Posted on 04/08/2005 9:45:18 AM PDT by Dubya
The Associated Press
2 charged with taking bribes at checkpoint
LAREDO -- A senior U.S. Border Patrol agent and his brother were charged with accepting about $1.5 million in drug dealers' bribes for allowing marijuana and cocaine through a checkpoint, federal prosecutors said Thursday. Senior Border Patrol agent Juan Alvarez, 35, and his brother Jose Guadalupe Alvarez, 38, both of Laredo, were named in a 12-count indictment unsealed Thursday. The indictment details extortion, bribery, drug conspiracy and firearm charges against the brothers. Prosecutors say the brothers solicited and received payments from a drug organization that moved one or more loads of marijuana per month through the checkpoint between June 2003 and March 29. Each load included one to two tons of marijuana. Prosecutors believe that the dealers also paid the brothers to ensure that 30 kilos to 40 kilos of cocaine would pass the checkpoint.
-- The Associated Press
Trooper finds 48 immigrants in trailer
TYE -- A state trooper who pulled over an 18-wheeler near Abilene for a random inspection Thursday discovered 48 illegal immigrants in the trailer, authorities said. None of the immigrants -- 42 men and six women ages 13 to 55 -- was hurt, said Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department for Public Safety. They had a couple of 5-gallon jugs of water with them in the back, she said. After the trooper pulled over the rig about 8:30 a.m. on Interstate 20 near Tye in Taylor County, he found that the driver did not have a commercial driver's license or a log book, Mange said. The driver, Henry L. Nunez, then gave permission for the trooper to check the trailer. Nunez and two other men in the cab were taken into custody, Mange said.
-- The Associated Press
Nice to know that our Border Patrol is on the take.
Could be just a meassure of how jaded I'm getting on this topic, but between our FedGov on border issues and the Drug War, why does this not come as a surprise at all?
Won't see the Minutemen in anybody's pocket.
No wonder the BP doesn't want the Minutemen on the scene. It cuts into their action...
I don't forsee them checking inbound trucks at bridges, though.
Makes you wonder what else/who else they turned a blind eye to and let through the border. I don't know about you but, I feel all warm and cozy just thinking about it.
That was not the intent of my analogy. These people are sanctioned and being paid yet their still corrupt
Just effing wonderful. I know it might upset President Bush, but it may be time for some Texas "vigilantes" to fire up an "undocumented border patrol".
patrol agent Juan Alvarez, 35, and his brother Jose Guadalupe Alvarez, 38, both of Laredo
The love of money is the root of all evil...1 Timothy 6:10
The IRS should be looking at these guys for tax evasion. I bet that they didn't report the money that they earned from their misdeeds on the border.
Are they legal citizens?
Apr. 08, 2005
Immigration not worried about deliveryman
TOM HAYS
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Front-page headlines about a deliveryman who spent three days trapped in an elevator drew attention to the China-born worker's immigration status, but federal officials suggested he had little to fear.
"Getting locked in an elevator for three days doesn't make you immune to removal proceedings," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Marc A. Raimondi. But top priority, he said, goes to aliens "who pose the greatest threat to public safety and homeland security."
Ming Kuang Chen's ordeal ended with his rescue early Tuesday, 80 hours after he vanished while delivering Chinese food to a high-rise Bronx apartment building. News stories said he had entered the country illegally from the Fujian Province in southeastern China.
Chen appeared briefly at a news conference on Tuesday after being released from a hospital where he was treated for dehydration. Officials offered no information on his whereabouts Wednesday.
He had become the subject of a widespread search after he failed to return to his restaurant Friday night with $200 in receipts, prompting fears that he was the victim of a fatal mugging.
Police spent the weekend going door to door in the high rise, but firefighters pulled Chen free only after responding to an emergency call.
Chen, who speaks little English, said he had repeatedly cried out and pushed an alarm button in the elevator.
The disclosure of Chen's immigration status raised questions about how the information became public. Under city rules, police are allowed to seek a victim's residency information for investigative purposes, but they may not disclose it to anyone else.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters he was unaware of any city official releasing Chen's immigration status and blamed the reports on unauthorized leaks.
"Unfortunately, as you well know, sometimes people just for a variety of selfish reasons ... try to leak information and it's unconscionable," he said Wednesday. "His immigration status had nothing to do with it whatsoever and should not have been divulged, clearly."
The Associated Press had reported the detail, based on accounts by other media.
</sarcasm>
I said a long time ago that the old "lead or silver" pitch would corrupt the customs and border patrol people.
And any smart drug lord with a long-term view would find it easy to encourage felony-free relatives to join the Feds as they increased their numbers.
The Border Patrol was probably clean as a whistle during its first few weeks of operation.
Is the MSM actually backing the MMP? NO FREAKIN' WAY!
The MMP will have a better outcome than some thought would be possible.
And where would you find a bridge in that part of the Sonoran Desert patroled by the Minutemen?
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