Suspected gang member, kidnapper arrested (Mexico, El Salvador,Central America)

MATAMOROS, March 1, 2005 — An El Salvador man remained in federal custody Monday after he allegedly kidnapped his 22-month-old son from Houston and then tried to smuggle three Central American immigrants into the United States last week.

Mexican authorities said they arrested Fredy Antonio Fuentes Gutierrez, 29, Thursday after they received information that he was staying in the area.

Fuentes allegedly kidnapped his son from his mother Brenda Alvarez in Houston and took him to Mexico last week.

Alvarez could not be reached for comment Monday. Houston area law enforcement officials could not confirm the kidnapping report at press time.

Fuentes remained in custody Monday at a federal prison west of Matamoros on charges of illegally entering Mexico.

Officials with the Mexican federal attorney general’s office said the El Salvador native could also face human smuggling charges for allegedly taking between $2,000 and $3,000 to smuggle three Central American immigrants into the United States.

One of the immigrants identified Fuentes as a member of Mara Salvatruchas, a Central American gang accused of operating large smuggling rings with alleged connections to al-Qaida. Law enforcement officials said Monday they now believe that Fuentes might belong to a different gang.

“He belonged to another gang,” said Mario Rubiano Ruiz with the federal attorney general’s office. “We didn’t find any of the identifying tattoos for members of Mara Salvatruchas that we usually see such as the letters ‘M-S’ or the number ’13.’”

Although Rubiano did not identify the suspected gang connection, he said they were just as dangerous as Mara Salvatruchas.

U.S. Consul John Naland said a woman contacted the consulate early last week and told them that Fuentes had kidnapped their child and taken him to Mexico. The woman gave consulate officials the father and child's names as well as the hotel where they had been staying. Naland said the consulate passed the information to Mexican authorities.

Cmdr. Omar Alanís with Tamaulipas State Police said his men found Fuentes and the three immigrants Thursday afternoon driving in a black Toyota Land Cruiser on the highway to Playa Bagdad near the intersection of Avenidas Teotihuacán and Lauro Villar. They were handed over to federal immigration authorities and are expected to return to their countries of origin.

Alanís said his men arrested Fuentes and notified the American Consulate in Matamoros and met the child’s mother at one of the international bridges.

“Mexican police and immigration officials were very good in getting the child back to his mother,” Naland said.

"More information on the Mara Salvatrucha."

They are not just on the border, they are all over the country and many are green card holders.

GREEN CARDS AND GANGS

Siskiyou County, California, Feb. 26, 2005

They come from Mexico for jobs by way of a document called a “green card”. Such immigrants are termed “legal permanent Residents” with many of the same rights as US citizens outlined here,

o To live permanently in the United States provided you do not commit any actions that would make you removable (deportable) under the immigration law (section 237, Immigration and Nationality Act).
o To be employed in the United States at any legal work of your qualification and choosing.
o To be protected by all of the laws of the United States, your state of residence and local jurisdictions.
o To vote in local elections where United States Citizenship is not required. Click here for more details on voting.
Exceptions
o Some jobs will be limited to United States Citizens because of security concerns.
http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/PermRes.htm

Today Siskiyou county Sheriff Rick Riggins and Captain Mike Murphy presented a slide show and details of Marijuana growing operations on federal forest land as a warning to residents of the dangers of happening across one of these farms. These operations are spearheaded by various Latino gangs, one being the powerful, well armed MS-13 gang that began in El Salvador. Sheriff Riggins stated that his biggest problem in combating this scourge is his office being labeled, "racist".

On Sept. 11, 2004, one such farm was busted by the Sheriff with help from BLM and the forest service netting thousands of plants and several Mexicans who either held green cards or were awol from the Mexican military and in this country illegally. These raids are no simple task as the terrain is nearly insurmountable and usually remote, however one growing operation was within 2 miles of the city limits of Etna, California. Resources are limited in such small counties, with little help from federal officials, even though this organized criminal enterprise has been going on in these mountains for many years. Homeland Security says such operations are not their concern.

The gangs are back this year getting ready for next falls harvest to be distributed across the US. Their supplies and equipment will be brought in from the cities and deliveries to replenish them are undertaken at night every few weeks. The farms are guarded at all times.

Slides of the “camps” complete with a “hooch” for living were shown. Huge pits are dug, one big enough for an SUV, for garbage and waste. The trees are cut or skinned to pile “moats” around the farms to camouflage them. Black irrigation pipe is buried for miles to get water to the plants. The environment on our national lands is being degraded by these operations, destroying habitat and watershed purity.

We saw the AK-47’s, axes, shovels, a . 22 rifle with the name “ Los Pleves” scratched on the stock. We saw notebooks of the growers with markings of MS-13 and a drawing of a Lexus that one “immigrant” intended to buy with the drug profits.

Most of the farms appear to be run by the same organizations mostly through the Mexican Mafia year after year. Though a few are busted, a substantive dent has not been made and they know they can operate here more safely and profitably than in Mexico and there is no worry of getting the product back into the states.

Across the border in Oregon, the story is the same. The Sheriffs of Jackson, Josephine and Klamath County work together to find the farms and arrest the perpetrators. All have been Mexican so far, most with green cards. These same gangs also brew Methanphetimine to finance their organized crime activities during off season.

We do not need yet another “guest worker” program to supply dangerous gangs with recruits. We need to find out why these people were ever allowed in this country in the first place and how to keep more of them out.

2/26/05 Siskiyou County, California TheTownCrier@gmail.com

FYI -- Petition to support HR418
http://www.gopusa.com/activist/petitions/petition.php?petition=050207_real_id

Support the Sensenbrenner Drivers License Bill to Help Combat Illegal Immigration

House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has introduced the REAL ID act on the floor of the House. The REAL ID act contains four main provisions:

-- An applicant for a driver’s license must prove lawful presence in the United States. States may still issue the license if such proof is not produced but must stamp it in such a way as to show permission to legally be in the United States was not presented. Such a stamped license cannot be used for any federal purpose such as boarding a commercial flight.

-- Asylum laws are tightened so that terrorists may not enter the country and move around freely as an asylum applicant.

-- A 3.5 mile stretch of fence near San Diego that has been stopped by environmentalists is completed.

-- The present law that doesn’t allow an alien already in the United States to be deported because of affiliation with terrorist groups is changed.

We the undersigned believe the REAL ID act is a step on the road to controlling illegal immigration in the United States by controlling the identification of our citizens. We petition all members of the United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President George W. Bush to enact this bill into law forthwith.

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