Recently, we ran a story here at T-FIRE News about a plant in Sprinfield, Tennessee that was exposed by the Nashville press as having knowingly or passively hired dozens of illegal aliens.
On December 15, "dozens of employees" left the Electrolux Plant when Human Resources finally did their job.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Pro-Illegal Groups Don't Like the Law
The State of Arizona recently passed a tough new law requiring greater hiring verifications to insure that employees are legal residents and/or American citizens.
The illegal aliens don't like it one bit.
The illegal aliens don't like it one bit.
ICE Arrests 448
If you don't think there are a lot of illegal aliens running around the Southeast-or you believe (as the head of the Morristown-Hamblen Chamber of Commerce does) that we don't have an illegal immigration problem-look what Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently found in five Southern States.
Spanish Debate?
Now we are in trouble when the Republican Party conducts a debate in Spanish instead of the language of voting-English.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Identity Theft at Koch Foods
By ROBRT MOORE
An identity-theft arrest of a Koch Foods employee Thursday is the sports equivalent of a slow, hanging curveball lobbed into the wheelhouse of Morristown City Council member Mel Tucker.
Tucker, the prime mover in a city council initiative designed to shift enforcement of some federal immigration laws to the Morristown Police Department, appears intent on hitting this offering way back.
The city council member says he plans to follow this case through the legal system in an effort to gain insight into whether Morristown companies are knowingly hiring illegal aliens.
The end of Thursday’s story is that a Koch Foods employee who identified herself as Lucia Perez was arrested at the chicken-processing plant in the East Tennessee Progress Center and charged with felony identity theft.
Perez had a company-issued photo ID card under the name of Julie Wheeler, according to MPD Detective Sgt. Randall Noe. Perez maintains she is 27. The real Julie Wheeler is 42.
Perez, a Mexican national, allegedly gave Wheeler’s Social Security number to Koch Foods human resources personnel when she was hired and assumed Wheeler’s identity, according to Noe.
The investigative trail that led to Perez’s arrest, however, began 1,100 miles away in the coastal hamlet of Swanville, Maine. That’s where Wheeler moved after she left Morristown in 2005. Wheeler, who says she qualified for disability benefits following a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress syndrome, received a troubling telephone call from the Social Security Administration earlier this week.
The SSA demanded that she repay $14,000 in disability payments. The reason that Wheeler owed the money is that Social Security records indicated that she had been working at Koch Foods in Morristown for the past two years. Wheeler says that she telephoned Koch Foods Thursday and asked a resources worker to write a letter to a Social Security office in Maine stating that she was not an employee. Wheeler alleges that a Koch Foods employee refused.
Tim Steffin, Koch Foods human resources manager, was unavailable for comment this morning. Noe says Koch Foods is cooperating with the investigation.
Wheeler says she strongly suspects that her former live-in boyfriend in Morristown, who Wheeler described as an illegal alien, stole her Social Security card during their relationship.
"The astonishing part of this is that (Perez) is obviously a Hispanic female and she was able to say that she is Julie Wheeler," Tucker said.
The city council member also says it’s hard for him to comprehend how the company could not have realized that Perez was not 42 years old.
"I have been saying that corporations here have been employing illegal aliens at very low wages, which in my opinion, has been depressing the wages for workers in Hamblen County," Tucker said this morning.
Tucker believes that this is the reason that the median family income actually dropped between 2000 to 2007.
It remains unclear whether Perez presented Wheeler’s Social Security card or just gave Wheeler’s Social Security number when she was hired at Koch Foods. Noe says he expects to learn that some time today.
"It will be gained either through cooperation or the legal process," Noe said this morning.
Noe asked that Perez be held without bond because he considers her a flight risk. Those convicted of identity theft face between two and four years in jail.
"That has resulted, in my opinion, in an insufficient disposable income for people to buy anything other than necessities here," Tucker added. "This resulted in an increase of the property tax of 40 percent last year."
____________
The disconnect between a Hispanic Koch Foods employee and a valid Social Security number, which surfaced with an identity-theft arrest at the Morristown chicken-processing plant Thursday, apparently wasn’t an uncommon phenomenon, suggest jail records.
Over the past two years, 39 Hispanics who identified themselves as Koch Foods employees have been booked into the Hamblen County Jail on a variety of charges, records indicate.
Only two gave corrections officers a Social Security number. The records did not indicate whether officers attempted to verify the numbers.
One of the workers, Juan Ramos Santiago, told corrections officers he was a citizen of Mexico, not the United States, according to jail records. The purported citizenship of the other man who gave a Social Security number, Jose Gregorio Vasquez, was not listed on his booking sheet.
Hamblen County jailers do not attempt to verify the places of employment for Hispanics or other inmates, so the possibility exists that the inmates could have lied about their connection to Koch Foods.
Tim Steffin, Koch Foods human resources manager, did not return telephone calls to comment. Other company officials were given the opportunity to comment but did not return calls.
Morristown Police Department Detective Sgt. Randall Noe, the lead investigator in the identity-theft case, says a Koch Foods human resources worker reported that Koch Foods visually verifies all prospective employees’ citizenship documents.
Noe said Koch Foods indicated the company does not keep copies of the qualifying documents — Social Security cards, alien-registration cards or passports — in employees’ personnel files.
Noe arrested 27-year-old Lucia Perez Thursday afternoon because she allegedly had assumed the identity of Julie Wheeler, a 42-year-old Maine resident who says her Social Security card was stolen when she lived in Morristown two years ago.
"It concerns law enforcement any time there is a perception that someone is breaking the law, whether it be federal or state law," Morristown Police Chief Roger Overholt said Saturday afternoon.
"Any time that these situations exist, we like to examine all the information to try to determine if there is a situation which warrants further investigation," the police chief added. "We know that it’s possible for undocumented individuals to obtain false documents and present them to employers."
Noe asked that Perez be held without bond because he considers her to be a flight risk. She was released from jail Friday after posting $10,000 bond.
All but three of the 39 listed said they were born in Mexico.
Only 12 of the 39 said they were U.S. citizens, and none of those who reported they were citizens possessed a driver’s license, according to jail records.
In fact, two of the three men who had Tennessee driver’s licenses, Santiago and Florentino Ramos, told jailers they were not U.S. citizens.
One man who told authorities he worked at Koch Foods, Julio S. Mendoza, had been deported two times under two different names, according to jail records.
He and 12 other Hispanics had known aliases. A man who sometimes went by Juventino Mendoza Aragon, tops the list. He has five known aliases reports indicate.
The Koch Foods Morristown plants, which employ more than 1,000 workers, have never been raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Immigration officers arrested dozens of illegal aliens at the Fairmont Street facility when it was Burnett Produce.
In late August, I.C.E. swarmed a Koch Foods chicken-processing plant in Fairfield, Ohio and arrested more than 160 suspected illegal immigrants, according to agency releases.
Simultaneously, agents executed search warrants at Koch’s Chicago headquarters.
The charges filed against the Koch employees in the sting include illegal re-entry to the United States, identity theft, document fraud, Social Security fraud and forgery.
Koch’s Ohio operations were targeted in a two-year federal investigation "based on evidence that Koch may have knowingly hired illegal aliens at its poultry processing and packaging facility," according to an I.C.E. press release.
