U.S. sues Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe

The Justice Department says Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio failed to turn over documents in its investigation into whether his department discriminated against Latinos while pursuing illegal immigrants.

September 2, 2010

Reporting from Denver

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday sued a controversial and popular Arizona sheriff, alleging that his department was refusing to cooperate with an investigation into whether it discriminated against Latinos while trying to catch illegal immigrants.

The Justice Department said that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was the first local law enforcement official in 30 years to refuse to provide documents in a federal civil rights inquiry. The federal government could withhold $113 million in funding from Maricopa County if Arpaio can't produce records demonstrating that he avoids racial discrimination.

"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented. It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the department's Civil Rights Division.

Arpaio contended that the lawsuit was a political move by the Obama administration, which filed another high-profile lawsuit against Arizona this summer to stop a tough new immigration law from taking effect.

"These actions make it abundantly clear that Arizona, including this sheriff, is Washington's new whipping boy," Arpaio said in a statement. "Washington isn't playing fair and it's time Americans everywhere wake up and see this administration for what it really is — calculating, underhanded at times and certainly not looking out for the best interests of the legal citizens residing in this country."

Arpaio, who calls himself "America's toughest sheriff," has drawn praise and criticism for his aggressive attempts to enforce immigration laws. Most prominent are operations in which his deputies fan out across immigrant neighborhoods, stopping people for sometimes minor violations, such as jaywalking, and asking their immigration status.

Critics contend that the operations amount to racial profiling. Arpaio says his deputies only look for people breaking the law, an assertion he reiterated at a televised news conference Thursday in Phoenix. "I'm very confident that my deputies don't racially profile," he said.

The Obama administration last year revoked Arpaio's authority to enforce federal immigration laws on the streets, a move that had little practical effect because the sheriff said state law allows him to continue his operations. But his battle with the federal government predates the Obama presidency.

In the summer of 2008, under President George W. Bush, the Justice Department launched a preliminary investigation into the allegations of racial profiling. In March 2009, after President Obama had assumed office, the department expanded the inquiry into a full-fledged probe.

The investigation started with what federal officials contended was a routine document request — 51 categories of material. According to the lawsuit filed Thursday, the department received only 11 pages.

The last time the Justice Department had to sue to obtain documents in a civil rights probe was during a 1978 investigation of employment practices of a sheriff's department in Virginia.

For the last 18 months, Arpaio has publicly said he would not give federal investigators access to his jails or other facilities and dismissed the inquiry as politically motivated. His lawyer met with Justice Department lawyers in Washington last week and contended that the material the federal government requested was outside its scope of investigation.

This is not Arpaio's first battle over documents related to possible civil rights abuses. His department faces a lawsuit from an array of civil rights groups for allegedly racially profiling. A federal judge this year found that Arpaio's department improperly destroyed immigration-related paperwork that was evidence in that case, and approved sanctions against the agency.

Arpaio's stance has made him popular in Arizona, the main point of entry for migrants illegally crossing the Mexican border. He was one of the most prominent backers of SB 1070, the aggressive state law mandating that police verify the status of people they stop and suspect are illegal immigrants. The main parts of the law were placed on hold in late July by a federal judge in response to the Obama administration's suit, and the matter is expected to end up in the Supreme Court.

Legal experts said that, despite the combustible backdrop of racial politics, a brash sheriff and local defiance of Washington, Thursday's lawsuit will turn on narrow legal matters such as what the federal government can request under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Arpaio's stance is "more your standard, hardball litigation than it is a challenge to the authority of the federal government," said G. "Jack" Chin, a law professor at the University of Arizona.

Both sides in the contentious immigration debate were quick to seize on Thursday's lawsuit.

"Unless a judge can put some serious sanctions [on him], Arpaio will continue to thumb his nose at the entire justice system," said Lydia Guzman, president of the immigrant rights group Somos America, or We Are America, which is a plaintiff in the racial profiling case against the sheriff's office.

Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, appearing next to the sheriff at his news conference, said the lawsuit shows that federal civil rights investigators have not been able to turn up any evidence of misconduct by Arpaio's department. "It's simply a witch hunt," he said.

As he usually does when challenged, Arpaio promised to forge ahead with his operations. "I'm going to continue, maybe tomorrow, to enforce all the illegal immigration laws," he said. "I'm not going to be intimidated by the Justice Department."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lawsuit-arpaio-20100903,0,1156790,print.story

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U.S. employers push increase in cost of healthcare onto workers
A new survey shows an average worker with a family plan pays nearly $4,000 a year, up 14% from 2009. Meanwhile, the average employer contribution to a family plan hasn't increased at all.

By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times

September 2, 2010

Reporting from Washington

As employers struggle with rising healthcare costs and a sour economy, U.S. workers for the first time in at least a decade are being asked to shoulder the entire increase in the cost of health benefits on their own.

The average worker with a family plan was hit with 14% premium increase this year, pushing the bill to nearly $4,000 a year, according to a survey by the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.

That is the largest annual increase since the survey began in 1999 and a marked change from previous years, when employers generally split the rise in the cost of premiums with their employees.

The average employer contribution to a family plan did not go up at all this year, meaning the entire increase was borne by workers.

At the same time, nearly a third of employers reported that they either reduced the scope of benefits they are offering this year or increased the amount that workers must pay out of pocket for their medical care.

Workers saw average copayments for routine office visits increase 10% and deductibles continue their surge upward.

In 2010, more than a quarter of American workers with employer-provided health coverage were in plans with deductibles of at least $1,000.

"It's really bad news for everybody," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, an organization of large employers that provide coverage to about 50 million workers, retirees and dependents.

Overall, premium growth slowed slightly this year to 3%, with the average annual cost of a family health plan reaching $13,770. Workers picked up 30% of that bill. The average plan for an individual cost $5,049.

The squeeze, reported by employers between January and May, largely reflects the fallout of the ongoing economic slowdown and may be ameliorated in future years as the new healthcare law is implemented.

But it could further complicate the Obama administration's efforts to rally support for the law, which is expected to do relatively little in the short term to contain rising medical bills.

"There have been times when employers have been able to absorb costs. This is not one of those times," said James Gelfand, health policy director at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a leading critic of the new law.

The law, which focused on expanding coverage for Americans who don't get insurance through work, was designed to largely preserve the existing employer-based healthcare system.

Independent analyses of the law estimate that most Americans will continue to get insurance through their employer, as about 157 million do now.

