Free Republic

U.S. military to release 100 detainees in Iraq The U.S. military will release another 100 detainees Saturday, continuing a program timed to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. According to officials with Task Force 134, which oversees detainee operations in Iraq, the release ceremony will bring the number of detainees released under the Ramadan program to at least 1,300. "Prior to release, detainees also make a pledge to an Iraqi judge swearing to maintain peace and good conduct in the future," a task force news release read. This process is a direct representation of the policy of fair releases, not...

ERWIN — Two Hispanic men on their way to Knoxville as part of the deportation process were released Tuesday before they arrived, Unicoi County authorities said Thursday. County Jailer Rita Williams said superiors of two Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees ordered Gregorio Estala Rodriguez and Primitivo Estala Rodriguez to be let go because the New Orleans office, where the men eventually were headed, had been closed temporarily due to Hurricane Gustav. “It’s frustrating for us to know that we got illegal aliens that are breaking the law,” Sheriff Kent Harris said Thursday. “That’s a group we don’t want to have...

Witnesses ID three in Iraq detainee deaths VILSECK, Germany — At least four Iraqis detained by soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade during a patrol in April 2007 were killed, but none of the four Germany-based U.S. soldiers charged last month in the incident pulled the trigger, according to witnesses who testified at an Article 32 hearing Tuesday in Vilseck. During some seven hours of sworn testimony, soldiers who were on the patrol suggested that the four soldiers charged with conspiracy to commit premeditated murder — Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham, Sgt. Charles Quigley, Spc. Stephen Ribordy and Spc....

2nd BCT unit had Europe’s deadliest deployment In April 2007, Baghdad was ramping up for what would become the city’s deadliest month for U.S. soldiers. Americans had flooded the city as part of the "surge." Insurgents, including Mahdi Army militia members, weren’t happy. The 51 American deaths during the ensuing fighting made April the worst month in the city up to that point, and more than twice as bad as just two months earlier. The casualties would keep climbing into May and June, when 59 soldiers died in each of those months. April was the same month that American soldiers...

Detainee rules frustrate Iraqis BAQOUBA, Iraq — Recently reinforced rules on detainees have made it difficult to prosecute suspects, according to Iraqi army commanders in this area. According to Iraqi law, a suspect can only be held for 24 hours. When that time ends and the suspect has not confessed, had two witnesses against him or was not found on a wanted list, the suspect goes free. "It’s not right," said an Iraqi army lieutenant colonel, who commands the 1st Battalion of 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division. "One day is not enough. We need at least a week." The...

AURORA, Colo. -- Going 75 mph in a 55 mph zone seemed like a simple speeding ticket. Instead, the stop along Interstate 70 Wednesday morning would highlight an immigration system that is still full of holes. A red Dodge minivan was pulled over going eastbound near Tower Road at 9:19 a.m. According to the police report, the Aurora officer found a driver and 13 passengers in the van. Further investigation revealed that all 13 said they were picked up in Mexico two days prior by a man offering to get them work in Kansas. Valente Cantoral-Herrera, 33, faces 13 counts...

BALTIMORE - Twenty-four day laborers in the country illegally were arrested Tuesday when they asked for work from federal immigration agents who had gathered in a parking lot after an unsuccessful undercover operation, authorities said. The agents had regrouped at a 7-Eleven parking lot after a search for illegal immigrants who had been ordered to leave the country, said Marc Raimondi, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency spokesman. The day laborers admitted they were in the country illegally after they asked the ICE agents whether they needed workers and the agents responded by asking them, in Spanish, where they were...

Hit-and-run suspect was apprehended by area police at least 15 times. When United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents assigned to the agency's Washington, D.C. Fugitive Operations Team apprehended former Sterling resident Jose Sibrian on Nov. 30 of this year, they brought a man long listed as a federal fugitive immigrant finally into their custody. Originally ordered deported in absentia by a U.S. Department of Justice immigration judge on Aug. 13, 2001, Sibrian had been on the run from federal immigration officers in the United States for more than half a decade. In his time as a federal fugitive...

