enforcement

Deputy Kelly Fredinburg's alleged killer still on the loose

Oregonians are approaching the 9th anniversary of the tragic death of Deputy Kelly Fredinburg in a fiery head-on crash north of Gervais June 16, 2007.  The driver of the car crossed the center line, killed Fredninburg and a passenger in his own car, who died a day after the crash.

Before he was indicted for his crimes, the driver fled to Mexico and to this day remains a fugitive.  Below is a story from The Oregonian from 2014.

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Suspect in 2007 crash that killed Marion County deputy remains at large, police say

The driver who police believe killed a Marion County deputy and another man in a late-night crash in 2007 remains a fugitive, authorities said.

Tips leading to the arrest of Alfredo De Jesus Ascensio are eligible for a reward of up to $21,000, according to a press release from Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Deputy Kelly Fredinburg, 33, was killed when Ascensio's vehicle crossed the center line on Oregon 99E north of Gervais, according to police at the time. Fredinburg's car caught fire and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

De Jesus Ascensio is wanted on two counts of criminally negligent homicide in connection with Fredinburg's death and Ascensio's 19-year old passenger Oscar Ascensio Amaya, who died the day after the crash.

De Jesus Ascensio was also hospitalized. Authorities believe he fled to Mexico around the time he was indicted.

The Fredinburg family helped create an Oregon Officer Reward Fund for arrests in criminal investigations of injury or death to police in the line of duty, the sheriff's office said. A reward of $20,000, along with another $1,000 offered by Crime Stoppers, is available for information that leads to an arrest in the case.

"I think about Kelly and his family quite often and reflect upon the sacrifice they have made," Sheriff Jason Myers said in a press release. "While nothing will replace the loss of Kelly, finding Alfredo DeJesus Ascencio and holding him accountable for his actions will bring some closure to this tragedy."

De Jesus Ascensio was 20 years of age at the time of the crash, was last believed to be in the area of Puacuaro, Michoacan, Mexico.

Anyone with information related to this investigation to find the suspect can report tips by calling 800-452-7888 in Oregon; or 1-503-823-HELP (4357) from anywhere in the United States. Callers from Mexico can call the Crime Stoppers Tip line, +011-503-823-4357. Tipsters should refer to case number is 07-28 and provide as much detail as possible, authorities said. Read more about Deputy Kelly Fredinburg's alleged killer still on the loose

Criminal immigrants reoffend at higher rates than ICE has suggested

They were among the nation’s top priorities for deportation, criminals who were supposed to be sent back to their home countries. But instead they were released, one by one, in secret across the United States. Federal officials said that many of the criminals posed little threat to the public, but did little to verify whether that was true.

It wasn’t.

A Globe review of 323 criminals released in New England from 2008 to 2012 found that as many as 30 percent committed new offenses, including rape, attempted murder, and child molestation — a rate that is markedly higher than Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have suggested to Congress in the past.

The names of these criminals have never before been made public and are coming to light now only because the Globe sued the federal government for the list of criminals immigration authorities returned to neighborhoods across the country. A judge ordered the names released in 2013, and the Globe then undertook the work that the federal government didn’t, scouring court records to find out how many released criminals reoffended.

The Globe has also published, in conjunction with this story, a searchable database of the thousands of names that were disclosed to the news organization, so that crime victims, law enforcement officials, and managers of sex offender registries — who are often unaware of these releases — can find out if the criminals may still be in the United States.

The review does not indicate that immigrants are any more likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans — and in fact studies have shown that not to be the case. But the review reveals the damage inflicted on victims by criminals who were ordered to be deported when their sentences were complete, and were not, and it raises questions about how the government handled their cases.

The public rarely learns about ICE’s decisions to release criminals until something goes wrong — because immigration is the only law enforcement system in the United States that keeps such records secret.

ICE maintains that immigration records are generally private, and therefore exempt from disclosure under federal law. But others say the public should know who is making these decisions and why.

“There’s a serious question of who ICE represents. Who do they work for?” said Chester Fairlie, a lawyer for the mother of Casey Chadwick, a Connecticut woman murdered last year by a released criminal — a case that is intensifying calls for reform in ICE. “Public safety should trump any claim of privilege or confidentiality. It doesn’t come from statute. It doesn’t come from law. It comes from ICE deciding that that’s how it’s going to do things.”

Immigration officials have long insisted that the decision to release criminals — some of whom initially came to this country legally — is often out of their hands because the Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that the government cannot jail immigrants indefinitely. If immigration officials cannot deport them after six months, the court said, they should generally set them free.

“So to sit there and say that the proud women and men of law enforcement in ICE are choosing to release criminals is absolutely unforgivable,” ICE Director Sarah Saldaña told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in April, after lawmakers grilled her about releasing criminals in the United States. “And they do not go around trying to put criminals on the street.”

But often, that’s where they end up.

The Globe found that a Massachusetts man was supposed to be deported after he served jail time for bashing his ex-girlfriend on the head with a hammer — but ICE released him in October 2009. Three months later, he found the ex-girlfriend and stabbed her repeatedly. A Rhode Island man who had served prison time for a home invasion was also released from immigration detention in 2009; five years later, he was arrested for attacking his former girlfriend. In 2010, ICE released a man with a lengthy criminal record in Maine; a few months later he grabbed a man outside a 7-Eleven, held a knife to the man’s throat, and robbed him.

Some members of Congress appear to be losing patience with ICE’s argument that it is powerless to stop these releases. Critics say ICE could seek civil commitment for mentally ill immigrants who commit crimes, arrest reoffenders, and ask the Department of State to use diplomatic means to punish nations such as Haiti, China, and Jamaica when they refuse to take back their own citizens.

At the House oversight hearing on April 28, committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, said ICE’s decisions to release criminals who can’t be deported are leading to thousands of preventable crimes, according to ICE’s own statistics. The recent reoffenses include more than 130 murders or attempted murders since 2010, according to a letter ICE provided in February to Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

“What’s going on with Immigration and Customs Enforcement is one of the most infuriating things I think I’ve seen in this government yet,” Chaffetz said. To Saldaña, he added, after referring to crime victims in these cases, “How do you look those people in the eye?”

The Globe’s review was limited to the 323 immigrants released in New England between 2008 and 2012.

To calculate the recidivism rate in New England, the Globe scoured public police logs, Internet databases, and news media reports from Maine to southern Connecticut to identify the courts where criminal convictions occurred. Then the Globe traveled to or called the court houses to request records. The effort took three years, because most courts in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine do not have online databases where the public can search for records.

The public records in criminal courts made it possible to scrutinize an immigration system that rarely opens its files to the public — or even to US lawmakers.

