditions.

The Roman Catholic Church, the nation’s largest religious denomination with 67 million members, considers healthcare a basic human right, a position the church has articulated since 1963, when it was included in a papal encyclical by Pope John XXIII. As a result, the church believes that illegal immigrants should be included in any healthcare reform plan, according to Kathy Saile, director of domestic social development with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“If healthcare is a basic right, you can’t start cutting people out,” she said.

But some religious conservatives disagree. Richard Land, who heads the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, said biblical exhortations to care for the poor apply to people of faith, not to governments, and should inspire private charitable efforts but not taxpayer-funded plans for illegal immigrants.

“It’s noble and commendable to be charitable with your own money, but it’s something different to be charitable with other people’s money,” he said.

At La Placita on Friday, more than 150 worshipers attended a Mass of “reconciliation and hope” for an all-inclusive healthcare reform plan. Later, parishioners were asked to call their elected officials to ask that all immigrants be granted access to health insurance.

For Josephina Dedoy, a 58-year-old Mexico native and legal U.S. resident, the debate is intensely personal. She and her husband, a naturalized U.S. citizen, have a daughter who has epilepsy and is undocumented, having been born in Mexico before her parents earned legal status.

Dedoy said the family had insurance coverage until recently, when her husband was laid off after 17 years as a painter and designer. The family looked into private health plans but found them unaffordable at nearly $1,000 a month.

Now, Dedoy said, she is anxious over how they will pay for their daughter’s medical care. But as Obama supporters, Dedoy said, she believes the president will support people like them.

“We’re waiting for the mercy of the government for those in need like us,” she said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/religious-leaders-seek-healthcare-for-illegal-immigrants.html

Health care HR 3200 costs $31 billion to cover 6.6 million illegal aliens

Over the long weekend the country was busy talking about the President´s speech to school children and the resignation of Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, but the folks at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) were putting the finishing touches on a new report.

If the current bills floating around Washington D.C. garner a signature from President Obama, the taxpayers could see $31 billion of their money to provide health care for more than 6.6 million in this country illegally.

While HR 3200 states illegal immigrants can not receive benefits, every time amendments are put forward to ensure enforcement – they are voted out leaving many loopholes.

The following is a summary of what CIS found regarding health care bill HR 3200.

In 2007, there were an estimated 6.6 million illegal immigrants without health insurance who had incomes below 400 percent of poverty, which is the income ceiling for the new affordability premium credits.

If all uninsured illegal immigrants with incomes below 400 percent of poverty received the new credits, the estimated cost to the federal government would be $30.5 billion annually.

The current cost of treating uninsured illegal immigrants at all levels of government is an estimated $4.3 billion a year, primarily at emergency rooms and free clinics.

On July 16 an amendment by Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) that would have required the use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving the affordability credits was defeated by the House Ways and Means Committee.

At present 71 other means-tested federal programs require use of the SAVE system to prevent illegal immigrants and other ineligible non-citizens from accessing them.

Even though there is no mechanism to prevent enrollment, it is likely that many income-eligible illegal immigrants would not enroll out of fear or lack of knowledge of the new programs. Thus the actual costs would be less than the maximum estimate of $30.5 billion. However, if illegal immigrants are legalized and could receive affordability credits, a much larger percentage would be expected to enroll, with a corresponding increase in costs.

Uninsured illegal immigrants tend to use less in health care on average than others without health insurance because they tend to be young. This fact is incorporated into the current cost estimate of $4.3 billion. However, government-provided affordability credits paid to insurance companies are the same for everyone regardless of age or preexisting conditions. Therefore, the younger age of illegals does not result in lower average costs for taxpayers for this program.

It is also worth noting that the report estimates that 38 percent of illegal immigrants had health insurance in 2007. Additionally, the report estimates that there are at least 360,000 uninsured illegal immigrants with incomes above 400 percent of poverty who would not qualify for benefits under H.R. 3200.

It is also possible that illegal immigrants could benefit from the expansion of Medicaid under H.R. 3200. The bill does not require identity verification for those claiming U.S. birth. Of illegal immigrants with incomes under 400 percent of poverty, about half live under 133 percent of poverty, which is the new ceiling for Medicaid eligibility.

