Smuggling ring took illegals to Amish community

kbci ^

[chance33_98]

Smuggling ring took illegals to Amish community

September 22, 2003 2:35 PM

The Associated Press

Cleveland-AP -- Three men from Guatemala have pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of illegal workers to an Amish community in Ohio.

Investigators say the smugglers helped the aliens from Mexico and Guatemala to lie on their identification forms for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol began investigating when employees at the bureau in Holmes County were suddenly overwhelmed.

The U-S attorney says two of the men pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the transportation of illegal aliens. The third man pleaded guilty to transportation of illegal aliens.

They and four others are also accused of racketeering.

The Amish community in Holmes County, Ohio -- about 65 miles south of Cleveland -- is believed to be the world's biggest.

[gubamyster]

Must have been a pretty long buggy ride from the border to Ohio.

[JustPiper]

Ping!

[BeerSwillr]

smugglers helped the aliens from Mexico and Guatemala to lie on their identification forms for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Jess, mi nombre es Jose Yoder.

[janetgreen]

Are any of these border hoppers going to be deported, or is that too much to ask of the INS? I doubt that the Amish community wants to support them.

[AmishDude]

Ahem.

You pinged the wrong list.

[Defiant]

I don't know about Mexican Amish, but I think I saw Osama hiding among them.

[rovenstinez]

They really need to check in to mandatory seat belts for those buggys.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Well, all illegals are natural conservatives, so they should blend in well with the Amish community.

[Travis Bickel/Marine Inspector]

Are any of these border hoppers going to be deported, or is that too much to ask of the INS?

The INS no longer exists and the focus of the two new enforcement agencies is on terrorism.

Illegals are no longer a part of the Homeland Defense equation.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

The Ohio State Highway Patrol began investigating when employees at the bureau in Holmes County were suddenly overwhelmed.

Good thing the state police are around, the INS or BICE whatever they're called haven't got a clue what's going on around them. Either that or they don't care. Another reason to support the CLEAR Act in Congress.

[janetgreen]

Illegals are no longer a part of the Homeland Defense equation.

You're right. I guess we taxpaying suckers just have to pay up whether we like it or not. I think this will lead to violent conflict within five years, because people are really getting angry.

[JustPiper]

Thanx for bringing up the Clear Act - Best! Many of us are not aware of all bills and that is why FR is invaluable!

From The Hill (a great site!)

Norwood criticizes Baca on CLEAR Act

From Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.):

I was shocked to read in The Hill last week (“Norwood bill rekindles debate on role of local law enforcement units”) a quote from my colleague, Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), reacting to my bill, The CLEAR Act (H.R. 2671) — bipartisan legislation to address the criminal alien crisis in our nation.

His quote read: “They could arbitrarily select any individual. People like me; I’m dark-skinned. And they’ll ask me for identification.”

That is 100 percent wrong. Here’s what The CLEAR Act is: A bipartisan bill that clarifies for our nation’s 600,000 local and state law officers their inherent legal authority to enforce U.S. immigration laws in the normal course of carrying out their everyday duties. It also gives them the appropriate funding, training, and access to data they need to effectively do this.

The CLEAR Act most definitely is not a bill to promote racial profiling, as Rep. Baca suggests.

I wish Joe would have taken the opportunity to explain how we can fix our badly broken immigration system, which has given us 80,000 criminal aliens and just 2,000 federal agents to find them. Or even why he apparently thinks our local and state law enforcement officers are incapable of enforcing immigration laws during the normal course of their duties without engaging in racial profiling. Instead, Joe chose to engage in ethnic scare tactics. That’s too bad.

We’re left to wonder. Maybe Joe thinks the system we have is just fine – and putting criminals back on the street is not such a bad policy? Who knows?

What we do know is that Joe’s ethnically divisive response has no place in today’s debate. Putting 80,000 criminals back on the street is not the problem or concern of just one ethnic group – but instead, all Americans.

Washington, D.C.

[Alouette]

Oy! Landsman! Landsman!

[JustPiper]

Best, thank you for keeping me on my toes and informed ;)

On BICE site:

On March 1, 2003, functions of several border and security agencies including the U.S. Customs Service, Federal Protective Service (FPS), and former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) were transferred into the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security within the Department of Homeland Security. As part of this transition, these agency functions were reorganized into the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement brings together approximately 14,000 Federal employees who focus on the enforcement of immigration and customs laws within the United States, the protection of specified federal buildings, and air and marine enforcement. By unifying previously fragmented investigative functions, the Bureau will deliver effective and comprehensive enforcement. The Bureau is led by an Assistant Secretary who reports directly to the Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security. Michael Garcia, former Acting INS Commissioner, has been nominated by President Bush to fill this role.