For instance, the public did not know that ICE had struggled to deport Jean Jacques to Haiti in 2012, after he served time for attempted murder in Connecticut. ICE said in an e-mail that the agency repeatedly tried to deport Jacques, but had to release him when Haiti refused to accept him back to his home country. Then in 2015, he fatally stabbed 25-year-old Casey Chadwick of Norwich, Conn., and stuffed her body in a closet. A jury convicted him of murder in April.

Chadwick’s death outraged lawmakers, who said they got few answers from the federal immigration system about the handling of Jacques’ case. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and two other Democrats called for an inquiry by Homeland Security’s inspector general.

“It is unacceptable that ICE failed to remove a convicted attempted murderer subject to a final deportation order — a measure that would have saved the life of Casey Chadwick,” Blumenthal and others said in a statement in January. “ICE’s responses thus far to our repeated inquiries into this case have been incomplete and unsatisfactory, and we hope that this independent inquiry will finally uncover the facts surrounding this tragedy, enabling reforms necessary to ensure that this never happens again.”

Clear answers are hard to come by in a system that aggressively keeps its records from the public.

For example, ICE had insisted in court records that reoffenders were “isolated examples.” To Congress, ICE officials suggested that reoffenders were rare, less than 10 percent.

But the reoffender rate among the immigrants on the Globe’s list is clearly much higher, at 30 percent.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors limiting immigration, said she believes the reoffender rate is probably even higher, given the Globe’s limited access to immigrants’ criminal histories. Some names, for instance, were too common to verify against court records. She said the government should track the rate itself.

“This is exactly what the government should be doing to evaluate the impact of its own policy, to make sure that it’s not causing harm,” she said. “They shouldn’t be doing this blindly without taking the time to evaluate the effects of the policy, the public safety consequences.”

Immigration officials acknowledge they have not calculated a recidivism rate, but say they are “working to provide this data.”

“ICE is committed to continually improving the agency’s ability to track and manage ever evolving agency-related data, but the agency does not have statistically reliable information on recidivism rates prior to FY13,” ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer said in an e-mail.

Immigration officials have also pointed out that they are increasingly focusing on deporting criminals, which they argue is likely to contribute to a lower recidivism rate.

Since 2008, ICE has deported hundreds of thousands of criminals. During the last fiscal year, 59 percent of the immigrants they deported had been convicted of at least one crime. And ICE officials say they are constantly pressing other countries to take back their citizens. Some of the released criminals were later taken back into custody and deported.

But ICE has also released tens of thousands of criminals in the United States — and in far greater numbers than they have disclosed to the Globe.

ICE told the news organization that the agency freed 12,941 criminals nationwide from 2008 to early 2014.

But Saldaña, the ICE director, told the House committee that the agency freed 36,007 criminals in fiscal 2013 alone. They are among 86,288 criminals they released from 2013 to fiscal 2015.

ICE officials said in an e-mail that the agency only provided the Globe the names of criminals they were forced to release under the Supreme Court decision; the additional releases were for other reasons. They did not elaborate, but ICE has told Congress it has also released criminals because of budget constraints, humanitarian reasons, or when an immigration judge ordered a release.

ICE has also suggested in court records that “many” of the criminals they released were traffic violators or other nonviolent offenders. But the news organization’s analysis shows that nationwide, immigration officials freed more convicted killers (201) than traffic violators (116) from 2008 to 2012.

ICE has also told Congress, as recently as May, that just 23 nations were failing to cooperate with deportations.

But ICE records show that as recently as 2016, there were about 140 nations that refused to take back at least some of their citizens, including Armenia, the Bahamas, St. Lucia, and many others.

In New England, about a quarter of the criminals released from 2008 to 2012 were previously convicted of rape, murder, or other violent crimes, based on the criminal histories that ICE provided to the Globe.

Court records show that, for a variety of reasons, some released criminals went on to enjoy privileges that otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants usually can’t enjoy, such as obtaining driver’s licenses. Five released criminals were even registered to vote in Massachusetts, putting them in the jury pool. State officials said none had ever voted, and they removed them from the list after being asked about them.

One released criminal thwarted his own deportation three times by kicking and screaming on an airplane bound for his homeland, prompting the pilot to throw him off while they were still on the ground, according to federal court records.

But more troubling are the criminals who left a string of new victims once immigration officials set them free.

In January 2010, a Framingham woman walked out of a Stop & Shop and saw her ex-boyfriend, Oscoe Housen — the same man who had served time for attacking her with a hammer. He was supposed to have been deported to Jamaica, but ICE released him instead.

Early the next morning, Housen broke into the woman’s home and stabbed her and a friend with a large knife as her children slept nearby. Police said they discovered a gruesome scene — the man was bleeding heavily and the woman asked “if she was going to die.” She lived, and Housen, 64, is serving up to 12 years in prison.

ICE also released Nhoeuth Nhim, one of several masked gang members who led a frightening home invasion and robbery in 2000 in Cranston, R.I. The gang used duct tape to bind, gag, and blindfold a family of five, including a 6-year-old. After robbing them of money and jewelry, the gang set a fire in the basement and dragged the family into the flames. The family, hard-working immigrants from Cambodia, all escaped.

After serving prison time, Nhim was supposed to face deportation, but instead ICE released him in 2009 and he returned to Rhode Island, where he later was charged with sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend. He pleaded no contest to felony assault and is in prison.

In 2009, ICE released Bo Kang Me, a 48-year-old Cambodian immigrant with a long criminal record. He was soon rearrested for new crimes and probation violations. But he was free in 2013 when a Providence school let him pick up a child from school, even though he was not authorized to do so. He molested the child and is serving prison time for second-degree child molestation.

ICE had no comment on the cases, but said, “The decisions made in every case are made with the best available information ICE is able to obtain at the time.”

On April 25, ICE unexpectedly sent the Globe a new list of released criminals that showed that 83 percent of the criminals released nationwide from 2012 to 2016 are convicted felons.

Critics say it’s likely that ICE will continue to release serious criminals in the future, but unless the agency changes its privacy policies, there is no guarantee that the public will ever know.

Timeline of the Globe’s lawsuit

It’s nearly a five-year saga.

Search the Globe’s database of criminals

ICE: A snapshot of released criminals who were supposed to be deported

On April 25, Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided an updated look at the criminals it released in the United States from 2012 to February because the agency was unable to deport them. Typically in these cases, foreign countries refuse to repatriate their citizens. ICE says they are forced to release them in the United States because the Supreme Court has barred the agency from jailing immigrants indefinitely. These are the homelands of the criminals released during this period.

