Eight arrested with suspected links to Selma marijuana grows

A multi-day eradication effort by the Southern Oregon Multi-Agency Marijuana Eradication Team.... removed more than 40,000 pot plants estimated to be worth as much as $120 million.

....on Aug. 23, Josephine County sheriff's detectives stopped a vehicle with five Hispanic men in it on Forest Road 4105, which wends into the hills above the Sixmile recreation site toward the roughly 5-acre marijuana garden.

The driver, David Barragan-Salazar,told investigators that he was paid $500 to take men to the growing operation in the forest. All are suspected of being in the country illegally.

The vehicle carried.... equipment commonly found in the growing operations of drug-trafficking organizations... also found two firearms under the front seat. Although the weapons... were accessible by anyone in the vehicle, investigators said in their reports.

The other men arrested were Moises Garcia-Zuniga, 30, ; Ricardo Cardenas-Madriz, 25, ; Constantino Chipres-Zamora, 28, and Pedro Alvarez-Gutierrez, 36, no address listed. Each man was charged with possession, delivery and manufacture of marijuana, as well as illegal possession of a concealed firearm. Each is suspected of being in the country illegally ....

The charging documents filed in court allege that the men were involved in "commercial drug offenses" because they had at least 150 grams of marijuana, possessed weapons and made modifications to public land to facilitate their drug production and distribution.

On Saturday, investigators arrested two more people linked with the operation: Salvador Solorio-Barragan, 46, and Deysy Vargas, 21

Another man, Noe Rosales-Farias, 36, no address listed, was arrested on Tuesday.

Although state courts are handling the cases now, Gilbertson would like to see federal authorities take over prosecution because the growing operation was on federal land and is suspected to be part of a sizable international drug-trafficking organization.

JUAREZ MURDER RATE ON THE RISE
September 2, 2010 by m3report

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Foreign News Report

Thursday, 9/2/10

El Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 9/1/10

Death stalks Ciudad Juarez: a murder every three hours

Eighteen persons were murdered in Ciudad Juarez on Tuesday, and there have been 336 homicides in that city during the month of August, a new record. Juarez has now had 2,027 such deaths so far this year. In contrast, the first monthly record kept, which dates to 1995, shows that 34 persons died in August of that year, and that the entire year’s record of homicides then reached 294. Currently, a homicide takes place every three hours.

http://www.diario.com.mx/notas.php?f=2010/09/01&id=0d618072b7aa06f077dc4836af8db1e5

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La Prensa Grafica (San Salvador, El Salvador) 8/31/10

El Salvador : one small but violent country

The murder of two men on Tuesday morning brought this small country’s homicide tally up to 330 for the month and to 2,792 for this year. The month’s daily killing average reached eleven.

http://www.laprensagrafica.com/el-salvador/judicial/139481-el-salvador-registra-330-homicidios-en-agosto.html

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El Universo (Guayaquil, Ecuador) 8/31/10

Ecuadorans intend to keep trying to reach the U.S. illegally

The killing of 72 Latin American migrants in Mexico doesn’t discourage some Ecuadorans, who still want to travel to the U.S. clandestinely. A native of the Canar province, from where the only survivor of the Tamaulipas slaughter also comes, says “It’s up to you” and adds that one must arrange the trip with coyotes in order to attempt to enter American territory illegally, the way he already did some years ago. [Note: various press reports today indicate that a second survivor of that massacre, a Central American woman, has now also been found.]

Another area resident relates that he was helped by coyotes, who took him by sea to Guatemala, and then by car and on foot to Los Angeles, in a nearly one month long journey.

Due to the massacre at Tamaulipas, Ecuadoran officials have asked for documents from families who suspect some of their members could be among the victims.

http://www.eluniverso.com/2010/08/30/1/1360/ecuatorianos-piensan-seguir-viajando-eeuu.html?p=1360&m=1860

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La Hora (Quito, Ecuador) 8/31/10

Ecuadoran Cabinet member believes in free global transit for people

Ecuador’s Minister for Internal and External Security, Miguel Carvajal, stated today that government intelligence and security agencies are investigating alleged people trafficking activities in Ecuador. He added that specific measures would be taken against those who use Ecuador’s open door policy for illegal purposes.