From yesterday's (9/21/2006) Press Briefing by Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff: Last November, we announced our moving forward on the Secure Border Initiative, and we laid down a number of milestones and a number of different elements to the strategy. The elements included additional personnel, additional tactical infrastructure, ending "catch and release," which was that pernicious policy that allowed people who got caught at the border to be released into the community, and very importantly using some of the proven tools that we have developed over the years for interdiction in the context of border control. And therefore, we...

WASHINGTON – Nearly all non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught sneaking into the United States are being held until they can be returned to their home countries, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said this marks the end of the “catch-and-release” practice that for years helped many illegal immigrants stay in the United States unhindered. “There is a real deterrent effect to this policy,” Chertoff told reporters in Washington, pointing to a 20,000 drop in the number of illegal immigrants caught crossing the southwest border between this summer and the same period last year. “Although we're not ready...

WASHINGTON - Nearly all non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught sneaking into the United States are being held until they can be returned to their home countries, the Bush administration said Wednesday. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said this marks the end of the so-called "catch-and-release" policy that for years helped illegal immigrants remain in the United States unhindered. The new policy, dubbed "catch-and-detain" generally does not apply to Mexicans who are almost immediately returned to Mexico after being stopped by Border Patrol agents. "Although we're not ready to declare victory — we've got a lot more work to do — it...

Australia's top investigators claim Mamdouh Habib trained as a terrorist before the September 11 attacks. Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib trained as a terrorist in Pakistan before moving to Afghanistan to serve as a mercenary with al-Qaeda, Australia's top policeman has told a parliamentary inquiry. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said Mr Habib received firearms training in Pakistan in the days before September 11, 2001 to prepare him for a border crossing into Afghanistan to join Osama bin Laden's terrorist organisation. Habib was arrested by Pakistani police inside Pakistan on October 5, 2001. "The investigators formed the view...

Muslim freed by US issues terror threats By Julian Isherwood, Scandinavia Correspondent (Filed: 01/10/2004) Danish authorities said yesterday they might have to return a recently-released Guantanamo Bay prisoner to US custody after he said cabinet ministers were fair targets and vowed to travel to fight Russian forces in Chechnya. "I'm going to Chechnya to fight for the Muslims," Slimane Hadj Abderahmane said in a television interview. Earlier, Mr Abderahmane said the Danish prime minister and defence minister were targets. "Denmark is the only country that hasn't realised that a country's leaders are legitimate targets of war in a war situation....

The man thought he was going to die. Hungry, thirsty and unbelievably hot within the metal train car where he had hidden for the past two days, he knew he had to do something when the train crawled to a standstill. And it couldn't have stopped at a better place: the corner of Goldsmith and Garcia streets, in front of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department East Side substation. "Lucky for him," Sgt. Russell McWhorter said. The man, a Honduran citizen, had left his country several weeks ago, "fleeing the war," McWhorter said. He crisscrossed through Guatemala and Mexico before making...

Inmates convicted or cleared of human-smuggling charges and presumed to be Illegal were allowed to walk out of jail without being removed from the country because of a disagreement over jurisdiction between the Sheriff's Office and ICE. At least 17 have walked right out of the jail and into the community - including six who pleaded guilty to human-smuggling felonies - because the ICE refused to transport out of the country the Illegals who were under the controversial coyote law. "Why would they refuse to pick up the felons?" Sheriff Joe Arpaio asked. The reason, according to an ICE spokesman,...

Local police said they intercepted 20 illegal Mexican immigrants, but were ordered by immigration officials to let them go free. Belmont County Sheriff Fred Thompson said his officers were instructed by federal immigration services to let all 20 illegal immigrants go free, and said his department has no choice but to follow the orders from immigration officials. Thompson said officers stopped a van at 3 a.m. Tuesday which was traveling the wrong direction on Interstate 470 in St. Clairsville. The officer discovered 20 illegal Mexican immigrants inside the van, including three who were previously deported. The officer immediately contacted immigration...