An identity-theft arrest of a Koch Foods employee Thursday is the sports equivalent of a slow, hanging curveball lobbed into the wheelhouse of Morristown City Council member Mel Tucker.
Tucker, the prime mover in a city council initiative designed to shift enforcement of some federal immigration laws to the Morristown Police Department, appears intent on hitting this offering way back.
The city council member says he plans to follow this case through the legal system in an effort to gain insight into whether Morristown companies are knowingly hiring illegal aliens.
The end of Thursday’s story is that a Koch Foods employee who identified herself as Lucia Perez was arrested at the chicken-processing plant in the East Tennessee Progress Center and charged with felony identity theft.
Perez had a company-issued photo ID card under the name of Julie Wheeler, according to MPD Detective Sgt. Randall Noe. Perez maintains she is 27. The real Julie Wheeler is 42.
Perez, a Mexican national, allegedly gave Wheeler’s Social Security number to Koch Foods human resources personnel when she was hired and assumed Wheeler’s identity, according to Noe.
The investigative trail that led to Perez’s arrest, however, began 1,100 miles away in the coastal hamlet of Swanville, Maine. That’s where Wheeler moved after she left Morristown in 2005. Wheeler, who says she qualified for disability benefits following a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress syndrome, received a troubling telephone call from the Social Security Administration earlier this week.
The SSA demanded that she repay $14,000 in disability payments. The reason that Wheeler owed the money is that Social Security records indicated that she had been working at Koch Foods in Morristown for the past two years. Wheeler says that she telephoned Koch Foods Thursday and asked a resources worker to write a letter to a Social Security office in Maine stating that she was not an employee. Wheeler alleges that a Koch Foods employee refused.
Tim Steffin, Koch Foods human resources manager, was unavailable for comment this morning. Noe says Koch Foods is cooperating with the investigation.
Wheeler says she strongly suspects that her former live-in boyfriend in Morristown, who Wheeler described as an illegal alien, stole her Social Security card during their relationship.
"The astonishing part of this is that (Perez) is obviously a Hispanic female and she was able to say that she is Julie Wheeler," Tucker said.
The city council member also says it’s hard for him to comprehend how the company could not have realized that Perez was not 42 years old.
"I have been saying that corporations here have been employing illegal aliens at very low wages, which in my opinion, has been depressing the wages for workers in Hamblen County," Tucker said this morning.
Tucker believes that this is the reason that the median family income actually dropped between 2000 to 2007.
It remains unclear whether Perez presented Wheeler’s Social Security card or just gave Wheeler’s Social Security number when she was hired at Koch Foods. Noe says he expects to learn that some time today.
"It will be gained either through cooperation or the legal process," Noe said this morning.
Noe asked that Perez be held without bond because he considers her a flight risk. Those convicted of identity theft face between two and four years in jail.
"That has resulted, in my opinion, in an insufficient disposable income for people to buy anything other than necessities here," Tucker added. "This resulted in an increase of the property tax of 40 percent last year."
____________
The disconnect between a Hispanic Koch Foods employee and a valid Social Security number, which surfaced with an identity-theft arrest at the Morristown chicken-processing plant Thursday, apparently wasn’t an uncommon phenomenon, suggest jail records.
Over the past two years, 39 Hispanics who identified themselves as Koch Foods employees have been booked into the Hamblen County Jail on a variety of charges, records indicate.
Only two gave corrections officers a Social Security number. The records did not indicate whether officers attempted to verify the numbers.
One of the workers, Juan Ramos Santiago, told corrections officers he was a citizen of Mexico, not the United States, according to jail records. The purported citizenship of the other man who gave a Social Security number, Jose Gregorio Vasquez, was not listed on his booking sheet.
Hamblen County jailers do not attempt to verify the places of employment for Hispanics or other inmates, so the possibility exists that the inmates could have lied about their connection to Koch Foods.
Tim Steffin, Koch Foods human resources manager, did not return telephone calls to comment. Other company officials were given the opportunity to comment but did not return calls.
Morristown Police Department Detective Sgt. Randall Noe, the lead investigator in the identity-theft case, says a Koch Foods human resources worker reported that Koch Foods visually verifies all prospective employees’ citizenship documents.
Noe said Koch Foods indicated the company does not keep copies of the qualifying documents — Social Security cards, alien-registration cards or passports — in employees’ personnel files.
Noe arrested 27-year-old Lucia Perez Thursday afternoon because she allegedly had assumed the identity of Julie Wheeler, a 42-year-old Maine resident who says her Social Security card was stolen when she lived in Morristown two years ago.
"It concerns law enforcement any time there is a perception that someone is breaking the law, whether it be federal or state law," Morristown Police Chief Roger Overholt said Saturday afternoon.
"Any time that these situations exist, we like to examine all the information to try to determine if there is a situation which warrants further investigation," the police chief added. "We know that it’s possible for undocumented individuals to obtain false documents and present them to employers."
Noe asked that Perez be held without bond because he considers her to be a flight risk. She was released from jail Friday after posting $10,000 bond.
All but three of the 39 listed said they were born in Mexico.
Only 12 of the 39 said they were U.S. citizens, and none of those who reported they were citizens possessed a driver’s license, according to jail records.
In fact, two of the three men who had Tennessee driver’s licenses, Santiago and Florentino Ramos, told jailers they were not U.S. citizens.
One man who told authorities he worked at Koch Foods, Julio S. Mendoza, had been deported two times under two different names, according to jail records.
He and 12 other Hispanics had known aliases. A man who sometimes went by Juventino Mendoza Aragon, tops the list. He has five known aliases reports indicate.
The Koch Foods Morristown plants, which employ more than 1,000 workers, have never been raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Immigration officers arrested dozens of illegal aliens at the Fairmont Street facility when it was Burnett Produce.
In late August, I.C.E. swarmed a Koch Foods chicken-processing plant in Fairfield, Ohio and arrested more than 160 suspected illegal immigrants, according to agency releases.
Simultaneously, agents executed search warrants at Koch’s Chicago headquarters.
The charges filed against the Koch employees in the sting include illegal re-entry to the United States, identity theft, document fraud, Social Security fraud and forgery.
Koch’s Ohio operations were targeted in a two-year federal investigation "based on evidence that Koch may have knowingly hired illegal aliens at its poultry processing and packaging facility," according to an I.C.E. press release.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Springfield Plant A Magnet for Illegals
SPRINGFIELD, TENN.-A hidden camera investigation conducted by NewsChannel 5 revealed Springfield's biggest employer may be the biggest offender when it comes to hiring undocumented immigrants.
Electrolux is one of the largest manufacturing plants in Middle Tennessee.
It employs thousands of workers.
But a NewsChannel 5 investigation uncovered some disturbing facts about many of those employees.
From city leaders to factory employees, several people said the same thing about Electrolux. They said illegal immigrants, not Americans, comprise a large portion of its workforce.
Three years ago, the company came to Robertson County and local residents were excited about the hundreds of new jobs it would bring.
"They tend to project a family-oriented business here," said an employee.
Its opening was seen as a surefire boost to the local economy.
"You know they care so it's a perfect place for a single mom to be," said an employee.
But how many of those jobs went to American workers?
"This is what Springfield, Robertson County is," said Amanda Clack, a former employee. "They are taking over."
Clack says few positions went to Americans.
She claims Electrolux is a big draw for immigrants.