SOURCE: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement   Patrick Garvin/GLOBE STAFF

Jeremy C. Fox of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Sacchetti can be reached at maria.sacchetti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @mariasacchetti. Read more about Criminal immigrants reoffend at higher rates than ICE has suggested

Man sentenced to 6 years for trafficking drugs

An undocumented immigrant was sentenced to federal prison for distributing more than 22 pounds of heroin and methamphetamine found last year during a Central Point traffic stop.

Miguel Angel Reyna-Ramos, 38, was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison Thursday in U.S. District Court in Eugene. He pleaded guilty Jan. 21 to charges of possessing a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

On May 18, 2015, Oregon State Police troopers caught Reyna-Ramos with close to 8 kilograms of methamphetamine and 2 kilograms of heroin in the luggage compartment of the gray Mercury Mountaineer SUV he was driving, which they stopped near Exit 35 on northbound Interstate 5 for a traffic violation. According to a release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, Reyna-Ramos originally declined a request to search the vehicle, but troopers later obtained a search warrant after a narcotics detection dog alerted them to drugs found in the back of the vehicle.

Court documents filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, where the case was originally filed, showed that police believed Reyna-Ramos was acting suspiciously at the time of the traffic stop. He possessed no driver's license, the vehicle was not registered to him and he had multiple cellphones in the vehicle.

Reyna-Ramos later told Medford DEA agents that he was working for a cartel based in Mexico. He told agents he'd been paid between $200 and $300 before to drive cars from his home in Tulare, Calif., to drop-off points near Tacoma, Wash. He told investigators he was instructed by a third party to pick up the SUV from a motel parking lot in Ontario, Calif., and drive to Spanaway, Wash., where he expected to be paid $1,000.

U.S. District Judge Michael McShane said he considered Reyna-Ramos' lack of criminal history in determining the sentence. Because Reyna-Ramos is undocumented, he will likely be deported upon completion of his sentence, the release says.

Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or nmorgan@mailtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat. Read more about Man sentenced to 6 years for trafficking drugs

GOP regularly misses the mark on illegal alien issues

Ann Coulter has a gift for cutting right to the point.  She explains how GOP candidates could sweep the elections this year with just a little understanding of what has happened in the past.

Key To Trump’s Victory: Math

 Math

With the California primary fast approaching, the media are rolling out their favorite fairy tale about how Republican Pete Wilson’s support for Proposition 187 in 1994 was a historic, game-changing error for the GOP, driving Hispanics from the party for good!

Both CNN and MSNBC retold this completely bogus narrative this week. NPR rolls it out once every two weeks.

I — along with other people capable of reading election returns — have written about this forever. I did most recently in “Adios, America,” in a chapter titled, “I Wrote This Chapter After Noticing How Stupid Rich People Are,” inspired by a dinner party I went to in Palm Beach, Florida, the day after I’d already turned in my book.

I’m writing an emergency book on Trump right now, due today, and liberals won’t stop lying about Prop 187 — so for this week’s column, I’m telling the real story of that initiative, again. Maybe the 700th time is the charm!

In 1994, Gov. Pete Wilson of California was headed for defeat in his re-election bid. He had an abysmal 15 percent approval rating — syphilis had a higher approval rating. He ended up pulling out an amazing come-from-behind victory by tying himself to Proposition 187, a ballot initiative that would deny illegal immigrants non-emergency government services.

In the lead-up to the election, the media freely dispensed advice to Wilson, nearly identical to the advice they’re giving Donald Trump today.

Proposition 187, was, in the words of The New York Times, a “nativist abomination,” “xenophobic,” and a “platform of bigotry, racism and scapegoating.” Republicans faced an epic loss unless they repudiated Prop 187 and leapt on the Hispandering bandwagon — and pronto.

Unaware that the Times’ political advice was a gag, Wilson’s Democratic opponent, Kathleen Brown, was convinced opposition to Proposition 187 would propel her to victory. She campaigned against the proposition, urging voters to “send a message that says we understand that in diversity is our strength!”

Pete “Prop 187” Wilson won the election with 55 percent of the vote. That included 21 percent of the black vote — nearly three times the 8 percent average for Republicans in House races nationwide the same year.

Wilson’s 1994 victory on the back of Proposition 187 also happens to be the biggest margin for any Republican running statewide in California in the last 30 years, except for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who won his 2006 re-election by one point more (after effectively becoming a Democrat).

Proposition 187 was even more popular than Wilson, winning 59 percent to 41 percent. It was supported by a majority of white voters, a majority of black voters, a majority of Asian voters — and a third of Hispanic voters, i.e., more of the Hispanic vote than Mitt Romney got.

Proposition 187 was twice as popular with Hispanic voters in California as George H.W. Bush had been two years earlier. In 1992, Bill Clinton won 71 percent of the Hispanic vote in California to Bush’s 14 percent. Texas Hispanics chose Clinton over Bush by nearly the identical percentage, 70 percent to 15 percent.

Maybe there’s something else Hispanics don’t like about Republicans.

In 1992, Proposition 187 wasn’t even a twinkle in California’s eye. Hispanics had no idea they were supposed to hate Republicans yet. Nonetheless, they voted in a landslide for the Democratic presidential candidate, and also for two Democrats running for the U.S. Senate that year.

The reason California can’t elect a Republican statewide isn’t that Hispanics got even madder at Republicans since Proposition 187. It’s that they’re a much larger part of the electorate, thanks to: (1) Reagan’s amnesty; and (2) the ACLU running to a Jimmy Carter-appointed judge to get Proposition 187 overturned.

As with gay marriage, abortion and any number of other legal absurdities, whenever liberals lose by allowing people to vote, they dash to the courts to give them whatever they want. Judge Mariana Pfaelzer’s ruling declaring the popularly enacted Proposition 187 “unconstitutional” was on appeal when Gray Davis became governor of California, and dropped the appeal.

The combination of amnestied illegals and their kids, and illegal aliens coming for the free government services and their kids, has resulted in a state where whites are only about 40 percent of the population and 60 percent of the electorate.

Pete Wilson’s victory with Proposition 187 ought to be studied by today’s GOP like General Eisenhower’s Operation Overlord. Today’s America has nearly the same demographics as California did in 1994 — aka “the California Republicans Swept With an Anti–Illegal Alien Initiative.” In 1994, California’s voting population was 75 percent white, 12 percent Hispanic, 7 percent African-American and 6 percent Asian. Today, the American electorate is 72 percent white, 10 percent Hispanic, 13 percent African-American and 3 percent Asian.

I understand why the left doesn’t want the GOP to try anything like Prop 187 again. But why can’t Republicans do the math? Read more about GOP regularly misses the mark on illegal alien issues

Gang-related assault in federal prison sends four men back to serve more time

The last of four men who attacked an inmate in federal prison with punches to the back of his head, kicks to his back and strikes with a chair was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in custody.