The ICE Princess(Julie L. Myers) opposes a fence on our borders, but she LO-O-O-O-O-V-ES amnesty for illegal aliens. Many readers have written asking my opinion on the latest spate of mass arrests of illegal aliens, nationwide. In case you didn't figure it out, these latest 2,000-plus illegal alien arrests are yet more fakery in the Bush Administration's propaganda war to get amnesty for illegals. Amnesty, not protecting our borders, is the Holy Grail for W & The ICE Princess. It's not me saying so. It's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chiefatrix, Julie L. Myers a/k/a "The ICE Princess." In a...

TAMPA - Fernando Merino-Ronquillo saw the Border Patrol car drive slowly past him, stop, then turn around. He never made it to his construction job that morning in December. He admitted to the Border Patrol agent that he was in the United States illegally and figured he soon would be sent back to Mexico. But less than six hours after being caught, he was let go. Across the country, immigrants such as 24-year-old Merino-Ronquillo routinely are released from government custody because there isn't enough space to hold them, according to an April report from the inspector general of the U.S....

WASHINGTON — Texas lawmakers filed a bill Wednesday that would overturn a longstanding court injunction and make it easier to deport undocumented immigrants from El Salvador and other countries who qualify for temporary protected status under federal law. The legislation would close a legal loophole under which criminals, including members of a violent Salvadoran gang, have been allowed to stay in the United States pending court hearings, the bill's sponsors said. “We must not allow terrorists and criminals from around the world to abuse loopholes in our legal system, turning our Southwest border into a revolving door,” said Rep. Henry...

YUMA, Ariz. - An illegal immigrant who was deported back to Mexico last year after serving time for a murder conviction in Minnesota was arrested here early Thursday, U.S. Border Patrol officials said. Agents from the Yuma Sector's Wellton Station took Gerardo Lopez-Rios into custody after he was stopped by Wellton police about 1:45 a.m. A fingerprint check showed that Lopez-Rios was a Mexican national who was arrested in Minneapolis in March 1997 and charged with first- and second-degree murder. In July 1997, Lopez-Rios was convicted of second-degree murder in the case and sentenced to nearly 12 years of incarceration....

16 illegal immigrants arrested, then let go MARCUS KABEL Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Sixteen Mexicans arrested for illegally entering the country were let free this week because there was no room at the jail, authorities said Friday. Instead of detaining the 12 men and four women, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents dropped them off at a bus terminal here and sent them on their way.

Federal authorities have refused to identify the 36 Mexican men arrested Wednesday morning during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in Biglerville. Thirty-four of the alleged illegal immigrants were released from York County Prison on their own recognizance. One of the two individuals being kept at the facility, said ICE special agent Linda Valentine, has a warrant for deportation, and another re-entered the country after being deported. “There’s not enough room at the prison to keep everyone. It’s full,” said Valentine, when reached at her Philadelphia office Thursday afternoon. “We are only able to hold criminal aliens there.”

A nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrant workers netted some arrests in the Capital Region on Wednesday. And now, one of the workers is speaking out about the raid. All the men are either from Honduras and Mexico and have been living at a home on Western Avenue -- a home they said IFCO provided for them for about $50 a week. While many of the men don't speak English, one of them did. He didn't want his name used, but he said he is 28 years old, from Mexico, and has been living and working in the U.S. illegally for...

Department of Homeland Security Unveils Comprehensive Immigration Enforcement Strategy for the Nation’s Interior For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary Contact: ICE Public Affairs, 202-514-2648 April 20, 2006 Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), today unveiled a comprehensive immigration enforcement strategy for the nation’s interior. The new interior enforcement strategy represents the second phase of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), which is the Department of Homeland Security’s multi-year plan to secure America’s borders and reduce illegal migration. The first phase of the SBI remains focused on gaining...

Michael Chertoff will hold a news conference on how the Feds will deal with employers who hire illegals. Nothing follows...yet.

