Free Republic

HOUSTON | While Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Phoenix gets all the media attention for his crackdown on illegal immigrants, eight deputies in an unremarkable office at the Harris County Jail are posting similar numbers for deportation -- and doing so without controversy. Working two per shift, the deputies refer roughly 1,000 suspected illegal immigrants to federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities every month, helping to make the Southern District of Texas by far the busiest in the nation for illegal-immigration prosecutions. Since joining a federal program in August 2008 that trains local law authorities to enforce immigration law, the...

Note: The following text is a quote: Three Convicted in International Truck Theft Conspiracy Sentenced to Prison HOUSTON—Three men who conspired to steal and transport millions of dollars of truck tractors, trailers and other heavy equipment to Central America have been sentenced to prison, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Rito Jasso-Zorilla, 32, Victor Antonio Garcia, 27, and Orlando Gonzalez Huerta, 29, all citizens of Mexico, were sentenced by United States District Judge David Hittner this morning for their respective roles in assisting Yuri David Melendez, 42, of Houston, with the far-reaching scheme. Beginning in 2001, Melendez received requests...

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Gunmen killed six people, including a local police chief, in a series of attacks Monday in mountain towns in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. The police chief of Pungarabato was repeatedly shot while driving his red Mustang on a highway near the small town early Monday, Guerrero state public safety department said in a news release. Five other men were found gunned down in different towns in the isolated mountainous zone known as the Tierra Caliente, or the Hot Land, the state police said. In the border city of Tijuana, soldiers detained 60 people at a...

HP-1353 "Treasury Designates Additional FARC International Commission Members" SNIPPET: "Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated three international representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a narco-terrorist organization. The OFAC action was taken pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act), which applies financial sanctions against significant foreign narcotics traffickers and organizations, like the FARC. "Today's action exposes three additional members of the FARC's International Commission," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of OFAC. "The FARC is one of the world's largest suppliers of cocaine and continues to be...

January 2, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0901/090102phoenix.htm Four men plead guilty to firearms charges in ICE human smuggling case Smugglers face up to 30 years in prison for using firearms during violent crime PHOENIX - Four men from Mazatlan, Mexico pleaded guilty to brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation into a hostage situation at an Avondale, Ariz., human smuggling drop house in March 2008. The guilty pleas were entered in federal court in Phoenix during the last two weeks of December before U.S. District Judge...

How could a person rise to the level of United States senator without ever producing adequate documentation? Remember that Mr. Obama rose through the ranks in Illinois, where politics and corruption go together like ham and eggs. Our previous governor was sent to prison; our sitting governor may well end up there, too. Thomas Lifson, publisher of the "American Thinker" asks this probative question. "If he has it [birth certificate] why hasn't he released it? If he does release it, game over. So why drag this out on technical grounds? It doesn't make sense." Sen. Obama is very stingy with...

The actions of Pima County Legal Defender Isabel Garcia at a protest last month against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio are "under review" after top county officials were flooded with complaints. Garcia, who is active with the immigrant rights group Derechos Humanos, participated in a protest at a signing event at a Barnes & Noble bookstore promoting a book by Arpaio, who has a national reputation for anti-illegal-immigrant raids and tough jail conditions. Videos posted on YouTube show Garcia picking up the head of a piñata representing Arpaio after several teenagers smashed it, and carrying around the head. Photo:...

A mother now stands accused in connection with the death of her two-year-old son and her boyfriend faces a count of homicide. Lillian Torres is charged with involuntary manslaughter for doing nothing to prevent her two-year-old son's death. Emmanuel Gonzalez died Sunday morning. Luzerne County District Attorney David Lupas described the child's death as one of the worst child abuse cases he's ever seen. Lupas charged Lillian Torres, 19, Emmanuel Gonzalez's mother, with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with her son's death. Lupas said Torres allowed the abuse to happen and ignored her duty...