On July 30 an amendment by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) that would have required identity variation for those claiming U.S. birth was defeated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

CIS used March of 2008 Current Population Survey collected by the Census Bureau to determine the number of illegal immigrants in the United States.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/118206

26-year-old illegal alien gets 24 years in prison for kidnapping and two counts of rape

CLEVELAND — Elvis Torres, 26, of Archwood Avenue, was sentenced last week by Judge John O'Donnell to 24 years in prison for raping a 28-year-old woman April 4 in a bar in the 3800 block of Denison Avenue.

He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and two counts of rape and may be deported to Mexico after he's released, or serve five years of probation and have to register his home and work addresses with a sheriff's office every 90 days for life.

The maximum sentence for the three felony offenses is 30 years in prison.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/09/cuyahoga_county_jailelvis_cone.html

I was replaced by an illegal alien

Source - http://balooscartoonblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/illegal-alien-cartoon.html

Video - Outrageous! Illegal aliens and how they drive up our health care costs.

Death penalty sought for illegal alien murder suspect

Prosecutors in Los Angeles are seeking the death penalty for a 20-year-old illegal alien gang member charged with the brutal murder of a promising high school athlete. It was a crime one immigration reform activist says should have been prevented.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office announced it will seek the death penalty against Pedro Espinoza for the 2008 killing of 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw II. Espinoza is an illegal immigrant and member of the notorious 18th Street gang. Shaw was a standout running back on his high school football team.

In June, a judge ordered Espinoza to trial for first-degree murder, along with a special circumstance gang allegation. The suspect has pleaded not guilty. Espinoza had been released from a jail on a firearms charge a day before Shaw was killed.

Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform says Espinoza's release last year was inexcusable.

"The local police never took the trouble to find out he was an illegal alien and remand him to federal authorities," he points out. "If they had done that, they would not have put him back out on the streets. He would have been remanded to federal custody and never had the opportunity to murder Jamiel Shaw."

Indeed, Shaw's parents are suing the county on grounds that Espinoza should have been turned over to immigration authorities instead of being freed.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=660644

Illegal Aliens Could Close Your Hospital

Paying The Price For Illegal Care

Health Care: Democrats are right that uncompensated emergency care for the uninsured is driving up costs. What they don't say is it's illegal immigrants who are bankrupting ERs, and the federal government is encouraging them.

Last decade, the Clinton administration added teeth to a little-known Health and Human Services Department regulation mandating that hospitals provide emergency treatment even to illegals.

Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA, hospitals can't even ask for a patient's immigration status or ability to pay prior to delivering treatment. They also can't keep such uninsured patients waiting, even if their problem isn't an emergency. Nor can they discharge them until they're fully stabilized and have safe transportation.

More, hospitals must post EMTALA signs in Spanish and English. The law isn't limited to ERs. Hospitals must accept illegals at any facility on campus including outpatient clinics and doctor's offices located within 250 yards of the main buildings.

Hospitals end up treating uninsured illegals for the sniffles and other nonurgent care, and pass that exorbitant cost on to the insured, the Government Accountability Office has found. Resulting overcrowding leads to delays in "care for patients with true emergency needs."

This unfunded federal mandate has placed a heavy and unfair financial burden on more than 1,500 hospitals across the country, according to HHS data, costing billions in unpaid bills by some estimates.

Many eat losses and eventually go out of business like they're doing in droves in California, which has seen 85 hospital closures in the last decade. An additional 55 facilities have shut down ERs. The state ranks last in the country in access to emergency care and last in ERs per capita, making it woefully unprepared to respond to a major earthquake or terror attack.

Border hospitals are the hardest-hit. By law, they have to treat even illegals injured while crossing the border. Each year, hundreds of them pour into the ER at El Centro Regional Medical Center near San Diego with fractures sustained while climbing the fence or eluding border patrols in high-speed car chases. Others suffer from multiple organ failures from dehydration.

Many abuse the system with encouragement from groups like Maldef and La Raza, which have spread the word about EMTALA. In Texas, hospitals are flooded with walk-in mothers in labor showing up in the ER to have their anchor babies.

Some 80% of the births at Houston's Ben Taub General Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital are to illegal immigrants. In Fort Worth, it's about 70%.

At a recent town hall meeting, President Obama shot down tort reform because, as he argued, Texas has tort reform and one of its cities McAllen still has "the highest health care costs in the country."