The victim, identified in court papers only as E.I., suffered a broken jaw, a broken nose and a brain hemorrhage and was hospitalized at Salem Hospital for 2 ½ weeks.

Ten days after the attack, the victim told FBI agents he didn't remember anything about the assault and had no idea who hurt him. But he did recall that he had upset some of the "Southsiders'' when he complained they were trying to act like they wanted to be black, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Horsley wrote in a sentencing memo.

According to court records, the assault occurred a year ago, the morning of May 31 in a common area of the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan.

The victim was sitting at a table watching TV when one of the defendants, Jose Carlos Acosta Jr., gave a hand signal. With that, Acosta, Omar Mendoza, Javier Rodriguez Tijerina Jr. and Victor Alas-Felix converged on the victim. Mendoza struck E.I. in the back of the head with a closed fist, knocking him off his chair. The three others then stomped and kicked him and punched him while he was on the floor. E.I. appeared to be unconscious after the attack and stayed on the floor for a few minutes before he came to.

When he stood and tried to return to his cell, he was attacked a second time. Alas-Felix kicked him hard in the back and Acosta struck E.I. with a plastic chair.

Alas-Felix, 40, ditched his bloody shoes in a trash can near his cell, and they were later recovered.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Chief Justice Michael W. Mosman sentenced Alas-Felix to three years and four months in prison.

Assistant federal public defender Thomas Hester told the court that Alas-Felix had tried to drop out of the Surenos gang, but once the assault was ordered, he feared that if he didn't participate, his life would be threatened as well.

"He isn't saying he should not be punished,''  Hester added.

....Alas-Felix was serving a sentence for illegally entering the United States from Mexico and has other weapons, drugs and burglary convictions.

Alas-Felix, his arms and neck covered in tattoos, is "rather conspicuous,'' ...

Hester argued for a 30-month sentence, while the federal prosecutor urged a 46-month sentence to send a clear message that gang assaults in prison will be seriously punished...

The judge said he was convinced that Alas-Felix had tried to remove himself from gang life behind bars, but Mosman didn't cut him any slack.

"I'm unwilling to judge you by the rules of prison life. It just turns everything upside down,'' Mosman said. "I'm not judging you by the rules of your criminal organization. I'm judging you by the standards of this country where we live.''

The judge asked that Alas-Felix be placed in a federal prison outside of the Western or Southwestern regions of the country and be placed in some type of special housing to isolate him from gang influences.

Alas-Felix's co-defendant Tijerina previously was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison; Acosta to three years and four months; and Mendoza to two years and two months for the assault. The four also have been ordered to pay a total of $58,811 in restitution to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which paid for the victim's medical expenses.

After serving his sentence, Alas-Felix will be deported to Mexico. Read more about Gang-related assault in federal prison sends four men back to serve more time

Man who slashed friend's throat because he changed radio station gets nearly 6 years in prison

A 27-year-old man who slashed his friend's throat when he changed the radio station was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison.

Santos Kuyam had been drinking in the car with three friends last Nov. 7 near Northeast 61st Avenue and Lombard Street. Kuyam told Mario Salazar-Castillo not to change the radio station.

When Salazar-Castillo did anyway, Kuyam became so angry that he cut a 6-inch-long wound into Salazar-Castillo's throat, investigators say.

Two friends who were in the car later told police that the attack was unprovoked. Kuyam had been sitting in the back seat and Salazar-Castillo was in the front passenger seat.

Salazar-Castillo has made a remarkable recovery.

"Sounds like he was really lucky," said prosecutor Jeff Auxier, who spoke to medical staff who treated Salazar-Castillo. "It was one of those cases -- just a few millimeters to the left or right and it would have been a different outcome."

Police arrested Kuyam at the Cracker Box Tavern after receiving a report that he was there. A bar patron told police that Kuyam had been saying: "I have to ... I have to ... I have to ... I cut my friend he say I would die," according to a probable cause affidavit....

He was sentenced in Multnomah County Circuit Court to five years and 10 months in prison.

Kuyam told authorities at the time of his arrest that he was going to start a new job as a construction worker the next day. Kuyam was born in Mexico and has been in the United States for about eight years. He likely faces deportation when his prison sentence is over. Read more about Man who slashed friend's throat because he changed radio station gets nearly 6 years in prison

27½ pounds of meth lands man in prison

An undocumented immigrant was sentenced Friday to nearly three years in prison after he pleaded no-contest to trafficking a large quantity of methamphetamine with the help of his wife.

Oscar Omar Aguilar-Gomez, 30, had been found in possession of 27½ pounds of methamphetamine seized after a March 31 traffic stop near exit 30 on northbound Interstate 5.

According to an affidavit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, Oregon State Police troopers noticed multiple air fresheners in use when they pulled over a gray Chevrolet TrailBlazer SUV driven by Aguilar-Gomez's wife, Sara Rosales-Lopez, for exceeding the speed limit and following too closely.

Aguilar-Gomez's court-appointed defense attorney Vance Michael Waliser said the SUV was borrowed from a friend, but according to court records Aguilar-Gomez and Rosales-Lopez were both unsure who owned the vehicle at the time of the traffic stop. After the couple gave troopers consent to search the SUV, troopers found 37 packages of crystal meth in the back below the cargo area.

Waliser said Aguilar-Gomez has lived in California since he was 13 years old and has no prior criminal record. The couple have children together who live in California.

"This is very unfortunate," Waliser said.

Aguilar-Gomez was sentenced to 34 months in prison after entering a no-contest plea to a single charge of delivery of methamphetamine. Waliser sought alternative incarceration programs for Aguilar-Gomez where applicable, which Judge Tim Barnack authorized, but Aguilar-Gomez faces deportation through immigration and customs services.

Rosales-Lopez pleaded guilty April 25 to a felony charge of delivery of methamphetamine in the case, and was sentenced to two years' probation. She will be deported.

Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or nmorgan@mailtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat. Read more about 27½ pounds of meth lands man in prison

Oregon Department of Corrections: Criminal alien report April 2016

By the numbers, David Olen Cross wades through the numbers to bring us an accurate look at the real impact of illegal immigration. 

The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) April 2016 Inmate Population Profile indicated there were 14,676 inmates incarcerated in the DOC's 14 prisons.

Data obtained from the DOC indicated that on April 1st there were 948 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) incarcerated in the state's prison system; more than one in every sixteen prisoners incarcerated by the state was a criminal alien, 6.46 percent of the total prison population.

Some background information, all 948 criminal aliens currently incarcerated in the DOC prison system were identified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),... After the inmate completes his/her state sanction, prison officials will transfer custody of the inmate to ICE.

