crime

For the first time, Immigration Customs and Enforcement has released new numbers on the number of violent convicted criminals ordered deported in the Pacific Northwest.

ICE says there are 701 "Level 1" offenders tracked by the Seattle field office. This includes Washington State, Oregon and Alaska.

According to ICE, "Level 1 offenders are those aliens convicted of “aggravated felonies,” as defined in § 101(a)(43) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or two (2) or more crimes each punishable by more than 1 year, commonly referred to as 'felonies'."

There are a total of 870 convicted criminals in the area ordered deported. (Click here to see a map of the countries least responsive to ICE request.)

One of the violent criminals ordered deported is Tra Young. He's serving a seven-year prison sentence for an unprovoked attack on a 58 year old man last March in Beacon Hill.

"It was like a horror movie," said Maura Whalen, who witnessed the attack.

The man was getting off a bus to go to Church.

"It was very very violent and horrific," Whalen added, "No weapons but repeatedly punching kicking and kicking in the face."

Whalen didn't know at the time the federal government has tried to deport Young, a Vietnamese national, for nearly a decade.

But Vietnamese authorities refuse to take him back.

Young has victimized people in our neighborhoods and has a long criminal history, from assault, drugs and burglary.

The most infamous incident was at this 2013 Susan G. Komen race, when he was arrested for trying to kidnap a 4-year-old boy.

Young's crimes are the real-life consequences of global political and diplomacy failures.

Immigration expert Steve Miller says right now there's no solution.

"In order to be able to put a person on an airplane out of the United States they've got to have permission from the place where it lands to let them in," Miller added, "almost all the countries in the world will abide by that but some countries we don’t have relations with or have only had recent relations with or some countries which have ceased to exist makes it more complicated."

Because of the 2001 Zadvydas v. Davis supreme court ruling, convicted criminals ordered to be deported can only be held for six months after serving their time - then they have to be released.

"I think that's what's disturbing and worries people that this is still possible and imagine how the families feel that the person who committed this crime is not even supposed to be in the country," said Paul Guppy, Washington Policy Center.

In Young's case, he arrived before 1995, when the U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

Vietnam believes the current treaty it shares with the U-S does not require it to accept people who left Vietnam before 1995.

That's also reason ICE can't deport Binh Thai Luc, who is awaiting trial in San Francisco for murdering five people in 2012.

ICE says these 23 countries have had the slowest response in taking back convicted criminals.

Vietnam, Cambodia, and Somalia have been identified as the most "recalcitrant" with Somalia taking an average of 344 days to issue travel documents.

In Yury Decyatnik's case, he was ordered to go to the Ukraine back in 2002 for a domestic violence conviction.

The problem is he was there when the Ukraine was the USSR so the Ukraine won't take him back.

"I want to leave should be simple right?" said Decyatnik.

He even admitted resorting to threats at the Homeland Security Building in Tukwila to bolster his case.

"When you have a dangerous person and the government is forced to release them into the community that doesn't make any sense to me," said Guppy.

Congress debated a bill that would allow indefinite detention for dangerous foreign nationals, but the measure died last year.

Which leaves us with the status quo and 701 violent criminals in our region who aren't supposed to be here - -just like Tra Young.

He's currently locked up in Walla Walla for assault, but his crimes continue to impact the community.

"It's a horrific thing I’d like to block out of my own memory," said Whalen.

"ICE only has so much resources. I think the real emphasis has got to be who are the priorities to get off the streets to keep off the streets for purposes of public safety," said MIller. Read more about U.S. can't deport 701 violent convicted criminals in Pacific Northwest

States that grant driver's licenses to illegal aliens are beginning to see growing evidence of fraud in the application process.

This month, the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles ("DMV") announced that many out-of-state aliens have been fraudulently applying for driver's licenses in Vermont. (Watchdog, Jan. 22, 2015) The Vermont DMV made this announcement after it uncovered that at least 130 applications at just one of its DMV offices last month were filled out using false address information. (Id.) When applicants later arrived in person to take the driving portion of the test, investigators learned that many of these applicants were illegal aliens who had paid $2,000 to individuals in New York for help to obtain Vermont driver's licenses. (Id.)

