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More than 22,000 illegal immigrants with criminal charges or convictions have been arrested in Texas through a 1-year-old program that links FBI and federal immigration databases, Homeland Security officials said Thursday. About 12 percent of them, or 2,700 people, were charged or convicted of what authorities call "level one" crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping or narcotics violations with a sentence of more than one year. (snip) Under the new system, fingerprints are run simultaneously through a national database to check criminal history and through a Homeland Security database to check the person's immigration status. All those arrested in jurisdictions...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration has met many of the border security benchmarks Congress set in 2007 as a prerequisite to immigration reform and now it's time to change the law, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday. Napolitano, designated by President Barack Obama to lead the administration's immigration reform efforts, said many members of Congress had said they could support immigration reform, but only after border security improved, Napolitano said. "Fast forward to today, and many of the benchmarks these members of Congress set in 2007 have been met," she said in a speech to the Center for...

DENVER - A local teenager is back home, after being kidnapped and held hostage in Mexico for two years, by an abusive boyfriend. Her parents say Alisha Martinez had been missing since April of 2007. They say she first met 22 year old Adan Garcia-Cruz when she was 14. He checked her out of school one day, saying he was her uncle. The parents called police, who arrested Garcia-Cruz two weeks later. And Alisha returned home. That's when her parents found out she was pregnant. Garcia-Cruz was arrested on numerous counts of sexual assault on a child, and service time....

NEWBURGH, N.Y. — The four men accused of plotting to bomb New York City synagogues and shoot down military airplanes with missiles are down-and-out ex-convicts living on the margins in a faded industrial city. One is a petty criminal who spent a day in 2002 snatching purses and shooting at people with a BB gun from an SUV. His lawyer calls him "intellectually challenged." Three have histories of drug convictions, one of them for selling narcotics in a school zone...But if they sometimes seemed amateurish, the men were dangerous people fueled by their hatred for Jews and America, prosecutors said....

A 42-year-old Richfield man, his 9-year-old son and a 12-year-old girl from another family were killed Sunday morning when the SUV they were riding in was hit by a truck that slid across a snow-covered road in Washington County. The man's 40-year-old wife, two of their children and the 12-year-old girl's 11-year-old brother suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospitals, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Department. The three men who were in the one-ton flatbed truck were not injured. ... According to the sheriff's department: The crash occurred just before 9 a.m. on state Highway 164 north of...

Police on Tuesday obtained an arrest warrant for El Salvadoran immigrant Ingmar Guandique for the 2001 killing of Modesto's Chandra Levy, opening a dramatic new chapter in one of the nation’s most enduring murder mysteries.

WASHINGTON (AP) - An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for an imprisoned Salvadoran immigrant in the killing of federal intern Chandra Levy, nearly eight years after the case captivated the nation's capital and ended the career of a congressman. The warrant accuses Ingmar Guandique (gwan-DEE'-kay) of killing Levy on May 1, 2001, as she walked her dog through Washington's Rock Creek Park, said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor. Guandique, 27, is already serving time in a federal prison in Adelanto, Calif., for attacking two women in the same park.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Investigators in the 2001 slaying of Chandra Levy have prepared an arrest warrant for a Salvadorian immigrant convicted of similar attacks in the park where the former intern disappeared, a person close to the investigation said Saturday. The person told The Associated Press that Ingmar Guandique's arrest is imminent and an official announcement is expected soon. The source was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — In a case that prosecutors likened to a high-profile Denver case, a judge has sentenced an illegal immigrant who killed his friend in a drunken-driving accident to six years in prison. The sentence is two years longer than one imposed in a nearly identical case earlier this year, but Deputy District Attorney Ed Veronda called that a “botched case by a special prosecutor” and said Garfield County judges were “totally out of whack with the rest of the state” in imposing lighter sentences for vehicular homicides. Veronda asked Judge David Lass, a retired Eagle County district judge...

The illegal immigrant accused of molesting a 7-year-old girl in Clark County has still not been deported as the case hangs in legal limbo. Jorge Avila, 21, of La Grange, Ky., was released from the Michael L. Becher Adult Corrections Facility last month because he had been held too long without going to trial. Because he is an illegal immigrant, Avila was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Illinois. Avila had been scheduled for deportation until the U.S. Marshals picked him up last week on federal charges of re-entering the country after deportation, according to ICE Public...