Using DOC Inmate Population Profiles and ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the total number inmates, the number of domestic and criminal alien inmates along with the percentage of them with ICE detainers incarcerated on April 1st in the state's prisons.

OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Month/Day/Year DOC Total Inmates DOC Domestic Inmates DOC Inmates W/ICE detainers DOC % Inmates W/ICE detainers
April 1, 2016 14,676 13,728 948 6.46%
Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 April 16 and Inmate Population Profile 01 April 16.

Using DOC ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the number and percentage of criminal alien prisoners incarcerated on April 1st that were sent to prison from the state's 36 counties.

OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
County DOC Total Inmates W/ ICE Detainers DOC % Inmates W/ICE Detainers
Marion 236 24.89%
Multnomah 202 21.31%
Washington 183 19.30%
Clackamas 70 7.38%
Lane 50 5.27%
Jackson 35 3.69%
Yamhill 23 2.43%
Linn 18 1.90%
Umatilla 18 1.90%
Polk 15 1.58%
Klamath 14 1.48%
Benton 12 1.26%
Malheur 12 1.26%
Lincoln 10 1.05%
Deschutes 7 0.74%
Coos 6 0.63%
Jefferson 6 0.63%
Josephine 6 0.63%
Douglas 4 0.42%
Clatsop 3 0.32%
Tillamook 3 0.32%
Wasco 3 0.32%
Crook 2 0.32%
Hood River 2 0.21%
Morrow 2 0.21%
Union 2 0.21%
Columbia 1 0.10%
Gilliam 1 0.10%
Lake 1 0.10%
OOS 1 0.10%
Baker 0 0.00%
Curry 0 0.00%
Grant 0 0.00%
Harney 0 0.00%
Sherman 0 0.00%
Wallowa 0 0.00%
Wheeler 0 0.00%
Total 948 100.00%

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 April 16.

Here are the ways Oregon residents were victimized by the 948 criminal aliens.

Using DOC ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the number and percentage of criminal alien prisoners incarcerated on April 1st by type of crime.

OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Crime DOC Total Inmates W/ ICE Detainers DOC % Inmates W/ICE Detainers
Sex Abuse 184 19.41%
Rape 167 17.62%
Homicide 137 14.45%
Drugs 104 10.97%
Sodomy 93 9.81%
Assault 77 8.12%
Robbery 54 5.70%
Kidnapping 33 3.48%
Theft 23 2.43%
Burglary 18 1.90%
Driving Offense 9 0.95%
Vehicle Theft 3 0.32%
Arson 0 0.00%
Forgery 0 0.00%
Escape 0 0.00%
Other / Combination 46 4.85%
Total 948 100.00%
Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 April 16.

Using the DOC Inmate Population Profile and ICE detainer numbers from April 1st, the following table reveals the total number inmates by crime type, the number of domestic and criminal alien prisoners incarcerated by type of crime and the percentage of those crimes committed by criminal aliens.

OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Crime DOC Total Inmates DOC Domestic Inmates DOC Inmates W/ICE Detainers DOC % Inmates W/ICE Detainers
Sex Abuse 1,707 1,523 184 10.78%
Rape 966 799 167 17.29%
Homicide 1,650 1,513 137 8.30%
Drugs 923 819 104 11.27%
Sodomy 1,056 963 93 8.81%
Assault 1,893 1,816 77 4.07%
Robbery 1,581 1,527 54 3.41%
Kidnapping 293 260 33 11.26%
Burglary 1,419 1,396 23 1.62%
Theft 1,163 1,145 18 1.55%
Driving Offense 241 232 9 3.73%
Vehicle Theft 413 410 3 0.73%
Arson 78 78 0 0.00%
Forgery 33 33 0 0.00%
Escape 52 52 0 0.00%
Other / Combination 1,208 1,162 46 3.81%
Total 14,676 13,728 948 100.00%
Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 April 16 and Inmate Population Profile 01 April 16.

Using DOC ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the self-declared counties of origin of the 948 criminal alien prisoners by number and percentage incarcerated on April 1st in the state's prisons.

OREGON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Country DOC Total Inmates W/ ICE Detainers DOC % Inmates W/ICE Detainers
Mexico 761 80.27%
Guatemala 24 2.53%
El Salvador 14 1.48%
Cuba 13 1.37%
Ukraine 11 1.16%
Vietnam 11 1.16%
Russia 10 1.05%
Honduras 9 0.95%
Federated States of Micronesia 6 0.63%
Philippines 6 0.63%
Other Countries 83 8.75%
Total 948 100.00%
Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 April 16.

Beyond the DOC criminal alien incarceration numbers and incarceration percentages, per county and per crime type, or even country of origin, criminal aliens pose high economic cost on Oregonians.

An individual prisoner incarcerated in the DOC prison system costs the state approximately ($94.55) per day.

The DOC's incarceration cost for its 948 criminal alien prison population is approximately ($89,633.40) per day, ($627,433.80) per week, and ($32,716,191.00) per year...

None of preceding cost estimates for the DOC to incarcerate the 948 criminal aliens includes the dollar amount for legal services (indigent defense), language interpreters, court costs, or victim assistance.

Bibliography

Oregon Department of Corrections Population Profile April 1, 2016:
http://www.oregon.gov/doc/RESRCH/docs/inmate_profile_201604.pdf

Oregon Department of Corrections Population Profile (unpublished MS Excel workbook) titled Incarcerated Criminal Aliens Report dated April 1, 2016.

Oregon Department of Corrections Issue Brief Quick Facts 53-DOC/GECO: 3/23/16:
http://www.oregon.gov/doc/OC/docs/pdf/IB-53-Quick%20Facts.pdf

U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), 2015 SCAAP award: https://www.bja.gov/funding/FY-2015-SCAAP-Awards.pdf

David Olen Cross, Salem writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime. He is a weekly guest on the Lars Larson Northwest Show. He can be reached at docfnc@yahoo.com or at http://docfnc.wordpress.com/ Read more about Oregon Department of Corrections: Criminal alien report April 2016

More letters from America's heartland

VENTURA  COUNT
STAR
                                 vcstar.com
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

Stealing jobs
May 10, 2016

Why are every one of these stories a "feel sorry for the undocumented illegals” story? These people were working in recognized professions in their own countries. They are educated and employed but could not follow the U.S. rules for immigration? Talk about stealing American jobs, this is it.

How about a story sympathizing with a Hispanic or other minority legal alien or citizen struggling to compete with the illegal aliens?

Benedict Lucchese, Camarillo

http://www.vcstar.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/Stealing-jobs-378912221.html

VENTURA  COUNTY
STAR
                                 vcstar.com
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

Federal conflict

May 10, 2016

Our illustrious state of California has handed out professional licenses to illegal aliens to practice barbering, cosmetology, physicians, nursing and several other professions. This act is in direct conflict with federal law.