When asked whether the open door policy – which permits the free entry of aliens – might be cancelled, Carvajal said that they would “take all necessary measures” to guarantee the security of Ecuadorans, and also added that “We are part of the conviction that persons have free transit in a globalized world. And that is a right which we Ecuadorans demand, above all, for the migration of our fellow citizens, that they be treated as persons.”

http://www.lahora.com.ec/index.php/noticias/show/1101011082/-1/Investigan_presencia_de_redes_de_tr%C3%A1fico_de_personas_en_el_Ecuador__.html

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Diario Rotativo (Queretaro, Qro.) 9/1/10

Mexican NGO lays blame for migrants’ woes

The Center of Border Studies and Promotion of Human Rights (CEPRODHAC) enumerated the main causes for the deaths and human rights violations of the migrants who seek the “American dream.” Rebeca Rodriguez, CEPRODHAC president, stated that the root causes are poverty, the lack of governmental programs to eradicate poverty in the countries that produce emigration, and also inaction and deaf ears of the Central and South American consulates, as well as the corruption that prevails in Mexico’s National Immigration Agency.

http://rotativo.com.mx/migracion/consulados-ignoran-peticiones-de-migrantes-acusa-ong/38452/html/

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Mexican congresswoman: people ought to move the same as free trade does

Rosa Marquez, Secretary for the Rural Development and Equity of the Distrito Federal stated that at least ¾ million D.F. area residents (“D.F.”: the area surrounding Mexico City) have migrated to the U.S. & Canada. The same area has received 1.5 billion dollars in individual monetary remittances from abroad up to 2009. Marquez emphasized the need to eradicate discrimination against migrants and” to reinforce public migratory policies.” A local congresswoman, Aleida Alvarez, said that if the world has commercial free trade treaties, “it is almost absurd that persons may not be able to move in the same manner.”

http://rotativo.com.mx/migracion/tan-solo-en-df-750-mil-personas-migran-a-norteamerica-y-canada/38377/html/

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Novedades de Quintana Roo (SIPSE.com) (Cancun, Q.R.) 9/1/10

Regarding the Cancun bar killings

The owner of the Cancun bar that was attacked with Molotov cocktails said that a week before they had received a threat from organized crime. Armed subjects arrived and said, “If you don’t give for your security we’re going to bring about a killing.” The thugs were asking for 40,000 pesos a month (approx. 3,000 dollars) for “security.” Six women and two men, all of them bar employees, died due to burns and asphyxia. Press data shows that the majority of the bars are threatened by the “Zetas.” A month ago, the owner of another bar, the “Costa Azul,” also refused to pay for security, and opted to close down his business. They were kidnapped when he and an employee arrived to put the place up for rent; neither has been heard from since then.

http://www.sipse.com/noticias/63491—pagas-vamos-hacerte-matazon-fotogaleria.html

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El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 9/1/10

Mexican federal police ranks being purged

Mexico’s federal police announced that 3,200 of its members, or 9.2% of the force, have been let go. The agency’s commissioner, Facundo Rosas, said that this was because those persons did not meet the requirements for retention, and not because they were linked to organized crime. An additional 1,020 federales” are about to be dismissed because of failure to meet “trustworthiness control exams” which include polygraph and anti-doping screening, among others.

http://www.informador.com.mx/mexico/2010/229852/6/historica-depuracion-en-la-policia-federal.htm

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El Imparcial (Hermosillo, Sonora) 9/1/10

Current data re monetary remittances

Individual monetary remittances sent to Mexico from abroad rose 1.84% in July and reached 1.867 billion dollars. The U.S. is the largest source of these remittances and, despite the economic recession, Mexico has received 12.495 billion dollars from January to July. That, along with petroleum, constitutes one of Mexico’s largest sources of income.

http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Nacional/01092010/466393.aspx

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El Debate (state of Sinaloa) 9/1/10

Sinaloa following the example of Ciudad Juarez

The Mexican state of Sinaloa set a new monthly record: there were 233 homicides in August, an average of seven a day, and the year’s total has now reached 1,647. Twelve police agents and one member of the military are among the victims.

[The state of Sinaloa occupies a strip along Mexico’s west coast opposite the south end of the Baja California Peninsula. It is slightly smaller than West Virginia.]

http://www.debate.com.mx/eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdArt=10156720&IdCat=6112

“Obama says we can learn things by watching Mexico’s example in treating illegals, and China too.”

Great little rant here by a friend, Perry Pendley of Mt. States Legal.
http://www.mountainstateslegal.org/index.cfm

SINCE WHEN ARE CHINA AND ARIZONA MORALLY EQUIVALENT?