McAllen also is one of the most heavily trafficked border areas in the country, a little fact Obama failed to mention. The border patrol nabs 75,000 illegals there a year. They're the ones caught; others flood McAllen hospitals.

Overutilization of ER services by illegals is crippling the area's major hospital system, including McAllen Medical Center and Edinburg Regional Medical Center. The South Texas Health System eats $140 million a year in free care, and 60%-70% of those unpaid costs are in the ER.

Some 40% of the babies born at McAllen Medical last year were to illegals. That's nearly 2,400 babies who were given instant citizenship. And their mothers instantly qualified for U.S. welfare. Many of them, McAllen Medical CEO Joe Riley says, were "mothers about to give birth that walk up to the hospital still wet from swimming across the river and in actual labor."

Actually, Miami boasts the highest medical costs in the country. McAllen is No. 2. Like McAllen, Miami hospitals are overrun by illegal Hispanic immigrants.

Thanks to EMTALA, one hospital near Miami was forced to eat $1.5 million in unreimbursed care for an illegal alien from Guatemala. After three years of treatment, Martin Memorial Medical Center paid $30,000 to charter a jet to take Luis Jimenez to a medical facility in his home country. His family in turn sued the hospital.

Any health care overhaul should start with rewriting EMTALA. No one wants to refuse emergency care to indigent Mexicans who truly need it. But when you consider that they wire an average of $300 a month in remittances back to Mexico, that money could go a long way toward purchasing medical insurance.

At a minimum, the government could impose a fee on remittances to Mexico, and use the revenues to offset costs that border hospitals incur for the care of illegal immigrants.

http://capoliticalnews.com/blog_post/show/2955_

Illegal alien suspect held in Brookline rape case

BROOKLINE - It was “grunt detective work’’ that quickly brought down the two suspects in a rape in the popular Coolidge Corner neighborhood, police said.

Brookline police arrested Ismael Martinez, 26, of Waltham late Friday night, the second suspect in the early-morning attack Tuesday on a 30-year-old Brookline woman. He joined Jose Arita, 25, who was arrested Thursday.

The victim, returning from Logan International Airport, had been dropped off by taxi at the corner of Harvard and Beacon streets at about 2:20. As she was walking with her luggage, two men hit her in the head from behind, choked her, and put her into a red pickup truck parked on a side street. The truck sped off, but was caught on police surveillance cameras.

The two suspects face charges of assault with intent to rape, aggravated rape, and kidnapping. Martinez faces an added charge of misleading police during a criminal investigation, but authorities did not elaborate on that charge.

During a news conference yesterday afternoon, Brookline police Lieutenant Philip Harrington praised the work of detectives who worked without rest since the attack, he said.

“It was through old-fashioned good detective work and follow-up investigation that led to the arrest of Mr. Martinez,’’ Harrington said. “It’s an example of the quality of officers we have in this department. . . . The whole department gave a great effort to solving this case.’’

Harrington said that the suspects knew each other and worked together as freelance plasterers. Both suspects are believed to be living in the United States illegally - Arita from Guatemala and Martinez from Mexico. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is involved in the cases of both suspects, police said.

Arita pleaded not guilty in Brookline District Court and is being held on $150,000 bail. Martinez is being held without bail pending his arraignment tomorrow.

The Globe’s policy is not to name victims of sexual assault, and police did not release her name.

The attack stunned Brookline, which traditionally has very low rates of violent crime, according to FBI statistics. Tuesday’s attack was the first rape of 2009 in Brookline. There were eight reported rapes in Brookline last year, up from two reported cases in 2007. There hasn’t been a murder in Brookline since 2006.

“I felt completely safe; I felt fine walking around here,’’ resident Alison Brayton, 22, told the Globe last week. “Not anymore.’’

Harrington said he hopes residents will feel safer now that both suspects are in custody.

“With this second arrest, I hope we’ve allayed people’s fears,’’ Harrington said. “I hope that there’s a sigh of relief.’’

Still, Harrington urges people to be aware of their surroundings, especially at night - a message his department plans to amplify next month when thousands of college students return.

Source - http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/08/23/2d_suspect_held_in_brookline_rape_case/

Cops nab second illegal alien suspect in Brookline rape

Second man sought in Coolidge Corner kidnapping

One of two men accused of kidnapping and taking turns raping a Brookline woman after a cab dropped her off Tuesday night in Coolidge Corner was arrested yesterday at his home.