Administration officials Thursday pointed to two new studies from the Rand Corp. and the Commonwealth Fund that predicted small businesses in particular would probably expand coverage in coming years, in part with help from billions of dollars of in new tax credits.

"We have really just begun our efforts," said Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, emphasizing the growing number of tools government regulators have to control insurance premiums.

The Kaiser survey found that the percentage of firms offering health benefits rose to 69% from 60% this year, an unexpected increase that analysts speculate may reflect the failure of many businesses that didn't offer benefits.

But the survey suggests that the coverage workers are being offered is becoming increasingly unattractive as employers try to control their costs in the down economy.

"We were all so focused on the reform debate that I think we took our eyes off the fact that what we call heath insurance in this country is changing," said Kaiser foundation President Drew Altman. "What workers get looks less and less like the comprehensive coverage their parents had."

Since 2005, workers' contributions to insurance premiums have shot up 47%, far outpacing the 18% increase in wages over the same period, according to the survey.

The squeeze on employees at small and medium-sized businesses has been particularly intense, as these employers face the biggest challenges providing their workers with health benefits.

Nearly half of all workers at firms with fewer than 200 employees are now in plans with deductibles of $1,000 or more.

The bleak statistics do not reflect some more-promising changes in the way employers are designing their health benefits, said Paul Fronstin, senior research associate with the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Some large companies, for example, are raising copays for specialist care while lowering them for primary care in a bid to encourage workers to use more preventive care, which is typically less expensive in the long run.

"There are more things going on than just slashing benefits," Fronstin said.

The new law may also help bolster the benefits workers get from employer-provided coverage by prohibiting plans from imposing lifetime benefit limits and by requiring them to cover dependent children under age 26.

If employers substantially raise deductibles and copays or scale back their contribution to employees' premiums by more than 5 percentage points, the health benefits would be subject to even more mandates.

These include covering preventive services such as cancer screenings with no copays or other cost sharing.

The added protections for workers have been widely praised by consumer advocates. They are expected to further push up premiums, at least for the short term, however.

And businesses and workers probably will have to wait longer for the benefits of provisions in the new law designed to improve care and make it more efficient.

That will require patience, said Kaiser's Altman.

"Health reform may not be perfect," he said. "But when it comes to cost containment, it is the only game in town, as opposed to the current strategy, which by default seems to only be shifting more costs onto workers."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-healthcare-costs-20100903,0,7236671,print.story

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Workers at L.A. recruiting company indicted in human-trafficking, forced-labor conspiracy

September 2, 2010

Employees and the owner of a Los Angeles-based labor-recruiting company were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Honolulu for allegedly engaging in a human-trafficking conspiracy involving Thai immigrants who were forced to work on farms, the FBI said.

The indictment alleges that Global Horizons Manpower Inc., located in Westwood, was involved in a scheme to coerce the labor and services of about 400 Thai nationals brought to the United States from May 2004 through September 2005 to work on farms across the country under a federal agricultural guest-worker program, the FBI said in a news release.

Named in the indictment are Mordechai Orian, Pranee Tubchumpol, Shane Germann and Sam Wongsesanit, all of Global Horizons Manpower.

Thai labor recruiters Ratawan Chunharutai and Podjanee Sinchai were also charged with engaging in the conspiracy to commit forced labor, the FBI said.

Representatives of the company could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

The indictment alleges that the defendants enticed the Thai immigrants to come to the United States with false promises of lucrative jobs. The workers had their passports confiscated and were not paid the wages outlined in their contracts, the FBI said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Increased demand strains Los Angeles County food pantries

Last week, a sign went up on the door: “We’re sorry but we ran out of food.”

With demand for food assistance continuing to rise, officials at many Los Angeles County pantries say they have been forced to reduce what they provide or turn away people in need.

About 284,000 county residents received assistance from the 500 pantries supplied by the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank each month in April, May and June, according to figures released Thursday. That is nearly 21% more people than in the same period last year and 48% more than in 2008.

“We’re distributing more food to local pantries than ever before, yet it’s still not enough to keep pace with the growing need in the community,” Foodbank President Michael Flood said in a statement.

He attributed the growing demand in part to persistent unemployment, which has driven many professionals to seek help from pantries for the first time. Other food aid recipients say their work hours have been reduced.

Flood said the food bank has increased the volume of commodities it distributes by 62% in the last two years with the help of contributions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, grocery stores and community food drives. An effort to acquire more fresh fruit and vegetables also contributed to the increase, he said during a news conference.

The food bank now distributes 1.1 million pounds of food a week through pantries and other charitable organizations, equivalent to about 800,000 meals. But Flood said he still hears from pantries that have had to reduce the size of their food packages or send people away empty-handed.

The St. Francis Center frequently runs out of fresh fruit and vegetables for the more than 200 downtown residents it serves each week, many of them families in low-income housing and elderly people.

“They just take a few cans or the one vegetable that we have,” said program assistant Maribel Ramos. “Yet they still come, which means they really do need it.”

The Van Nuys Lutheran center did not want to cut back what it offers, so when it ran out of food one morning last week, it closed until more supplies were delivered the next afternoon, said Director Jan Maseda.

She said the number of people served by the center increased from about 16,750 in 2008 to more than 32,000 in 2009. This year, the trend continues.

“We haven’t even hit our heaviest months, and we have already surpassed 32,000,” Maseda said.

Flood said many pantries appear to be reaching capacity after sharply increasing the number of food packages they distribute between 2008 and 2009.

Food availability is not the only constraint, he said. Some pantries are also reaching the limit of what they can do with their available space, volunteers and funding. He emphasized the need to sign up more Californians for federal food stamps, saying it would ease the pressure on pantries.

Although participation in the food stamp program has increased steadily in California since the recession began, the state has lagged behind most others. Fewer than half the eligible Californians received food stamps in 2007, the most recent year for which federal estimates are available.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services has stationed outreach workers at pantries and other community sites to help people apply for food stamps, said Jacob Aguilar, a department assistant director. He urged anyone in need of nutrition assistance to call (877) 597-4777 for information about food stamps and other programs.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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From the New York Times

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Rape Victims in Congo Raid Now More Than 240

By JOSH KRON

KAMPALA, Uganda — The number of rape victims from a four-day rebel attack in eastern Congo a month ago has risen to more than 240 and will likely go higher, aid officials said Thursday.

