All posts tagged United States Border Patrol

Border agent indicted for violating illegal alien’s rights

The U.S.-Mexican border is arguably one of the most dangerous spots in the world. Photo credit: DHS/CBP

In almost total secrecy, the Obama Justice Department has charged a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Luis Fonseca, for depriving the rights of a yet to be identified illegal alien at the Border Patrol station located on Imperial Beach, California, last JulyFonseca, however, was not indicted until a week ago.

Agent Fonseca, 32, allegedly kneed and choked an unidentified alien during his tour near the Mexican border last summer. During his arraignment on Monday April 16, he entered a not guilty plea.

A grand jury had handed down the indictment on April 12, but details were withheld and the DOJ neglected to promulgate why the legal action was taken against the Border Patrol agent, according to an ”Inside-the-Beltway” public-interest group that investigates and exposes government corruption and misconduct.

“Border Patrol Agent Fonseca kneed and choked an unidentified alien, depriving him of the right under the Constitution and the laws of the United States to be free from use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “The indictment also alleges as a result of the use of unreasonable force the individual sustained bodily injury.”

According to Department of Justice’s records, a federal grand jury indicted Fonseca on a single charge of deprivation of rights under color of law. The charge, a civil rights violation, carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.

The case is problematic for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the government’s secrecy surrounding details. In the one-page indictment the illegal immigrant is identified only as “UA#1.” The document also claims that, as a result of the use of “unreasonable force” the undocumented alien sustained some kind of “bodily injury” yet no further details are provided, according to Judicial Watch’s Corruption Chronicles.

“The grand jury indictment is dated April 12, 2012 which means the feds dragged their feet, probably because they knew it was a weak case,” stated the Judicial Watch’s entry .

Fonseca was arrested on Friday during a shift at the Border Patrol’s Imperial Beach station and is currently on paid leave. He pleaded not guilty in federal court this week, according to DOJ records.

According to the federal prosecutor handling the case, “People detained at the border should be treated with human dignity and respect by federal agents. It is important for the public to know that the Department of Justice takes alleged civil rights violations seriously. We have processes in place to investigate and will take action where appropriate to protect those rights.”

Many law enforcement professionals are highly suspicious of this latest case of a Border Patrol agent being “dragged into court by the Obama Justice Department.

“It’s clear that Obama’s sympathies are with the illegal aliens entering the U.S. He’s all but told U.S. immigration and border officials to stop enforcing the law. This is just another message from the Obama Administration to Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to not be too zealous in doing their jobs,” claims former New York City Detective Jeff Knudson.

On top of the DOJ’s actions against Fonseca, – himself a Latino — the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General is also investigating the matter.

“Perhaps when that report is finished, more information will be revealed to the public. For instance, the victim’s identity and the exact bodily injury that he or she supposedly suffered at the hands of the Border Patrol agent accused of committing the choking and kneeing,” states the Judicial Watch posting.

The U.S. government has worked hard to protect illegal immigrants and their “constitutional” rights in the last few years. This has empowered them to file a number of lawsuits against local and federal law enforcement agencies for violating their rights. In Connecticut a group of illegal aliens sued the government for violating their constitutional rights during the operation that led to their apprehension.

In New York an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record got a $145,000 settlement from the state for having his civil rights violated during one of his many arrests. In Maryland an illegal immigrant from El Salvador for unlawfully and unconstitutionally detaining her based on race and in California illegal aliens sued a city for banning them from seeking work on public streets.

The Law Enforcement Examiner has in the past exposed President Barack Obama’s illegal-alien relatives, one of whom was arrested for drunk driving in Massachusetts.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Border agent indicted for violating illegal alien’s rights – National Law Enforcement | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/article/border-agent-indicted-for-violating-illegal-alien-s-rights#ixzz1sdiIOzDP

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BIPARTISAN CONSPIRACY ON BORDER SECURITY

Brothers Phil and Rob Krentz, in a 2006 Arizona Highways article about the Krentz Ranch involvement in the Malpai Borderlands Conservation project.

March witnessed the second anniversary of the murder of Arizona rancher Rob Krentz by an illegal alien intruder 25 miles from the Arizona-Mexico border. In his memory, let’s review the state of border security. Has anything changed?

Our nation’s 1950-mile Southwest border remains as dangerous and open to illegal entry as ever, but this reality is being ignored by both the news media and denied by the Obama administration. The combination of government lies, news media co-optation and Republican complacency constitutes a three-part conspiracy to avoid public discussion of border security until after the November election.

The political motive behind this conspiracy is clear: The Washington establishment does not want the abysmal lack of border security to stand in the way of the next amnesty campaign being planned for the lame-duck session of Congress that will occur after the Nov. 6 election.