The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is comprised of the following primary program areas:

Immigration Investigations – responsible for investigating violations of the criminal and administrative provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and other related provisions of the United States Code

Customs Investigations – responsible for investigating a range of issues including terrorist financing, export enforcement, money laundering, smuggling, fraud – including Intellectual Property Rights violations, and cybercrimes

Customs Air and Marine Interdiction – responsible for protecting the Nation's borders and the American people from the smuggling of narcotics, other contraband, and terrorist activity with an integrated and coordinated air and marine interdiction force

Federal Protective Service – responsible for providing a safe environment in which Federal agencies can conduct their business by reducing threats posed against the over 8,800 General Services Administration (GSA)-controlled facilities nationwide

Detention and Removal - responsible for promoting the public safety and national security by ensuring the departure from the United States of all removable aliens through the fair enforcement of the nation's immigration laws.

Immigration Intelligence – responsible for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence to immigration staff at all levels to aid in making day-to-day, mid-term, and long-term operational decisions; acquiring and allocating resources; and determining policy

Customs Intelligence – responsible for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of strategic and tactical intelligence data for use by the operational elements of customs enforcement.

[JustPiper]

On DHS:

Border & Transportation Security


Securing Our Borders

Securing our nation's air, land, and sea borders is a difficult yet critical task. The United States has 5,525 miles of border with Canada and 1,989 miles with Mexico. Our maritime border includes 95,000 miles of shoreline, and a 3.4 million square mile exclusive economic zone. Each year, more than 500 million people cross the borders into the United States, some 330 million of whom are non-citizens.

On March 1st, the Department of Homeland Security, through the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security, assumed responsibility for securing our nation's borders and transportation systems, which straddle 350 official ports of entry and connect our homeland to the rest of the world. BTS also assumed responsibility for enforcing the nation's immigration laws.

The Department's first priority is to prevent the entry of terrorists and the instruments of terrorism while simultaneously ensuring the efficient flow of lawful traffic and commerce. BTS manages and coordinates port of entry activities and leads efforts to create a border of the future that provides greater security through better intelligence, coordinated national efforts, and unprecedented international cooperation against terrorists, the instruments of terrorism, and other international threats.

To carry out its border security mission, BTS incorporates the United States Customs Service (previously part of the Department of Treasury), the enforcement division of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (Department of Justice), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Department of Agriculture), the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (Department of Treasury) and the Transportation Security Administration (Department of Transportation). BTS will also incorporates the Federal Protective Service (General Services Administration) to perform the additional function of protecting government buildings, a task closely related to the Department's infrastructure protection responsibilities.

The BTS Directorate is also responsible for securing our nation's transportation systems, which move people from our borders to anywhere in the country within hours. The recently created Transportation Security Administration, which is now part of the BTS Directorate, has statutory responsibility for security of all of the airports. Tools it uses include intelligence, regulation, enforcement, inspection, and screening and education of carriers, passengers and shippers. The incorporation of TSA into the new Department allows the Department of Transportation to remain focused on its core mandate of ensuring that the nation has a robust and efficient transportation infrastructure that keeps pace with modern technology and the nation's demographic and economic growth.

Another important function of BTS's border management mission is enforcing the nation's immigration laws - both in deterring illegal immigration and pursuing investigations when laws are broken. BTS absorbed the enforcement units of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, such as the Border Patrol and investigative agents of INS. Working together with agents from other agencies that comprise the BTS Directorate, such as the U.S. Customs Service and Transportation Security personnel, these well-trained law enforcement professionals provide a coordinated defense against unlawful entry into the United States.

Read more information on the interior enforcement activities under the newly formed Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security.

[JustPiper]

Janet my friend, will it take five years? I want to be involved, and I am impatient -g-

[Reaganwuzthebest]

I wish Joe would have taken the opportunity to explain how we can fix our badly broken immigration system, which has given us 80,000 criminal aliens and just 2,000 federal agents to find them.

Wonder if Joe Baca will answer Norwood's question about what he would do to fix the broken immigration system besides amnesty everyone and open the borders? Being a democrat I doubt it, he wants to make sure those illegal voters stick around.

[janetgreen]

I want to be involved, and I am impatient -g-

You sound like you're as fed up as I am. Maybe five years IS too long... Seriously, I think that it will come to a border war. People are sick of having illegal immigration shoved down their throats. If I hear the words "multiculturism" or "diversity" one more time I will probably have a stroke. It's all government bullsh**, and people are waking up to that fact.

[JustPiper]

Janet, in "W's" interview tonight he talked about the Iranian borders, the Israeli border's and nada on ours. He believes in fences for Israel b ut feels Iran is wrong, but says nothing about us getting undone about our illegal problem! Darnit, he gets my vote and he wants it again, or does he?!