Meanwhile, the federal government stands by and does nothing. Is it any wonder people support Donald Trump?

Mary Vomund, Ventura

http://www.vcstar.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/Federal-conflict-378910261.html

do delawareonline

The News Journal    PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

May 10, 2016

Greed

The reporting about H-1B employees is yet another example of the corporate greed in our country.

The use of labor brokers and the way the employees are treated brings back lessons of the coal industry operators in the early 1900's. The problem of hiring and abusing cheaper labor from out of the state or is nothing new. Non Union construction companies have been doing it for years. They bring in out of state workers for much lower wages than in state union workers. In many cases they ship in undocumented immigrants and pay them next to nothing.

The H-1B employees take jobs away from our recent college graduates or higher paid employees in their 50's. The out of state workers and illegal aliens take jobs from Delaware Veterans and construction workers.

House Bill 283 sponsored by Senator Bethany Hall-Long will at least start to put skilled Delaware workers and our veterans to work on state funded construction jobs.

Maybe next she can sponsor a bill to stop the H-1B hires from taking all of the new tech jobs from Delaware's residents.

Joe Williams
Wilmington

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/05/10/letters-editor-greed/84199446/

Livingston Daily Press & Argus
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
 
Reader wants more details on child molester’s status

May 10, 2016

(Editor’s note: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency declined to verify the immigration status of Erik Lopez-Ferreyra to the Livingston Daily. However, anyone who is not a U.S. citizen – which includes resident alien, on a visa or here in this country illegally – can face deportation if convicted of a felony).

Thank you for printing my comment regarding the conviction of child molester Erik Lopez-Ferreyra. I noted that the last sentence of the article mentioned that Lopez-Ferreyra would likely be deported after his sentence was served. I questioned that the article did not address why. I had read all the previous articles in the Livingston Daily regarding this case, and could find no mention of why this might happen. It seems there is something in Mr. Lopez-Ferreyra’s immigration status (expired visa, in this country illegally, etc.) we have not been told about. I believe this is relevant information when it concerns a felon.

The Livingston Daily has published several articles on Mr. Lopez-Ferreyra, so I think I can rule out this being an oversight. Is it the paper’s policy to omit the information of a suspect’s illegal immigration status or reporter Ms. Roose-Church’s own activism? Perhaps the editor of this paper would better serve the readers by doing his job rather than playing ‘Where’s Waldo’.

John Bruzewski
Brighton

http://www.livingstondaily.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/05/10/lopez-ferreyra-immigration-status/84200792/

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

Trump is redefining the Republican Party

May 9, 2016

For years Republican voters have been sold on the idea that "overwhelming military superiority" keeps America the "greatest country" in the world.

Donald Trump comes along and tells Republicans we are not a great country anymore because we allow illegal immigrants to take our jobs, and because companies move manufacturing overseas. Our government leaders fail to win trade agreements and wars in the Middle East, Trump says, and they fail to keep jobs in America.

Trump is attacking the old guard Republicans for a failure to keep companies and jobs in America, and he says he has the answer.

That line of attack may very well carry Trump to the presidency unless Hillary Clinton has a stronger answer. But it is Trump's key argument about American jobs that has the Republican Party in rapid retreat if not confusion.

Why else would the old guard not show up at the convention?

-- T. Greg Bell, Madison

http://host.madison.com/wsj/opinion/mailbag/trump-is-redefining-the-republican-party----t/article_7467d273-2925-5867-8d63-50b0ef162e35.html

The Sacramento Bee

MAY 9, 2016 1:12 PM

Those here illegally are entitled to this: Exactly nothing

The people who call themselves “undocumented immigrants” in Merced County now expect the same health care benefits as everyone else. I believe they are entitled to the same benefits as legal immigrants, which is none.

When someone comes to our country legally, they must first sign away all rights to any kind of public assistance and if you come here illegally you are entitled to no more than they are. Every legal immigrant must have a sponsor who agrees to be responsible for that person in case they cannot take care of themselves. My niece married a man from Holland recently. After the wedding he returned to Holland and began the process of entering the country legally. This man has a spotless record, a college degree and speaks three languages, but it took nine months and almost $10,000 to return legally. My niece, a school teacher, had to sign papers promising her husband would never be a drain on American taxpayers. So why should illegal aliens who sneak across the border be entitled to benefits?

When you enter our country illegally you are an illegal alien, and American taxpayers should not be responsible for you.

Rita F. Silva, Los Banos

http://www.modbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article76575012.html

Livingston Daily Press & Argus
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

President Obama does whatever he wants, just like a king

May 9, 2016

One of the reasons why American politics is so polarized and our American system of government is at risk is because of President Barack Obama’s deliberate abuse of power and disregard of his constitutional duties to faithfully execute our laws.

Take America’s immigration laws. In 2010, pressed by his supporters to stop deporting illegal aliens and unilaterally grant them legal status, Obama said, “I’m president, I’m not a king. I can’t do these things just by myself.” In 2013, he said, “I’m not the emperor of the United States. My job is to execute laws that are passed.” In fact, Obama publicly said more than 20 times that he did not have the legal authority to change immigration laws.

However, by 2014, Obama apparently had convinced himself that he could be a king. As he remarked to the French president, “That’s the good thing about being president, I can do whatever I want.”

Sure enough. In November 2014, Obama unilaterally announced sweeping changes to our immigration laws. Afterward, Obama noted, “I just took an action to change the law.” Hail the emperor and new king!

Feeling his kingship oats, Obama has unilaterally changed several mandates included in the Obamacare law (no authority for that). Recently, his administration issued several made-up regulations that his own treasury secretary previously admitted they did not have the authority to do.

Just a hunch on my part — but I’ll bet the Democrats would not be so tolerant of this abuse of power if a Republican president were making up these laws. Wake up, America!

Randy Kniebes
Brighton

http://www.livingstondaily.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/05/09/president-obama-american-politics/84142078/

The Jamestown Sun
 
Is U.S. headed in unwise direction with immigrants?

By Mark Schuttenhelm from Jamestown May 9, 2016

The Islamization of the United States is well underway, and U.S. citizens would be well served to pay attention to what is happening in Europe. That continent is, for all intents and purposes, finished. It’s been done in by a series of self-inflicted wounds driven by an obsession with political correctness.

The horrific stories are available. You see, the media across the pond is as corrupt as the U.S. Over here, crimes committed by illegal aliens are under reported or covered up by lefties in our media. In Europe, it’s the chaos and crimes being committed by Muslim migrants that gets shoved under the carpet. On New Year’s Eve past, over a thousand sexual assaults were committed against European women by Muslim migrants across Europe. The media did its best to cover it up. Two reporters admitted to the cover-up, justifying the whole sordid episode by saying they did not wish to provide ammunition to forces seeking to stop the never-ending Muslim invasion in Europe.