"Ninety percent of that plant is Mexicans," she said. "Maybe 5 percent white, 5 percent black."
"There's only two people next to me who speak English, the rest of them are Hispanic around me," said an employee."They constantly want to say we're going to go to Mexico,' another employee said. "Why go to Mexico, when Mexico is here."
To get hired at Electrolux, applicants first go through a staffing agency called Randstad. Hiring occurs inside a trailer next to the plant. Four people equipped with hidden cameras went to the trailer to see what happens.
One person ventured into Randstad under the premise that she recently arrived in this country and needed a job.
While waiting to fill out paperwork, she met a man who was reapplying.
He allegedly reapplied using fake documentations.
The man told the decoy about someone he knew who provided fake documents.
Outside the trailer, he told her how much.
"Around $900 you will get a birth certificate, a social security number from Puerto Rico," he said. "It has a name and address and everything."
He showed her his own fake state identification
.
"It's easy to get the job, and you don't have to speak English," he said.
Around town, the decoys sent by NewsChannel 5 learned Electrolux is the best place to work for undocumented immigrants.
"It's around $800 to get a social security number," one man said.
They also learned about a Puerto Rican black market in which identities are bought and sold.No one seems to care if they're caught.
"They are reapplying because they are getting fired, and then they are reapplying with other documentations, and then getting hired again," said one decoy.
An applicant works for Randstad, but at Electrolux, for the first three while their papers are being verified.
"There's plenty of people there," one man said. "Some that will be fired today and they go and buy different papers, and then they go either to a different shift, or the same shift."
"Now, they need a lot of people, but there's no people to hire," he said. "And yes, they know those documents do not belong to us."
Randstad and Electrolux denied anything like this goes on.
But one man who urged the undercover decoy to apply with Randstad, saying Randstad knew his papers were fake, but rehired him anyway.
"Every one of us goes there and nothing happens," he said. "Don't be afraid. I worked there three years and nothing happened."
The situation at Electrolux has left many in Springfield with a familiar frustration.
"Since the Mexicans will work for lower amounts of money, they will hire them, and then leaving us out here, not being able to find a job," Clack said.
Randstad denies any wrongdoing.
A spokeswoman said they have an outside company that also checks to make sure the documents they receive are real. Springfield City Manager Paul Nutting said what the investigation revealed wasn't something new to him.
He said he's known about this issue for years and it's had a negative impact on Springfield.
In an interview Thursday, he discusses the Electrolux situation.
Electrolux also defended its hiring practices in a statement.
"We are confident that this process of independently verifying employee documentation minimizes the chances of undocumented workers slipping through," according to a written statement from a spokesman. "If any should, they eventually will be identified, and fired."
Electrolux is one of the largest manufacturing plants in Middle Tennessee.
It employs thousands of workers.
But a NewsChannel 5 investigation uncovered some disturbing facts about many of those employees.
From city leaders to factory employees, several people said the same thing about Electrolux. They said illegal immigrants, not Americans, comprise a large portion of its workforce.
Three years ago, the company came to Robertson County and local residents were excited about the hundreds of new jobs it would bring.
"They tend to project a family-oriented business here," said an employee.
Its opening was seen as a surefire boost to the local economy.
"You know they care so it's a perfect place for a single mom to be," said an employee.
But how many of those jobs went to American workers?
"This is what Springfield, Robertson County is," said Amanda Clack, a former employee. "They are taking over."
Clack says few positions went to Americans.
She claims Electrolux is a big draw for immigrants.
"Ninety percent of that plant is Mexicans," she said. "Maybe 5 percent white, 5 percent black."
"There's only two people next to me who speak English, the rest of them are Hispanic around me," said an employee."They constantly want to say we're going to go to Mexico,' another employee said. "Why go to Mexico, when Mexico is here."
To get hired at Electrolux, applicants first go through a staffing agency called Randstad. Hiring occurs inside a trailer next to the plant. Four people equipped with hidden cameras went to the trailer to see what happens.
One person ventured into Randstad under the premise that she recently arrived in this country and needed a job.
While waiting to fill out paperwork, she met a man who was reapplying.
He allegedly reapplied using fake documentations.
The man told the decoy about someone he knew who provided fake documents.
Outside the trailer, he told her how much.
"Around $900 you will get a birth certificate, a social security number from Puerto Rico," he said. "It has a name and address and everything."
He showed her his own fake state identification
.
"It's easy to get the job, and you don't have to speak English," he said.
Around town, the decoys sent by NewsChannel 5 learned Electrolux is the best place to work for undocumented immigrants.
"It's around $800 to get a social security number," one man said.
They also learned about a Puerto Rican black market in which identities are bought and sold.No one seems to care if they're caught.
"They are reapplying because they are getting fired, and then they are reapplying with other documentations, and then getting hired again," said one decoy.
An applicant works for Randstad, but at Electrolux, for the first three while their papers are being verified.
"There's plenty of people there," one man said. "Some that will be fired today and they go and buy different papers, and then they go either to a different shift, or the same shift."
"Now, they need a lot of people, but there's no people to hire," he said. "And yes, they know those documents do not belong to us."
Randstad and Electrolux denied anything like this goes on.
But one man who urged the undercover decoy to apply with Randstad, saying Randstad knew his papers were fake, but rehired him anyway.
"Every one of us goes there and nothing happens," he said. "Don't be afraid. I worked there three years and nothing happened."
The situation at Electrolux has left many in Springfield with a familiar frustration.
"Since the Mexicans will work for lower amounts of money, they will hire them, and then leaving us out here, not being able to find a job," Clack said.
Randstad denies any wrongdoing.
A spokeswoman said they have an outside company that also checks to make sure the documents they receive are real. Springfield City Manager Paul Nutting said what the investigation revealed wasn't something new to him.
He said he's known about this issue for years and it's had a negative impact on Springfield.
In an interview Thursday, he discusses the Electrolux situation.
Electrolux also defended its hiring practices in a statement.
"We are confident that this process of independently verifying employee documentation minimizes the chances of undocumented workers slipping through," according to a written statement from a spokesman. "If any should, they eventually will be identified, and fired."
The Resolutions Pass
The Morristown City Council has finally decided that illegal immigration is enough of a problem in Morristown and Hamblen County to call on our State and federal Governments to take action to relieve the community.
Is it just us here at T-FIRE, or are these resolutions-which were courageously brought forward by Councilman Mel Tucker-long overdue?
Is it just us here at T-FIRE, or are these resolutions-which were courageously brought forward by Councilman Mel Tucker-long overdue?
Huckabee a Disaster?
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is emerging as one of the top contenders for the 2008 Republican nomination. Groups that want to secure our borders and enforce America's immigration laws are warning that Huckabee could be disastrous on the immigration front:
Groups that support a crackdown on illegal aliens haven't settled on their champion in the race for the White House, but there's little doubt which Republican scares them most — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. "He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor," said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that played a major role in rallying the phone calls that helped defeat this year's Senate immigration bill. "Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens." As Mr. Huckabee rises in the polls, his opponents are beginning to take shots at him on immigration. Just as problematic for the former Arkansas governor, however, is that the independent interest groups that track the issue are also giving him the once-over, and don't like what they see. "Huckabee is the guy who scares the heck out of me," said Peter Gadiel, president of 9-11 Families for a Secure America, a group instrumental in fighting
for the REAL ID Act that sets federal standards for driver's licenses.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Islamic Radicals Planned to Come Through Pourous Border
By Sara A. Carter
The Washington Times
Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility.
