Free Republic

SIERRA VISTA - The creator of a hard-hitting documentary about life in a border community says public reaction to the film has been "amazing." Now "Cries from the Border" is set to be screened at major cities across America. Retired producer and director Mercedes Maharis made the hourlong documentary following her own encounters with illegal immigrants, who regularly cross the land next to her Hereford home. She approached different agencies, organizations and local residents, who all agreed to be interviewed about the problem of illegal immigration and how they deal with it on a daily basis. It received its first...

For a few hours on Friday, Cochise County residents knew they had the attention of state lawmakers - and not just lawmakers who represent the county. The state House Judiciary Committee came to Sierra Vista to discuss and hear comments about illegal immigration. The effort was spearheaded by the Greater Sierra Vista Area Chamber of Commerce and Rep. Jonathan Paton, whose district includes Sierra Vista. The few hours the legislators spent in the Sierra Vista area were an opportunity for them to see more than the illegal immigration issue. They also were taken on a tour of Fort Huachuca in...

SIERRA VISTA - State Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said Friday that illegal immigrants being detained on Fort Huachuca is a problem for the Army. On Friday, he, six other members of the Judiciary Committee and two state senators met with post and local officials for lunch. They also received a briefing and tour of the fort. The committee was in the area for a hearing concerning an immigration bill that will criminalize actions taken by people smugglers engaged in sexual exploitation or forced labor. The state Senate approved the bill 29-0 Thursday, and the House...

Sheriff says he may not have known he'd shot drug backpacker, who died. Criminal investigators have determined that a U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a drug backpacker last Saturday was not being threatened at the time, officials with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department said Friday. The agent, though, may not have known he had shot somebody, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada. The dead man, Julio Cesar Yenez Ramirez, 31, from Nogales, Sonora, was shot through the right arm and the bullet pierced his heart and lung, exiting through the left armpit, Estrada said. He...

DOUGLAS - Individuals on the Mexican side of the border shot at a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents on Friday and Monday, according to an agency's Tucson Sector spokeswoman. The two incidents bring the number of shootings aimed at agents in Cochise County to three since last Wednesday and four since Oct. 1, Andrea Zortman said. All involved agents from the Douglas Station. "They are definitely a lot more aggressive," Zortman said about assaults against agents. In the most two recent shooting incidents in the county, a vehicle and material protecting cameras were hit, she said. Around 6 p.m....

FORT HUACHUCA -The flow of illegal immigrants through Cochise County will continue this year, with Sheriff Larry Dever predicting an increase in the traffic. "Immigration is likely to be the hot-button issue in political circles this year," Dever told about 90 people who attended the Greater Sierra Vista Area Chamber of Commerce's Military Affairs Committee luncheon Wednesday. The U.S. Border Patrol has been able to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants in the border areas near San Diego, Calif., and El Paso, Texas, a move made because the terrain made it easier to control access, the sheriff said. In California,...

SIERRA VISTA - The U.S. Border Patrol's drug seizures and illegal immigrant apprehensions rose for the agency's Tucson sector and Cochise County in fiscal year 2004 and continue to rise in the first quarter of fiscal year 2005. Officials say these heightened numbers are a result of increased enforcement personnel within the county and within the Tucson Sector, which stretches from the New Mexico state line to Yuma County, a length of 261 miles. The Border Patrol seized 362,351 pounds of marijuana and made 347,263 apprehensions during its 2003 fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2002 to Sept. 30,...

TUCSON - A Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle flown out of Fort Huachuca as part of a U.S. Border Patrol test program helped stop four groups of drug smugglers and aided in the apprehension of 43 illegal immigrants in separate incidents between Monday and Wednesday. Andrea Zortman, a spokeswoman for the agency's Tucson Sector, said all the marijuana seizures happened in Santa Cruz County, while the apprehensions of illegal immigrants occurred in Cochise County. An agent using a night-vision scope spotted nine people carrying bundles around 10 p.m. Monday that the agent suspected was marijuana, Zortman said. Because the group was...

"We've been told and promised repeatedly over the last six years that this is a federal responsibility and that the federal government is going to get this area under operational control. The problem is, I still don't know what they mean by operational control."- Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever This roundup was near Palominas. Next: Lt. Al Tomlinson searches a culvert in Bisbee for signs of illegal entrants. One of the motivations, he says, is personal: He was involved in the recovery of 38 bodies last year. Cochise deputies aid Border Patrol It's just past midnight as the brown sedan...

COCHISE COUNTY -- Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge will see life along the border today, but he will not be taking the pulse of local people and how they view the fast-flowing traffic of illegal immigrants across the international boundary. Douglas Mayor Ray Borane said Ridge's visit is another example of a high-ranking bureaucrat from Washington, D.C., not wanting to hear from people who live along the border. Ridge is in Arizona for a number of reasons, including a review of special operations being used to combat the smuggling of illegal immigrants. He also will be on Fort...

Fort Huachuca Preservation Amendment Included in National Defense Authorization Act (Washington, D.C.) - The House of Representatives Friday passed the National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 1588, legislation that included the Fort Huachuca Preservation amendment. H.R. 1588 sets policies, programs and funding levels for the nation's military, authorizing $400 billion for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy. This bill passed the House 362-40 and is expected to also pass the Senate early next week and then be sent to President Bush for his signature and enactment into law. The Fort Huachuca Preservation Amendment...

COCHISE COUNTY -- The number of illegal immigrants encountered in Cochise County is increasing again in what Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever likens to a tidal wave. "Highway 80 is just humming as is Davis Road," Dever said Thursday. "You can see, smell and feel more of them coming. We're being drowned by a tidal wave. We are gasping for air." Dever is not surprised that figures released earlier this week by U.S. Border Patrol officials show that more than half of the illegal immigrants taken into custody in the agency's Tucson Sector were in Cochise County. He is not...