The criminal dishonesty of the Department of Homeland Security and the Border Patrol management team with regard to border security is matched only by the blatant cowardice of Republican congressional leaders. By their silence on border security, Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are co-conspirators with Lindsey Graham and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The border remains unsecured seven years after the Minutemen put a huge media spotlight on it is a national disgrace. The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, confirmed the embarrassing state of affairs in a November 2011 report. The GAO reported that only 44 percent of the Southwest border has even a minimal degree of security against illegal entry, and that figure obscures more than it reveals.

It is a matter of criminal negligence that Congress allows the Border Patrol to define “operational control” so loosely that it is meaningless for national security purposes. Would you be satisfied if your home security system provided you with 44 percent certainty that intruders would be detected? Yet Congress allows this charade to continue.

Beneath the surface of Border Patrol data you will discover that, in fact, only 15 percent of the border – about 130 miles out of the 1950 mile total – is actually “fully controlled.”

The government brags that it now has 700 miles of “fencing” on the Southwest border, but often neglects to clarify that number as combing both true pedestrian fencing and “vehicle barriers.” In truth, we have only about 340 miles of true fencing, of which only 36 miles is the double fencing authorized by the 2006 Secure Border Act.

There is good reason to believe that border crossings have declined since their peak in 2005, but the official numbers are unreliable because of the way the Border Patrol collects and reports the numbers. It is well-known among rank-and-file Border Patrol officers and publicly reported by the watchdogs at the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers that the official numbers are manipulated for political effect.

Moreover, the government has stopped reporting the “gotaway” number. That is the estimate of border crossings based on the ratio of illegal trespassers detected versus the number apprehended. Historically, that ratio has always been 4-to-1 or 5-to-1, which mans that if 100 illegal trespassers were apprehended on a given night, 400 to 500 eluded capture and entered the country successfully. For example, if 300,000 illegal entrants were apprehended in 2011, about 1.2 million entered the country successfully.

Congress is participating in this charade of improved border security as a prelude to another amnesty. Americans would not tolerate another amnesty if they knew the border remains porous, so amnesty advocates must perpetrate a big lie to lull citizens asleep.

The only thing that could spoil this plan for a new amnesty is a Republican presidential candidate who pulled the curtain away from this façade of lies. The odds of that happening seem to be diminishing daily.

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77 Percent of Illegals Caught on Mexican Border Were Not Prosecuted

By Edwin Mora

A stretch of fence along the southwest border.

(CNSNews.com) – About 77 percent of the 327,577 illegal aliens caught along the Mexican border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during fiscal 2011 were not prosecuted, according to government data analyzed by the office of Rep. John Culberson.

The Texas Republican, whose district includes parts of Houston, submitted a document containing the data for the record at a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. The hearing focused on the budget for CBP.

Culberson gave CNSNews.com a copy of the document, which contains prosecution rate figures for illegal aliens apprehended by CBP between FY2007 and FY2011.

According to figures made public by CBP, 327,577 illegal aliens were caught along the southwest border during fiscal year 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010 thru Sept. 30, 2011).

Of those 327,577, only 74,975 (about 22.9 percent) were prosecuted, according to Justice Department data obtained by Culberson, while 252,602 (77.1 percent) were not prosecuted.

Culberson said during the hearing that those who were not prosecuted were “home in time for dinner.”

The Texas congressman said the prosecution numbers came from U.S. Attorney offices along the southwest border. The Department of Justice (DOJ), which oversees the U.S. Attorneys, does not publicize the data on prosecutions of aliens arrested by CBP, but Culberson said during the hearing that his office verified the figures with both DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees CBP.

He also provided a copy of the document to U.S. Border Patrol chief Michael Fisher, who testified at the hearing. Fisher did not dispute the accuracy of the data. Border Patrol is a component of CBP.

The prosecution rate was higher in FY2011 than in the previous fiscal year, when of 447,731 aliens taken into custody, only 16.4 percent (73,263) were prosecuted, leaving 374,468 who did not face any legal repercussions.

According to the data compiled by Culberson’s office, the prosecution rate has increased each year since FY2007, when it stood at 3.9 percent. In FY2008, the rate was 8.5 percent and it increased to 11.1 percent the following year.

The approximately 2,000-mile long U.S.-Mexico border has been divided by DHS into nine Border Patrol sectors. They run from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf cost in the following order: San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, Marfa, Del Rio, Laredo, and Rio Grande.

The busiest sector for illegal crossings in FY 2011 was Tucson in Arizona. Of the 123,385 illegals apprehended there last year, only 32,703 (26.5 percent) were prosecuted.