Fort officials changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were to be smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high-powered weapons to attack the Arizona Army base, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Times.
"A portion of the operatives were in the United States, with the remainder not yet in the United States," according to one of the documents, an FBI advisory that was distributed to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the CIA, Customs and Border Protection and the Justice Department, among several other law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. "The Afghanis and Iraqis shaved their beards so as not to appear to be Middle Easterners."
According to the FBI advisory, each Middle Easterner paid Mexican drug lords $20,000 "or the equivalent in weapons" for the cartel's assistance in smuggling them and their weapons through tunnels along the border into the U.S. The weapons would be sent through tunnels that supposedly ended in Arizona and New Mexico, but the Islamist terrorists would be smuggled through Laredo, Texas, and reclaim the weapons later.
A number of the Afghans and Iraqis are already in a safe house in Texas, the FBI advisory said.
Fort Huachuca, which lies about 20 miles from the Mexican border, has members of all four service branches training in intelligence and secret operations. About 12,000 persons work at the fort and many have their families on base.
Lt. Col. Matthew Garner, spokesman for Fort Huachuca, said details about the current phase of the investigation or security changes on the post "will not be disclosed."
"We are always taking precautions to ensure that soldiers, family members and civilians that work and live on Fort Huachuca are safe," Col. Garner said. "With this specific threat, we did change some aspects of our security that we did have in place."
According to the FBI report, some of the weapons associated with the plot have been smuggled through a tunnel from Mexico to the U.S.
The FBI report is based on Drug Enforcement Administration sources, including Mexican nationals with access to "sub-sources" in the drug cartels. The report's assessment is that the DEA's Mexican contacts have proven reliable in the past but the "sub-source" is of uncertain reliability.
According to the source who spoke with DEA intelligence agents, the weapons included two Milan anti-tank missiles, Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles, grenade launchers, long guns and handguns.
"FBI Comment: The surface-to-air missiles may in fact be RPGs," the advisory stated, adding that the weapons stash in Mexico could include two or three more Milan missiles.
The Milan, a French-German portable anti-tank weapon, was developed in the 1970s and widely sold to militaries around the world, including Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Insurgents in Iraq reportedly have used a Milan missile in an attack on a British tank. Iraqi guerrillas also have shot down U.S. helicopters using RPGs, or rocket-propelled grenades.
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson would not elaborate on the current investigation regarding the threat, but said that many times the initial reports are based on "raw, uncorroborated information that has not been completely vetted." He added that this report shows the extent to which all law enforcement and intelligence agencies cooperate in terror investigations.
"If nothing else, it provides a good look at the inner working of the law-enforcement and intelligence community and how they work together on a daily basis to share and deal with threat information," Mr. Bresson said. "It also demonstrates the cross-pollination that frequently exists between criminal and terrorist groups."
The connections between criminal enterprises, such as powerful drug cartels, and terrorist organizations have become a serious concern for intelligence agencies monitoring the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Based upon the information provided by the DEA handling agent, the DEA has classified the source as credible," stated a Department of Homeland Security document, regarding the possibility of an attack on Fort Huachuca. "The identity of the sub-source has been established; however, none of the information provided by the sub-source in the past has been corroborated."
The FBI advisory stated the "sub-source" for the information "is a member of the Zetas," the military arm of one of Mexico's most dangerous drug-trafficking organizations, the Gulf Cartel. The Gulf Cartel controls the movement of narcotics from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, into the U.S. along the Laredo corridor.
However, the sub-source "for this information is of unknown reliability," the FBI advisory stated.
According to the DEA, the sub-source identified Mexico's Sinaloa cartel as the drug lords who would assist the terrorists in their plot.
This led the DEA to caution the FBI that its information may be a Gulf Cartel plant to bring the U.S. military in against its main rival. The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels have fought bloody battles along the border for control of shipping routes into the U.S.
"It doesn't mean that there isn't truth to some of what this source delivered to U.S. agents," said one law-enforcement intelligence agent, on the condition of anonymity. "The cartels have no loyalty to any nation or person. It isn't surprising that for the right price they would assist terrorists, knowingly or unknowingly."
The Washington Times
Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility.
Fort officials changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were to be smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high-powered weapons to attack the Arizona Army base, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Times.
"A portion of the operatives were in the United States, with the remainder not yet in the United States," according to one of the documents, an FBI advisory that was distributed to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the CIA, Customs and Border Protection and the Justice Department, among several other law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. "The Afghanis and Iraqis shaved their beards so as not to appear to be Middle Easterners."
According to the FBI advisory, each Middle Easterner paid Mexican drug lords $20,000 "or the equivalent in weapons" for the cartel's assistance in smuggling them and their weapons through tunnels along the border into the U.S. The weapons would be sent through tunnels that supposedly ended in Arizona and New Mexico, but the Islamist terrorists would be smuggled through Laredo, Texas, and reclaim the weapons later.
A number of the Afghans and Iraqis are already in a safe house in Texas, the FBI advisory said.
Fort Huachuca, which lies about 20 miles from the Mexican border, has members of all four service branches training in intelligence and secret operations. About 12,000 persons work at the fort and many have their families on base.
Lt. Col. Matthew Garner, spokesman for Fort Huachuca, said details about the current phase of the investigation or security changes on the post "will not be disclosed."
"We are always taking precautions to ensure that soldiers, family members and civilians that work and live on Fort Huachuca are safe," Col. Garner said. "With this specific threat, we did change some aspects of our security that we did have in place."
According to the FBI report, some of the weapons associated with the plot have been smuggled through a tunnel from Mexico to the U.S.
The FBI report is based on Drug Enforcement Administration sources, including Mexican nationals with access to "sub-sources" in the drug cartels. The report's assessment is that the DEA's Mexican contacts have proven reliable in the past but the "sub-source" is of uncertain reliability.
According to the source who spoke with DEA intelligence agents, the weapons included two Milan anti-tank missiles, Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles, grenade launchers, long guns and handguns.
"FBI Comment: The surface-to-air missiles may in fact be RPGs," the advisory stated, adding that the weapons stash in Mexico could include two or three more Milan missiles.
The Milan, a French-German portable anti-tank weapon, was developed in the 1970s and widely sold to militaries around the world, including Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Insurgents in Iraq reportedly have used a Milan missile in an attack on a British tank. Iraqi guerrillas also have shot down U.S. helicopters using RPGs, or rocket-propelled grenades.
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson would not elaborate on the current investigation regarding the threat, but said that many times the initial reports are based on "raw, uncorroborated information that has not been completely vetted." He added that this report shows the extent to which all law enforcement and intelligence agencies cooperate in terror investigations.
"If nothing else, it provides a good look at the inner working of the law-enforcement and intelligence community and how they work together on a daily basis to share and deal with threat information," Mr. Bresson said. "It also demonstrates the cross-pollination that frequently exists between criminal and terrorist groups."
The connections between criminal enterprises, such as powerful drug cartels, and terrorist organizations have become a serious concern for intelligence agencies monitoring the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Based upon the information provided by the DEA handling agent, the DEA has classified the source as credible," stated a Department of Homeland Security document, regarding the possibility of an attack on Fort Huachuca. "The identity of the sub-source has been established; however, none of the information provided by the sub-source in the past has been corroborated."