STAMFORD - MTA police arrested a janitor Wednesday who allegedly videotaped at least 16 women using a cell phone camera hidden in a bathroom stall of the Stamford train station, Metropolitan Transit Authority Police Sgt. John Rizzitelli said. Felicitos Gonzalez, 41, of 1 Division St., Stamford was arrested Wednesday morning at his home and charged with 16 counts of voyeurism, said Rizzitelli, an investigator on the case. Additional charges are possible, Rizzitelli said. Gonzalez has worked for Fusco Management since August, which runs and maintains the station on behalf of the Connecticut Department of Transportation,Rizzitelli said. A female complainant contacted...

Mr. Obama's Aunt Zeituni will not be a major campaign issue—compared to other last minute disclosures such as Obama's frightening boast about coal that now produces half of our nation's electricity: "If somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted." Yet in retrospect Aunt Zeituni will prove emblematic and raise a few disturbing questions (aside from the ethical matter of someone who was highlighted in a cameo fashion in his memoir as proof of his...

By now, most people have heard about The Associated Press report that Sen. Barack Obama has a distant aunt –- his deceased father’s half-sister -– living in Boston who is an undocumented alien. They may also know that Zeituni Onyango, from Kenya, was denied political asylum by an immigration judge four years ago. As Josh Micah Marshall at Talking Points Memo reported Saturday, Rep John Conyers (D-Mich), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee wrote an angry letter to Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security, saying the disclosure, by at least one “federal law enforcement official,” according to...

"I haven't been able to get in touch with her..."

In Antioch, a 23-year-old mother faces arraignment on November 12th on a grand jury indictment charging her with felony murder and aggravated child neglect. Astrid Lucretia Carias was accused of murdering her 4-month old son in July of last year. Carias allegedly smothered her child. Carias still has 3-surviving children who are now overseen by the Department of Children Services. Carias is being held in the Metro Jail in lieu of $150,000 bond. A federal immigration detainer has also been placed against her.

LOS ANGELES - A confessed burglar described by police as one of the most prolific thieves in Los Angeles history was resentenced Tuesday to 7 1/2 years in prison. In an effort to win the slightly reduced sentence, Ignacio DelRio, also known as Ricardo Caveda, also drew a map that led police to some $400,000.. "He confessed to 1,000 burglaries, and I have been able to find 180 victims so far," police Detective Robert Longacre said after the sentencing. Longacre declined to name any of the victims but said they included well-known people in the movie industry and at least...

A man jailed in Mexicali on suspicion of running down a Border Patrol agent in January, killing him, has been released without charges, it was reported yesterday. The Attorney General's Office in Baja California confirmed to The Associated Press that Jesús Navarro Montes had been released from a Mexicali jail. No explanation for his release was given. Navarro was arrested Jan. 22 by Mexican authorities. He was accused of driving a Hummer carrying drugs on Jan. 19 near Yuma, Ariz. Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar was placing spike strips on a road to stop the Hummer and a second vehicle...

Three members of a touring male revue dance group have been arrested on accusations they raped a 24-year-old woman at a Klamath Falls motel. Sheriff Tim Evinger of Klamath County says Sky Lakes Medical Center notified police after a motel worker took the woman to the hospital. Lodged in the Klamath County Jail are 32-year-old Christian Hulfsizer of Los Angeles, 33-year-old Radek Zahahork of Irvine, Calif. and 27-year-old Allan Abrahan Armagnac-Bernal of Azusa, Calif. All are charged with rape and sodomy. Bail for each is set at $200,000. Armagnac-Bernal, a Czech national who has overextended his visa, is also being...

ANITA Shaw says, "My country let me down." It's hard to argue with her. Not only did America let Anita Shaw down, so did California and Los Angeles. Truth be told, Anita Shaw is being diplomatic, if not generous, by not lashing out in righteous indignation at the massive tragedy she has suffered at the hands of an indifferent government. Our government: federal, state and local. Who is Anita Shaw and why should you care what she says? Pull up a chair. Anita Shaw is a sergeant in the United States Army. On March 2, little more than a month...

Family members of the woman charged with causing the fatal school bus crash last month near Cottonwood say she left her native Guatemala two years earlier, hoping to make a better life for her family. The parents of Olga Franco tell the St. Paul Pioneer Press that she was sending them small amounts of money to help supplement about five dollars a day they earn growing corn. Franco is charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the crash that killed four students aged 9 to 13. Family members recall her as a loving daughter who helped care for...

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- A man in Prince William County has been charged with raping a 4-year-old girl and being in the country illegally.Police said Julio Cesar Huaman-Usca, 24, was baby sitting two of his distant relatives Wednesday night when he allegedly raped one of the girls.Police said Huaman-Usca is an illegal immigrant. He is being held without bond. Prince William County's strict immigration policy took effect earlier this month.It allows law enforcement officials to check the citizenship status of anyone suspected of committing a crime.

