enforcement

Milwaukie man's heroin death leads police up supply chain to nab distributor

Charly Michael Aguayo-Caro was once a mid-level manager at a thriving business...

One of Aguayo-Caro's customers sold Rael the dose that killed him...

Aguayo-Caro's also was charged with "distributing heroin resulting in death," commonly known as the "Len Bias law," named for a University of Maryland basketball player who died of a cocaine overdose in 1986....

Aguayo-Caro and other Mexican immigrants from Xalisco in the Pacific Coast state of Nayarit, perfected the system that operated in Oregon and several other states. The heroin business was detailed in a 2010 Los Angeles Times series....

Three prior investigations –by police in Beaverton, Woodburn and Portland -- resulted in arrests of underlings, but not Aguayo-Caro...

Aguayo-Caro's unit grossed about $1 million a year, Mygrant estimated.

"It's nice to convict one of the managers," Mygrant said....

Aguayo-Caro will be deported when he's released from prison.

  Read more about Milwaukie man's heroin death leads police up supply chain to nab distributor

Oregon immigrants, allies head to California border supporting undocumented group attempting to cross

Eight Oregon immigrants and allies left Thursday for San Diego, where they will join hundreds more from around the United States to support at least 150 undocumented deportees attempting to cross back into the country from Mexico...

The undocumented immigrants (illegal aliens), whose families live in cities across the U.S., will attempt to cross the border at the Otay Mesa point of entry on March 10. One of those immigrants was deported from Portland....

Wearing a T-shirt that read "UNDOCUMENTED; UNAFRAID; UNAPOLOGETIC," Luna explained the effort Thursday afternoon in front of a small group of supporters in the Latino center at Portland State University...

"I'm not going to wait until legislation tells me when I can reunite with my family," she said. "We're not playing around, so we're going to take justice and we're going to do what we feel is right."..

Now Bring Them Home is attempting its third and largest effort, expanded to include anyone willing to try and cross the border.

  Read more about Oregon immigrants, allies head to California border supporting undocumented group attempting to cross

Cry me a river...

It is with a tear in my eye that I read the recent article in The Oregonian about re-uniting families.

Quotes like this, "I'm not going to wait until legislation tells me when I can reunite with my family," she said. "We're not playing around, so we're going to take justice and we're going to do what we feel is right"  tug at my heartstrings.

I have an idea.  If a person broke into the U.S. or overstayed a Visa and was later apprehended, deported and separated from their family then it is their fault.  It isn't my fault or my problem.

If they want to be together as a family, then return with the family member that was deported. 

I am repulsed by people who think that our laws don't apply to them.  And, worse, I am repulsed by law makers that repeatedly send that message.  We have immigration laws - enforce them!


  Read more about Cry me a river...

“Accident”? Oregon’s illegal alien “Carnivals of Crime” are back, offering health insurance and dancing girls

Dancing girls, driver’s licenses, health insurance, free food and information on Common Core were offered exclusively in Spanish at a local Portland school Saturday. The party like event for las familias, signals the return of what we used to call, “Carnivals of Crime” for illegal aliens. With the ‘revelation’ that illegal aliens have been ‘accidentally’ signed up for OrBamaCare, these kind of events once again take on added importance.

Citizen Journalist Daylight Disinfectant attended the Saturday event. See his video below.

The state of Oregon used to regularly offer these party-like events to offer Spanish speaking folks in Oregon (some of whom were legally here and some who were not), free stuff–including food stamps, medicaid and welfare.

Adorable little dancers.

Adorable little dancers.

They ended when Oregonians for Immigration Reform outed the practice–embarrassing state officials who were then excoriated for giving out hard earned American tax dollars to law breakers.

While there’s no doubt the Obama recession has caused many illegal aliens to head back to their home countries, it’s also true many illegal aliens have stayed in Oregon. It’s no “accident” that Cover Oregon and other state programs have attempted to sign them up.

 


  Read more about “Accident”? Oregon’s illegal alien “Carnivals of Crime” are back, offering health insurance and dancing girls

California Driver’s License Program Hits an Unexpected Hurdle

BELL, Calif. — The auditorium was packed. There were single mothers, day laborers, grandparents pushing infants in strollers and teenagers interpreting for parents. All of them faced a potentially life-changing prospect: Within a year, California will start offering driver’s licenses to immigrants who are living in the country illegally.