As more non-Mexicans cross border, agency changes release rules PEARSALL, Texas – Except for the 10-foot-high security fence topped with barbed wire and the concrete barriers at the front door, the institutional gray complex in a former farm field along Interstate 35 could pass for a new high school. It's not. To immigration officials, South Texas Detention Center is simply a part of the nation's effort to efficiently detain illegal immigrants pending deportation. To critics, it's a prison by another name and an example of increasing erosion of civil rights for immigrants. At the heart of the debate is the...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryMarch 25, 2006 President's Radio Address       Audio      In Focus: Immigration      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. On Monday, I will attend a naturalization ceremony here in Washington. It's always inspiring to watch a group of immigrants raise their hands and swear an oath to become citizens of the United States of America. These men and women follow in the footsteps of millions who've come to our shores seeking liberty and opportunity, and America is better off for their hard work and love of freedom.  Radio Address 200620052004200320022001  Radio Interviews 20052004 America is a nation...

Eight illegal aliens involved in a vehicle crash early Wednesday morning received medical treatment and were released from Yuma Regional Medical Center, but not taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody. Of those taken to the hospital, one man was flown to Barrow Neurological Center in Phoenix, and a 13-year-old girl was admitted into YRMC following the wreck near Roll, said Border Patrol Yuma sector spokesman Michael Gramley. The other eight walked out of the hospital a few hours later with no Border Patrol contact, an occurrence Gramley said happens from "time to time." "Border Patrol is definitely concerned about this...

Coffee County authorities charged 27 suspected illegal aliens with criminal trespassing after the van they were in was stopped on Interstate 24, but they were later released after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Department refused to deal with them. According to his report, Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Blackburn stopped a 1995 GMC van for reckless driving at the 100 eastbound exit on I-24 at 11:39 p.m. Tuesday. When Blackburn walked up to the vehicle, he discovered the driver did not speak English and had no driver’s license and that there were 26 others of Hispanic nationality packed inside. None of the...

The Homeland Security Department plans to stop releasing illegal immigrants into the United States by October, a senior official said Friday. Greg Giddens, program manager for the department's Secure Border Initiative, told Government Executive he has been asked to end the "catch and release" practice by then. A lack of detention bed space has forced the department to release non-Mexican illegal immigrants into the country if they do not have felony convictions and do not pose a threat to national security. Although these illegal immigrants are given a notice to appear in court for deportation proceedings, most never show up...

McALLEN In September, domestic security officials promised to tighten control of the border with Mexico by swiftly deporting all illegal immigrants seized there, ending the practice of releasing thousands of illegal immigrants to the streets each year because of shortages of beds in detention centers. The move was hailed by President Bush and Republicans in Congress, who said the tough policy would deter the surging numbers of illegal immigrants who cross the murky swells of the Rio Grande here or scramble across the border in Arizona and California. But in this border town on the front lines of the efforts...

WASHINGTON - Overcoming internal opposition, House Republicans on Thursday began debate on legislation intended to shut down illegal immigration and require employers to verify the legal status of their workers. After GOP leaders appealed for party unity, the Republican-controlled House voted 220-206 to approve a parliamentary measure needed to move ahead on the bill. The dispute slowed action on the measure, which was expected to be completed Friday at the earliest. Late Thursday, the House was working its way through amendments, including one that would require construction of fencing along parts of the U.S. border with Mexico. On voice vote,...

Two men, who authorities believe were trying to smuggle two women and a child into the U.S. from Brazil, were arrested in Costa Mesa on Thursday) The federal government may file charges against two men who were arrested Thursday on suspicion of kidnapping. Immigration authorities believe the pair may have attempted to smuggle two women and a child into the United States from Brazil. Costa Mesa police arrested Reynaldo Eid Jr. , 46, of New York City and Alaor Docarmo Olivera Jr., 51, of Danbury, Conn., at 10 p.m. Thursday at the Travelodge in the 1900 block of Newport Boulevard,...

IOWA CITY (AP) --- A traffic accident in eastern Iowa killed a woman, injured seven undocumented immigrants and prompted an investigation from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Lisa Rees, 22, of Elkhart, was driving west on Interstate 80 near the Johnson-Cedar County lines on Wednesday night when her vehicle crossed the median, rolled into oncoming traffic and was struck by a sport utility vehicle, according to the Iowa State Patrol. The SUV's passengers -- all undocumented immigrants -- were hospitalized in Iowa City. Five of them were treated and released, but authorities are investigating their resident status. "They got...