The FBI advisory stated the "sub-source" for the information "is a member of the Zetas," the military arm of one of Mexico's most dangerous drug-trafficking organizations, the Gulf Cartel. The Gulf Cartel controls the movement of narcotics from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, into the U.S. along the Laredo corridor.
However, the sub-source "for this information is of unknown reliability," the FBI advisory stated.
According to the DEA, the sub-source identified Mexico's Sinaloa cartel as the drug lords who would assist the terrorists in their plot.
This led the DEA to caution the FBI that its information may be a Gulf Cartel plant to bring the U.S. military in against its main rival. The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels have fought bloody battles along the border for control of shipping routes into the U.S.
"It doesn't mean that there isn't truth to some of what this source delivered to U.S. agents," said one law-enforcement intelligence agent, on the condition of anonymity. "The cartels have no loyalty to any nation or person. It isn't surprising that for the right price they would assist terrorists, knowingly or unknowingly."
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
She Was for It, Now She is Against It
By DEVLIN BARRETT-Associated Press
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday came out against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, after weeks of pressure in the presidential race to take a position on a now-failed ID plan from her home state governor.
Clinton has faced criticism from candidates in both parties for her noncommittal answers on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's attempt to allow illegal immigrants in his state to receive driver's licenses. Spitzer abandoned the effort Wednesday.
"I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal," Clinton said in a statement. "As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system."
Clinton stumbled when asked about the issue during a Democratic debate two weeks ago, and her new position comes the day before another debate where opponents are expected to raise the issue again.
Rival campaigns made clear they were not letting go of the issue.
"When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it's easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them," said Barack Obama spokesman Bill Burton, referring to the Clinton campaign's admission that aides had staged a question for her at an Iowa event.
Colleen Flanagan, a spokesman for Chris Dodd, called Clinton's position "flip-flopping cubed. She was for it before she was against it, before she was for it, before she was against it."
Spitzer met with New York lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday, and conceded that there was too much public opposition to his plan. Clinton did not attend the meeting.
"It does not take a stethoscope to hear the pulse of New Yorkers on this topic," he said.The Democratic governor introduced the plan two months ago with the goal of increased security, safer roads and an opportunity to bring immigrants "out of the shadows." Opponents charged the scheme would make it easier for would-be terrorists to get identification, and make the country less safe.
The decision is another example of the roadblocks high-profile immigration reforms have faced this year. Less than five months ago, Congress failed to pass legislation that would legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants and fortify the border with Mexico.
"The federal government has lost control of its borders... and now has no solution to deal with it," Spitzer said.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Spitzer's reversal on the license issue "a good development" and said immigration is a federal issue for which his department has to "ramp up enforcement."
"What I want to make sure is that states aren't working at cross purposes with us and enabling the kind of conduct we're enforcing against," Chertoff told The Associated Press by telephone from London.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday came out against granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, after weeks of pressure in the presidential race to take a position on a now-failed ID plan from her home state governor.
Clinton has faced criticism from candidates in both parties for her noncommittal answers on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's attempt to allow illegal immigrants in his state to receive driver's licenses. Spitzer abandoned the effort Wednesday.
"I support Governor Spitzer's decision today to withdraw his proposal," Clinton said in a statement. "As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system."
Clinton stumbled when asked about the issue during a Democratic debate two weeks ago, and her new position comes the day before another debate where opponents are expected to raise the issue again.
Rival campaigns made clear they were not letting go of the issue.
"When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it's easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them," said Barack Obama spokesman Bill Burton, referring to the Clinton campaign's admission that aides had staged a question for her at an Iowa event.
Colleen Flanagan, a spokesman for Chris Dodd, called Clinton's position "flip-flopping cubed. She was for it before she was against it, before she was for it, before she was against it."
Spitzer met with New York lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday, and conceded that there was too much public opposition to his plan. Clinton did not attend the meeting.
"It does not take a stethoscope to hear the pulse of New Yorkers on this topic," he said.The Democratic governor introduced the plan two months ago with the goal of increased security, safer roads and an opportunity to bring immigrants "out of the shadows." Opponents charged the scheme would make it easier for would-be terrorists to get identification, and make the country less safe.
The decision is another example of the roadblocks high-profile immigration reforms have faced this year. Less than five months ago, Congress failed to pass legislation that would legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants and fortify the border with Mexico.
"The federal government has lost control of its borders... and now has no solution to deal with it," Spitzer said.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Spitzer's reversal on the license issue "a good development" and said immigration is a federal issue for which his department has to "ramp up enforcement."
"What I want to make sure is that states aren't working at cross purposes with us and enabling the kind of conduct we're enforcing against," Chertoff told The Associated Press by telephone from London.
Hillarycare for Illegals
By Robert Goldberg-New York Post
November 16, 2007 -- IF you thought Hillary Clinton had trouble making up her mind about drivers licenses for illegal aliens, wait until someone tries to pin her down about health care for illegals.
She fumbled for days after being asked about Gov. Spitzer's now-aborted plan to give licenses to illegals. But the New York governor is pushing ahead on giving free health care to the same folks. Washington recently told Spitzer that it wouldn't pay for chemotherapy for illegals under a Medicaid "emergency" program. That program was created in 1996 at President Bill Clinton's insistence to provide "temporary" coverage to illegals, who'd been barred from Medicaid the year before. In the years since, it's become a de facto entitlement for illegals - who in some states get the same benefits as everyone else on Medicaid (except for organ transplants). As a result, "emergency" Medicaid spending has ballooned across the country.
When the Bush administration told Spitzer that emergency Medicaid wasn't meant to cover chemotherapy, the gov decided that New York taxpayers (many of whom have to cover the cost of their own cancer drugs, due to inadequate private insurance) would foot the bill. Spitzer says the cancer care will "only" cost $10 million. Maybe so - until more people find out it's free.
Over to Hillary: Asked in September if the senator's new health plan would pay the tab for illegals, senior Clinton policy adviser Laurie Rubiner said, "That's one we're going to have to think through a little bit . . . We have not dealt with every single detail with this plan." This is one detail Clinton had better deal with quickly. No one wants to see suffering people denied health care. Illegal immigrants are more than welcome to pay out of pocket for health care - and many do. Many also buy private insurance - or at least did until it became public policy to give health care away for free as a reward for being here illegally.
But lots of voters will say states shouldn't provide free cancer care to people who are in this country illegally, when many Americans can't get their private health plans to pay for the same drugs. And Clinton has clearly supported spending taxpayer dollars on free health care for illegals in the past - and not just a decade ago, when Bill was pushing for the "emergency" program. Despite what the senator's adviser says, she has thought through this issue. Hillary voted to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover illegals and had counted on that money to bring down the cost of her own health care plan. And if "universal health coverage" is her goal, then supporting the Spitzer chemo handout is a slam-dunk. After all, illegals make up 9 million of the 45 million "Americans" she typically notes as lacking health coverage.
To be fair, no presidential candidate has so far taken on the issue of how to deal with health-care coverage for illegals. But it's only fair that Clinton go first: Her home-state governor and political ally is at the center of the debate. And health care is Clinton's signature issue, the one policy area that she claims the most experience and leadership. She has had plenty of time to "think." How she responds will tell us a lot about her health-care plan and her candidacy.