Giorgio Trombatore, a director of the aid group International Medical Corps, said investigators working in eastern Congo’s North Kivu Province had so far “counted 242 cases individually, one by one.”

On July 30, hundreds of members of Rwandan and Congolese rebel groups occupied villages in the Walikale region of North Kivu, assaulting their victims in groups of two to six.

Countering reports from the area that some victims were male infants, Mr. Trombatore said that all were female and that the youngest was 16 years old and the oldest 75.

Thousands of women, and hundreds of men, have been sexually assaulted by the various armed groups warring in eastern Congo.

Officials with the aid group have said that the rebels — members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and the Mai Mai — left the villages on Aug. 3, and that later that day a local administrator alerted aid organizations in the area to the mass rapes.

Rebels from the same groups were suspected of attacking workers with the International Medical Corps on Wednesday after the workers landed by helicopter in Walikale, forcing the aid workers to escape into the surrounding forest.

Mr. Trombatore said Thursday that all the aid workers had been rescued and were safe.

Since the United Nations first publicly reported the mass rapes on Aug. 22, questions have arisen over how much the United Nations knew about the attacks as they were under way.

United Nations officials have said the peacekeepers did not know about the rapes until Aug. 12.

But a leaked United Nations e-mail dated July 30 shows that officials there were aware that the rebels had taken over one of the villages and raped one woman within the first day of the attack. By Aug. 10, the United Nations was aware that at least 25 women had been raped, according to another United Nations bulletin, published online.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/world/africa/03congo.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Soldiers Kill 25 in Mexico Gunbattle

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- Soldiers killed 25 suspected cartel members Thursday in a raid and gunbattle in a Mexican state near the U.S. border that has seen a surge in drug gang violence, the military said.

A reconnaissance flight over Ciudad Mier in Tamaulipas state spotted several gunmen in front of a property, according to a statement from Mexico's Defense Department.

When troops on the ground moved in, gunmen opened fire, starting a gunbattle that killed 25 suspected cartel members, according to the military. The statement said two soldiers were injured but none were killed.

Earlier, a military spokesman had said the shootout happened when troops on patrol in neighboring Nuevo Leon state came under fire from a ranch allegedly controlled by the Zetas drug gang.

The spokesman, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said the troops returned fire at a ranch, known as ''The Stump.'' A defense department statement later said the shootout took place in Tamaulipas.

Authorities rescued three people believed to be kidnap victims in the raid, according to the statement. The military said troops seized 25 rifles, four grenades, 4,200 rounds of ammunition and 23 vehicles.

Violence has surged in northeastern Mexico this year since the Zetas broke ranks with their former employer, the Gulf cartel, making Tamaulipas one of the country's most dangerous battlegrounds.

In June, gunmen ambushed and killed the leading candidate for state governor a week before the elections. And in May a mayoral candidate in Tamaulipas was assassinated.

In August, Mexican marines discovered the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants believed to have been gunned down by the Zetas after refusing to smuggle drugs, in what may be the deadliest cartel massacre to date. The dead migrants were discovered at a ranch about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the U.S. border in Tamaulipas.

The Zetas began as a gang of drug assassins but have since evolved into a powerful cartel.

Drug violence has claimed more than 28,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon intensified a crackdown on cartels after taking office in late 2006.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/09/02/world/americas/AP-LT-Drug-War-Mexico-Violence.html?adxnnl=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1283512949-ZPvQrmdEjGkyG1f5VjhE+w

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U.S. Fails to Notify Victims About Prison Furloughs

by CHARLIE SAVAGE

WASHINGTON — The federal Bureau of Prisons has long recognized a potential problem with its handling of furloughs of inmates for medical treatment: nobody has the job of notifying crime victims and witnesses that an inmate is being temporarily released.

In 2003, the bureau drafted a proposed policy that would require officials to provide such notice.

Yet seven years later, the bureau has yet to carry out the policy. And the agency now says it may not be able to fix the problem until 2017 — a time frame called “excessive and unacceptable” in a new report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Glenn A. Fine.

“There has been excessive delay in implementing the B.O.P.’s revised furlough policy, which affects victims’ rights and hinders the B.O.P. from addressing weaknesses in the furlough program,” Mr. Fine said in a statement. “It is critical that the B.O.P. implement a revised furlough policy in a more timely manner.”

The report did not identify any instances in which a federal inmate on a medical furlough had harassed victims or witnesses. But it presented the potential for that as obvious.

Bureau of Prison officials told Mr. Fine’s office that they agreed the furlough procedures needed an overhaul. But they said they could not fix the policy quickly because of a contract with the labor union that represents guards and other bureau employees.

Under a collective bargaining agreement with the National Council of Prison Locals, a part of the American Federation of Government Employees, any policy changes at the agency that could have an effect on conditions of employment must be negotiated. Agency and union officials meet for three days each month to discuss such issues, one at a time and usually in the order in which they were proposed.

While the bureau sent the draft furlough policy to the union in 2003, it has still not been discussed. There are about 50 pending policy matters awaiting negotiation, Mr. Fine’s report said. Although it was not clear where in the line the furlough policy is, it is not likely to get to the front for “a very long time,” agency officials told Mr. Fine’s office.

“We will make every effort to negotiate the furlough policy with the union to implement the required changes,” the Bureau of Prisons told the inspector general’s auditors. “This will be completed by Dec. 17, 2017.”

Bryan Lowry, the union’s president, said he rejected any effort to “point the finger at the union.” He acknowledged that the union would want to discuss the additional work that a notification policy would entail, but said that it had no objections to taking care of such a “serious issue” ahead of other policy proposals.

“They could have moved this to the front of the line, but they never requested it,” Mr. Lowry said, adding that the union has never objected to a request to deal quickly with a high-priority issue. “We would have moved that straight to the top and tried to negotiate that and get it out as soon as possible.”

The Bureau of Prisons’ press office did not respond to requests for comment.

The inspector general’s report said that from 2007 to 2009, federal prisons granted “nontransfer” furloughs — those in which an inmate left and then returned to the same prison — to about 2,000 inmates a year, representing less than 1 percent of the federal prison population.

Reasons for furloughs included receiving medical treatment, visiting dying relatives, attending funerals, appearing in court and participating “in educational, religious, or work-related functions.” Only inmates who meet certain security standards are eligible for temporary release.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/us/03prisons.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Ohio’s Governor Spares Life of a Death Row Inmate

By BOB DRIEHAUS

CINCINNATI — A death row inmate convicted of murdering a child and two adults was spared the death penalty Thursday by Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, who said there were possible problems with the evidence.