On May 14, 2010, the U.S. Department of State announced “no major breakthroughs” in bilateral discussions with China “after only their second round of talks about human rights since 2002.” Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Michael H. Posner, who along with Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman briefed the media, said that the United States sought a “mature relationship” with China, which would yield “an open discussion” not only of “[China’s] problems,” but also “[the U.S.A.’s] own [problems].”

At that point, a reporter asked, “Did the recently passed Arizona immigration law come up? And, if so, did they bring it up or did you bring it up?” Posner responded, “We brought it up early and often. It was mentioned in the first session, and as a troubling trend in our society and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination, and that these are issues very much being debated in our own society.”

The day the Associated Press reported Posner’s remarks, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and others filed a federal lawsuit against Arizona challenging the constitutionality of the “Arizona immigration law” (S.B. 1070) in Arizona federal district court. According to their complaint, the law violates the Supremacy Clause and the First and Fourth Amendments.

Less than two months later, on July 5, while Secretary Posner was enjoying a day off (federal offices were closed) to celebrate Independence Day, the Associated Press announced that an American geologist, held and tortured by China’s state security agents for two and one half years, was sentenced to eight years in prison allegedly for spying and collecting state secrets regarding the Chinese oil industry, which “endangered [China’s] national security.”

Ambassador Huntsman was in the courtroom; after the verdict, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing announced it was “dismayed” and urged China to grant the 45-year old Xue Feng—who was born in China, earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, became a U.S. citizen, and works for a Colorado energy company—”humanitarian release and immediately deport him.”

The next day, Ambassador Huntsman’s colleague in the Obama Administration, Attorney General Eric Holder, join with the ACLU, NAACP, MALDEF, and others in challenging S.B. 1070, asserting, “The Constitution and the federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country.”

Meanwhile, public support for the right of Arizona to respond to the crime, chaos, and cost of unrestrained illegal immigration and the refusal of the federal government to protect the Nation’s southern border, grew like Topsy. According to a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey conducted after the Obama Administration filed its lawsuit, 61 percent favor the Arizona law for their states and 56 percent oppose the federal lawsuit.

Before the Arizona federal district court, federal lawyers argued that, in determining whether the Arizona law violates the Supremacy Clause, which requires preemption of state law that conflicts with federal law, the question is not whether S.B. 1070 conflicts with the provisions of acts of Congress, but whether it is consistent with current White House policy, including “foreign relations [] and humanitarian concerns. . . .” Incredibly, on July 28, the court agreed with the Obama Administration’s audacious and unprecedented argument and struck down much of the Arizona law. The next stop is the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, en route to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Thus, while American citizens, pursuant to the Constitution and the rule of law, seek to address issues of great personal and national concern, an American citizen sits in a hellhole jail in China. Remarkably, Team Obama regards these circumstances as morally equivalent. So the question remains, who is the more embarrassing: Team Obama or Arizona?

Where are all the property rights advocates these days?
I've noticed a trend this year in the MANY Mexican pot farm raids. It's NOT just 'public' lands any more. They've moved on to private properties. They DESTROY the habitat and trees.
Many of these are some of the few lumber companies left in this nation, who now have THEIR property, their crop of trees destroyed, as in the article below. They might complain, file suit against some entity, but no one has listened to lumber people for decades!
They're part of that nasty rural anti enviro freak cabal, after all.

Deputies: We pulled up Mexican cartel's pot

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SWEET HOME, Ore. – Deputies raided a marijuana-growing operation they say is linked to a Mexican drug cartel on private timberland in Linn County Thursday.

During the raid they seized nearly 1,000 plants and a pound of marijuana. Detectives had been investigating the growing operation for some time. They say two workers lived in a tent at the site. It appeared they had been living there for a couple months, Mueller said. [I'm told by local sheriff's that these 'migrants' kill every form of wildlife they can find...some they eat, most they just waste....but these guys will get off easier than a native Oregonian killing a deer out of season!]

Detectives had been investigating the growing operation for some time. They say two workers lived in a tent at the site. It appeared they had been living there for a couple months, Mueller said.

http://www.katu.com/news/local/101236874.html

The greatest irony of this entire mess has to be how these local sheriffs MUST enforce Federal drug laws.... but are not allowed to enforce ENDANGERED SPECIES laws, not PROPERTY RIGHTS laws, and certainly not IMMIGRATION LAWS!

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