November 16, 2007 -- IF you thought Hillary Clinton had trouble making up her mind about drivers licenses for illegal aliens, wait until someone tries to pin her down about health care for illegals.
She fumbled for days after being asked about Gov. Spitzer's now-aborted plan to give licenses to illegals. But the New York governor is pushing ahead on giving free health care to the same folks. Washington recently told Spitzer that it wouldn't pay for chemotherapy for illegals under a Medicaid "emergency" program. That program was created in 1996 at President Bill Clinton's insistence to provide "temporary" coverage to illegals, who'd been barred from Medicaid the year before. In the years since, it's become a de facto entitlement for illegals - who in some states get the same benefits as everyone else on Medicaid (except for organ transplants). As a result, "emergency" Medicaid spending has ballooned across the country.
When the Bush administration told Spitzer that emergency Medicaid wasn't meant to cover chemotherapy, the gov decided that New York taxpayers (many of whom have to cover the cost of their own cancer drugs, due to inadequate private insurance) would foot the bill. Spitzer says the cancer care will "only" cost $10 million. Maybe so - until more people find out it's free.
Over to Hillary: Asked in September if the senator's new health plan would pay the tab for illegals, senior Clinton policy adviser Laurie Rubiner said, "That's one we're going to have to think through a little bit . . . We have not dealt with every single detail with this plan." This is one detail Clinton had better deal with quickly. No one wants to see suffering people denied health care. Illegal immigrants are more than welcome to pay out of pocket for health care - and many do. Many also buy private insurance - or at least did until it became public policy to give health care away for free as a reward for being here illegally.
But lots of voters will say states shouldn't provide free cancer care to people who are in this country illegally, when many Americans can't get their private health plans to pay for the same drugs. And Clinton has clearly supported spending taxpayer dollars on free health care for illegals in the past - and not just a decade ago, when Bill was pushing for the "emergency" program. Despite what the senator's adviser says, she has thought through this issue. Hillary voted to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover illegals and had counted on that money to bring down the cost of her own health care plan. And if "universal health coverage" is her goal, then supporting the Spitzer chemo handout is a slam-dunk. After all, illegals make up 9 million of the 45 million "Americans" she typically notes as lacking health coverage.
To be fair, no presidential candidate has so far taken on the issue of how to deal with health-care coverage for illegals. But it's only fair that Clinton go first: Her home-state governor and political ally is at the center of the debate. And health care is Clinton's signature issue, the one policy area that she claims the most experience and leadership. She has had plenty of time to "think." How she responds will tell us a lot about her health-care plan and her candidacy.
The Railroading
By now, those following the issue of immigration law enforcement have heard about the Border Patrol Agents who were sentenced to prison for shooting those trying to cross our borders in violation of the law.
Now we learn that the men those agents shot at were scoundrels of the worst sort who were trying to smuggle drugs across the U.S. border. What was suspected has been confirmed.
So these men (who are Hispanic Americans) who have done their duty in protecting the sovereignty of the United States are put into prison where they are beaten (probably by illegal alien criminals), while the career criminal they shot might get 40 years, or might be deported only to return again.
Now we learn that the men those agents shot at were scoundrels of the worst sort who were trying to smuggle drugs across the U.S. border. What was suspected has been confirmed.
So these men (who are Hispanic Americans) who have done their duty in protecting the sovereignty of the United States are put into prison where they are beaten (probably by illegal alien criminals), while the career criminal they shot might get 40 years, or might be deported only to return again.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Mel Tucker Fights the Power
BY ROBERT MOORE, Tribune Staff Writer
Having suffered setbacks on two fronts involving illegal immigrants, Morristown City Council member Mel Tucker is moving ahead with a new four-prong offensive designed to prod goverment into action.
Having suffered setbacks on two fronts involving illegal immigrants, Morristown City Council member Mel Tucker is moving ahead with a new four-prong offensive designed to prod goverment into action.
This time, he has a clear majority of council members on board, and the council is scheduled to approve Tucker’s policy package on Nov. 20
Tucker has enough votes to pass a resolution urging our federal legislators — Bob Corker, Lamar Alexander and David Davis — to adequately fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to prod immigration officials to do their job.
The council member wants state legislators, John Litz and Steve Southerland, to introduce bills that would make it a felony offense to knowingly employ, transport or house illegal immigrants.
The state law Tucker seeks, which could be modeled after legislation that recently went into effect in Oklahoma, also would require law enforcement officials to detain illegals until they can be deported.
Third on Tucker’s illegal-immigration wish list is directing Morristown City Attorney Dick Jessee to conduct research on the powers of municipal governments to combat an influx of undocumented residents.
Finally, the councilman wants to try another approach to have MPD officers certified to perform certain duties of a federal immigration officer.
Tucker’s initial effort was thwarted, in part, because I.C.E. is reserving the limited training spots for agencies that operate a jail.
His new idea is to have Hamblen County Sheriff Esco Jarnagin deputize five MPD officers, then send them to school with five county corrections officers.
If this proposed end-run around the I.C.E. guidelines works, the MPD officers would be able to process criminal aliens into a federal database and initiate deportation proceedings without relying on a federal agent. .
The officers who complete the school also could document alleged illegal immigrants they encounter during the course of routine police work and forward their names to I.C.E., which could act on the information.
The officers would not have the authority to conduct raids.
"I think it’s our responsibility as a legislative and political body to be looking at this problem," Tucker said. "When I see and watch the news and every agency around the country says, ‘Why, that’s not my problem, that’s the federal government’s problem’... Well, you know, it’s our problem because it’s affecting us, in my opinion."
In August 2006, responding to complaints about up to 10 Hispanics living in a house on Rosedale Avenue, Tucker launched an initiative to set occupancy limits for residences inside the Morristown city limits.
Eight months later, Tucker got what he wanted, but it was a hollow victory. The city council essentially adopted the same occupancy guidelines enforced by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The federal rules permit up to 14 adults to live in a 1,900-square-foot house.
Tucker says groups with similar stated goals like the Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen have approached him with offers of support.
Tucker says he turned them down flat, and emphasizes that he’s not affiliated with any anti-illegal-immigration group.
"I always act on my on," Tucker said. "I’m not speaking for anyone else except myself. I believe that the laws of our land ought to be enforced. I think you move toward anarchy when you don’t do that, and the federal government needs to step up to the plate and do it’s job."
Tucker adopted a novel approach to drive home his point at Tuesday’s council meeting.
In a serious tone, Tucker proposed that the Morristown Police Department suspend enforcement of drunken-driving and all other alcohol-related laws.
Stunned silence filled Council Chambers. Council member Kay Senter’s draw dropped.
When everyone had time to weigh whether Tucker had lost his mind, he allowed that it was an absurd proposition but no less absurd than the federal government to not enforcing immigration laws.
Tucker believes that the influx of illegal immigrants in Hamblen County is at least partially responsible for the drop in median family income, which fell from $27,000 in 2000 to $26,300 in 2006.
He contends that Morristown might be a more attractive location for illegals than many other cities because it’s an "industrial-based, relatively low-wage community."
He maintains this is important for council members because sales-tax revenues fund a large portion of city government’s operations.