What if you got a letter from the state asking for a donation to help balance the state's budget? Would you give? As crazy as that sounds, some lawmakers think you should, and worse, they don't even want to give you the option. According to the East Valley Tribune, one prominent lawmaker wants to raise property taxes: Assistant Senate Minority Leader Senator Jorge Garcia has his sights set particularly on an early end to the three-year suspension of a state property tax, a move that would bring in nearly $200 million. "The reality is, I would love to do it,"...

PLANTATION -- - A Davie man accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend this weekend has been charged with first-degree murder and was also arrested on a outstanding warrant for armed burglary, said Plantation Police Detective Robert Rettig. Leonel Garcia, 32, is accused of shooting Lorenza Krulik, 52, to death on Saturday outside her home in the Sunshine City Mobile Home Park in the 13400 block of Northwest Fifth Street, police said.

Jerry Garcia's guitars spur Grateful Dead auction May 8, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Forty years after the Summer of Love celebrated the free-living ways of the 1960s counterculture, bidders paid more than $1.1 million at auction on Tuesday for Grateful Dead memorabilia. A cream-colored 1975 Travis Bean electric guitar belonging to the band's legendary, late lead guitar player, Jerry Garcia, brought in $312,000 in a brisk sale, auction house said. Enthusiasts also bid $102,000 for an acoustic guitar and $39,000 for a Gibson electric guitar played by Garcia. One of his leather guitar straps sold for $20,400, or four...

Investing in Jerry Garcia's Art MarketWatch By Alan Doyle It was a family homecoming night, with more than a touch of gray, at the latest Grateful Dead-inspired alchemy of music, art, hippie capitalism and community activism. With children and grandchildren in tow on an unseasonably chilly night in San Francisco, members of the Dead's extended family crowded into the Matrix, the legendary Marina District nightclub where many of them had helped define rock and roll four decades earlier. They gathered for the first exhibition of the late Jerry Garcia's early oil paintings, historically important but largely unknown. The paintings were...

PGA Tour Leaderboard LEADERBOARDS: PGA | LPGA | CHAMPIONS TOUR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP LOCATIONS: Medinah Country Club, Medinah, IL CURRENT CONDITIONS: Partly Cloudy Temp: 78F Humidity: 43% Wind: 9 mph DEF. CHAMP: Phil Mickelson - USA, 276 (4-under) START DATE: August 17, 2006 PAR: 36-36--72 YARDS: 7,561 PURSE: $6,500,000 Note: All times are local to the location of the tournament. PGA Championship In Progress $ POS START NAME SCORE THRU TODAY 1 2 3 4 TOTAL 1 T1 Tiger Woods -18 8 -4 69 68 65 - 202 2 3 Mike Weir -14 8 -2 72 67 65 - 204...

LIMA, PERU – Peruvian voters elected leftist leader Alan García to a five-year term on Sunday, returning the former president to office 16 years after his first stint. It is a tough defeat for Ollanta Humala, the populist candidate who won the first round less than two months ago. But it is also a blow to Venezuelan leader and US nemesis Hugo Chávez, who openly backed Mr. Humala. In his election-night address, Mr. García said the result is "a defeat for the expansionist efforts of [Mr. Chávez]. Peru's democracy said 'no' to him." García's "rhetorical challenges to Hugo Chávez are...

Garcia regains Peru presidency in runoff RICK VECCHIO, Associated Press Writer Former President Alan Garcia staged a remarkable political comeback in Peru's runoff election, beating a retired army lieutenant to regain control of the country 16 years after his first term ended in economic ruin and rebel violence. Garcia's victory Sunday was a blow to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had endorsed Ollanta Humala, a political upstart many Peruvians saw as dangerous to democracy. "I want our party this time to demonstrate to the Peruvian people, who have called it to the highest responsibilities, that it will not convert the...

