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It is not often that undocumented immigrants sneak into the United States and then alert authorities to their whereabouts, but three men trapped in a sweltering rail car had little choice and used a cell phone to call 911. Smugglers had stashed two Mexicans and a Guatemalan in a grain hopper in the Rio Grande Valley and told them they would ride further north, said Daniel Doty, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's McAllen Sector. As the temperature climbed Tuesday, the dehydrating men feared for their lives and reached for the phone. "It gets hot very fast in those places,"...

It's something no parent wants to hear, their child telling them someone sexually abused them. But one Augusta mother says those are the words she woke up to this morning. Deputies arrested a man accused of molesting the woman's 11-year-old son. Edwin Hernandez is behind bars, and accused of molesting an 11 year old boy! Richmond County investigators were called out to a home on Heather's Way in South Augusta early Wednesday morning. The child's mother called 911 after her son told her Hernandez performed a sex act on him. She then chased him out of her home with a...

Team rescued 120 women from grim conditions when it dismantled the operation in Houston The farewell party was in full swing at midnight when police came for Maximino "El Chimino" Mondragon, his accomplices and his victims — scantily dressed women and girls he forced to sell beers and sexual favors under the flashing lights of a revolving crystalline disco ball inside his strip mall bar off Hempstead Highway. Mondragon was celebrating his retirement at El Potrero de Chimino bar, also known as the Wagon Wheel. He had a one-way ticket back to his native El Salvador and blueprints in the...

Leftist ideology may be gaining ground in Latin America. But it will never set foot on the manicured lawns of Francisco Marroquin University. For nearly 40 years, this private college has been a citadel of laissez-faire economics. Here, banners quoting "The Wealth of Nations" author Adam Smith -- he of the powdered wig and invisible hand -- flutter over the campus food court. Every undergraduate, regardless of major, must study market economics and the philosophy of individual rights embraced by the U.S. founding fathers, including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." A sculpture commemorating Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is...

MEXICO CITY -- Police say they have found 154 illegal migrants inside a semitrailer. Federal police official Arturo Herrera says many of the migrants were suffering from severe dehydration after spending nearly a week cramped inside the semitrailer. Herrera says police stopped the rig along a highway in the Gulf state of Tabasco. Inside the tractor-trailer, authorities found 140 Guatemalans, seven Ecuadoreans, four Hondurans, two Salvadorans and one Chinese. The driver was detained and the migrants were turned over to immigration authorities for deportation.

Guatemala plans to send hundreds of troops, elite presidential guards and anti-drug police to its border with Mexico to stem growing drug violence, the government said on Saturday. "The unit should be ready within about 90 days. We are talking about 500 troops" and members of the presidential guard, Interior Ministry spokesman Ricardo Gatica said. Gatica declined to say how many counternarcotics police would be sent to the border, where drug smuggling into southern Mexico, bound for the United States, goes unchallenged. In southern Mexico, suspected drug gunmen dumped a man's head outside a newspaper in Tabasco state on Saturday...

(English-language translation) After meeting with different social sectors of the country, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte pointed out yesterday that the impunity and weakness of the Guatemalan state prevail as the major problems in fighting organized crime and drug trafficking. Negroponte declared that his country is willing to aid the Central American region in fighting criminals and announced that Guatemala will play an active role in the Mérida Plan towards that purpose. The Mérida Plan is a U.S. assistance program for Mexico, Central America, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic to fight drug trafficking, transnational crime, and terrorism....

(English-language translation) WASHINGTON - The Department of State cleared the way yesterday for the United States to provide military education and training to the Guatemala Air Force, Navy, and Corps of Engineers. An announcement published in the Federal Register reports that these institutions respect human rights and cooperate with civil judicial investigations of military personnel who "have been the object of credible accusations of having committed human-rights violations." This "certification" was a requirement towards activating half a million dollars the United States will dedicate to those ends, according to the so-called Foreign Operations Law of 2008. The [Guatemala] Army is...