Racine - A Racine County jury this afternoon found Ezequiel Lopez-Quintero guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and use of a dangerous weapon in the shooting death of Kenosha County sheriff's Deputy Frank Fabiano Jr. Lopez-Quintero, 45, an illegal immigrant living in Kenosha, faces a mandatory life sentence for the conviction of first-degree intentional homicide and up to an additional five years for use of a dangerous weapon. Fabiano, a former U.S. Marine and an 18-year veteran of the sheriff's department, was gunned down on the night of May 16, 2007, while attempting a routine traffic stop in the town of...

Minneapolis Crash Kills 4 Children MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ― A woman who authorities say is in the country illegally and using an alias was charged Friday with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide and two lesser charges in a school bus crash that killed four children, CBS station WCCO-TV reported.   A woman who identified herself as Alianiss Nunez Morales, 23, of Minneota, was driving a van that failed to stop at a stop sign Tuesday before hitting a bus carrying 28 students from Lakeview School, Lyon County Attorney Richard Maes said. The accident happened near the small town of Cottonwood, in...

MARSHALL, MINN. - The 23-year-old woman whose van collided with a school bus was arrested Thursday afternoon and booked on suspicion of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash that killed four children near Cottonwood, Minn. Alianiss Morales, of Minneota, Minn., is expected to be charged and make her first court appearance this morning, said Lyon County Attorney Rick Maes. The Minnesota State Patrol's investigation of the crash continued Thursday, and Maes said much of the paperwork from the investigation was already on his desk. "One [part of the investigation] is whether she was operating the vehicle in a...

COTTONWOOD, Minn. -- Authorities have confirmed that the the driver of the van that struck the school bus that killed 4 students on Tuesday is an illegal alien. Officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement are checking to see where she came from and how long she's been in Minnesota. FOX 9 has also learned that the name she gave to police, Alainiss Morales, is an alias.

Related Links * Paperwork: Suspected Chandler Rapist had getaway plan * ARREST: Police confirm Chandler Rapist suspect in custody * Who is he? Rapist suspect makes initial court appearance Twelve serial sex offenders cross the U.S. border illegally every day, according to a 2006 Department of Homeland Security report. Police in Chandler say one such offender ended up in their community and raped four young girls over the past year and a half. "When I first saw the (Chandler rapist sketch) I told my wife I guarantee he is illegal," said Al Rodriguez, founder of the anti-illegal immigration group, 'You...

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- A Winter Haven man was charged with murder, accused of fatally beating his 4-month-old daughter because he wanted a son, authorities said. Marcos Gomez-Romero, 28, told investigators that he beat Ariana Rodriguez Romero to death because did not want a daughter, according to a Polk County Sheriff's Office report. Gomez-Romero told investigators that the beatings had gone on for months, the sheriff's report stated.

Ex-officer wants new start Awaiting sentencing, illegal immigrant plans for life in Mexico By BILL GLAUBER bglauber@journalsentinel.com Posted: Nov. 21, 2007 It was a name he put on like a new suit of clothes, a name that gave him a new identity, a chance to succeed as an illegal immigrant in America. But Oscar Ayala-Cornejo could never have imagined the long-term consequences of taking the name of his dead cousin, Jose Morales, and claiming his birth certificate, Social Security number, even a childhood immunization record. He was just a teenager when it happened in 1999, a kid taking direction from...

A Mexican national was sentenced this week to more than two years in federal prison for supplying stolen citizenship documents and information to workers at a Hyrum, Cache County, meat-packing plant, which was later raided by federal agents as part of a nationwide operation against illegal-immigrant workers. Led into court in a blue jumpsuit with her hands and feet bound in chains, Veronica Carrillo sat calmly as she listened through a Spanish interpreter to her sentence for selling naturalization or citizenship papers. U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell said that, under the charge, he was required to sentence Carrillo to a...

<p>GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) – State police said the man charged with crashing into two parked cars on Interstate 40/85 Sunday morning is an illegal alien.</p> <p>Investigators said Jose Balderas has yet to produce a photo ID, and will not be released from jail until he provides one. Balderas reportedly told investigators he has been living in Washington, D.C. for the past seven months.</p>

Man sentenced for raping girl By BRIAN SCHEID A 30-year-old illegal immigrant was sentenced to at least five years in state prison in Bucks County court Friday, five months after he admitted to repeatedly raping an adolescent girl. Carlos Salustio, a Mexican immigrant who was living illegally in Warminster, pleaded guilty in April to rape of a child and related charges for as many as 25 sexual incidents with the girl over a two-year period, starting when the girl was 10. In a tearful speech in front of Judge Albert Cepparulo, the girl, who is now 13, said her family...