Vermont is not the only state experiencing high instances of fraud in relation to its driver's license law. New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez recently re-ignited her appeal to dump New Mexico's driver's license law that allows illegal aliens to receive regular driver's licenses, in violation of the REAL ID Act. (KOAT Albuquerque, Jan. 20, 2015) Indeed, New Mexico has experienced high instances of fraud as a result of granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens. During an audit between August 2010 and April 2011, investigators found that as much as 75 percent of foreign national license applications were phonies. (KRQE) Between that same period, investigators also uncovered 37 percent of foreign national requests for appointments came from out-of-state, most from Arizona, Georgia, and Texas. (Fox News, Jan. 25, 2012)

Tennessee, which also passed a law to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens in 2004, has similarly experienced high instances of fraud in the application process. (Watchdog, Jan. 22, 2015) The state ultimately repealed the law in 2007 after it became apparent to officials that granting driver's licenses to illegal aliens contributed to "an excess of fraudulent resident documents." (Id.)

This month, the State of California is flooded with new applicants for driver's licenses after it began implementing Assembly Bill 60, its new law which grants driver's licenses to illegal alien residents. After the first week of implementation, the California DMV reported that over 46,200 aliens had applied for the special license. (KHTS, Jan. 6, 2015) Of this number, only about a third of the applicant pool passed both the written and driving portions of the test, with 64% of applicants failing. (Id.) California's new law is expected to cost the state over $220 million dollars over the next three years to implement. (Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary)

Driver's license legislation is proving once again to be a hot topic in state legislatures for the third year in a row, with some legislators still pushing to extend driving privileges to illegal aliens despite the mounting evidence of fraud in states that already do. For example, legislators in Rhode Island and Texas reintroduced legislation this month to extend driver's licenses to illegal aliens, after unsuccessful attempts in both states to push the idea last year. (Valley Breeze, Jan. 14, 2015; House Bill 68; Senate Bill 132)

Legislators in other states, however, are seeking a step back. In New Mexico, legislators followed Governor Martinez's appeal and introduced bills change the state's law. Representative Paul Pacheco introduced House Bill "H.B." 32 that would amend New Mexico law to only grant lower tier "driver's privilege cards" to illegal aliens instead of regular driver's licenses. (H.B. 32) Representative William Rehm went even further by introducing H.B. 79 to repeal New Mexico's law completely and reduce the period of validity for driver's licenses to only an alien's period of authorized stay. (H.B. 79) Read more about Illegal Alien Driver's Licenses Invite Fraud to States

A federal judge in Medford made sure that a Mexican drug dealer, deported six times for criminal convictions, spends a longer stretch of time in the U.S.

...sentenced Zeus Apolo Guzman-Aguilar to nearly five years in prison -- 57 months -- for illegally reentering the U.S. after his most recent drug conviction.

Guzman-Aguilar's latest series of troubles began on June 17, 2013, when the U.S. deported him back to Mexico after his release from an Oregon state prison.

Precisely six months later, on Dec. 17, 2013, Medford police got a tip he was back in town dealing drugs...

On Feb. 5, 2014, he was convicted again in Oregon for delivery of heroin...

...sent back to Mexico six times after drug convictions, Assistant U.S. Attorney Byron Chatfield reported.
  Read more about Mexican drug dealer deported six times gets to stay in U.S. for 57 additional months

A Umatilla man now is charged with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder for allegedly shooting three people in a Benton County cornfield last August.

Francisco J. Miranda-Resendiz, 23, was booked into the Benton County jail on Friday. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday.

The bodies of David Perez-Saucedo, 22, Victoria Torres, 19, and Abigail Torres-Renteria, 23, were found Aug. 9 on farmland off Nine Canyon Road, southeast of the intersection with Coffin Road.

The victims all were from Pasco. Torres-Renteria was almost nine months pregnant.

Miranda-Resendiz initially was charged with first-degree murder for Perez-Saucedo, but his charges were later amended to include the two women, who were not related.

Aggravated murder in Washington carries a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release, or death, if prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty.

As of Jan. 16, no one else had been charged in connection to the triple homicide.