LA JOYA, Texas — Local police are accustomed to dealing with illegal border crossings, but they were astounded by the video of 15 Chinese immigrants unfolding themselves from the back of a red Suburban near this small border town. The vehicle appeared abandoned when police rolled up early on a recent Saturday morning. But when Border Patrol agents arrived and swung open the double rear doors, the Chinese immigrants tumbled out, squinting in the sunlight. "They were in bad shape," said La Joya Police spokesman Joe Cantu. The immigrants were silent, able to communicate only with hand gestures. One man...

I'm surprised nobody posted this. I rarely listen to Laura, although I always enjoy when I do. Today on her show she announced she has just adopted a 3 year old Guatemalan girl. Just a little late night nice story. I'm so tired of the other ones...

The first defendants from the April 16 immigration raid at the local Pilgrim's Pride chicken processing plant appeared before Federal Magistrate Susan Kerr Lee on Tuesday. She ordered that all five of the men, who are citizens of Guatemala, continued to be detained. They are all represented by the federal defender's office. One man faces up to 10 years in federal prison, while those with only illegal re-entry charges face up to two years. Roberto Gabriel-Ramirez, 40, said he has a third-grade education. He is charged with illegal re-entry into the country and use of a fraudulent Social Security card....

The arrests of 100 foreign workers at a Chattanooga poultry plant came swiftly Wednesday morning, but it could be months before they are sent home. “Time in the detention facility can be anything from weeks to months,” said Robert Divine, Chattanooga-based chairman of the immigration group for the Baker Donelson law firm. “It depends on the availability of a judge, and the need to get the person where there is a judge, Atlanta or Memphis.” Most foreigners arrested this week in Chattanooga will have to appear before a U.S. Immigration Court judge. The deportation process also can drag because U.S....

FLORIDA, April 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Guatemalans are "dumbfounded" and angered to learn about the international "culture of death" and its multi-pronged attack on human life, according to Human Life International, which participated in a pro-life conference in the country from April 3rd to April 5. The conference, entitled, "Life and the Dignity of the Human Person," was organized by the Guatemalan Bishops' Conference, in cooperation with HLI and several local pro-life organizations. About ten bishops attended in all, including the apostolic nuncio, and approximately 250 seminarians. According to Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, the conference attendees were taken aback by what...

GUATEMALA CITY -- Reuters news agency is reporting that Guatemalan officials have captured a senior member of Mexico's powerful Gulf cartel. Daniel Perez Rojas, who is wanted in the United States, and believed to be the second in command of the Gulf cartel's armed wing, the Zetas, was arrested last week in Guatemala City where he was posing as a car salesman. A former Mexican soldier who helped create the Zetas in the lates 1990s, Perez is accused of involvement in a deadly shootout in southern Guatemala in March, Reuters reported. Experts told the news agency the arrest of Rojas...

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico -- Police rescued 83 illegal migrants Friday from the hidden compartment of a cramped, sweltering cargo truck carrying animal feed through southern Mexico. At a roadblock near the Guatemalan border, the panicked migrants alerted officers to their presence by screaming and banging on the walls of the truck, Mexican immigration agent Mario Lopez said. Lopez said the migrants were dehydrated, bruised and scraped. He said 76 were from Guatemala, five from El Salvador and two from Brazil. Earlier this week, 54 illegal migrant workers from Myanmar suffocated in the back of an unventilated truck in Thailand. In...

BANQUETE-Authorities near Banquete searched for illegal immigrants who jumped out a truck following a high speed chase Wednesday evening. Officers rounded up more than two dozen illegals in two separate locations. Some of the immigrants come from as far away as the middle east. Fifteen of them were caught in the Mathis area and nine more were later captured just south of Banquete. San Patricio County Sheriff, Leroy Moody, told KRIS 6 News that he believes there are more out here hiding out in a thick brushy line of trees, and if it were not for strong winds, a DPS...

Three people were killed early Monday when a van loaded with illegal entrants tried to evade the Border Patrol and rolled on Interstate 10 west of Benson, an official said. Early indications point to many of the passengers being Guatemalan. Oscar Padilla, the Guatemalan consular general in Phoenix, is en route to Tucson to meet with the victims and identify their nationalities. Four of the injured entrants are from Mexico, said Alejandro Ramos Cardoso, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in Tucson. The four men are in stable condition in Tucson hospitals, he said. Two are from Sinaloa, one from...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Immigration agents say they've learned the true identity of a van driver charged in a Minnesota bus crash that killed four children. Twenty-4-year-old Olga Marina Franco of Guatemala is accused of running a stop sign and hitting the school bus. Investigators say she gave them a fake name after last week's crash and told them she was from Mexico. Franco is charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide and lesser crimes. Authorities say she claims she stopped at the sign and the bus hit her. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers say they believe Franco is an...

First one is from Kaphoto.ca, which has a LOT of pictures of Canada (mostly eastern Canada). This is Tews Falls in the Spencer Gorge near Hamilton: The second is a view of a rockfall from a dome eruption of Santiaguito volcano, from Photovolcanica's Santiaguito/Santa Maria Volcano page. This page has a lot of other great views and a short animation of a "ring fissure" eruption.

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico is going high tech to better track the movements of Central Americans who regularly cross the southern border to work or visit. Starting in March, the National Immigration Institute will distribute cards containing electronic chips. Those items will record every arrival and departure of so-called temporary workers and visitors, mostly from Guatemala. The cards will replace a non-electronic pass formerly given to area residents. Officials say the purpose is to guarantee security for workers and visitors. Statistics from the institute show that more than 182,000 undocumented migrants were detained in Mexico in 2006. Most were...

To duck radar, gangs ditch tattoos, go for college look CHIMALTENANGO, Guatemala — Tattoos, baggy pants and tank tops are out. Smart blazers and university recruits are in. It’s an extreme makeover for Central America’s gangs. Facing harsh crackdowns by government security forces and citizen vigilante groups, they are trying to lower their profile. The Mara 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs are known throughout Central America and the United States for their brazen tactics, including beheading their enemies and covering entire buildings and even their bodies with gang symbols. Now, according to anti-gang operatives, these traditionally uneducated and aimless youth...

A man charged in an immigrant smuggling run gone horribly wrong — in which a high-speed chase that began in Frio County ended with a deadly wreck in San Antonio — was sentenced Friday to 100 months in federal prison. Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of as little as 70 months in a plea deal for Wilberto Calderon-Yero, 29, a Cuban national. But U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez opted for a stiffer penalty to account for the three men, presumably undocumented immigrants, who died in the July 9 wreck and now are buried in the same pauper's grave. Yero pleaded...

SANFORD - Antonio Rosales, accused of raping a child, had sat silently through his trial, and it was nearing its conclusion Wednesday when he suddenly lashed out. As a prosecutor gave her closing argument about 10 feet away, Rosales grabbed a computer keyboard, smashed it against its monitor, then toppled the 200-pound table on which it sat. Two Seminole County deputies grabbed him, pinned his arms behind his back and quickly wrestled him to the ground, but he continued to struggle. I need a deputy," Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson yelled down a hallway. Other officers rushed in, and Rosales...

Border Patrol agents assigned to the Laredo North station, working with officers from the Laredo Police Department, apprehended six illegal immigrants on Friday afternoon. Agents patrolling near Father McNaboe Park, located off of Mines Road, observed several suspicious people come out from a landing area on the river, get into a black Lincoln SUV and speed off along Rancho Viejo Drive. Border Patrol agents in another vehicle saw the SUV pull into a driveway. They pulled in behind the SUV to conduct an immigration inspection. Upon seeing the Border Patrol vehicle, the driver of the SUV sped away, striking another...

Authorities in Mexico say they have taken into custody 164 illegal Central American immigrants who were inside a truck that was supposed to be carrying aid to victims of recent flooding in the southern state of Tabasco. The National Migration Institute says 159 Guatemalans and five Hondurans were hiding in the truck when it was stopped for a routine search. The driver was arrested. Many Central American migrants pass through southern Mexico en route to the United States to seek work. Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

Federal and local law enforcement agents raided several warehouses Wednesday at O’Hare International Airport and arrested 24 workers who were allegedly in the country illegally and using phony security badges for jobs on the tarmac, cargo areas and other restricted zones. Also arrested Wednesday in a probe federal authorities said “identified national security vulnerabilities” were two company managers at Ideal Staffing Solutions Inc., a temporary employment agency in Bensenville. The firm allegedly hired the workers and provided them with deactivated airport security badges that allowed them to work at O’Hare, immigration officials said. Ideal Staffing managers also knowingly allowed workers...

GUATEMALA CITY (CNS) -- In a quiet neighborhood, rows of cribs line the walls of an orphanage. Each crib is marked with a child's name, a birth date and the name of a family: "Angela Belen Chez, Oct. 13. Curran Family." "Eduardo Javier, Sept. 17. Cowden Family." The cribs are separated by months of birth: September babies in one room, October births in the next. Nearby, women who recently gave birth recover in one house, and expectant women prepare in another. For years, this predominantly Catholic Central American country has been known as an epicenter of international adoptions. The proximity...

(English-language translation) "We Did Not Found Another Church" Brazilian Church Supports Eduardo Aguirre By: Gema Palencia Community Journalism Ten bishops of the so-called Brazilian Church insisted that their movement is not outside the Catholic Church and yesterday expressed their support for excommunicated priest Eduardo Aguirre, who they will ordain a bishop. The prelates, who were once in accord with the Vatican, insisted that they have not come to Guatemala to found a new church, but that they are re-establishing the church of the first Christians in which the communities were autonomous. But the Catholic Church in Guatemala considers that this...

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Another man was arrested on suspicion of arson in California as authorities were investigating into some of the wildfires that have been devastating large areas in the state for five days, officials said Thursday. Los Angeles police said they have taken Catalino Pineda, 41, into custody Wednesday after local residents reported that he light a fire and walked away from a hillside in a suburb area. The arrest was made a day after law enforcement officers shot dead an arson suspect and detained another in San Bernardino, about 100 kilometers east of Los Angeles....

(English-language translation) Representatives of the Catholic Church in Guatemala rejected the upcoming episcopal ordination of excommunicated priest Eduardo Aguirre by a religious denomination that is separated from the Vatican. The bishops criticized the dissident priest's illicit use of Catholic rites. The concern and anger over this schism could be felt among the Catholic hierarchs who convened a press conference to express their position. They condemned Eduardo Aguirre's ordination to bishop next Saturday in San Juan Comalapa, Chimaltenango, by members of the Brazilian Church not recognized by Rome. Apostolic Nuncio Bruno Musaró, Guatemalan Bishops Conference President Álvaro Ramazzini, Metropolitan Archbishop Rodolfo...

(English-language translation) The Catholic Church hierarchy in Guatemala is concerned: excommunicated priest Eduardo Aguirre will be ordained a bishop on Saturday in San Juan Comalapa, Chimaltenango, by represenatives of the Brazilian Church (non-Roman Catholic). Guatemalan Bishops' Conference (CEG) President Álvaro Ramazzini described the event as a "very big" division. "Being appointed bishop will give [Aguirre] more power. It concerns us that he will now ordain other priests before other people, which may create confusion since the faithful might believe that [the priests] are Catholic. There will be a very big division within the Church," warned Ramazzini, who explained that Aguirre...

MEXICO CITY — The bodies of two dozen people washed ashore Friday in southern Mexico, a state official said, after a boat believed to be carrying Central American migrants capsized in the Pacific Ocean. Oaxaca's state government later released a statement saying three people were confirmed dead and 20 others missing following the shipwreck. It said there was one survivor and authorities were searching for bodies near the towns of San Francisco Ixhuatan and San Francisco del Mar, about 200 miles from the Guatemalan border. It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the different statements, but an official said that flooding...

VILLA NUEVA, Guatemala - Slum dwellers armed with shotguns have taken to Guatemala's streets to hand vigilante justice to youth gangs as voters sick of crime increasingly back a hardline ex-general's run for president. Roving bands of masked men communicating over walkie-talkies and armed with sticks, machetes and shotguns patrol the poor Villa Nueva slum on the edge of Guatemala City at night looking for members of infamous "Mara" gangs. The well-organized patrols, whose secretive members are suspicious of outsiders, killed at least one gang member, David Castillo alias "The Siren", earlier this month. "It's another war," said resident Sheni...

Guatemalans are voting in presidential and parliamentary elections after one of the bloodiest campaigns in the country's history. More than 50 candidates, activists and their relatives have been murdered in the run-up to the elections. The two main presidential contenders are Alvaro Colom, a centre-left businessman, and a former general, Otto Perez Molina. They have vowed to fight crime and reduce poverty. Mr Colom, who is running for the presidency for the third time in a row, has promised to overhaul the security forces and the judicial system, which many criticise for being slow, corrupt and inefficient. Mr Perez Molina...

Like their US counterparts, the Mexican authorities have been cracking down on illegal immigration in recent weeks. In mid-August, a joint operation comprising federal and state police officials, as well as military personnel, was launched in the southern state of Tabasco, bordering Guatemala. The aim of the operation was to locate and repatriate illegal immigrants, many of whom travel from other Central American countries and pass through Tabasco on their way to their final destination: Mexico's northern border with the US. The operation was partially successful; 350 illegal immigrants were deported and a further 144 were detained by the police....

Guatemala Bishops Reject "Post-Abortion Care" Plan as Doorway to Abortion Ministry initiative would train medical personnel to use suction machines on women in "post-abortion situation" By Elizabeth O'Brien GUATEMALA CITY, August 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Yesterday the Bishops Conference of Guatemala rejected a "post-abortion care" initiative by the Ministry of Health, pointing out that it would provide a direct opening towards abortion and other abuses of women, CatholicNewsAgency reports. In a document criticizing the World Health Organization's anti-life policies, the bishops also warned against the Ministry's "care" campaign, saying, "Our Constitution protects human life from the moment of conception." They...

MEXICO CITY: The closure of an American-run railroad in Mexico stranded thousands of U.S.-bound Central American migrants near the Guatemala border and many of them were deported Wednesday by immigration authorities. Some camped along rail lines waiting for trains that will never come. Others tried to walk hundreds of kilometers (miles) to the next working rail line and some turned themselves in to Mexican authorities. The government sent hundreds of federal police and soldiers Tuesday to clear out the migrants, who for decades have hopped freight cars on the Chiapas-Mayab railway. The company has run freight trains on two sets...

Patrol agents arrested a man wanted for murder out of Texas and found a body of an illegal border crosser his past weekend in the Altar Valley southwest of Tucson. On Saturday, agents working on all terrain vehicles apprehended a group of nine illegal entrants about 10 miles north of the border on Arizona 286, about 55 miles southwest of Tucson, said Sean King, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. They took the group to a processing center in Tucson, where they took the fingerprints of each of them and ran it through their automated system. They discovered that one of...

Guatemala, While there are still 40 days to the Guatemalan general elections, the electoral campaign is considered one of the most violent since institutionality was re-established in 1985. According to "Mirador Electoral" civil organization, 39 people have died so far, surpassing the number of fatal victims in the 2003 elections, when 23 political figures were killed. The latest case was reported Monday in Palencia municipality, where a son of Daniel Mijangos, who is running for the post of mayor for the PP (Patriotic Party), was shot dead. UNE (The National Unity of Hope) has been the most affected group so...

A Mexican national who was part of a police chase and deadly rollover accident this month that killed three immigrants among the 20 passengers in a cramped Ford Excursion pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to smuggling charges. In the plea, accepted by U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela A. Mathy, Javier Ramirez-Garcia acknowledged that he and another guide led 17 other immigrants through the brush and over the Mexican border — at the cost of $2,500 per head. Ramirez later was a passenger with the immigrants in the Excursion, allegedly driven by Wilberto Calderon-Yero, which led police on a 100-mile chase....

Three men were killed during a high-speed police chase Monday morning that started in Natalia. Authorities believe the occupants in the fleeing vehicle were undocumented immigrants from Guatemala. The driver of the fleeing Ford Excursion will be charged with three counts of capital murder. The chase ended in San Antonio when a tire on the sports utility vehicle blew out at Loop 1604 at Interstate 10 East, around 12:30 a.m. Monday. The chase began when a Natalia police officer looking for speeders spotted the SUV zooming by. San Antonio police assisted in the chase once the vehicle entered the city....

Mexican Store proprietor charged with visa misuseBy Judy Harrison Friday, June 29, 2007 - Bangor Daily News BANGOR — A businesswoman considered to be a stalwart of the Hispanic community in Washington County was arrested Thursday by federal agents and charged with fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents. Doris Amanda Ayala Escalante, 39, is scheduled to appear today in U.S. District Court. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to ask that she be held without bail until her case is resolved. Escalante and her husband, Juan Manuel Centeno Perez, 46, opened the Mexican Store on U.S. Route...

MIXCO, Guatemala -- Cars were backed up for miles on a recent Sunday morning, but no vehicle pileup was holding up the traffic. It was the inaugural sermon of Central America's biggest church, Mega Frater. The new worship center of the Fraternidad Cristiana, a Neo-Pentecostal church based in the Guatemalan capital, includes an auditorium that seats 12,500, a seven-story parking tower topped with a helipad and a day-care center for 3,000 kids. ''I've never seen anything like it,'' remarked Sofía Mendoza, a 19-year-old who left her home in Santa Ana, in neighboring El Salvador, at the crack of dawn to...

NEW BRAUNFELS — A pickup packed with undocumented immigrants crashed on Interstate 10 during a police chase Thursday afternoon, sending several people to area hospitals, officials said. The chase started when a Department of Public Safety trooper saw a Ford F-150 extended-cab truck cut in front of an 18-wheeler, both of which were heading east between Seguin and Luling, about 1:30 p.m. The trooper tried to pull the pickup's driver over, but he fled at speeds that topped 90 mph, said DPS Sgt. Jeff Lyde. Three Guadalupe County Sheriff's Department vehicles joined the chase, which lasted about 10 minutes and...

SALCAJA, Guatemala -- Working and going to school have become optional in this highland Guatemalan town, thanks to a flood of U.S. dollars sent home by migrants living in the United States. The family-run mills that produce brightly colored, hand-woven traditional fabrics have fallen quiet as their potential work force -- mostly young men -- hang out at the town's pool halls or video game salons, living off remittances and waiting to make their own journeys north. "Kids have easy money, and the only thing they know how to do is spend it on video games," complained Salcaja Mayor Miguel...

GUATEMALA CITY — He calls himself the Antichrist, wears the number 666 tattooed on his arm and claims a following of 2 million people. And Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is coming to Guatemala whether it wants him or not.

NUEVO LAREDO Authorities said Friday they had arrested 10 people smugglers and 42 Central American migrants headed to the United States. Victor Jimenez, a commander with Mexicos Federal Agency of Investigation, or AFI, said the group was caught Thursday walking on a dirt road to avoid an immigration checkpoint about 16 miles south of Nuevo Laredo. "All the undocumented migrants were from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras," Jimenez said. "The guides were all Mexican." The alleged smugglers were turned over to federal prosecutors and the Central American migrants were sent to a detention center in Mexico City pending their deportation,...

A total of 124 undocumented immigrants have been discovered in two stash houses in the Upper Rio Grande Valley in the last week, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Tuesday night, authorities found 24 Mexicans and 30 people from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Colombia in San Carlos. Their discovery comes in the middle of what ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda called ?smuggling season.? During the first five or six months of the year, ICE and U.S. Border Patrol see an increase in the number of people illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border; many returned to their home countries for the...

EDINBURG ? Former Justice of the Peace Reynaldo Salazar said no one was more surprised than he when 80 illegal immigrants were found crammed into two trailers on his north Edinburg ranch this weekend. ?I was freaking out,? said Salazar, a justice of the peace from 1999 to 2000. ?I said, ?How can that many people be in one place??? Edinburg and McAllen police descended on the ranch on Saturday following a tip that they would find stolen trucks there. They discovered five stolen Ford pickup trucks and, after some further investigation, 80 illegal immigrants ? many of them women....