Jose Arita, 25, of Brighton, was charged with assault with intent to rape, kidnapping and rape after a two-day investigation involving Boston cops.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090821cops_nab_suspect_in_brookline_rape_second_man_sought_in_coolidge_corner_kidnapping/srvc=home&position=4

Video - ILLEGAL ALIEN THUGS THAT MURDERED 15 Y/O GIRL IDENTIFIED

Video - Liberty Candidate Debra Medina for Governor of Texas

STATE OF EMERGENCY:: Illegal aliens burden UMC

Hospital not reimbursed for illegal immigrants' dialysis treatments

Tethered to the dialysis machine behind her reclining chair by two tubes attached to a catheter in her chest, Marta Berrera wearily stares at nothing in particular as blood flows out of, and then back into, her body.

Every four or five days, she shows up at University Medical Center's emergency room, her failing kidneys requiring that her waste be filtered and excess fluid be removed through artificial means.

"I am so thankful to this hospital for doing this for someone who is not a citizen," she said Thursday, an interpreter translating her Spanish as she choked back tears. "Without this help, I would die and my four children would be without a mother."

Wrapped up in Berrera's expression of gratitude is a dilemma that confounds the health care professionals at the only publicly supported hospital in Las Vegas.

"Our people are really torn," said Brian Brannman, UMC's chief operating officer. "We want to take care of people who are ill. We're proud that we can save lives. But our employees are also worried about the survival of UMC. They know that the appetite of taxpayers for helping undocumented immigrants is limited."

Since April, UMC has been spending about $2 million per month providing emergency dialysis services to 80 illegal immigrants, Brannman said.

He projects that these services at UMC could run more than $24 million in the current fiscal year.

In each of the five prior years, the hospital provided the same emergency services to half as many illegal immigrants for a little more than $1 million per month.

Brannman said the hospital receives no reimbursement from federal, state or local sources to provide this life-saving treatment for people who have entered the country illegally.

But under federal law, any patient who shows up at an emergency department requesting an examination or treatment for a medical condition must be given an appropriate medical screening to determine whether there is an emergency. If there is, treatment must be provided.

"When we're projecting a budget deficit of $70 million for fiscal year 2010, you can see that $24 million in dialysis treatment that's not reimbursed is an awfully big chunk," Brannman said.

UMC health care professionals say discussion of how to reform the nation's health care system must include how to shore up taxpayer-supported hospitals, strained to the breaking point by following the law to care for those who are breaking it.

Health care costs for illegal immigrants, a hot-button issue in the current debate, vary widely because of the difficulty in obtaining accurate information on illegal immigrants. But all estimates run into the billions of dollars.

UMC staffers contend more efforts also must be made to persuade foreign nationals to head home for care.

And, they say, unless there is meaningful immigration reform, taxpayers can expect to pay more to wait longer for their own emergency services.

"There's no question that these illegals who come for dialysis treatment at emergency rooms back everything up," said Dr. Dale Carrison, UMC's head of emergency services, adding that most require treatment two or three times a week. "And there's also no question that they need help. But this isn't how emergency rooms were meant to be used."

MEDICARE COVERS U.S. CITIZENS

Carrison said the four dialysis chairs on the fifth floor of UMC were designed for hospital patients who suddenly become ill, and not for those in need of chronic care.

U.S. citizens with end stage renal disease automatically qualify for Medicare to cover dialysis costs.

Illegal immigrants are not eligible for Medicare, however.

As a result, patients who have neither insurance nor Medicare to pay for dialysis are almost exclusively illegal immigrants, a distinction that allows hospital officials to estimate costs for their care.

"What they figured out is that if they come to emergency rooms, we'll dialyze them if they're in bad enough shape," Carrison said of illegal immigrants.

Using emergency rooms this way is costly and dangerous, he said, adding that a full screening with lab tests is done each time an individual comes to the emergency room.

"Unless it's a real emergency, we don't do dialysis on them, so their body is in bad shape," Carrison said.

Brannman said it isn't unusual for an illegal immigrant to wait for eight hours for treatment, only to be told their condition isn't bad enough for treatment that day.

"Then they'll come back a day or two later really sick," he said.