The highest prosecution to apprehension ratio during the year was recorded in El Paso sector, where 66.7 percent of those caught (6,906 out of 10,345) were prosecuted. At the other end of the scale, only 3.9 percent of those apprehended in El Centro sector (1,197 out of 30,191) were prosecuted (see graph).

“God bless the Border Patrol for their efforts, but no matter how hard they try if the Department of Justice will not prosecute, all the Border Patrol agents on the border in the world won’t make a bit of difference,” Culberson told CNSNews.com after the hearing.

“The prosecution rate is the key to border security and in the El Paso and Del Rio sectors, the prosecution rate is near 60 percent and as a result, there are virtually no border crossings,” he said.

“I’m working on ways to help the prosecutors, the judges, the [U.S.] Marshals, [and] the Border Patrol raise that prosecution rate from Brownsville to San Diego so we have near-zero tolerance for illegal crossers on the southern border,” Culberson said.

“As a result the border communities will be safer, the nation will be safer, our laws will be respected, and then we can actually solve the problem of guest workers – because we’ve got to have a guest worker program, but first you got to secure the border.”

During the hearing, Culberson asked Border Patrol chief Fisher whether the low prosecution rate was a “real problem.”

“It’s challenging in some judicial districts,” he replied, but added later that he “wouldn’t characterize it” as a problem “across the southwest border.”

“When you look at prosecution in and of themselves, I would not agree that just increasing prosecutions in these other judicial districts – even if we were able to – would be the right approach, for a variety of reasons none of which I’ll go into now just for the sake of time,” Fisher testified.

“It’s not necessarily the consequence that’s going to give us the operational effect we’re looking for,” he said.

Under existing law an individual caught trying to illegally cross the border can be incarcerated for up to six months, although that is not always the case, according to Fisher.

At the busiest Border Patrol sector along the southwest border, he said, the average time served for an individual who is prosecuted by DOJ is “generally two to three days.”

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US Border Patrol in Shoot-out With Mexican Drug Cartel Across the Rio Grande

Roma sits on the banks of the Rio Grande and is adjacent to Miguel Aleman on the Mexican side

(Reuters) – U.S. Border Patrol agents and Mexican drug traffickers fought a gun battle across the Rio Grande river in south Texas, authorities said on Friday, the latest of a spate of cross-border shootings in recent months.

The Border Patrol said gunfire erupted on Wednesday after agents confronted a group of smugglers loading bundles of marijuana into two vehicles on the banks of the Rio Grande west of Roma, Texas, a town about 250 miles south of San Antonio.

The agents opened fire after smugglers fleeing in a vehicle attempted to run them over. Armed traffickers on the Mexican side of the river then shot at the agents, who returned fire into Mexico, the Border Patrol said in a statement.

“Our agents had a posed threat,” Rosalinda Huey, a spokeswoman with the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande sector told Reuters. “They’re trained to deal with that situation,” she added.

No agents were injured by the gunfire and it is unclear whether any smugglers in Mexico were struck by bullets, she said.

Agents subsequently recovered nearly two tons of marijuana, with a value of more than $3 million. No arrests were made and the incident remains under investigation.

Drug traffickers in Mexico’s northern Tamaulipas state frequently use rafts and ropes to haul marijuana over the Rio Grande to Texas, often under the protection of gunmen.

Huey said traffickers opening fire on agents was “just another tactic” as they sought to move drugs across the U.S. border, where additional agents, equipment and infrastructure have contributed to tightening security in recent years.

“Obviously, they’ve gotten more desperate,” she said. “They’re going to use more tactics to avoid apprehension or seizure of their narcotics.”

The stretch of the Rio Grande – which is known as the Rio Bravo in Mexico – has recorded one other shooting incident involving Border Patrol agents since October 2011, she said. No injuries were reported.

Concern runs high among U.S. politicians over so-called “spill over” violence from Mexico, where about 50,000 people have been killed in raging drug violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an army-backed offensive against the powerful drug cartels after taking office in late 2006.

In response to a pattern of violence on the border river, Texas earlier this week unveiled the second of six new ‘interceptor’ gunboats to patrol the waterway. They are similar to Navy swift boats that plied the rivers of Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

A tally of recent cross-border shooting incidents in Texas include an exchange of shots last year between U.S. law enforcement officials and suspected drug runners near the south Texas town of Abram, according to news reports. In a separate incident, a West Texas road crew in Hudspeth County, east of El Paso, also came under fire from Mexico.