Here’s a sobering recent headline: “Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambom says a significant part of the Muslim population celebrated terrorist attacks.” There’s more. Muslim migrants are doing things so disgusting in public pools in Europe that I cannot even specify their actions in this letter. And there’s plenty more for an inquisitive person to find — none of it good.

The man primarily responsible for the Islamization of Great Britain, a politically correct stormtrooper if there ever was one, has admitted that the idea of welcoming 2 million Muslims into England was a huge mistake. Trevor Phillips, the former head of Britain’s Equalities and Human Rights Commission and the man who popularized the term “Islamophobia,” has conceded he “got almost everything wrong” on Muslim immigration in a damning new report on integration, segregation and how Islamic followers are creating “nations within nations” in the West. He admits, “I thought Muslims would blend into Britain … I should have known better.”

Are we heading in the same misguided direction? The freewheeling immigration policies of the chief Muslim sympathizer of the free world have brought 750,000 Muslims into the U.S. in the last three years alone. In addition, President Barack Obama’s administration has quietly ramped up its Syrian refugee resettlement program despite repeated warnings from our top intelligence people.

Obama admits that a small percentage of Muslims are terrorists. But how many? One percent of 750,000 is 7,500. Half of 1 percent would still be 3,750. We know it doesn’t take many terrorists to ruin your day, and yet we the sheeple sit idly by as the current president happily plays Russian roulette with our lives.

http://www.jamestownsun.com/letters/4027997-letter-editor-us-headed-unwise-direction-immigrants

TODAYS NEWS-HERALD
HAVASUNEWS.COM
Serving Lake Havasu City and the Lower Colorado River

Extreme measures needed

May 8, 2016

Editor:

How appropriate that your article on the state budget, and how many tax dollars will be spent for school budgets, appeared on Cinco de Mayo.

When universities and all other levels of education offer seats to the children of illegal immigrants, citizens are hard pressed to understand huge sums set aside for classrooms and transportation costs.

We’ve come a long way from one-room school houses, but I dare say the quality of education isn’t as thorough these days.

Citizens are fed up with paying for other countries’ uneducated, who then march on our streets and tell U.S. how bad we are.

We now have a “reality show” heading to D.C. for that very reason. Takes extreme measures to get them to listen to citizens who don’t riot in the streets... yet.

Pat Reiot
Lake Havasu City

http://www.havasunews.com/opinion/pat-reiot-extreme-measures-needed/article_0c06e3ec-15ac-11e6-a4da-8b1204e4b020.html

SJ Statesman Journal
                                     PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

We can’t afford Obama’s policies on drugs, immigration

Statesman Journal  May 8, 2016

The survival of our country depends on us being involved and selecting good people who are willing to do the right thing for our country.

While we see ISIS as a serious problem that needs our attention, we are failing to address the serious problem we have with the drug cartels and their use of the illegal aliens who help them to smuggle in the illegal drugs that are destroying millions of our citizens and raising havoc with our economy. We all know of someone whose life has been shattered or destroyed by illegal drugs.

We need to pay attention to the causes of our national debt of $20 trillion. For instance, an illegal alien family with several children will cost taxpayers a lot with their schooling, medical and numerous other benefits.

With all the benefits and support the illegal aliens have acquired, they appear to have more influence with our politicians and especially with Obama than the U.S. citizens do.

For those of you who voted to re-elect Obama in the last election, please consider not ever voting again. We can’t afford this kind of thinking.

Jim Elvin
Salem

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/05/08/we-cant-afford-obamas-policies/84126894/

     SJR
The State Journal-Register

College plan for illegal immigrants a poor idea
Posted May. 8, 2016

Once again I'm confounded, but not surprised, by the lackadaisical stupidity of state legislators. Their recent proposal to grant illegal immigrants basically free college education and squander even more money that they don't have, denying Illinois taxpaying families' children that ability also is reprehensible and disrespectful of their constituents and their supposed duties to this state.

We face financial strains sending our own kids to college. Look at the out of control student loan situation. Why would any sane person want more of their tax dollars to go to higher education for an illegal immigrant, while struggling for their own child to obtain it?

The state already spends every tax dollar they get like it was $10. They don't need to think up ways to go deeper in debt. Their only concern for the present, and many years to come, is to meet the unpaid obligations they have accumulated thus far and pay the bills.

But you know they won't. They give illegal immigrants safe haven cities, welfare, housing, Medicaid and now want free college for them too. What's next, free cars and homes? No way to slow or stop illegal immigrants sneaking into our country and sucking our system dry, and our neighbors out of this state.

Paul Forgas
Petersburg

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20160508/OPINION/160509638

Naples Daily News
                                                                            naplesnews.com
                 PART OF THE USA TODAY NEWPWORK

May 8, 2016
Ed Ruff, Pelican Bay

Cartel

The Daily News recently published an Associated Press article: Fla. heroin, fentanyl deaths skyrocket.

All articles written by the AP, Washington Post and Bloomberg News on this subject overlook several salient facts.

The article does say: "Fentanyl, which can be 50 times stronger than heroin, is a prescription drug, but street varieties from China (via Mexico) and Mexico are flooding communities."

What they don't ever say is that many of those who came here illegally from South and Central America and Mexico carried a back pack of these drugs across the Mexican drug cartel's drug and human trafficking routes as payment for safe passage across our Southern Border. If they don't agree to smuggle drugs, they are summarily executed.

Backgrounder #2568 on Immigration from June 2011: "In August 2010, 72 would-be illegal immigrants from Mexico were lined up and executed, their bodies discovered on a remote ranch a mere 90 miles from the U.S. border. The drug gang responsible for the kidnapping and murders, Los Zetas, captured its victims as they traveled through Tamaulipas, presumably on their way to cross the border illegally into the United States. When the 72 people refused to work for the gang, they were executed."

This warning is standard operating procedure for the cartels. American journalists take heed. These same cartels have killed many Mexican journalists for reporting their brutal criminal activity. Have you ever read that in this or any other paper? Maybe that's why our press gives them a free pass.

Cartels operate in more than 1,400 American cities, according to the FBI. I posted a 71-page history of illegal immigration on Sept. 11, 2013 at www.bypopularamendment.com if you are interested.

http://www.naplesnews.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/letter-cartel-321b55f5-d806-41e4-e053-0100007f6821-378344591.html

The Post and Courier
                                                              Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Public education is not a right for illegal immigrants

May 8 2016

I did not have to go past the first paragraph of the May 4 article by Paul Bowers to see a huge problem. This article is obviously written for sensationalization in stating that “some undocumented children may have been denied their right to a free public education while on South Carolina soil.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. No one in this country is entitled to a free public education as a right. Our rights are defined in our Constitution, and nowhere can you find the right to a free public education.