Carrison said dialysis patients covered by Medicare have their own doctors who are aware of their conditions, so expensive tests need not be done repeatedly.

According to Brannman, the cost at UMC can run from $11,000 to $18,000 per visit for an emergency dialysis patient.

The high costs reflect these tests and that the patients' health might have worsened to the point that they need more than just dialysis to stabilize their condition.

The June issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases reported on a Texas study that found that the cost of dialysis care was 3.7 times greater when done through the emergency room than through the usual doctor-guided treatment program at a dialysis center.

"The federal government kicked the can down the road on the immigration issue and gave the bill to us," Brannman said. "This is a federal policy failure that is driving huge health care costs to our citizens."

The monthly cost for emergency dialysis for illegal immigrants has nearly doubled since April. This can be attributed not only to the loss of jobs, but also to the ending of a long-term contract with an outside dialysis provider to cover about 20 chronic dialysis cases for illegal immigrants at about $2 million a year, Brannman said.

The contract was terminated because of a budget shortfall, and the $2 million was shifted to other services, including upgrading the hospital's neonatal unit.

But it now appears the decision backfired, as the 20 chronic care patients became more expensive emergency care patients.

"We had to make some hard choices, and we didn't think the county should be renewing a contract to help a small number of undocumented, anyway," Brannman said. "We didn't think we should be in the business of making contracts for illegal immigrants. And you also have to remember these undocumented people don't have to just come to UMC for emergency dialysis care. Remember under federal law, any emergency department has to take them."

Attempts Friday to find out what other hospitals in the Las Vegas Valley handle emergency dialysis for illegal immigrants were unsuccessful.

Carrison said he has found illegal immigrants discharged from other hospitals who were told to come to UMC for their emergency dialysis care.

Brannman said a UMC social worker told him that one of the illegal immigrants reported that at another hospital he was threatened with being turned over to immigration authorities if he didn't go to UMC for treatment.

Repeated attempts to get Medicaid payments from the state to pay for emergency dialysis for illegal immigrants have been unsuccessful, Brannman said.

Yet Ben Kieckhefer, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Friday the state will pay for "true emergencies."

"It appears that it comes down to what the definition of an emergency is," Brannman said. "Our doctors obviously believe that these people would die without dialysis."

GRATEFUL FOR CARE

Brannman said he has also asked for help from Mexican authorities.

Mariano Leuma Gas, the consul for Mexico in Las Vegas, said he has been working with UMC to try to send some illegal immigrants back to their home country for care.

Brannman said Gas has helped UMC on other health care issues, finding funding to send Mexican patients from Las Vegas to Mexican hospitals. But he said they have been unsuccessful in persuading dialysis patients to go home for care.

"You have to remember that I can't make them go back, but families often want them to," Gas said. "The problem is the economy is so bad in Mexico now, too, and there often is a long wait for dialysis. But I think we can work out this problem. We need to talk more."

All three individuals in the UMC dialysis section interviewed Thursday admitted they were without insurance and in the country illegally.

The 34-year-old Barrera, who came to the United States 16 years ago, said she has been receiving dialysis treatment through UMC since December 2007.

Her condition worsened so dramatically recently that she had to spend a costly eight days in the hospital.

Another patient in the dialysis room Thursday, 47-year-old Felipe De Arcos Rodriguez, said he once had to be hospitalized for two months when he waited too long to get dialysis.

The cost of care over that period would be at least in the tens of thousands of dollars, with the final cost dependent on the lifesaving measures that had to be undertaken.

Rodriguez said he has been receiving dialysis for six years and seven months. His arms are full of bumps where tubes were inserted for the procedures and scar tissues formed.

Because he is not an American citizen, he is not eligible for a transplant.

"I've been in a coma four times and UMC saved me," the Mexican immigrant said. "I am very grateful to UMC. It is a great place. I try to pay the hospital $50 a month."

Emergency dialysis patient Ricardo Valladares, who came to the United States from El Salvador, said the fact that UMC gives treatment to non-citizens shows that the hospital has a big heart.

"They are special people," he said.

Berrera prays that UMC will never stop giving dialysis help to everybody.

"My husband is in jail now," she said, stressing that other family members were watching her children while she was in the hospital.

"I need to keep fighting to get better. With God and UMC, I will. And then I will be able to help my children."

http://www.lvrj.com/news/53343302.html