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U.S. Border Patrol Weekly Blotter, Blaine Sector Feb. 8-15

ARIZONA BORDERS AND CITIZEN SAFETY...

ARIZONA BORDERS AND CITIZEN SAFETY... (Photo credit: roberthuffstutter)

(Thursday, February 16, 2012) Blaine, Wash. – The information listed below is from arrests and seizures related to U.S. Border Patrol in the Blaine Sector area of operations. For security reasons, this may not be a complete list of enforcement actions.

02/09/2012 – Agents patrolling the border near Blaine encountered a subject in close proximity to the U.S. – Canada border. The subject, a Canadian citizen, admitted to the agent that he had just entered into the United States illegally. The subject was placed under arrest and processed for removal.

02/09/2012 – A Sumas police officer requested assistance from agents in helping to identify an individual encountered in Sumas. The individual, identified as a citizen of India illegally present in the United States, was placed under arrest and processed for removal. The subject stated during processing that he had intended to illegally cross the border into Canada in order to start a new life.

02/12/2012 – Agents responded to a Washington State Patrol trooper’s request for assistance on a traffic stop near Bellingham. The driver was arrested by the trooper on a warrant, which the agent assisted in communicating to the driver in Spanish. The agents determined that all four occupants of the vehicle were Mexican citizens illegally present in the United States. The three passengers were placed under arrest and processed for removal. An immigration detainer was placed on the driver who will be processed for removal after being released from jail.

02/14/2012 – Agents arrested a subject who had an immigration detainer and was scheduled to be released from the jail in Forks. The subject, a Mexican citizen illegally present in the United States, was in possession of both a fraudulent permanent resident card and fraudulent Social Security card. The subject was processed for removal.
02/14/2012 – Agents encountered two subjects, both citizens of Mexico, in a wooded area in close proximity to the United States – Canada border near Sumas. The subjects, illegally present in the United States, were placed under arrest and processed for removal.

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TEXAS: Three Afghan Nationals Detained in Rio Grande Valley

Via Stand with Arizona, by 

McALLEN — Another reminder of why we need a secure border emerged this week, as U.S. Border Patrol officials confirmed three Afghan nationals were detained in the Rio Grande Valley – an increasing “hot zone” of cartel invasion and violence against American ranchers.

Border Patrol confirmed the detentions, but would not say where or when they occurred.

Enrique Mendiola, assistant chief Border Patrol agent for the Rio Grande Valley sector, said that human smugglers see moving people besides Mexican nationals as a “business opportunity.”

“Average smuggling rates for other-than-Mexican nationals far exceed those of Mexicans and Central and South Americans,” he said in a statement.

Mendiola noted the Department of Homeland Security is working with governments in Central and South America to “identify and disrupt transnational smuggling organizations and routes, that sometimes can span the globe.”

Security experts are increasingly concerned about increasing alliances between international terrorist organizations and the Mexican cartels.

Michael Braun, former DEA Chief of Operations, recently testified at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Feb. 2, 2012 that Iranian-backed terror group Hizbollah – – which murdered 241 Marines in Beirut in 1983 – is supporting Mexican cartels to gain access to their networks for border entry, human trafficking, money laundering and forged documents, and operations in 250 U.S. cities.

The goal? Exploit our porous defenses with terror cells – far easier than our ports and airports, thanks to the Feds’ continued failure to secure the border.

Of course DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano tells us the border is “safer than ever”.  And Barack Obama has mocked those who say the border is unsafe: “Maybe they’ll need a moat. Maybe they’ll want alligators in the moat. They’ll never be satisfied.”

However, a local news station last year uncovered evidence that the DHS was suppressing data – even from Congress – which showed that hundreds of individuals from terror-sponsoring nations had penetrated our border. Retired INS Agent Michael Cutler says that DHS is “covering up” this evidence…

The threats are real, and dangerous. So what is the Administration’s response? Obama is slashing National Guard troops on the border by a stunning 75% over the next 3 months. Insanity.

Given that Obama and Napolitano refuse to increase security on the border in order to pander to the La Raza crowd, it will take new leadership in Washington if these threats are ever to be taken seriously.Share this story widely (using the links above), especially for those people you know who still think the only people crossing our Southern border are migrant fruit pickers, and do not understand the critical choice we face in the coming election.

 

PLEASE CONSIDER A DONATION to Stand With Arizona, to help us continue to expose the truth of what is going on at our borders, and to fight against illegal alien amnesty and push for Arizona-style enforcement laws nationwide:DONATE link. Thank you.

 

 

About John Hill

John Hill is the Executive Director of Stand With Arizona, one of the nation’s largest organizations opposing illegal immigration and amnesty. SWA’s members have been instrumental in passing legislation in states and counties around the U.S., and blocking the DREAM Act in 2010. Join us!