Peruvians elect a president By TYLER BRIDGEStbridges@MiamiHerald.com June 4, 2006 LIMA - Some 16 million Peruvians began voting at 8 a.m. this morning (Central Standard Time) to select their next president. They have a stark choice: center-left Alan García, a former president, or ultra-nationalist leftist Ollanta Humala, a retired lieutenant colonel. It is an unappealing choice for nearly half the voters. García's presidency 20 years ago ended with food shortages, hyperinflation, accusations of corruption and a spreading insurgency by the Shining Path guerrilla. García, 57, said he has learned from his mistakes. Humala has provoked fears that he will turn...

About Guevara, Garcia says, "Che has been romanticized over the years, but there is a darker side to his story. People wear his T-shirt like pop art. They don't know who he is. He looks like a rock star, but he executed a lot of people without trial or defense" ....

Andy Garcia is urging fashion-conscious rebels to stop wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the image of Latino revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara because they remind Cubans of terrible times. The actor accepts that Guevara stands for rebellion and is seen as a hero to many, but he sees the revolutionary as a butcher who killed millions of his countrymen. Argentine-born Guevara helped current Cuban leader Fidel Castro overthrow General Fulgencio Batista's government in a guerrilla revolution in the late 1950s. Garcia, who left Cuba when he was five, says, "I'd be curious to go around and ask them how much they really...

Friends: Here's a link for Andy Garcia's new film "The Lost City". It's a movie about the Cuban revolution, without Hollywood's typical pro-Castro slant. Andy wants us to send it out to all of our friends to spread the word of the film's upcoming limited release. As many of you know, he had a lot of difficulty getting Hollywood to take it on. This film is very a very important piece telling "our story" for the first time. If you can forward this poster and release information out to your friends, your support will be greatly appreciated. "The Lost City"...

We’ve all been had. The bottom has long since fallen out of the key group that master-minded the Kyoto Protocol credit scheme, but nobody seemed to have joined the dots. It all began with the flight of Canadian Maurice Strong’s Earth Council from Costa Rica as noted by the National Post’s Peter Foster in May, 2004. With no fanfare, the Earth Council landed in CH2M Hill’s Consumer Road Toronto office towers. The Costa Rican government has been pursuing the Earth Council for payment of U.S.$1.65 million, for the wrongful sale of a tract of land it imprudently donated to the...

An innovative proposal by Harris County's only Hispanic commissioner would tax international money transfers to fund indigent health care. Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle As one of the top Latino elected officials in the United States, measured by number of constituents and size of budget, Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia is in a unique position to assure immigrants, many of whom send money back home, that she's looking out for their best interests. She will need that credibility to convince them and their advocacy groups that her proposed Health Care Recovery Fund deserves their support. The commissioner wants to establish a...

Lions agree to terms with QB Garcia 3/12/2005, 7:37 p.m. ET The Associated Press ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions and quarterback Jeff Garcia have agreed to terms on a one year contract, reuniting the quarterback with coach Steve Mariucci. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, Lions spokesman Bill Keenist said Saturday. Garcia was released by the Cleveland Browns on Feb. 22 after a tumultuous season. He went 144-of-253 for 1,731 yards with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 10 starts, while his relationship with then-coach Butch Davis became rocky. Garcia ended the season on injured reserve after...

PORTLAND TOWNSHIP - Voters will not cast ballots to decide the next Michigan governor's race for nearly two years, but the contest is already heating up. Three Republican candidates for the state's highest office spoke at a Lincoln Day Dinner hosted by the Ionia County Republican party Tuesday evening at Wagon Wheel Restaurant near Portland. They were joined by several local and state legislators. All three candidates presented a common theme: Gov. Jennifer Granholm is a weak leader who must be voted out of office. Nancy Cassis, a former three-term state representative and current state senator from Oakland County, faulted...

When a veteran cop bit into his dinner from a Bronx McDonald's, he realized he was given a decidedly un-Happy Meal - his Big Mac was stuffed with shards of glass. As the K-9 unit cop was rushed to the hospital with cuts to his mouth and throat and a broken tooth, a cop-hating fast-food cook was arrested, police said yesterday. "Tampering with food in a case like this is an assault as sure as an attack with a knife or a gun," said an outraged Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolman's Benevolent Association. The 39-year-old cop, a 17-year veteran...