A diverse group of Republicans and Democrats, attorneys general and federal and state judges and prosecutors had rallied around the case of the inmate, Kevin Keith, 46, after his lawyers uncovered evidence they say casts doubt on his guilt.

In commuting the death sentence, Mr. Strickland, a Democrat, said that he believed it was still likely that Mr. Keith committed the murders, but that he was troubled by the likelihood that evidence uncovered since his conviction would not be presented to a court before the scheduled Sept. 15 execution.

“That would be unfortunate,” Mr. Strickland said in a statement. “This case is clearly one in which a full, fair analysis of all of the unanswered questions should be considered by a court. Under these circumstances, I cannot allow Mr. Keith to be executed.”

The request for a commutation from the governor was the last resort for Mr. Keith, who lost numerous appeals in state courts and whose case was not considered by the United States Supreme Court. The parole board in Ohio unanimously rejected his clemency request in August. Mr. Strickland, who can commute sentences or issue full pardons, said he would consider further action if it was justified by the evidence.

Mr. Keith, 46, was convicted of murdering two women and a 4-year-old girl and wounding a man and two children in February 1994. Prosecutors said he had sprayed gunfire through an apartment in Bucyrus, Ohio, to retaliate against a relative of some of the victims, an informer who had cooperated with a drug raid.

Defense lawyers say another man told a confidential informer in a separate drug investigation that he had been hired for $15,000 to “cripple” the informer. They say the photo lineup in which Mr. Keith was identified was prejudiced because his photo was larger than the others, the photos were presented by police officers who knew Mr. Keith was a suspect, and the photos were displayed simultaneously rather than sequentially.

Mr. Keith’s legal team applauded the commutation but said he should be freed.

“The same compelling reasons that support Governor Strickland’s actions today,” said one of his lawyers, Rachel Troutman, “warrant a new, fair trial for Mr. Keith, including the existence of newly discovered evidence, the revelation of evidence withheld by the state, and the development of new science behind eyewitness identification, all of which point to Mr. Keith’s innocence.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/us/03ohio.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Mistrust and the Mosque

OPINION

The furor over the proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque near ground zero keeps giving us new reasons for dismay. As politicians and commentators work themselves and viewers into a rage, others who should be standing up for freedom and tolerance tiptoe away.

To the growing pile of discouragement, add this: A New York Times poll of New York City residents that found that even this city, the country’s most diverse and cosmopolitan, is not immune to suspicion and to a sadly wary misunderstanding of Muslim-Americans.

The poll found considerable distrust of Muslim-Americans and robust disapproval of the mosque proposal. Asked whether they thought Muslim-Americans were “more sympathetic to terrorists” than other citizens, 33 percent said yes, a discouraging figure, roughly consistent with polls taken since Sept. 11, 2001. Thirty-one percent said they didn’t know any Muslims; 39 percent said they knew Muslims but not as close friends.

A full 72 percent agreed that people had every right to build a “house of worship” near the site. But only 62 percent acknowledged that right when “house of worship” was changed to “mosque and Islamic community center.” Sixty-seven percent thought the mosque planners should find “a less controversial location.” While only 21 percent of respondents confessed to having “negative feelings” toward Muslims because of the attack on the World Trade Center, 59 percent said they knew people who did.

It has always been a myth that New York City, in all its dizzying globalness, is a utopia of humanistic harmony. The city has a bloody history of ethnic and class strife. But thanks to density and diversity, it has become a place like few others in this country, where the world rubs shoulders on subways, stoops and sidewalks, where gruff tolerance prevails and understanding thrives.

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are two pinnacles of American openness to the outsider. New Yorkers like to think they are a perfect fit with their city.

Tolerance, however, isn’t the same as understanding, so it is appalling to see New Yorkers who could lead us all away from mosque madness, who should know better, playing to people’s worst instincts.

That includes Carl Paladino and Rick Lazio, Republicans running for governor who have disgraced their state with histrionics about the mosque being a terrorist triumph. And Rudolph Giuliani, who cloaks his opposition to the mosque as “sensitivity” to 9/11 families without acknowledging that this conflates all prayerful Muslims with terrorists, a despicable conclusion.

As the site of America’s bloodiest terrorist attack, New York had a great chance to lead by example. Too bad other places are ahead of us. Muslims hold daily prayer services in a chapel in the Pentagon, a place also hallowed by 9/11 dead. The country often has had the wisdom to choose graciousness and reconciliation over triumphalism, as is plain from the many monuments to Confederate soldiers in northern states, including the battlefield at Gettysburg.

New Yorkers, like other Americans, have a way to go. We stand with the poll’s minority: the 27 percent who say the mosque should be built in Lower Manhattan because moving it would compromise American values. Building it would be a gesture to Muslim-Americans who, of course, live here, pray here and died here, along with so many of their fellow Americans, on that awful September morning. But it’s all of us who will benefit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/opinion/03fri1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From the Chicago Sun Times

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Child victim tells judge: 'I'm mad that I'm burned'
Child victims meet with judge before arson sentencing

September 3, 2010

by NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter

They were left with swollen, scarred hands, arms, legs and faces.

They're just 8 and 5, but the Reyes sisters were burned so badly in a 2008 arson fire, they still cannot go into the sunlight.

As part of her victim impact statement, Ariel Reyes, 8, drew a before-and-after self-portrait. On Thursday, Ariel and her 5-year-old sister asked the judge to send the couple who set fire to their apartment to jail.

For 23 hours a day, they wear clear masks and special garments to help heal their tender skin.

On Thursday, in an emotional hearing that left even the judge and court reporter dabbing their tears, the two little girls personally pleaded to put away the people who started a fire that nearly killed them.

"Make them go to jail until they have no more birthdays," 5-year-old Alondra Reyes wrote on a victim-impact statement read in federal court.

"I'm mad that I'm burned. I'm mad that I have to wear a mask," 8-year-old Ariel Reyes wrote. "I'm not like any other girl. . . . I can't stand in the sun."

Along with their statements, the girls sketched self-portraits for the judge to show how the fire affected them.

The two girls, who also met with the judge outside of public view on Thursday, were in an apartment at 5686 N. Elston Ave. the night of Nov. 7, 2008, when it was set on fire as part of a jealous, vicious lovers' feud.

Today, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer is expected to sentence Margarita "Flaca" Gonzalez, 27, and an accomplice, Rafael Polanco, who have pleaded guilty, to the arson.