"Personally, I believe that people don’t have the disposable income to buy products that generate sales tax that we’ve relied upon in the past," Tucker said.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
The Tucker Resolutions
Morristown City Councilman Mel Tucker is fed up with illegal immigration, and he's tired of the Morristown-Hamblen County Chamber of Commerce pretending that it isn't a problem. What he proposed to do is for the Council to use its discretionary powers to demand via a resolution that our Representatives in Nashville and Washington take action (reports T-FIRE member and former Hamblen County Commissioner Linda Noe):
1. Draft a resolution to send to Senator Bob Corker, Senator Lamar Alexander, and Congressman David Davis requesting that ICE (Immigration and Custom Enforcement) receive additional funding and do its job enforcing the federal immigration laws.
2. Draft a resolution to send to state Senator Steve Southerland and Representative John Litz asking that they push legislation in Tennessee similar to Oklahoma HB 1804. This recently enacted Oklahoma law prohibits the issuance of government ID's (such as licenses) to illegal immigrants; prohibits public assistance to illegal immigrants; makes it a felony for a U.S. citizen to transport, harbor, or employ illegal immigrants; and requires that illegal immigrants be detained without bond until deportation.
3. Authorize city attorney Dick Jessee to research the issue and advise council of all legal means available to identify and take action against illegal immigrants.
4. Fund Hamblen County Sheriff Jarnagin's expenses for 10 "deputies" to attend ICE certification training that is reserved only for those agencies, such as Hamblen County, that operate jails. Among those ten would be 5 Morristown Police Deptartment officers who would be deputized by the Sheriff.
That last point is critical, because since the federal government refuses to enforce our immigration laws, our local law enforcement must rake up the burden.
Let's let Councilman Tucker know that we support his efforts!
1. Draft a resolution to send to Senator Bob Corker, Senator Lamar Alexander, and Congressman David Davis requesting that ICE (Immigration and Custom Enforcement) receive additional funding and do its job enforcing the federal immigration laws.
2. Draft a resolution to send to state Senator Steve Southerland and Representative John Litz asking that they push legislation in Tennessee similar to Oklahoma HB 1804. This recently enacted Oklahoma law prohibits the issuance of government ID's (such as licenses) to illegal immigrants; prohibits public assistance to illegal immigrants; makes it a felony for a U.S. citizen to transport, harbor, or employ illegal immigrants; and requires that illegal immigrants be detained without bond until deportation.
3. Authorize city attorney Dick Jessee to research the issue and advise council of all legal means available to identify and take action against illegal immigrants.
4. Fund Hamblen County Sheriff Jarnagin's expenses for 10 "deputies" to attend ICE certification training that is reserved only for those agencies, such as Hamblen County, that operate jails. Among those ten would be 5 Morristown Police Deptartment officers who would be deputized by the Sheriff.
That last point is critical, because since the federal government refuses to enforce our immigration laws, our local law enforcement must rake up the burden.
Let's let Councilman Tucker know that we support his efforts!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
What We are Really Looking For
Investors' Business Daily's Michael Barone hits the nail on the head as to what the real impetus is for those of us who are concerned about the threat of illegal immigration into this country-and it isn't race:
You don't have to be a racist to be bothered by such things. You just have to be a citizen who thinks that massive failure to enforce the law is corrosive to society. That was apparent to me as I listened to a focus group of Republican voters in suburban Richmond, Va., conducted by Peter Hart for the Annenberg School of Communications.
One voter after another complained that the immigration laws were not being enforced. None of them made any derogatory remarks about Latino immigrants — two said they admired how hard immigrants work. They don't want to see Latinos banished from this country. They want the immigrants here to be legally here.
Here at T-FIRE, this is our collective sentiment-word for word.
You don't have to be a racist to be bothered by such things. You just have to be a citizen who thinks that massive failure to enforce the law is corrosive to society. That was apparent to me as I listened to a focus group of Republican voters in suburban Richmond, Va., conducted by Peter Hart for the Annenberg School of Communications.
One voter after another complained that the immigration laws were not being enforced. None of them made any derogatory remarks about Latino immigrants — two said they admired how hard immigrants work. They don't want to see Latinos banished from this country. They want the immigrants here to be legally here.
Here at T-FIRE, this is our collective sentiment-word for word.
Checkpoints are So Helpful
Our border patrol agents are having such a difficult time, and the ladies and gentlemen manning our official border checkpoints have been such a help-they let 21,000 people through border checkpoints that did not have proper documentation.
Minuteman Leader: No Compromise On Illegal Immigration
From The Tennessean
By COLBY SLEDGE Staff Writer
A leader in volunteer patrolling of U.S. borders said his group was at a "no-compromise position" concerning illegal immigration during a speech at Belmont University this morning.
"This is not about being anti-immigrant; this is not about hate," said Chris Simcox, president of the Arizona-based Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "This is about citizens doing their duty."More than 170 students, faculty and community leaders attended the event at the Massey Business Center, according to estimates by Belmont officials.
More than 9,000 Minutemen volunteer for patrol trips on U.S. borders, primarily focusing on identifying and reporting people crossing illegally from Mexico into the United States.
Simcox spoke out mainly against the federal government, saying members of the U.S. Congress were ''selling out our citizenship'' in exchange for furthering American addictions to drugs and cheap labor.''Angst and anger and activism need to be directed at those we hired,'' Simcox said.
The audience mostly listened quietly during the 45-minute lecture, which included a question-and-answer session. Simcox drew ire from some students during the speech for insinuating that protesters at previous events were actually upset over crackdowns on drug cartels coming from Mexico.''Sometimes I think that's what they're really protesting, is losing their cheap drug supply,'' Simcox said.
Simcox will be at Middle Tennessee State University at 6 p.m. in the State Farm Room of the Business and Aerospace Building. The event is free and open to the public.
By COLBY SLEDGE Staff Writer
A leader in volunteer patrolling of U.S. borders said his group was at a "no-compromise position" concerning illegal immigration during a speech at Belmont University this morning.
"This is not about being anti-immigrant; this is not about hate," said Chris Simcox, president of the Arizona-based Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "This is about citizens doing their duty."More than 170 students, faculty and community leaders attended the event at the Massey Business Center, according to estimates by Belmont officials.
More than 9,000 Minutemen volunteer for patrol trips on U.S. borders, primarily focusing on identifying and reporting people crossing illegally from Mexico into the United States.
Simcox spoke out mainly against the federal government, saying members of the U.S. Congress were ''selling out our citizenship'' in exchange for furthering American addictions to drugs and cheap labor.''Angst and anger and activism need to be directed at those we hired,'' Simcox said.
The audience mostly listened quietly during the 45-minute lecture, which included a question-and-answer session. Simcox drew ire from some students during the speech for insinuating that protesters at previous events were actually upset over crackdowns on drug cartels coming from Mexico.''Sometimes I think that's what they're really protesting, is losing their cheap drug supply,'' Simcox said.
Simcox will be at Middle Tennessee State University at 6 p.m. in the State Farm Room of the Business and Aerospace Building. The event is free and open to the public.
Monday, November 5, 2007
And They Tell Us it is No Problem
The Morristown-Hamblen Chamber of Commerce thinks that there is no problem with illegal immigration in Hamblen County.