THREE MURDER SUSPECTS CAUGHT IN MEXICO By: KENNETH DEAN, Staff Writer January 28, 2005 Captured in Mexico, three suspects sought in two different murders in Tyler now sit in a Mexican prison, awaiting extradition to face a Smith County jury. Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham announced the captures of Hersain Gomez, Susana Arroyo and her brother Saul Arroyo at a Friday press conference, where he was joined by federal and local law enforcement officers. "The district attorney's office, the Tyler Police Department and the FBI have been actively working with the Department of Justice Office of International Affairs to...

WSMV-TV, Nashville, Tennessee, E-mail: lbrinton@wsmv.com January 24, 2005 The cream always come to the top. Now let's think back a bit, about two years ago. Ann Zimmerman was a widely-praised Metro School teacher with a lot of experience. Along came Metro Schools Director Pedro Garcia, who required students to be taught from a remedial reading program called "Language!" Zimmerman believed the program was a step-back for her students and that "Language!" contained too many errors and too much jargon. She put her foot down and said no way was she going to use the controversial program for her students. Zimmerman...

Republican state senator from Howell may run for governor in 2006 1/21/2005, 5:01 p.m. ET By DAVID EGGERT The Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A Republican state senator said Friday he's considering a run against Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2006 because he wants to make sure someone challenges the first-term governor. "It's wrong for Republicans to concede the governor's race before it even begins," said Sen. Valde Garcia, a 46-year-old from Howell. Garcia, a U.S. Army veteran who served one term in the state House before joining the Senate in 2001, said he probably will not run if...

Can't post from Gannett owned.Story here

Carmella DeCesare, the girlfriend of Browns quarterback Jeff Garcia and the reigning Playboy Playmate of the Year, went on trial this morning for a misdemeanor charge of assault. The charge stems from a scuffle with Garcia's ex-girlfriend, Kristen Hine, at the Tramp nightclub in Cleveland on Aug. 21. Hine told police that DeCesare kicked her in the head. Testimony in the case was expected to last all day and possibly last until Tuesday.

John Kerry has racked up three more "endorsements" from Latin America. Since Mr. Kerry says that as president he will be more engaged with the region, his Latin fan club deserves some attention. The most eye-popping Kerry endorsement last week came from Tómas Borge, one of the nine commandantes of Nicaragua's famed Sandinista revolution and perhaps the most feared. ... Mr. Borge of course has reason to like Mr. Kerry. The Massachusetts senator went to Nicaragua in 1985 to meet the Soviet-backed Sandinista leadership and worked hard in the U.S. Senate against President Reagan's efforts to defend U.S. security interests...

Lawmakers take media to task for Iraq coverage By Kevin Shopshire DAILY PRESS & ARGUS A pair of Livingston County legislators say national media outlets are not giving the American public a true picture of the situation in Iraq. U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, and state Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Marion Township, used the rally for the Michigan Army National Guard's 1462nd Transportation Company of Howell on Saturday to urge people to turn off their TV sets because the media are only focusing on the negative. Rogers told the more than 300 people at the rally that the press has only...

Garcia launches network to help troops' families By Christopher Nagy DAILY PRESS & ARGUS In times of war community members need to depend on each other for help and support, and that theme is the basic premise behind a new program being launched by state Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Howell, and several other state legislators. Garcia unveiled Operation Adopt-A-Family Thursday morning. The senator hopes to create a support network of churches and community groups where Michigan families with military personnel deployed overseas can turn for financial, emotional and spiritual support. "Many of us want to support the troops, but aren't sure...

<p>Matthew Jacob Garcia will never know his mother, a young woman who loved the sea, country music and her soul mate -- her junior high school sweetheart and husband of just one year.</p> <p>But perhaps one day he will understand that his mother's death, only three hours after his premature birth, helped four other people who now have a second chance at life thanks to her healthy kidneys, liver and heart.</p>