Miranda-Resendiz had been in the Umatilla County jail since his Aug. 10 arrest. Benton County prosecutors have waited for extradition paperwork to clear the governor’s offices in both states before transporting him to Kennewick.

Jail records and court documents in Oregon and Washington show different spellings and variations of his last name, including Resendez Miranda.

His bail is set at $1 million. He also has a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold.

He entered a plea deal Dec. 1 in Umatilla County Circuit Court to a misdemeanor charge of menacing. The Oregon case was for threatening a fourth Tri-City man who was with Perez-Saucedo, Torres and Torres-Renteria hours before they were killed. Miranda-Resendiz was caught on a surveillance camera outside a convenience store.

The victim in the menacing case claimed he was able to run to safety.

Benton County sheriff’s officials in late August said Miranda-Resendiz’s two brothers and father were wanted for questioning in the homicide investigation.

Fidel Miranda-Huitron, 51, Eduardo Miranda-Resendiz, 24, and Fernando de Jesus Miranda-Resendiz, 19, all lived in the Umatilla area and are believed to have possibly left the country after the shootings.

Court documents show the slayings might have been retaliation for a break-in at Miranda-Resendiz’s apartment the night before. He worked with Perez-Saucedo at a Wyckoff Farms property along the Columbia River in Paterson.

Perez-Saucedo’s group went to Umatilla, possibly to a party, late on Aug. 8. The same night, Miranda-Resendiz was in Umatilla drinking with friends when he allegedly became concerned that Perez-Saucedo broke into one of his Umatilla apartments, documents said.

Witnesses reportedly told authorities that Miranda-Resendiz was a suspected drug dealer.

The victims were later confronted outside the convenience store by the occupants of four vehicles. Video footage shows Perez-Saucedo, Torres and Torres-Renteria being forced into another car, court documents said. One person was seen on the video carrying a weapon.

It is unclear from the court documents what happened next or how the victims got to south Benton County. A farmworker discovered their bodies at 5:30 a.m. the next morning in the field, which is about 15 miles from Miranda-Resendiz’s apartment.

Miranda-Resendiz has denied taking Perez-Saucedo out of his vehicle earlier that night, and told a friend that someone else was responsible for the killings. Read more about Suspect in August’s triple homicide booked into Benton County jail

A California newspaper will continue to use the term "illegals" to describe people who enter the U.S. without permission, despite an attack on its building by vandals believed to object to the term.

The Santa Barbara News-Press's front entrance was sprayed with the message "The border is illegal, not the people who cross it" in red paint...

The attack came amid wider objections to a News-Press headline that used the word "illegals" alongside a story on California granting driver's licenses to people in the country illegally.

"The vandalism and the damage speak for itself, as well as the motivation behind it," Santa Barbara Police Officer Mitch Jan said...

In addition to the writing on the building, graffiti espousing a no-borders mentality was scribbled on the walkway through Storke Placita and the sidewalk near Santa Barbara City Hall. Police were braced for a protest in front of the paper later this week...

"There is a plan underway," he said. "There is extra staffing on board for it."

In a statement, the newspaper said it has no plans to drop its style in describing illegal immigrants.

"It has been the practice for nearly 10 years at the Santa Barbara News-Press to describe people living in this country illegally as “illegals” regardless of their country of origin," the statement read.

"This practice is under fire by some immigration groups who believe that this term is demeaning and does not accurately reflect the status of “undocumented immigrants,” one of several terms other media use to describe people in the Unites States illegally.

"It is an appropriate term in describing someone as “illegal” if they are in this country illegally," the statement added.

The debate over how to label people who are in the U.S. without permission has raged at news organizations across the nation in recent years. In 2013, both The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times banned the phrase after employing it for decades, saying it "lacked precision," according to Pew Research Center.

The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal all use the phrase, although only The Wall Street Journal uses “illegal immigrant” to refer to people who not only criminally enter the U.S. without the proper documentation, but also those who overstay their visas.

FoxNews.com's policy is to describe immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally as "illegal immigrants." Read more about California newspaper office vandalized over use of 'illegal' immigrant label

Toxicology reports on Joventino Bermudez-Arenas showed no signs of drugs or alcohol...