LAREDO, Texas (Reuters) - The United States is closing a legal loophole which has allowed tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to slip into the country and join the estimated 11 million undocumented foreigners already here. Under long-standing procedure along the U.S. border with Mexico, illegal crossers of nationalities other than Mexican -- dubbed OTMs by the Border Patrol -- have been entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge before they could be deported. Because of a severe shortage of space to hold them until the hearing, they were released after being fingerprinted and given a "notice to appear,"...

The United States is closing a legal loophole which has allowed tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to slip into the country and join the estimated 11 million undocumented foreigners already here. Under long-standing procedure along the U.S. border with Mexico, illegal crossers of nationalities other than Mexican -- dubbed OTMs by the Border Patrol -- have been entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge before they could be deported. Because of a severe shortage of space to hold them until the hearing, they were released after being fingerprinted and given a "notice to appear," a document stating they...

PRESIDIO COUNTY – Seven Guatemalan nationals were stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents on Wednesday, and each given summons to appear before a Federal Immigration Court in El Paso, date to be determined. Four of the nationals were in Presidio, three were in Marfa, said Marfa Border Patrol Sector Public Affairs Officer Bill Brooks. “In accordance to U.S. law, we had to release them on their own recognizance,” Brooks said. “If they were criminals, we would have kept them.” Unlike Mexican nationals, the Guatemalans are considered OTM’s, or Other than Mexicans according to U.S. Immigration laws. With a...

Those coming from Brazil, Central America, and 'countries of concern' could hit 150,000 this year. HOUSTON - After decades of attempting to dam the flow of Mexican immigrants crossing into the United States illegally, federal agents say a new crisis is emerging along the southern border and they are helpless to stop it. Non-Mexicans are spilling over the border in record numbers - some from countries with terrorist ties - and most are set free soon after being captured. Already this year, the number of non-Mexican apprehensions has far outpaced last year's total in just eight months. And while they...

HARLINGEN, Texas -- Several times a day, a chain-link gate rolls open and dozens of undocumented immigrants stroll out of the U.S. Border Patrol station here, blinking into the hot Texas sun as they look for taxis to the bus station and a ticket out of town. Each holds a piece of paper that Spanish-speakers call a "permiso" --permission, courtesy of the U.S. government, to roam the country freely. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, more than 118,000 undocumented migrants who were caught after sneaking over the nation's borders have walked right out of custody with a permiso in...

An Al-Qaida Terrorist Related To Bosnian Goverment Arrested In Italy,AP & Reuters, October 1st, 2002.Alleged Tunisian terrorist arrested in southern Italy, reports say BARI, Italy (AP) - Police arrested a Tunisian man Saturday who had been sought by Italian and French authorities for alleged links to Islamic terrorism, news reports said. Bazaaoui Mondher Ben Mohsen, 35, was taken into custody by Italy's DIGOS anti-terrorism police in the southern city of Bari, the AGI news agency reported. He was to be held in Bologna, where he was charged in 1998 with "criminal association" for allegedly supporting Islamic fighters in Bosnia, the...

West Fargo officers arrested a 45-year-old man early Wednesday for being an unregistered sex offender, only to find out he wasn’t a sex offender at all. Alejandro Barrera Lopez, 1700 3rd Ave. S., Moorhead, showed officers false identification at 8 a.m., Tuesday, when stopped for a minor traffic violation, police said. Lopez was trying to mask his status as an illegal immigrant from Mexico with fictitious Minnesota identification and Social Security cards, police said. The false identification pegged him as an unregistered sex offender from San Antonio. More than 17 hours after officers conducted the initial traffic stop, police said...

INDIANAPOLIS TV journalist Bill O’Reilly blasted federal immigration officials for releasing juvenile sniper suspect John Lee Malvo last year instead of deporting him back to Jamaica. In a speech Wednesday, O’Reilly reiterated allegations he aired on his FOX News program this week: that an Immigration and Naturalization Service agent altered an arrest report, allowing Malvo to be released after the Border Patrol had arrested him last year as an illegal alien. Malvo, 17, is the alleged accomplice of D.C. sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad. The pair has been arrested and charged with 13 shootings and 10 deaths in Maryland...