But one person after another stepped to the microphone and expressed fear that the licenses, far from helping them, could instead be used to deport them.

Last year, when California became the most populous state to pass a law permitting undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses, advocates for immigrant rights were thrilled, saying it would allow people to commute without fear while also decreasing rates of hit-and-run accidents and uninsured drivers on the roads. Now those advocates are confronting another formidable obstacle: the deep and longstanding mistrust of the American government among this population.

It turns out that persuading immigrants who have spent decades avoiding the authorities to willingly hand over their names, addresses and photographs to the government is no easy sell — particularly since the licenses will look different from regular ones, in ways that have yet to be determined.

“I believe this license process is not secure,” one woman, who declined to identify herself, told state officials at an informational hearing here hosted by the Department of Motor Vehicles. “Is this a trap?”

“It’s not a trap,” said Ricardo Lara, the state senator who represents this working-class city, where more than 40 percent of the population is foreign born. State law guaranteed that their information would not be shared with other government agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he said, adding, “Your information is protected.”

California, home to an estimated 2.5 million immigrants living in the country illegally, has been busy fashioning itself as the most welcoming state for immigrants, passing measures designed to reduce deportations, offering in-state tuition to all residents, and more. But skepticism among this population has grown since President Obama took office, as deportations have hit record highs and efforts to reform immigration laws have stalled in Congress.

Combating this mistrust, Mr. Lara said in an interview, is “the most significant challenge” of getting unauthorized residents — many of whom are already behind the wheel without licenses — to take road tests and buy auto insurance.

“People are skeptical, and rightfully so,” Mr. Lara said. “These are people who have been living in the shadows, living in constant fear. We have to work hard to ensure we really protect these folks.”

 

Atalia Cervantes, a mother of three who came here illegally from Mexico two decades ago, drives every day, despite her lack of a license.

“Every time I buckle my seatbelt, I am afraid,” said Ms. Cervantes, 30, who drove nearly an hour with her oldest daughter to voice her concerns at the hearing. “It’s affecting my girls. My youngest girl said: ‘Mommy, why are you so afraid of the cops? Cops are for protecting us.’ ”

Still, she was not sure if she would apply for a driver’s license. She worried that with it set to look different from those given to legal residents, it might lead rogue police officers to arrest people like her and call the immigration authorities, even though that is prohibited by law.

“If they write something on the back of the license that says it can’t be used to deport me, then maybe I’ll get one,” she said.

A growing number of states across the country are beginning to face this same challenge of winning illegal immigrants’ trust. Last year, eight states joined New Mexico, Utah and Washington in extending special driving privileges.

Nevada began issuing “driver authorization cards” to immigrants in the country illegally at the start of this year, with the goal of reducing the number of untested and uninsured drivers on the road. Lines at Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles offices in January wrapped around corners. Through Feb. 10, more than 16,000 people had applied for driver authorization cards.

 

Despite the early rush of applicants, however, many immigrants were not convinced that the cards were safe, said David Fierro, a department spokesman.

Photo

 

A man held up his day labor identification card.Credit Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times

“There is a high level of distrust,” Mr. Fierro said. “People were convinced that no matter what we were saying, once we had them in our system, we would pass their information on and someone would be there to round them up.”

“I don’t think that’s been completely dispelled,” he said. “Some are still waiting to see what happens with their friends who apply.”

Overcoming this distrust is essential to making sure the program works, Mr. Fierro said, since the point is to get unlicensed and uninsured drivers off the road. The state is optimistic: Nevada, with about 250,000 undocumented residents, hired 18 people to deal with the influx of immigrants seeking driving privileges.

California, home to about a quarter of all immigrants in the country illegally, is hoping for a much larger rush. State officials here expect 1.4 million people to apply for the licenses, and the California Department of Motor Vehicles will hire 1,000 new workers and open four temporary offices, which will serve only people seeking new licenses.

The agency has also been working with consulates to help people in California get identifying documents from their home countries, a requirement for anyone applying for a driver’s license; officials have not yet decided what documents will be accepted. Under the law, the state must begin issuing the licenses by next January.

Identification records can be expensive and difficult to obtain, especially for people who have not returned to their home countries in decades. Mr. Lara said he hoped the state would also accept less formal proofs of identification, like baptismal and marriage records from churches.

At the meeting here, many people came with identification cards from day laborers’ associations, immigration rights groups and other local groups they belonged to, hoping that would be enough.