One of the people who wrote a "character letter" on Gonzalez's behalf is her half-brother, Heriberto Viramontes. In April, he was charged with fracturing the skulls of two women with a baseball bat as they walked home in Bucktown. One of the women, Natasha McShane, was left in a coma and hospitalized for months.

Prosecutors say it was a calculating, controlling Margarita Gonzalez who masterminded an arson aimed at enacting revenge on a woman who had sex with Polanco and another man with whom Gonzalez shared an interest.

Gonzalez then persuaded family and friends to create an alibi and lie about the crime, throwing investigators off the trail, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Nasser said. Prosecutors are asking that Gonzalez be sent to prison for 50 years.

"These are people who think only of themselves," Nasser said.

Gonzalez, 27, and an accomplice waited until night to torch the car of a woman who had slept with the same love interest of Gonzalez, prosecutors said.

They drove around the block, and after the fire engines had left for the car incident, Gonzalez, Polanco and another person headed to that woman's apartment.

Gonzalez, with a friend, poured gasoline outside the door of the apartment and set it on fire.

The woman she targeted was inside with her two children, who were asleep.

On Thursday, as photos of the severely burned girls were shown in court, a pale-faced, swollen-eyed Gonzalez, who wears glasses and has curly, waist-length hair, turned her back to the screen and reached for a tissue.

Gonzalez's lawyers say she flew into a jealous rage that escalated after months of threatening exchanges between the two women over men and never intended to harm the two girls.

"What were they thinking? They weren't. This was, frankly, a drug-fueled, back-and-forth rage between parties," her lawyer, Patrick Boyle, said. "We believe she's shown extraordinary transformation."

A sobbing stepmother, now the primary caretaker of the Reyes girls, testified that the girls were put on life support after the fire.

Susana Lugo got a call in the middle of the night from the hospital, saying that Alondra, then 3, wasn't going to make it.

Lugo could barely speak as she told of having an emergency baptism for Alondra because she was expected to die in a matter of minutes. A prosecutor showed the tiny, white cloth bearing a small red cross that was put over the child in those moments.

"Her little body just couldn't take it," Lugo cried. Family members went to the hospital chapel. "We didn't know if she was going to wake up from that. . . . All we had to do was pray and pray that God would not take our little girl."

Alondra's oxygen level then miraculously improved, and she eventually recovered.

"To say the motivation was for some petty jealousy over a man --it's stunning," Pallmeyer said.

But prosecutors said Gonzalez thought out a plan, even arranging for her father to baby-sit her own child, on the child's birthday, that night for an alibi.

"It's just hard, for us," Lugo said. "They get asked questions all the time: 'Why are your hands like that?' "

Kids at school or at the playground stare at them, Lugo explained, putting her hands over her face and crying. "They say: 'Look at that girl over there. Why is she like that?' "

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2669356,CST-NWS-arson03.article

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Gang member tells others: 'Put the guns down'
Gang member says he takes Weis' advice: 'I tell them we need to stop the violence'

September 3, 2010

BY FRANK MAIN Staff Reporter

Christopher Barbee was among a handful of reputed gang members summoned last month to a meeting with Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis and other local and federal law enforcement officials.

"They said, 'Stop the violence or we'll lock you all up,' " Barbee said.

Like the other alleged gang leaders, Barbee said he doesn't think the strategy is fair: "They can't hold me accountable for something other people do."
Yet, Barbee said he's doing exactly what the lawmen had hoped. Since the Aug. 17 meeting at Garfield Park Conservatory, Barbee said, he has been on the street talking to younger gang members in his turf along Madison between Pulaski and Cicero.

"I tell them we need to stop the violence, put the guns down," said the 29-year-old member of the Unknown Vice Lords -- who was wearing a T-shirt with an S.O.S. logo for a neighborhood group called Saving Our Sons from Death and Destruction.

On Thursday morning, Barbee, who's on parole for a drug conviction, was at Columbus Park on the West Side -- where current and former gang members held an unusual news conference to blast the new pilot program, called the Chicago Gang Violence Reduction Initiative.

Barbee stood to the side and listened as former Gangster Disciples enforcer Wallace "Gator" Bradley and others called the strategy unjust. They said the city should focus on providing job opportunities to people in Chicago's impoverished neighborhoods. Bradley, a com- munity activist, also said a problem with the strategy is that gang members can't necessarily stop killings.

"Violence in our community is not always organized," he said. "It's spontaneous."

Reginald Akkeem Berry, who described himself as the founder of S.O.S. and a former Four Corner Hustlers leader, added: "The problem is they are giving an ultimatum instead of alternatives."

The strategy, employed in other cities for about 15 years, is credited with bringing down homicides in Cincinnati, Boston and elsewhere, according to founder David Kennedy, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Gang leaders are warned they'll become targets of federal conspiracy cases, increased parole visits and even traffic enforcement if their gangs keep killing. They're also directed to jobs and social services and hear from neighbors whose loved ones were victims.

The number of homicides in Chicago has fallen dramatically over the last decade and has remained flat for the first seven months of 2010. Still, Chicago is far more deadly than other large cities such as New York and Los Angeles based on the ratio of killings to population.

Since the Aug. 17 meeting, there have been homicides in the Harrison District where the pilot program was launched on the West Side, but police spokesman Roderick Drew said none of the killings has been tied to the gang leaders' crews. So there haven't been any crackdowns on the leaders, he said.

Gov. Quinn and other politicians have come out against the strategy, questioning the wisdom of police meeting with gang leaders. But Mayor Daley has defended it, saying he would "negotiate with anyone to have peace," and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has called it "creative."

"We are sending the message: 'the more violent you are, the more attention you'll get,' " Fitzgerald said. "And that's an appropriate message to send, and if it makes people think twice, we should do that. That isn't a negotiation."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2669118,CST-NWS-gangs03.article

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Weis reaches out to gang members, they bite back

September 3, 2010

by NEIL STEINBERG

When Leon Despres, the liberal gadfly alderman from Hyde Park, died last year at the ripe age of 101, there was no lack of noteworthy accomplishments to put into his obituary -- his ceaseless, eloquent battle against the racism of the Daley Machine, his prescient opposition to high-rise public housing and school segregation, his defense of Chicago's architectural gems.

But Despres had an obvious flaw that, while common among do-gooders in the 1970s, still deserved mention, if only as a reminder than no life is perfect.