BALTIMORE -- Immigration officials intend to deport a Liberian man who avoided trial in a child-rape case this summer in Montgomery County primarily because of difficulty in finding him a court interpreter, authorities said Wednesday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement senior attorney Christopher R. Coxe said the agency will seek to deport Mahamu Kanneh, who was in the U.S. legally after being granted refugee status as a teenager, regardless of the disposition of the rape case, which is under appeal. Kanneh was arrested in 2004 on charges of raping a 7-year-old relative and abusing another child. "There is no indication...

FRAMINGHAM, MA - Massachusetts authorities want to bring a man they say is the so-called MetroWest rapist to the Bay State to face rape and assault charges. Marcelo Mota, 28, is being held in New Jersey on $1 million bail on several sex-crime charges there, but was informed yesterday by a Burlington County, N.J., Superior Court judge that Massachusetts has filed a Governor's Warrant to have him brought to Massachusetts, said Burlington County district attorney spokesman Jack Smith. The judge gave Mota time to decide if he would agree to waive a rendition hearing or to fight it because Mota's...

COLUMBIA, Md. -- An illegal immigrant accused of killing a Marine and his date in a DUI crash last November pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday. Edwardo Morales-Soriano, 26, pleaded guilty to two counts of negligent manslaughter. According to police, Soriano's vehicle slammed into the rear of a car stopped at a red light at the intersection of Routes 175 and 108 in Columbia last Thanksgiving. Jennifer Bower, 24, of Montgomery Village, and Brian Matthews, 21, of Columbia, died as a result of the crash. Matthews had served in Ramadi, Iraq, as part of the Fox Company 2nd Battalion 5th...

A Phoenix police officer shot in central Phoenix this morning has died. The officer was pronounced dead at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital. The suspect who shot the officer fled the scene near 24th Street and Thomas in a stolen car, but was located by police around 9:30 a.m. The suspect was apparently armed and had a hostage when crews located his stolen vehicle near 24th Avenue and McDowell. When the suspect threatened officers as they tried to arrest him, he was shot and killed. The original officer-involved shooting that prompted this second incident happened around 8:30 a.m. Police stopped one...

The Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department continues to seek a 27-year-old man who is suspected of causing a traffic accident that resulted in the death of 17-year-old Port Washington boy. An arrest warrant has been issued for the man, identified as Eddie Carbajal-Lile. Sheriff's Capt. David Adams said Carbajal-Lile is an undocumented alien who might be en route to Mexico. The U.S. Border Patrol has been alerted, Adams said. Carbajal-Lile reportedly uses a number of aliases, including: Eddie Carbajal; Eddie Lile; Eddie Carbajal-Farvies; Negro Carbajal; Negro Carbajal-Lile and Negro Lile. The Sheboygan County District Attorney's office Thursday charged Carbahal-Lile with three...

NEWARK SLAY SUSPECT PLEADS NOT GUILTY By JEANE McINTOSH and AUSTIN FENNER August 10, 2007 -- A third suspect was arrested today in connection with the execution-style, schoolyard shootings last week in Newark, WNBC.com reported. The newest suspect in custody is also a juvenile, authorities told the news station. The arrest came the same day that the 'principal' suspect pleaded not guilty to murder charges. José Carranza, 28, was held on $1 million bond. Carranza turned himself in to Newark Mayor Cory Booker yesterday after a televised press conference listed the immigrant as a suspect in the execution-style shootings that...

By Thom Jensen, Anita Kissee and KATU Web Staff OREGON CITY, Ore. - A 15-year-old Texas girl found strangled in a Milwaukie apartment last month was killed during the course of an attempted rape, prosecutors said Tuesday. The revelation came as the men charged in connection with her murder made their first appearance in a Clackamas County court on Tuesday. Cousins Alejandro Emeterio "Alex" Rivera-Gamboa, 24, and 23-year-old Gilberto Javier Arellano-Gamboa have both been charged with aggravated murder in the death of Dani "D.J." Countryman of Kaufman, Texas. Her body was found July 28 in an apartment at the Balboa...

The owner of Tarrasco Steel, a company that supplied workers on the Biloxi Bay Bridge, was arrested and charged with hiring illegal immigrants on projects in three states. Some had improper welding certification. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Jose S. Gonzalez, 32, at his office in Greenville Thursday, according to a news release. Tarrasco Steel was hired as a subcontractor for rebar installation services to major bridge projects in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. The federal government considers those bridges as critical infrastructure, and they were part of routine inspections of facilities that if damaged could pose a threat...

