Posted on 05/01/2007 10:54:16 AM PDT by AuntB
Firm seeks veteran officers to mentor Iraqis on immigration
The pay is tempting, but the mission is tough — helping to stop illegal immigrants from crossing a long, rugged and remote border.
But the border in question isn't between the United States and Mexico or Canada. It's in Iraq.
At a time when federal officials are stressing the need to beef up U.S. border security, the State Department has hired a firm to recruit veteran law officers who will serve as "mentors" and train Iraqis to guard their borders.
Critics of the plan acknowledge that the goal of hiring 120 officers won't seriously impair America's border security. They wonder, however, what it says about the government's priorities.
"Our Border Patrol agents are going to be saying, 'Goodbye, Arizona. Goodbye, Texas. Hello, Iraq,' " said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
DynCorp International launched the effort this month to recruit officers with border security experience. The job begins in May and lasts for one year, a spokesman for the company said.
The compensation includes more than $134,000 in salary, tax-free. There also is a $25,000 bonus for signing up in time for a May 5 training session.
A DynCorp official said the company is "not necessarily trying to raid the Border Patrol." At any rate, the loss of 120 agents would hardly be a major blow to U.S. border security efforts, since the agency has about 13,000 officers.
But the recruiting drive comes as the Border Patrol is working to fulfill a mandate from President Bush to increase its ranks to 18,000 by the end of 2008.
DynCorp spokesman Gregory Lagana said the company previously has hired officers to train Iraqi police. A State Department spokeswoman said DynCorp also recruited about 500 officers who are training police in Afghanistan.
According to its ads on the Yahoo! HotJobs Web site, DynCorp is seeking people with at least four years' experience with the Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Civilian police with immigration, customs or border experience also are candidates.
The six-figure salary will be enticing, said Krikorian, whose organization focuses on border issues.
"It would be a real loss to lose top, experienced agents and send them to Iraq," he said. "Even though (120 positions) would be a small (percentage), you can see that as one more example of Iraq's security taking priority over America's."
Stephen Biddle, a defense expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, said the mentors will need to learn how to identify prospective security officers who may be sympathetic to sectarian groups.
"Ultimately, if you are going to get an effective border patrol (in Iraq), you need both skilled people and nonsectarian people," Biddle said. "And the trouble is, outfits like DynCorp are ill-prepared to do the second. And the risk, if we're not careful, is that we're enabling the (Iraqi) border guards to be more effective sectarians."
Neither DynCorp nor the State Department could provide numbers of how many people have applied for the training jobs. Todd Fraser, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said he isn't sure, either.
But, he said, a career as a Border Patrol agent has its own advantages, even with a starting salary of about $35,000.
"It's not something that they are going to have to figure out if they are going to be rehired next year for the same position," Fraser said.
"I don't think the majority of Border Patrol agents, who are working and dedicated to this job and the border security mission, are going to give up the law enforcement retirement they have."
The head of the border agents' labor association doesn't share Fraser's optimism about achieving the 18,000-agent hiring mark but agrees that the DynCorp recruiting effort won't have a big impact.
"The attrition rate has climbed considerably from where it was at this time last year," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
Regardless of where DynCorp finds the trainers, Doris Meissner, who served as immigration commissioner under President Clinton, believes the job could be done for less.
"If the people with the expertise are already in the government, why in the world aren't these missions considered government functions, and just have the government do it?" Meissner asked.
"I would have loved to have recruited border agents (for $134,000)."
The compensation includes more than $134,000 in salary, tax-free. There also is a $25,000 bonus for signing up in time for a May 5 training session.
Woohoo! If our border agents are smart, they’ll take it!
Four years too late.
Bush is an open borders man.
Javier Rodriguez the organizer of these marches was just on CNN. Just to show the open border lobby how misguided they are, Javier and his group is calling for the IMPEACHMENT of Pres. Bush and VP Cheney. Bush has done more for this group than ANYONE, but they don’t see it!
Also he said the ports in LA had shut down for this fiasco. Anyone heard that?
March 25 Coalition
Contact: Javier Rodriguez (323) 702-6397 or William Torres (323) 228-2753
http://maydaymovement.blogspot.com/
Ping.
I heard, from the director of the Illinois Minutemen, that, since Sept. 11, ‘01, an average of 23 Americans are killed, each day, by illegal aliens. I think that the reporters should report all of those deaths, each day, instead of reporting the deaths of the servicemen who choose to fight for their country.
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, said the shooting highlighted the need to tighten the borders and beef up enforcement of immigration laws.
“We know that 25 homicides a day are committed by people who are illegally in the country and this is one more,” he said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1706972/posts
Pretty good.
Who will Guard our borders.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
We don’t need border guards! We need more ‘immigrants’ like this one.....
Morristown rape suspect wants 5th lawyer
Judge lashes out after man, 27, seeks attorney who’s Spanish-speaking
BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD
Thursday, April 26, 2007
4 Comments
The trial of a man charged with dragging a woman off a Morristown sidewalk and raping her was put on hold Wednesday after he demanded a new attorney, his fifth in 21 months.
Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Falcone, sitting in Morristown, agreed to relieve the latest lawyer for suspect Joel A. Romero, 27, because Romero refuses to speak to counsel Douglas Del Tufo and claims he does not have “his best interests at heart.”
Since he was caught in the act of assaulting a 20-year-old woman on July 10, 2005, Romero has gone through three public defenders and one private lawyer, Del Tufo.
The Morris County Office of the Public Defender is expected to reassign Romero’s first lawyer, Jessica Moses, to represent him on multiple charges that include kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault.
Falcone reluctantly let Del Tufo step down from the case while acknowledging that the attorney has been a strong advocate for Romero at court conferences. But Falcone said he did not want to force a trial with built-in attorney-client conflicts as grounds for appeal.
The judge in February set a trial date of May 7, but said Wednesday he would give Romero until May 30 to either accept a plea bargain or go to trial. The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office has extended a 30-year plea deal. Falcone said he had been willing to consider a 24-year sentence but upped the offer back to 30 years Wednesday after Romero started making demands, through a Spanish-to-English court interpreter.
“I want one who speaks Spanish,” said Romero, who is in the United States illegally from Honduras.
“Too bad!” blurted out deputy Public Defender Dolores Mann, who was watching the hearing in court.
“And I want to win the lottery!” the judge snapped at Romero. “You don’t run the system. Let me say this again: You don’t run the system.”
Romero and co-defendant Juan Antonio Amendano, now 25, of Morristown, were charged together on July 10, 2005, with sexually assaulting the victim, a citizen of Great Britain doing an internship in New Jersey. On Tuesday, Amendano accepted a 10-year bargain and pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault as an accomplice to Romero.
A chilling account
In a chilling version of events, Amendano — an illegal immigrant from Ecuador —said he heard screams and choking sounds while heading home along Lafayette Avenue around 2 a.m. after a night of drinking. He said he followed the noise and saw a man sexually abusing a naked woman. Amendano said he complied with the stranger’s request that he hold down the woman while he — Romero — continued his assault.
Amendano said he held the woman on her chest and stomach to keep her still but ran when he heard sirens. He was nabbed running away. Romero, police said, was caught in the act of assaulting the victim.
Romero told Falcone Wednesday that he still might plead guilty, but he didn’t want to talk about a plea with Del Tufo. Del Tufo, meanwhile, said he had spoken numerous times to Romero, stressed the seriousness of the charges, but that Romero by Wednesday morning would no longer speak to him.
ping
A judge with balls. Go figure! Can he run for President?
It's too early to tell what kind of an impact this might have on port activity.
Truckers urged to join boycott
May 1 boycott, rights protest could draw longshore support.
April 27, 2007
SAN PEDRO - Port truckers are organizing a boycott of local docks Tuesday as part of a national immigrant-rights protest.Last year, the May 1 protest resulted in widespread work stoppages in San Pedro Bay as many of the 14,000 regular port truckers avoided marine terminals to participate in protests throughout the region.
"We're urging port truckers to boycott terminals on Tuesday in support of better working conditions and (immigrant rights)," said Ernesto Nevarez, a labor organizer who joined a small group of demonstrators Friday outside the TransPac Container Terminal in San Pedro.
The truckers plan to rally early Tuesday at Banning Park in Wilmington, the site of several previous May Day protests.
Despite rumors of the work stoppage, marine terminal operators and port operators plan to maintain normal staffing levels throughout the day.
However, at the Port of Long Beach, shippers were reportedly scheduling shipments around May 1 in the event truckers don't show up. Last year, similar scheduling changes allowed importers and exporters to avoid any major delays, said Port Spokesman Art Wong.
Despite rumors of a longshore boycott in support of the truckers, terminal operators in Long Beach and Los Angeles have not designated May 1 a company holiday, as they did in Oakland, said a Pacific Maritime Association executive.
For sure! I bet it was a surprise to the perp that he wasn't in charge!
Damn - this thread sure got hi-jacked.
Headline? “U.S. DOJ demands Iraq government prosecute Border Agent infractions “no matter how slight.” Demands minimum sentence be 11 to 12 years.”
Dnycorp better order some body bags for this mission. Where will they be based? If not on an American base then they will be based with Iraqis and make perfect terrorist targets.
Next question is will these guys be armed? Some contractors do not allow weapons, if so they ain´t paying enough money.
Suicide Mission!
good for the judge.
Real Border Security against a dedicated and intentionally proven lethal enemy?
Get the light fighter egos out of the way and ask the experts.
Call the 2nd ID CG and have him send a Combat Engineer Team and maybe some ROK Engineers as well if they will come. 2nd ID already has troops in theater.
Then follow instructions.
Forget wandering around in a pickup truck waiting to get jumped.
Lock it down with all kinds of nasties which slow down infiltrators then kill anything that does not come thru a check point.
Not that hard again..
Border Patrolmen.. They have some good institutional knowledge trackers might help.
It is my understanding they did just shoot illegal crossers not that long ago so they had the right idea at one point anyway.
W
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