"Mr. Despres' vision was not clear on every issue, though," I wrote in his obit. "His sensitivity to the problems affecting the urban poor, for instance, initially blinded him to the threat posed by street gangs, which he called 'very important manifestations of urban life' in 1970, adding, 'It's very important to realize that along with the pathology and the criminality of extortion, killing, beating and violence, there are also positive elements of association that ought to be developed.' "

Ouch. Street gangs sell drugs to children and kill people. They terrorize their communities and destroy lives. Somehow listing their crimes -- as Despres did -- doesn't quite take the sting out of going on to suggest that they have a beneficial role to play in improving society.

To rank-and-file, whatever Weis does is a howling blunder

Street gangs aren't a solution to the problem, they are the problem. Or, to be charitable, at best they are a symptom of larger problems: the general social failure, joblessness, lack of education and breakdown in family structure that afflicts large areas of Chicago.

Thus, when gangs are approached in any fashion that doesn't involve handcuffs, you open up a Pandora's box, as Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis did two weeks ago when he met with West Side gang leaders and told them if they didn't muzzle their underlings and dial back the killings, they'd be in big trouble.

The rank-and-file in the police department automatically assume that whatever Weis does is a howling blunder, but in this case he wasn't necessarily wrong -- this strategy of leaning on street gangs has worked in other cities, apparently, and if it works here, great. At least he's trying something. The gangs aren't some occupying army in their communities, but seamlessly integrated within them, and as satisfying as arresting and jailing gang members is, there is also an endless supply of them, and talking at some point is not outside the bounds of rationality.

But there is a cost to this tactic. Weis' meeting with gang leaders gives them power and risks elevating the status of elements of a community who already enjoy too much admiration, making them into the kind of people with whom Supt. Jody Weis meets.

Thursday's press conference by supposed gang members, or whatever they actually are, claiming that their civil rights were violated by Weis' threats, is just a momentary sideshow. Though the fact that they could complain about gang-bangers being disrespected by police just shows you how lost in gang culture some people can become. Most regular folk want police to be disrespectful of gang members, and shudder at the thought that it might be otherwise.

Nor am I particularly worried that the squishy liberal view that gangs represent some kind of untapped resource will return. People see what's happening in their communities. Saying street gangs do good is like saying that drugs do good -- in a narrow sense true: They make you feel euphoric, for a time, and addiction provides structure to otherwise directionless lives.

It's only when you balance the scant good vs. the enormous evil, for street gangs and drugs, that whatever good is involved becomes trivial and an insult. There are plenty of people in every community who do good without belonging to street gangs, and it is the racism of low expectations to suggest that gangs are a route to meaningful solutions.

Of greater concern is the message that Weis sends, first, to his own department. One of the most frequent complaints I get about Weis is that he won't meet with officers. It can't help the rock-bottom police morale to see their boss going on bended knee to the bad guys.

Second, the whole "clean up your act or we'll come down on you" message has to confuse Joe Citizen, who can't be blamed for wondering, "Umm, Mr. Superintendent, here's a thought: Go after street gangs hard whether they dial back murders for the time being or not."

The truth is that police, outnumbered by gang-bangers 10-1, some say, are limited in what they can do. Only with resources this low does pleading with killers become a valid police tactic. There is a chance it might work, but there is an equal risk that it might only help gangs get an even tighter grip on communities they have been strangling for years.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/2669120,CST-NWS-stein03.article

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Gangs have no right to whine
Comments

September 3, 2010

Pity Chicago's poor gang leaders or former gang leaders or alleged gang leaders or whatever they claim to be.

The top cop in Chicago calls them to a meeting and talks roughly to them.

How rude.

He threatens to go after them with everything he's got if they don't do something to stop all the shooting that's killing our children.

How unfair.

"The problem is they are giving an ultimatum instead of alternatives," one self-described former gang leader, Reginald Akkeem Berry, whined at a news conference Thursday.

Who's going to call a news conference next? Sex offenders?

Here are the facts:

When Police Supt. Jody Weis met with (former, alleged, maybe, who knows) gang leaders a couple of weeks ago, he did give them an ultimatum -- stop the killing or else.

Good for him.

And he gave it to the right crowd. If you're a leader of the Vice Lords or Four Corner Hustlers or the Insane Idiots, you're no innocent bystander, even if you've never once pulled a trigger.

Not a cop in town would confuse the Gangster Disciples for a pack of social workers.

And the only victims are the kids being killed for getting in the way.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/2669350,CST-EDT-edit03b.article

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From the White House

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Making Preparations Prior to the Impacts of Hurricane Earl

by Nikki Sutton

September 02, 2010

President Obama spoke with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate this afternoon and yesterday morning to ensure we are doing everything in our power to keep people safe in advance of Hurricane Earl along the eastern seaboard. The President will continue to monitor the situation as FEMA tracks the storm's movement in conjunction with the National Hurricane Center.

Late last night, President Obama signed a pre-landfall Disaster Declaration for North Carolina, ensuring the availability of federal aid to assist state and local authorities. Local officials in the Outer Banks of North Carolina began issuing evacuation orders on Wednesday, and we encourage everyone living on or visiting the East Coast to monitor and follow any evacuation orders made by their local officials.

FEMA has deployed teams to North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine to support storm preparations as well as response and recovery efforts as needed. FEMA has also prepositioned commodities for rapid delivery, including water, meals, tarps, blankets, generators and other essential items.

If you live on the East Coast, now is the time to take the necessary steps to prepare for the storm. Visit Ready.gov for important information on putting together an emergency supply kit, making a plan with your family, and staying informed as new information becomes available.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/02/making-preparations-prior-impacts-hurricane-earl

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Two New Studies: Health Reform Benefits Small Business

The Affordable Care Act helps make it easier for employers to provide health benefits. This year, small businesses are eligible for health care tax credits and starting in 2014, small businesses with up to 100 employees will have access to state-based Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Exchanges, which will expand their purchasing power. Additionally, the Business Roundtable estimated that provisions in the legislation could save $3,000 per person in health costs.

In less than a day, two new studies have confirmed that the Affordable Care Act will deliver significant benefits to small businesses. Yesterday, the Rand Corporation released a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine that indicated that the Affordable Care Act will strengthen employer-based health insurance. Here’s how the LA Times summarized the report:

An economist and two health policy researchers at the nonprofit Rand Corp. conducted a simulation to predict what is likely to happen once employers are able to offer coverage through these exchanges. Overall, they estimate that the proportion of U.S. workers who will have access to health insurance through their jobs will jump from 84.6% to 94.6%. That works out to 13.6 million additional workers having the option to buy affordable health plans.

