Posted on 11/20/2001 4:17:34 PM PST by flamefront
An illegal alien from El Salvador yesterday pleaded guilty to helping one of the September 11 hijackers fraudulently obtain a Virginia identification card.
Victor Lopez-Flores, 33, also pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria to illegally re-entering the United States after being deported. He faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison and fines of $500,000. Sentencing was set for Feb. 2.
In his guilty plea, Lopez-Flores said that on Aug. 2 he falsely certified that Ahmed Saleh Alghamdi lived at his Alexandria address. Alghamdi, who was aboard one of the hijacked airliners that crashed into the World Trade Center, used the residency certification to obtain an ID card from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles a month before the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Prosecutors said Alghamdi paid Lopez-Flores $100 for his help. Lopez-Flores, who was originally deported in 1993 after a criminal conviction, said he had helped at least 20 people obtain false Virginia IDs since May.
Lopez-Flores is the second person to plead guilty in Northern Virginia to charges arising from the investigation into false ID cards obtained by the hijackers.
Earlier this month, Kenys Galicia, a Salvadoran national living legally in Falls Church, pleaded guilty to a felony fraud charge separate from the hijacker-ID case. Her sentencing is set for Jan. 25, when she could receive up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Galicia, a notary public, admitted to authorities that she signed residency certification forms on Aug. 2 for Abdulaziz Alomari and Alghamdi. Alomari also helped commandeer the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.
Her guilty plea stemmed from a separate incident on Aug. 16, when she sold 30 blank Virginia Department of Motor Vehicle forms that she had notarized to a man who was working undercover for DMV investigators.
In exchange for her guilty plea, federal prosecutors dismissed an indictment accusing Galicia of helping the two hijackers and participating in a 14-month conspiracy to help hundreds of people fraudulently obtain Virginia identification documents.
Two others accused of helping the hijackers obtain IDs have pleaded not guilty. Herbert Villalobos of Arlington is scheduled to stand trial Dec. 12, and Luis A. Martinez-Flores of Falls Church is scheduled to stand trial Dec. 17.
Authorities have said none of the four had any advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks, in which more than 5,000 people were killed when hijacked planes crashed into the Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Um, let's see: how 'bout: GO HOME?
Like a $100 dollar bill is intertwined with 50 cents.
By Carter Dougherty
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Congressional efforts to impose immediate restrictions on student visas in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks have stalled despite worries that the system could let terrorists slip into the United States.
Now that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, has backed off plans for a moratorium on student visas, changes to the current procedures will be more limited, say congressional staffers and immigration analysts.
In response to her proposal, a host of university officials and college presidents who were worried about losing foreign student tuition and fees lobbied hard against the change, prompting Mrs. Feinstein to shelve the plans.
"She has spoken with the universities and the idea is off the table," said her spokesman, Jim Hock. Proposed legislation in the House and Senate instead will focus on tightening visa application requirements for foreign students before they enter the country. New rules also would force educational institutions to keep the Immigration and Naturalization Service informed about the foreign students' studies as long as the they are in the United States.
None of the pending bills would cap or otherwise limit foreign students.
To avoid the moratorium, the universities promised Mrs. Feinstein they would step up cooperation with the INS to track foreign students' activities, Mr. Hock said. Many colleges had been stalling the INS as it set up a new computerized system for foreign students that was mandated by a 1996 immigration law. That obstructionist mentality has "nearly disappeared," said Michael Becraft, acting deputy INS commissioner.
The agency "will meet, and intends to beat" a 2003 deadline to have the system in place, Mr. Becraft told the House Education and the Workforce Committee last month. Mrs. Feinstein called for a moratorium in response to information that one of the hijackers, Hani Hanjour, had traveled to the United States on a student visa. Hanjour, who helped take over the American Airlines jet that crashed into the Pentagon, had a visa for study at the Berlitz Language School on the campus of Holy Names College in Oakland, Calif. He never attended classes.
Mrs. Feinstein's proposal highlighted the extent to which public and private universities and colleges depended on foreign students. About 525,000 non-U.S. students are enrolled in the United States, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. While they represented 3.4 percent of the total enrollment, they accounted for 5.9 percent of the $75.5 billion that all students in the United States paid in tuition and fees for the 1999-2000 school year, the group said.
"It's not a budget-busting number, but they are an important source of revenue," said Jon Fuller, a senior fellow with the organization.
Critics of current laws said universities have put money above the anti-terrorism campaign.
"Finances have trumped security here," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group seeking tighter laws. "The moratorium would have made sense, but the cost is such that the universities seem willing to take the risk."
Importantly from a financial perspective, foreign students receive no discounts. They do not qualify for federal aid or for assistance from individual colleges. At public schools, they cannot get the lower in-state tuitions, Mr. Fuller said.
A six-month interruption of the flow of tuition-paying students would knock out an entire academic year and would disrupt graduate programs that rely on foreigners who often help teach undergraduates, Mr. Fuller said
americans can own property but only for 60 years, if i'm not mistaken.
to be honest, mexico has, like all mediterranean latino cultures, a napoleonic legal system. and hey, would you want to go before a judge in france? or mexico? nada.
Just like bank robbers unable to escape the consequences of their crime. I am suprised this bothers El Presidente of Mexico though, is he sympathizing with criminals? Oh, with HIS criminals, I see.
san diegans are not going to give up this source of income to please your xenophobia.
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