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U.S. Border Patrol Weekly Blotter, Blaine Sector Jan. 31 – Feb. 7

CBP, (Thursday, February 09, 2012)

Blaine, Wash. – The information listed below is from arrests and seizures related to U.S. Border Patrol in the Blaine Sector area of operations. For security reasons, this may not be a complete list of enforcement actions.

01/31/2012 – U.S. Border Patrol agents patrolling an area east of Blaine, Wash. discovered foot sign of two subjects leading away from the international boundary. The agents following the foot sign encountered the two subjects hiding in the woods in an attempt to avoid detection. The subjects, both citizens of Mexico illegally present in the United States, were placed under arrest and transported to the station for processing. One of the individuals had a criminal history which included felony charges in 2006 for trafficking illegal drugs. Further investigation revealed an active extraditable warrant out of Clayton County in Georgia for methamphetamine trafficking stemming from the 2006 arrest, which carries a minimum sentence of five years if convicted. Arrangements were made for the extradition of the subject to Georgia and an immigration detainer was placed on the subject. The individual will answer to the immigration-related charges after the charges in Georgia are adjudicated. The second subject was processed for removal

01/31/2012 – Agents apprehended two citizens of Guatemala as a result of a vehicle stop near Forks, Wash. The two individuals, determined to be illegally present in the United States, were placed under arrest and processed for removal.

02/02/2012 – Remote Video Surveillance System operators observed a subject enter illegally into the United States from Canada near Blaine, Wash. Agents responded and encountered an individual hiding in the woods just south of the United States-Canada border. The subject, a Mexican citizen illegally present in the United States, was placed under arrest and processed for removal.

02/02/2012 – A Mexican citizen illegally present in the United States came to the U. S. Border Patrol Station in Bellingham, Wash. and requested to return to Mexico. The subject was placed under arrest and processed for reinstatement of a prior order of removal.

02/06/2012 – A U.S. Border Patrol agent encountered four subjects walking southbound from the U.S.–Canada border in an area east of Sumas, Wash. The four subjects, all citizens of India, were determined to be illegally present in the United States and were processed for removal.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

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U.S. Military to the Border…OUR Border, For a Change

El Camino del Diablo, border patrol. Good morn...

Two months ago the U.S. Border Patrol visited property owners near the New Mexico-Arizona-Mexican border seeking signed permission to allow the U.S. military to enter their property.  The Border Patrol can enter any private property within 25 miles of the border, the U.S. military needs permission.  Some owners agreed while others did not.

Joint Task Force North begins deploying in that area next week.

JTF North is the DoD organization tasked to support our nation’s federal law enforcement agencies in the identification and interdiction of suspected transnational threats within and along the approaches to the continental United States. Transnational threats are those activities that involve international terrorism, narco-trafficking, alien smuggling, weapons of mass destruction, and includes the delivery systems for such weapons that threaten the national security of the United States.

Why now?

Keep reading:

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14 Illegals in 24 Seconds (Caught on Video Crossing Arizona)

Via: Stand With Arizona, by 

PARDON THE INTERRUPTION: While America is focused on the Super Bowl, or a meaningless state primary – the constant, steady, MASSIVE stream of illegal aliens continues across our border….unabated, undefended, as the video below video – posted this very morning – demonstrates.

With the Administration reducing National Guard troops on the border by 75% by May 1st…with nearly zero progress on the border fence since 2006…with the Border Patrol ordered away from “wilderness” areas to “protect endangered wildlife”… They keep on coming. 14 illegals captured in just 24 seconds in the video below – 30 miles North of the border near Tucson.

While TSA body scans your toddler, or strip searches your grandma…invaders FROM ANYWHERE can stream across our border unmolested.

Who are those illegal in the video below? Dishwashers, grape pickers? Or perhaps rapists? MS-13?

What are they carrying? Pot, meth, heroin? Or perhaps C4? Anthrax? Plutonium?

Do we have any idea? Does anyone care at all?

Sorry for the interruption. Enjoy the Super Bowl.

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Why Not Stop Illegal Immigration? Ask David Aguilar!

Extremely bad dude getting Alan Bersin’s job at CBP

American Patrol Report

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has moved quickly to replace the departing head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that overseas the nation’s border security with law enforcement agents such as U.S. Border Patrol. — Napolitano has named CBP deputy commissioner David V. Aguilar to lead the sprawling agency and field operations chief Thomas Winkowski to serve as acting deputy commission, disaster in the making.

See previous article: Custom Commissioner to leave post at end of month.

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