Most of that bump is likely to come from smaller businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Today, only 60.4% of these employees can get health insurance through their jobs. Once the exchanges are functioning, the Rand researchers forecast that 85.9% of small business employees will have the option of buying health plans at work – an increase of 10.5 million workers.

Part of the reason for that growth is that the policies that will be offered through the exchanges will be less expensive, the researchers said. Small companies will be able to band together to pool their risk, which will give them more leverage to bargain with insurance companies. It also means their premiums should be more stable from year to year.

Today, the Commonwealth Fund finds that millions of small businesses will benefit from the new small business tax credits included in the new law. The study notes that 16.6 million Americans work at firms that could be eligible for the tax credit in the next three years alone and predicts that the new law will extend employer-based coverage to up to 7 mil­lion people who are currently without employer health insurance. Check out the new study by clicking here.

Stephanie Cutter is Assistant to the President for Special Projects

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/02/two-new-studies-health-reform-benefits-small-business

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Hurricane Response and Recovery
Stay informed, be prepared

Weather Updates

• Hurricane Earl is a Category 2. There are watches and warnings for multiple areas of the East Coast. Visit www.weather.gov for the latest updates and listen to local officials for weather forecasts and updates in your area.
• We are currently tracking Tropical Storm Fiona & Tropical Depression Gaston. Visit www.hurricanes.gov for more information.

Response Updates

• FEMA has activated the National Response Coordination Center and Regional Response Coordination Centers in all four regional offices in the eastern United States, located in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.
• Incident Management Assistance Teams ( PDF , Text ) have been deployed to North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine.
• One Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Incident Support Team ( PDF , Text ) has been activated and is pre-positioned in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
• Approximately 400,000 liters of water, 300,000 meals, and 54 generators are en route to the Incident Support Base (ISB) at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.
• Approximately 213,120 meals and 162,000 liters of water, 41 generators, and 12,500 tarps are en route to the Incident Support Base in Westover Massachusetts.

• Transported and pre-positioning caches of medical equipment and supplies in the northeast, and additional caches of medical equipment and supplies are prepared for deployment.
• Seven National Disaster Medical Teams and hundreds of U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers are on alert.

• Positioned a Defense Coordinating Element in the FEMA Regional Response Coordination Center in New York.
• A Defense Coordinating Officer is in St. Thomas, Massachusetts and Georgia.
• State Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers are in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands
• Hurricane Hunter aircraft continue to conduct weather reconnaissance flyovers.

• Conducting extensive public outreach to remind boaters to properly secure vessels, beware of dangerous surf along the shoreline which has the potential to sweep storm watchers into the water, and beware of strong rip currents.

• Deployed more than 350 trained disaster workers to North Carolina, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, along with more than 60 emergency vehicles.
• Red Cross shelters are expected to open in North Carolina (Thursday, September 1) and additional shelters are poised to open New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with emergency planning continuing in ten other states along the coast.
• Up-to-date shelter location information is readily available on www.redcross.org by clicking “Find a Shelter.”

East Coast Residents

• Hurricane and flash flood preparedness information
• Evacuation tips for your family and your business . Evacuation orders are issued by local officials and not FEMA .

Puerto Rico and US Virgin Island Residents

• Be cautious and safe as you return to your homes to assess damages. The after effects of a storm can be just as dangerous as the storm itself; so stay safe and follow these tips on returning home safely .

Evacuations Declared by Local Officials

• September 2: Local officials have been issued evacuations today for Pine Knoll Shores Emerald Isle and all of Bogue Banks, Atlantic Beach and Indian Beach in Carteret County.
• September 1: local officials in North Carolina have issued mandatory evacuations for visitors on Hatteras Island (Dare County) and Ocracoke Islands ( Hyde County ).

Presidential Declarations

• Massachusetts
  
  • Public Assistance for Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester.
    
• North Carolina
  
  • Public Assistance for Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hyde, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell, and Washington Counties.

Local/State Emergency Management Agencies

• Connecticut Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security
• Delaware Emergency Management Agency
• Hyde County (NC) Emergency Services Department
• Maryland Emergency Management Agency
• Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency
• New Jersey Office of Emergency Management
• New York State Emergency Management Office
• North Carolina Department of Emergency Management
• North Carolina Department of Transportation
• Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency
• Virgina Department of Emergency Management

From ICE

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Retired U.S. Army veteran at ICE helps recuperating veterans transition to work
ICE leads DHS in bringing veterans on board through Operation Warfighter

The doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center call Wayne "Mike" Nelson "a walking miracle." A U.S. Army veteran, Nelson was, not too long ago, paralyzed from the waist down. He courageously climbed out of immobility, and now he's helping other veterans by giving them the same chance he was given through the Operation Warfighter (OWF) program. Under Nelson's leadership as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) veterans employment program manager and coordinator for OWF, ICE has brought 40 veterans on board from October 2009 through August 2010 and is leading the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the program.

Nelson helps veterans navigate the federal application process and ensures they have all the required documents to be considered for an internship at ICE. He intercedes on the veteran's behalf by matching the veteran's skills to ICE's needs and directly contacts the appropriate ICE hiring authority.

OWF, originated by the Department of Defense in 2004, is a means for "warriors-in-transition" to be a part of the mainstream of work activity while they recuperate from injuries or illness. These veterans often have significant down time as they are recovering. Besides the career benefits of gaining valuable federal government work experience, productively working provides "tremendous physical, psychological and social benefits for recuperating service members," says Patrick Brick, the Armed Forces Services Corporation program coordinator for OWF.

Convalescing veterans who transition to work through the OWF are still being paid by the military. They are an asset to any organization not only because of their dedication and skills, but because "they are disciplined and have been trained to work long and hard," says Nelson.

To see Nelson now, walking down the hallway, reaching for his phone across the desk and typing notes into an Excel sheet no one would suspect he had been severely physically challenged from January until May 2009 when he had no use of his legs.

Nelson's entire adult life has been connected to the U.S. military. He retired from the U.S. Army after 22 years of service and was called back to active duty in December 2007 to serve in the Fatal Accident Branch. Nelson, along with a U.S. Army chaplain and a unit commander, visited family members of veterans who had been killed either from an accident or from friendly fire. With the official U.S. Army investigative report in hand, Nelson explained to family members what happened to their loved ones. "They welcomed me," said Nelson. "They wanted to know exactly how their son, husband, wife or daughter had died."