Critics argue that this approach would invite identity fraud. In New Mexico, which has issued driver’s licenses to unauthorized residents since 2003, state officials have complained about such fraud, prompting some Republicans to call for ending the program.

“It would be a sham for the state to represent that they’re actually able to verify identity looking at things like baptismal records or Sam’s Club cards,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington. “This process is an exercise in providing documentation to people whose legitimate identities cannot be ascertained.”

Andrea Guadarrama, a housekeeper and grandmother of eight who lives in Los Angeles and attended the hearing here, said she worried about what the new licenses would look like.

“I’m concerned about the mark that will go on our licenses,” she said. “We are already marked by our color and our names, and the police are against us.”

Even so, Ms. Guadarrama said she planned to apply for a license as soon as she was able. For now, she takes the bus from her apartment downtown to work in Santa Monica, a ride that can take up to three hours.

She did not know how or where she would get the documents she needed to prove her identity — after 27 years in the United States, she said, she no longer has her birth certificate from Mexico — but said she would do whatever was necessary.

“Oh, my God. If I had a license, I could make more money, see my grandkids more,” she said. Read more about California Driver’s License Program Hits an Unexpected Hurdle

Why Some Nations Succeed and Many Nations Fail

Carlos Slim and Bill Gates are two of the richest men in the world. Slim with his Mexican telecommunication monopolies has done little to make either Mexico or the world a more prosperous place. In contrast, the computer revolution, in which Bill Gates was a major player, enriched the lives of people all over the world. In their book Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson claim that the reasons why Slim’s and Gates’ wealth bear such different fruit are the same reasons why Nogales, Arizona is so much more prosperous than Nogales, Mexico, although the cities are divided by no more than a fence which marks an international border. For the most part the people on both sides of the international line in Nogales are of the same ethnicities and share the same history and geographic constraints, but the incentives in each nation are radically different.

The authors claim that broadly-based prosperity is possible only in a nation with the rule of law, protection of private property, constitutionally-limited government, and relatively broadly-based political and economic power.

In failing nations, political control is held in a few hands and a single party. The institutions have been set up so that the people in power can stay in power and benefit themselves and their friends. In Mexico there were only three banks, no real elections, no publicly acknowledged system for registering private property ownership, and no way in which inventors of new ideas could expect to prosper from those new ideas. Except for those in political power, most of the population was consigned to grinding poverty. Mexico has periodically faced bankruptcy and the International Monetary Fund, as a condition of bailing out the government, insisted that some of the many government monopolies be privatized. The Mexican government privatized the telephone monopoly by handing it over to one of its cronies – Carlos Slim. He didn’t put up any money. He “paid” for it out of the proceeds of the company itself, and he picked up other assets at “distressed” prices. With his monopolies, he continued to soak high telephone rates from the Mexican people. In contrast, Bill Gates, after dropping out of Harvard, invented his software in his garage with a couple of his friends, marketed Microsoft products fiendishly, and competed as ruthlessly as he could with his rivals like Steven Jobs who had built Apple in a similar way. In doing so, Microsoft and its competitors computerized the world and raised living standards in places like India and Mexico.

Under the rule of law, Bill Gates was sued by Netscape for building a monopoly. And although Netscape’s case was relatively weak, Gates lost in court, was humiliated on the witness stand, was fined, and was almost forced to break up his company. The flip side of the equation is that he could not have acquired his wealth if he had been operating in a nation without the rule of law.

Without the rule of law the only way to gain economic wealth is to pay bribes, seek patronage from the government, and rely on the police and the state to eliminate your competition. Technological improvement, so essential to real economic growth, is always a threat because it will lead to political change and any political change is likely to lead to major loss of property and life to those at the top of the heap. And so, historically, those governments have granted monopolies on every aspect of the economy and monopolies tend to charge the highest possible prices and provide the lowest quality of goods. Monopolies cannot exist without the force of government behind them.

Acemoglu and Robinson demonstrate it doesn’t matter what the ideology of the people in power is. They always act to preserve their power and that requires eliminating the rule of law and concentrating all economic and political power in a small group of people. These governments routinely kill and imprison their political opponents, confiscate the wealth of their middle classes, and impoverish and starve the mass of their people. And if those political opponents gain power, they do the same. Thus, using radically egalitarian propaganda, the economic inequality in China and Russia increased after their revolutions and tens of millions of their citizens were starved to death because all the food the peasants grew was expropriated by the government. In Africa, with a few exceptions like Botswana, the post-colonial governments exploited their people in much the same ways, and to an even greater degree, than the colonial powers had. Rhodesia’s government may have been unjust, but Zimbabwe’s government is murderous. In too many of these countries, the leaders and their friends are all fabulously wealthy. The other people are fabulously poor.