Here at T-FIRE we are certain of one thing, and it is that the percentage of school populations in Hamblen County Schools that are considered "Hispanic" was not nearly as high as late as five years ago as the Citizen-Tribune (a paper that all but favors illegal immigration) is reporting that they are this year:
Fairview- Marguerite, 33.7 percent Hispanic; Hillcrest, 26.6 percent; Lincoln Heights Elementary, 32.3 percent; and West Elementary, 25.7 percent.
Either there has been a massive influx of new legal immigrants from Mexico and Latin America who have followed the law, a large portion of the population of Puerto Rico have relocated en masse to East Tennessee, or there has been a massive increase in the number of illegal aliens in East Tennessee in the last decade, some of whom have had children while here so that they can milk the system.
What hypothesis do you think most likely?
Here at T-FIRE we are certain of one thing, and it is that the percentage of school populations in Hamblen County Schools that are considered "Hispanic" was not nearly as high as late as five years ago as the Citizen-Tribune (a paper that all but favors illegal immigration) is reporting that they are this year:
Fairview- Marguerite, 33.7 percent Hispanic; Hillcrest, 26.6 percent; Lincoln Heights Elementary, 32.3 percent; and West Elementary, 25.7 percent.
Either there has been a massive influx of new legal immigrants from Mexico and Latin America who have followed the law, a large portion of the population of Puerto Rico have relocated en masse to East Tennessee, or there has been a massive increase in the number of illegal aliens in East Tennessee in the last decade, some of whom have had children while here so that they can milk the system.
What hypothesis do you think most likely?
Alien Sits on Local Jury
Now here is a question to be asked...
According to this Citizen-Tribune report, the woman in question claims to have a Green Card, which if true means that she is legally entitled to live and work in the United States of America, but is NOT a citizen of said United States, or of the State of Tennessee. As a non-citizen, this woman should not be voting.
Perhaps she isn't voting...but as a non-citizen, if she is not on the voter roles of Hamblen County, she should not have been summoned for jury duty.
How did she get a jury summons? It stands to reason that she is on the roles somewhere in the County, and we have no way to know if she is voting or not.
If she is, how many other non-citizens are illegally casting ballots and influencing the process of election that is reserved for sovereign citizens alone? How many illegal aliens are voting? Is it any wonder that members of a certain political party in Nashville oppose mandatory identification for voters, lest a part of their voter-base be suddenly ruled illegal?
___________________________________________________________
By Robert Moore, TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
The inadvertent inclusion of a non-U.S. citizen on a Hamblen County grand jury Thursday required an extraordinary legal solution Friday afternoon that averted a complete do-over, officials say.
What was at stake was the integrity of 124 cases against 56 defendants, not counting the secret indictments, which are called presentments.
Criminal Court Judge John F. Dugger resolved the matter and found that all of the indictments and all but one of the presentments the grand jury returned Thursday were valid.
Dugger says state law requires that only 12 votes are required to indict an individual for a crime. The 12-member grand jury also had a voting foreman, June Zeigler, who was sitting in for regular foreman Sam Moore.
After questioning Ziegler under oath, Dugger learned from the grand jury foreman that the votes on all the indictments were unanimous.
That means that even without the non-U.S. citizen’s vote, the district attorney’s office has the necessary 12 votes to proceed with the cases.
A grand jury will consider the presentment that didn’t get 12 votes at a later date.
At one point Thursday morning before an attorney located the 12-vote state law, court personnel feared that the entire day’s work would be lost.
The non-U.S, citizen, a woman with a Hispanic surname, reported that she has a "green card" and has been working legally in the United States for seven years, according to Kathy Mullins, Hamblen County Circuit Court clerk.
Mullins says the woman speaks English well, but apparently didn’t understand that by taking the oath to serve on the grand jury the woman was affirming that she is a citizen and a resident of Tennessee.
Potential grand jurors are randomly chosen from a list of licensed Tennessee drivers supplied by the state Department of Safety, not from voter-registration information.
The court clerk says there was no intentional deception, and the woman will face no charges. Mullins says this is the first and last time that a mix-up of this nature will occur while she remains in office.
"It won’t happen again because we will be more specific in the future," Mullins said. "It caused a great deal of pain because she didn’t say anything (Wednesday)."
What’s not clear, Mullins says, is how the woman learned that her residency status could impact grand jury results. The woman phoned the clerk’s office Friday morning and volunteered the information that she is not a U.S. citizen.
According to this Citizen-Tribune report, the woman in question claims to have a Green Card, which if true means that she is legally entitled to live and work in the United States of America, but is NOT a citizen of said United States, or of the State of Tennessee. As a non-citizen, this woman should not be voting.
Perhaps she isn't voting...but as a non-citizen, if she is not on the voter roles of Hamblen County, she should not have been summoned for jury duty.
How did she get a jury summons? It stands to reason that she is on the roles somewhere in the County, and we have no way to know if she is voting or not.
If she is, how many other non-citizens are illegally casting ballots and influencing the process of election that is reserved for sovereign citizens alone? How many illegal aliens are voting? Is it any wonder that members of a certain political party in Nashville oppose mandatory identification for voters, lest a part of their voter-base be suddenly ruled illegal?
___________________________________________________________
By Robert Moore, TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
The inadvertent inclusion of a non-U.S. citizen on a Hamblen County grand jury Thursday required an extraordinary legal solution Friday afternoon that averted a complete do-over, officials say.
What was at stake was the integrity of 124 cases against 56 defendants, not counting the secret indictments, which are called presentments.
Criminal Court Judge John F. Dugger resolved the matter and found that all of the indictments and all but one of the presentments the grand jury returned Thursday were valid.
Dugger says state law requires that only 12 votes are required to indict an individual for a crime. The 12-member grand jury also had a voting foreman, June Zeigler, who was sitting in for regular foreman Sam Moore.
After questioning Ziegler under oath, Dugger learned from the grand jury foreman that the votes on all the indictments were unanimous.
That means that even without the non-U.S. citizen’s vote, the district attorney’s office has the necessary 12 votes to proceed with the cases.
A grand jury will consider the presentment that didn’t get 12 votes at a later date.
At one point Thursday morning before an attorney located the 12-vote state law, court personnel feared that the entire day’s work would be lost.
The non-U.S, citizen, a woman with a Hispanic surname, reported that she has a "green card" and has been working legally in the United States for seven years, according to Kathy Mullins, Hamblen County Circuit Court clerk.
Mullins says the woman speaks English well, but apparently didn’t understand that by taking the oath to serve on the grand jury the woman was affirming that she is a citizen and a resident of Tennessee.
Potential grand jurors are randomly chosen from a list of licensed Tennessee drivers supplied by the state Department of Safety, not from voter-registration information.
The court clerk says there was no intentional deception, and the woman will face no charges. Mullins says this is the first and last time that a mix-up of this nature will occur while she remains in office.
"It won’t happen again because we will be more specific in the future," Mullins said. "It caused a great deal of pain because she didn’t say anything (Wednesday)."
What’s not clear, Mullins says, is how the woman learned that her residency status could impact grand jury results. The woman phoned the clerk’s office Friday morning and volunteered the information that she is not a U.S. citizen.
Employee of Nuclear Plant Had Pipe Bomb in Truck - Facility in LOCKDOWN
A couple of years ago there where about 6 illegal aliens working at Oak Ridge. They had access to a trailer which contained classified documents. Naturally the story to the public was "there is nothing to worry about." Oh really?
Anything Can Happen
Anything Can Happen
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