In an even tone, Nelson recounted heartbreakingly tragic mishaps that snuffed out the lives of some of America's sons and daughters while in service to their country. With his mellifluous tone and calm demeanor, one could understand how Nelson might be a port in another's storm.

In January 2009, Nelson suffered his own sea of troubles. A bone spur lodged in his spine caused him to collapse. Two operations, a continuous intravenous stream of antibiotics and five intensive months of grueling physical therapy later, Nelson defied the odds and got back on his feet.

Nelson recalled the words of one of his doctors, which he attributes in large part toward making his way toward his current ambulatory status. Examining the results from electrodes attached to his legs, the doctor said, "Mr. Nelson, I don't know what's wrong with you. But whatever it is, it's fixable. You've got good nerves in your legs." Nelson hung his hopes high on the word "fixable," saying, "that's what kept me going."

In October 2009, while still convalescing, Nelson applied for employment at DHS through OWF. "I wanted to be part of the DHS/ICE team," said Nelson. He received a call from the ICE Chief Diversity Officer who said, "I'll give you a chance." Nelson seized the opportunity and never looked back. He was hired as a full-time federal employee at ICE in March 2010.

Today, Nelson is helping other veterans to be given the same chance that was given to him. He liked his job at ICE immediately saying, "Everything I was doing was geared toward veterans-making life better for veterans-giving them an opportunity through OWF."

Nelson waxes philosophical when advising recuperating veterans. "A job is like an apple. Your object is to get that apple. You take a big bite out of the apple when you apply." Nelson says. "I help veterans take the second bite of the apple, which is to get them to the hiring official."

Nelson says the best thing people can do for wounded veterans is to "give them a chance to show their skills. If your office is short-handed, think about bringing a veteran on board. If you like them, hire them."

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100902washingtondc2.htm

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Secure Communities leads to removal of more than 5,500 convicted criminal aliens from LA County in first year

LOS ANGELES - Since its activation in Los Angeles County a year ago, the biometric information sharing capability deployed as part of the Secure Communities initiative has resulted in the identification and removal of more than 5,500 convicted criminal aliens from the United States who were encountered by local law enforcement in the county.

The information sharing capability, a key component of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) comprehensive strategy to enhance efforts to identify and remove convicted criminal aliens from the country, uses biometric identification to alert ICE when potentially removable aliens are arrested by local law enforcement.

Of the 5,585 aliens removed from Los Angeles County in the last year, nearly 2,500 are considered Level 1 offenders, which includes those convicted of serious or violent crimes, such murder, sexual assault and robbery. Another 2,540 are Level 2 offenders, which includes individuals with convictions for offenses such as arson, burglary and property crimes. As part of the Secure Communities strategy, ICE is prioritizing its enforcement efforts to ensure individuals who pose the greatest threat to public safety are removed first.

Regardless of the offenses for which individuals are initially booked, the Secure Communities screening may reveal more serious criminal histories. In one Los Angeles case, a fingerprint check of an individual with multiple aliases arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in court turned out to be a foreign national with a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for voluntary manslaughter and carrying a concealed weapon. In addition, the subject had been removed from the United States multiple times. The subject was convicted of illegal re-entry after removal and sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. Upon completion of his sentence, ICE will remove him from the United States.

Prior to the activation of Secure Communities, fingerprint-based biometric records taken of individuals charged with a crime and booked into custody were checked for criminal history information against the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). Now, through enhanced information sharing between DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), fingerprint information submitted through the state to the FBI will be automatically checked against both the FBI criminal history records in IAFIS and the biometrics-based immigration records in DHS's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT).

If fingerprints match those of someone in DHS's biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate immigration enforcement action. This includes aliens who are lawfully and unlawfully in the United States, but who have been arrested and booked into local law enforcement custody for a crime. Once identified through fingerprint matching, ICE prioritizes its response to focus on criminal aliens convicted of the most serious crimes first-such as those with convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping. In accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, ICE continues to take action on aliens subject to removal as resources permit.

"Last year, ICE prevented thousands of convicted criminal aliens in Los Angeles County from being released back into the community," said David Venturella, assistant director for Secure Communities. "Through the Secure Communities strategy, we're increasing community safety by enforcing federal immigration law in a smart, effective way that targets the greatest threats for removal first."

Los Angeles County is one of 28 jurisdictions in California that are currently benefiting from Secure Communities. The information sharing capability has helped ICE remove more than 12,400 criminal aliens arrested throughout the state. Nationwide, ICE is using the capability in 574 jurisdictions across 30 states, and it has helped ICE remove more than 37,900 criminal aliens from the country.

For more information, visit www.ice.gov/secure_communities.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100902losangeles.htm

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ICE joins INTERPOL Washington in a multi-national effort to locate criminals in the United States

WASHINGTON - INTERPOL Washington Director Timothy A. Williams announced a multi-international effort to locate and arrest criminal suspects believed to be in hiding in the United States and throughout Western Hemisphere countries. INTERPOL Washington is partnering with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE/ERO) for this initiative.

The initiative, called "Operation FAR AWAY," is an intelligence-driven operation designed to target, locate and arrest criminal aliens believed to be in hiding in the United States and in other Western Hemisphere countries. "Operation FAR AWAY", is scheduled throughout September 2010, and includes more than a dozen participating INTERPOL member countries including: Canada, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Bahamas, Netherland, Antilles, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador and the United States.

The Alien and Fugitive Division, INTERPOL Washington, is the hub for the operation. One of the Division's primary roles is to analyze and disseminate information related to the coordination of locating, arresting and removing fugitives, as well as providing immigration liaison services to the other 187 INTERPOL member countries.

"No nation should be a safe haven for criminals who are wanted abroad," said Jim Chaparro, Executive Associate Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). "Operation FAR AWAY enhances public safety in the United States and all of our partner nations." ERO is pleased to have the opportunity to participate.

"Initiatives such as "FAR AWAY" provide great opportunities for law enforcement agencies to work together to apprehend fugitives both domestically and internationally," said Timothy A. Williams, INTERPOL Washington Director. "I commend the leadership at ICE ERO for taking the lead with INTERPOL Washington by providing important resources to ensure this operation is a successful one."

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1009/100902washingtondc3.htm