HAMILTON — An illegal immigrant previously convicted of a sex offense and deported back to Mexico was arrested Tuesday in Butler County. A tip led Butler County Sheriff's deputies to Jose Valenzuela, 37, living in the 1200 block of Pater Avenue in Hamilton. Valenzuela was convicted in 1998 of gross sexual imposition involving a juvenile girl and was deemed a sexually oriented offender by the court, according to the sheriff's office. He was required to register with the sheriff's office annually for 10 years, but in 2004, the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement office deported him. Deputies received information that...

Officer arrested; citizenship questioned He is suspected of taking on identity of dead cousin years ago By JOHN DIEDRICH jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com Posted: May 30, 2007 A Milwaukee police officer was arrested Wednesday by federal immigration agents on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant who assumed the identity of his dead cousin a decade ago, officials said. The officer, who has lived and worked under the name Jose A. Morales since he was a teenager, was arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz confirmed Wednesday. A spokeswoman from Immigration did not return a call seeking...

An illegal immigrant living in Boone County has been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to causing a fatal car accident that killed a 4-year-old boy. Christian Javier Sanchez-Rubio, 23, of Whitesville entered his plea during a hearing Monday at the Boone County Courthouse in Madison. Circuit Judge William Thompson handed down the maximum 10-year-sentence, but Sanchez-Rubio will be eligible for parole. He pleaded guilty to two drunken driving-related charges, including driving under the influence causing death and DUI causing injury. Assistant Prosecutor Parker Bazzle said the plea came as a surprise to his office....

Man accused of killing deputy an illegal immigrant By Brent Killackey and Janine Anderson Journal Times The man charged with killing Kenosha County Sheriff’s Deputy Frank Fabiano Jr. was in this country illegally and had previous contact with law enforcement, but none of the various law enforcement agencies either knew he was illegal or contacted immigration enforcement officials until his most recent arrest. Kenosha County District Attorney Robert Zapf said the Department of Corrections provided the information that Ezeiquiel Lopez, 44, of Kenosha was an illegal immigrant. Lopez was under DOC supervision while he was on probation for 2005 and...

An illegal immigrant arrested in connection with a collision that killed a father of five was drunk and on drugs, and had four previous drunken driving convictions, law officers said. Jose Pena, 26, was allegedly traveling 90 miles per hour on March 31 when he crossed a double yellow line and hit 33-year-old Kent Boone. He also allegedly had two pounds of crystal methamphetamine in his truck, according to California Highway Patrol officers who later checked Pena's home and found more drugs. Pena was booked into the Solano County Jail on suspicion of murder, driving under the influence and drug...

Waukesha, WI - A man who robbed a bank in downtown Waukesha in April and traded gunshots with police during an unsuccessful getaway attempt was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison. Nicolas Navarrete, a father of two who told police he got the robbery idea from a television show that led him to believe it would be an easy way out of his money woes, was sentenced by Waukesha County Circuit Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr. after a prosecutor and defense attorney assessed the holdup in starkly different terms. "When I look at the circumstances, it would be difficult...

A decorated Arizona veteran back from Iraq is fighting for his life. His injuries are not from war, but allegedly at the hands of a neighbor. Army Spc. Jason Okon was stabbed in his front yard Feb. 2. In a news conference Tuesday, Elizabeth Okon said she saw her husband get stabbed. She said the suspect, Armando Martinez, lives down the street from them. Okon said Martinez was standing by the couple's front yard and she asked her husband to see what the man wanted. "The man lifted up a knife and proceeded through a metal gate that’s in my...

Los Angeles, CA. According to 33 year veteran gang specialist and retired L.A. Sheriff’s Sergeant Richard Valdemar, Mexican drug cartels have infiltrated city councils and political campaigns in many small cities in Los Angeles County.

On election day, I was in New York City. You know what a lot of New Yorkers were buzzing about that day? Not the election. They were buzzing about a tragic story that has disappeared under the national MSM radar screen--even though folks who live in the city (including journalists) are still talking about it around the water cooler and the local tabloids have covered it wall-to-wall. Last week, a veteran indie-film actress was found dead: The body of a beautiful, talented actress was hanging from a shower rod in the bathtub of a Greenwich Village apartment by her horrified...

Her family's insistence that actress Adrienne Shelly would never take her own life, a mysterious sneaker print at the Greenwich Village murder scene, and detectives' discovery that the apartment beneath Shelly's was being renovated -- these were prime factors that police sources Monday said led to the arrest of a suspect in the slaying. Diego Pillco, 19, of Sunset Park, a handyman who was working in the apartment being renovated, was charged with second-degree murder in the popular indie-film actress's death on Thursday, police said.

Police said last night they determined Soto was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico.