Posted on 01/25/2005 6:23:31 PM PST by VU4G10
One of America's most aggressive advocates for illegal immigrants is now an international fugitive after failing to appear for his Jan. 21 sentencing in connection with seven counts of visa/immigration fraud for which he was convicted.
Jose Mendez was convicted on the charges last November. But according to a press release issued Friday by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Mendez again broke the law on Dec. 22 when he "hopped an American Airlines flight here to Mexico City and then took a connecting flight to Venezuela."
Although Mendez was not present for Friday's sentencing, he was nevertheless handed a 57-month prison sentence in absentia. He was also fined $25,000. "By fleeing, the 49-year-old Venezuelan -- who was released on pre-trial conditions by the court May 21-- is now an international fugitive wanted on an Obstruction of Justice warrant," according to ICE.
Mendez has made allegations of his own in the past - specifically that his wife Rosemary and 4-year-old son Daniel were killed in a 1997 murder conspiracy hatched by his enemies. Law enforcement officials decided Mendez' allegations had no merit, but he sued the FBI for refusing to investigate. That suit was dismissed last year and most recently, Mendez became the target of a defamation lawsuit, filed by Boris McFarland, one of the individuals Mendez had implicated in the alleged murder conspiracy.
In June 2004, the Cybercast News Service published a 3-part series examining Mendez' murder conspiracy allegations and the 23-count federal indictment charging Mendez with visa/immigration fraud and harboring illegal aliens. As noted in that series, McFarland denied Mendez' allegations and they now serve as the basis for McFarland's on-going defamation lawsuit against Mendez.
Mendez' passport had been seized to prevent him from leaving the U.S., while he awaited sentencing. But he apparently convinced the Venezuelan Consulate in Washington, D.C., to issue him emergency travel documents by "claiming his son was gravely ill in Venezuela," and promising to return to the U.S. by Jan. 19, the ICE release stated.
The release also rehashes Mendez' involvement in the filing of fraudulent I-360 religious worker petitions on behalf of illegal immigrants, some of whom were living in Mendez' Virginia home.
"Once he gained a victim's confidence, he charged them $2,110 to complete" the phony petitions, according to Allan Doody, who leads ICE investigations in the nation's capital.
"It costs $110 to file for the petition, so he'd have them submit that amount separately with the application and then he pocketed the remaining $2,000," Doody explained. "Not a single one of the applications he submitted is worth the paper they're written on."
As head of the Global Evangelism Task Force, Mendez made frequent appearances at Capitol Hill news conferences to lobby for immigration reform. He was also present at a White House summit on immigration. But these connections, Doody stated, especially Mendez' status as a national evangelist, allowed him to exploit illegal aliens.
"He told them a bunch of bunk about his organization, took their money, and left them with nothing but false hope," Doody stated.
Manny Van Pelt, a spokesman for ICE, told the Cybercast News Service Monday that if Mendez is arrested in Venezuela, police in that country will have information about the fugitive warrant and will be able to notify the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). With Interpol's help, U.S. authorities could then try to have Mendez extradited back to America.
Van Pelt said Mendez's ability to persuade the Venezuelan consulate to issue him emergency travel documents "illustrates how much of a silver-tongued devil this guy is.
"He's a con man, a fraud, and he convinced a person at the embassy to issue an emergency travel document based upon a lie that he gave," Van Pelt said, adding that he had no information about either the condition or location of Mendez' son Emanuel, who is approximately 12 years old. When interviewed by the Cybercast News Service in June 2004, Mendez was living with his son in Dumfries, Va.
He better get back here (illegally) in time to qualify for a guest worker permit. After all, there's a job out there for him that no American wants to do... /sarc
and .."I think to myself...What a wonderful world!"?
/ sarcasm on/
I'm glad that Conservatives are jumping on the illegal Alien bandwagon finally!
We have Rush, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin all barking up the same tree!
Keep up the pressure, write to your Congress critters!
California legislature is upset, cause he left without his drivers license they rushed to get out to him.
Zell and Michelle in 2008!
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