But times are changing. The Mexican government is turning toward the rule of law and the privatization of large and inefficient state monopolies. Meanwhile, in this country, we are moving away from the rule of law and constitutionally-limited government and toward unlimited government power and cronyism. Government is becoming the only available source of funding for many people and many businesses, and politically, the force of government is being used to silence the government’s political opposition. And perhaps Bill Gates and Microsoft may finally get a real monopoly. It is called the Common Core. Read more about Why Some Nations Succeed and Many Nations Fail

Neb. city prepares to enforce immigration rules

...Fremont officials said that police will start enforcing the measure 30 days after the results of a special city election are certified. Nearly 60 percent of voters decided Tuesday to keep the ordinance, which requires renters to get a $5 permit and swear they have legal permission to live in the U.S.

...Fremont is one of only a handful of cities trying to restrict illegal immigration and, like those other cities, has found itself mired in court fights because of the regulations. City leaders put the ordinance on hold after the 2010 vote while courts reviewed it....                                                                       

...Supporters insist the measure does not target Hispanics, but the topic can make for awkward conversation given Fremont's growing immigrant population. The number of Hispanics jumped from 165 in 1990 to 1,085 in 2000 and 3,149 in 2010, mostly because of jobs at the nearby Hormel and Fremont Beef plants....
  Read more about Neb. city prepares to enforce immigration rules

Republicans’ Comprehensive Immigration Folly

...Republicans may once again come to the rescue of the Democrats, by discrediting themselves and snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory.

The latest bright idea among Republicans inside the Beltway is a new version of amnesty that is virtually certain to lose votes among the Republican base and is unlikely to gain many votes among the Hispanics that the Republican leadership is courting...

Immigration laws are the only laws that are discussed in terms of how to help people who break them...

...why do the American people not have a right to the protection that immigration laws provide people in other countries around the world — including Mexico, where illegal immigrants from other countries do not get the special treatment that Mexico and its American supporters are demanding for illegal immigrants in the United States?...

What in the world is wrong with Congress taking up border security first, as a separate issue, and later taking responsibility in a congressional vote on whether the border has become secure? Congress at least should come out of the shadows.

The Republican plan for granting legalization up front, while withholding citizenship, is too clever by half. It is like saying that you can slide halfway down a slippery slope.

Republicans may yet rescue the Democrats, while demoralizing their own supporters and utterly failing the country.

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. © 2014 Creators Syndicate Inc.

Read more about Republicans’ Comprehensive Immigration Folly

Half a Million Employers Now Enrolled in E-Verify

“E-Verify is largely voluntary, so the fact that we now have half a million employers enrolled shows significant confidence in the program."

USCIS (a branch of DHS) says:  “In the past decade, E-Verify participation has increased 400 percent. E-Verify is now used nationwide at more than 1.5 million hiring sites, with more than 1,400 new employers joining each week. Additionally, E-Verify is one of the federal government’s highest-rated services for customer satisfaction.”

There is a searchable database of employers using E-Verify at http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify/about-program/e-verify-employers-search-tool. Searches can be filtered for name of employer, or state, city, etc. A search for all Oregon employers shows that over 3,000 employers in the state are now participating. You can search by name of your town to see which employers locally are using E-Verify.

OFIR NOTE:  Please make every attempt to support businesses using E-Verify and tell them why you chose them over a competitor.  As with anything, please do your own research about the business to be certain you are making the right choice. Read more about Half a Million Employers Now Enrolled in E-Verify

Officers in Eastern Oregon arrest masked man on Interstate 84

BOARDMAN, Ore. — Law enforcement officers in northeastern Oregon say they chased and eventually arrested a masked man who had been reported swerving in and out of traffic on Interstate 84.

Morrow County Undersheriff Steven Myren says law enforcement cars tried to stop westbound blue SUV on Tuesday afternoon...

Spike strips that flattened the vehicle's two front tires eventually ended the chase.

...Officers found a loaded handgun on the passenger seat, a machete...

Adolfo Mendez Lopez - ICE HOLD

Read the full article.

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