On Nov. 15, Bermudez-Arenas was shot and killed by three McMinnville police officers outside a 7-Eleven where he earlier had fatally stabbed Linfield College student-athlete Parker Moore. Bermudez-Arenas had just returned to the 7-Eleven near his home to surrender to police, his family said.

An investigation later determined that Bermudez-Arenas had stabbed Moore, who played on the Linfield College football team, apparently without reason....

Berry, in a news conference last month, said Bermudez-Arenas entered a convenience store holding a knife. The man walked directly to Moore and stabbed the 20-year-old multiple times in the chest before fleeing the scene.

Minutes later, Bermudez-Arenas returned to the scene after telling his family that he wanted to turn himself into police...

Police gave multiple commands to drop the knife in English. Seconds later, Bermudez-Arenas was shot after taking a step toward officers.

The stabbing and the incident was caught on video from cameras in the store and in police vehicles...

  Read more about No drugs or alcohol affected killer of Linfield College student, tests show

Federal prosecutors say a Mexican man deported four times from the United States has been sentenced to six years in prison after he was arrested in a southern Oregon traffic stop and officers found 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine...

...identified him as 44-year-old Julio Gonzalez-Zamudio.

Prosecutors said he has a record of drug offenses and burglaries, had once served more than five years, and was most recently deported in 2011.

They said the sentence Judge Owen Panner imposed Monday covers his illegal re-entry and his violation of release-from-custody terms in 2011.

  Read more about 4 times deported, Mexican gets 6 years after meth discovery

A man accused of shooting a BB gun at a car in Oregon City this spring and later found to have packaged bindles of heroin in his vehicle is expected to change his plea and be sentenced in federal court on Tuesday.

Daniel Jimenez-Barragan, 22, was indicted in U.S. District Court for possession with intent to distribute heroin and illegal re-entry to the country. He was a convicted felon who had been deported to Mexico two years earlier...

Jimenez-Barragan was arrested on April 9 after Oregon state police responded to a report of a motorist driving recklessly on Interstate 205...

Jimenez-Barragan provided a fake Mexican driver's license. Police searched the truck and said they found a BB gun, $6,600 in cash and approximately five grams of heroin.

Jimenez-Barragan, 28, then gave police a second phony name. After he was fingerprinted, police learned his real identity.

Jimenez-Barragan was deported from the United States on April 25, 2012. He has prior criminal convictions in Multnomah County for delivery of heroin in March 2012 and possession of heroin in October 2011.

A plea in the federal case would result in the dismissal of pending charges against Jimenez-Barragan in Clackamas County, Mygrant wrote in a sentencing memo.

His plea and sentencing is set for 11:30 am. on Tuesday. Jimenez-Barragan is being held at Multnomah County's Inverness Jail...
  Read more about Felon deported to Mexico two years ago to face sentencing next week following arrest for pointing BB gun at motorist

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California prosecutors said Tuesday they will seek the death penalty for a Utah man charged with killing two deputies during an hour-long rampage that also left a motorist and another deputy wounded.

Prosecutors in Placer and Sacramento counties decided after consulting with the victims' families that the death penalty is appropriate for defendant Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes, Placer County Supervising Deputy District Attorney David Tellman said...

No inmates have been executed in California since 2006, and no executions are currently scheduled because of ongoing legal challenges...

Bracamontes' wife, Janelle Marquez Monroy, also is charged in the case but does not face the death penalty. Prosecutors allege her husband fired the fatal shots.

Her attorney, Peter Kmeto, declined comment after a separate hearing. The pair is scheduled to return to court Feb. 4.

Neither has entered pleas to multiple charges of murder, attempted murder, carjacking and attempted carjacking. They also face counts involving weapons violations...

The couple appeared to be living quietly in the Salt Lake City area until their arrest in California.

Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones released a YouTube video last month chastising President Barack Obama and Congress for their lack of progress on illegal immigration, a problem Jones linked to Bracamontes because the Mexican national has a long criminal history and was in the U.S. illegally.

Jones said Bracamontes had been deported four times before he was charged with killing the two deputies.
  Read more about Death penalty sought in California deputy killings