Posted on 09/25/2005 5:03:28 AM PDT by Calpernia
AREA MAN INDICTED FOR ROLE IN THREAT ON FEDERAL BUILDING Man claimed former girlfriend was planning to bomb immigration office
FRESNO, Calif. – A Salvadoran national indicted for contacting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and claiming that his former girlfriend was going to drive a car bomb into the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office made his initial appearance in federal court here this morning.
On August 16, ICE agents received an anonymous call from a man later identified as Hugo Vasquez-Cruz, 45. Vazquez told agents that a woman named Asusena Kalah was upset with immigration and planned to drive a car bomb into the local U.S. CIS office. ICE agents immediately went to the woman’s residence and determined that the call was the result of an ongoing pattern of harassment and violence by Vasquez toward his former girlfriend, and that no threat existed. Kalah had previously obtained criminal and civil restraining orders against Vasquez, who was released from jail August 8 for stalking her.
Using surveillance video, ICE agents determined that Vasquez made the threatening phone call from a pay phone at a Fresno-area poultry processing plant where he had been previously employed. A supervisor at the plant confirmed that Vasquez had been at her office the day the call was made.
A few days later, the Fresno Police notified ICE that Vasquez was at their Mariposa Street building attempting to file a complaint against Kalah for trying to contact him. After Vasquez confessed to making up the phony bomb threat, he was taken into custody by the police on a probation violation.
“This man has reported a false threat for his own malicious motives,” said Scott Brown, resident agent-in-charge for ICE investigations in Fresno. “In this instance, the threat was fabricated, but we will not take chances when it comes to the safety of those who use and work at our federal buildings.”
Vasquez is charged with using a telephone, an instrument of interstate or foreign commerce, to convey false information to intimidate an individual or unlawfully damage or destroy a building by means of explosion.
ping
Ice Ping
A rather large stretch for the "interstate commerce" clause. But with even Scalia saying that everything is interstate commerce, I guess the idea that federal powers are limited is dead.
Since about 1865..........
Since about 1865..........
Even J. Edgar Hoover said that the Federal government had no police powers in the 1930's.
Federal power retrenched after reconstruction, and didn't really take off until the Franklin Roosevelt administration.
I would suggest that you review the history of the 1870's through the 1920's, paying particular attention to Teddy Roosevelt's administration.....
If I see one of those "doing jobs Americans won't do" comments here, I think I'll vomit.
Sure, Teddy's administration was the "leading edge" of socialism in this country, and Wilson's pushed it even further, but federal interference with state affairs didn't have a really big jump (after reconstruction) until FDR. IMHO.
Try calling them :)
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