As a society we have determined that an educated citizenry is necessary for an informed electorate. This is a good thing and a noble endeavor. However, a free public education is a privilege and not a right. It is enjoyed by citizens of this country, and there is no obligation to confer this privilege on non-citizens.

We have a huge problem in the U.S. with millions of illegal immigrants, costing government at all levels huge sums in benefits. Just because they are in our country illegally does not make them entitled to the privileges of citizens.

ROBERT J. NAGY
Portside Way
Charleston

http://www.postandcourier.com/20160508/160509452/letter-public-education-is-not-a-right-for-illegal-immigrants

       PENN
PA LIVE

This registered Democrat is voting Trump: PennLive letters

 May 08, 2016

I am a registered Democrat, however, I will be voting for Donald Trump for several reasons, starting with the give-away programs touted by the Democrats. Presently, Medicare is cutting back on a number of things and more will be taken away to take care of the thousands of Syrian refugees the Democrats want to bring here.

As for the wall, we need a wall to keep out terrorists, we don't need a wall to keep out the Latinos.  If we stop giving the illegal aliens free education, free healthcare, drivers' licenses etc., they will stop coming here.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are promoting free college tuition and a whole lot more. Who will pay for this?  Maybe Hillary can give us an idea of how to get rich.

Donald Trump is against giving millions to some foreign countries, those that hate us and would rather see us dead. Check the millions we give to Pakistan, the country that harbored Osama Bin Laden. Donald Trump will ask the oil producing countries to chip in for their own defense, something we are paying for in many places.

Donald Trump will renegotiate the trade deals, which were bad to start with.  And finally, Donald Trump will not hesitate to take on ISIS, the Obama J. V. team of terrorists.

RUDY PAVLICK, Swatara Township

http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2016/05/donald_trump_17.html

TRIB LIVE

Congressman insulting

Saturday, May 7, 2016

U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, spoke at the April 28 Congressional hearing about the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's inability to detain illegal immigrants who have committed felonies. He dared to fault presidential candidate Donald Trump's “rhetoric” for ICE's problems enforcing the laws of this land.

The heinous murders of American citizens discussed at this hearing happened long before Trump even thought about running for president. One of the reasons Trump is running is because Cummings and those of his ilk refuse to address the murders committed by illegal immigrants. This is why we the people are so angry.

Cummings' political pandering was not just an insult to Trump, but a direct slap in the face to the murder victim's surviving family members in attendance. Does Cummings have no shame? I was embarrassed to be watching the hearing on C-Span.

We the people do not pay Cummings to conduct political bashing while he's attending to this country's serious problems. Cummings needs to do his job and keep his snide comments to himself.

Pat Condelli
New Kensington

http://triblive.com/opinion/letters/10403631-74/cummings-trump-hearing

SJ Statesman Journal
                                     PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK

We need Trump’s fence at the southern border now

May 6, 2016

The Statesman Journal’s May 2 front page article about 300 people protesting anti-immigrant measures leaves me a little confused. I think that when you sneak across our southern border, you are an illegal alien.

Causa director Andrea Miller says anti-immigrant ballot measures go against Oregon values. I support the measures that require employers to report illegal immigrants. Learn to speak English.

Willamette University student Isa Pena says she is tired of fighting anti-immigrant sentiment. What part of illegal does she not understand?

We need the fence at the southern border now.

Vote for Trump.

Clay Atchison
Jefferson

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/05/07/need-trumps-fence-southern-border-now/84062356/

newstimes
Stop enabling illegal immigrants

Friday, May 6, 2016

I am outraged by the Sunday, May 1, article “Undocumented, uninsured” in The News-Times. The article talks about the access to health care is not only a “moral responsibility” but it “affects the health of the entire community.”

Where is the “moral responsibility” of the person that breaks U.S. immigration laws and enters our country illegally? As a citizen of their own countries, do they not have a “moral responsibility” to change the culture and opportunities in their country to strive for the benefits available here in the U.S. ? The short answer is: No!

The U.S. continues to reward illegal immigrants with access to driver’s license, student loans, and health care, and some by chance having access to health insurance and all with the hope to vote in the future (if not already). The illegal immigrant feels enabled to break our laws and enter illegally. What parent would not break our laws to improve the life of their children when such financial/benefits opportunities do not exist in their own country?

Consider the “affect ....on the entire community” already endured to support illegal immigrants through all the social/educational programs available to them. Instead of sending a message to illegal immigrants that rewards are not waiting for you or your family if you break our laws, we pander to their expectations of their “rights” thus making our immigration laws a toothless tiger.

We have immigration laws for a reason. If we are to be a nation of laws we must enforce our laws. If our immigration laws need changing (and they do), then change them legally and ensure we openly welcome all immigrants that come here legally. Unfortunately, many immigrants take for granted it is their “right” to enter the U.S. illegally. They just snicker at our immigration laws.

Dick Hajjar
Danbury

http://www.newstimes.com/opinion/article/Stop-enabling-illegal-immigrants-7397609.php

The Clarion-Ledger

PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Adhering to immigration laws must be priority

Steve Worley May 6, 2016

Every country on the planet has geographic borders; almost all of them have laws to protect those borders against undocumented entry by citizens of another country. The United States has such laws; we also have a well-established, workable process for legal immigration. However, there are some people here who. either through a misguided lliberalism, or feathering their own nest, deliberately blur the line between legal and illegal immigration.

I submit there is no higher public safety priority for local and state law enforcement personnel than to help prevent another Boston Marathon/San Bernadino/San Fransisco type of act, committed by illegal entrants.

Steve Worley
Madison

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/2016/05/06/adhering-immigration-laws-must-priority-letter/84021646/

  Read more about More letters from America's heartland

Did you miss Saturday's OFIR meeting?

OFIR hosted their quarterly meeting Saturday afternoon, May 7th.  If you were unable to attend, you missed a packed house and a great meeting!

Dr. Bud Pierce, GOP candidate for Governor was the featured speaker.  Several other candidates also dropped in to introduce themselves to our members and guests.

Oregon's new representative for the Remembrance Project gave a presentation about the national organization.

Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Project was there to explain the questionnaire they send to all candidates.

David Olen Cross explained how important your words are - in print!  He encouraged members to write letters to the editor and guest opinions for publication in newspapers across the state.

There was ample time for questions and candidates stayed well after the meeting to distribute campaign materials and meet with OFIR members.

 

  Read more about Did you miss Saturday's OFIR meeting?

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