illegal aliens

Many of the suspects arrested in the food stamp fraud bust known as Operation Gold Card appeared in court Tuesday afternoon. Future dates were set, but the cases did not advance much behind scheduling the next steps in the sprawling legal proceeding.

As of Tuesday, 49 suspects had been arrested for allegedly trading their state benefits for cash. Sixty-five suspects were identified in the investigation, which means 16 people are still being sought by the authorities.

Operation Gold Card was launched last spring in the wake of the multi-agency drug bust known as Operation Trojan Horse.

A source pointed local and federal law enforcement officers to a meat market and taco stand in Klamath Falls where the owners were allegedly ringing up customers with phony purchases in order to trade them cash for the electronic benefits contained on their Oregon Trail Cards, at the rate of 50 cents on the dollar.

Arrests began early in the morning of May 10 at several locations. The three alleged ringleaders in the operation — Jose Moreno-Hernandez, Rafael Ortega-Vargas and Severo Toro-Castellon — were arrested in the first day.

Detective Eric Shepherd, Klamath County Sheriff’s Office, said all the identified suspects are Klamath County residents. The 16 who are unaccounted for are still thought to be in the area as well.

“They’re all locals. These guys are not going to flee … I don’t think they have the means to relocate,” Shepherd said. “They may not even know that they’re wanted.”

Some of the wanted suspects are transients, making them hard to locate, or frequent guests of the county jail, meaning law enforcement officers will probably run into them eventually.

The food stamp fraud operation is thought to have made $12,000 to $20,000 a month. It may have been running for the past five years.

“It’s an easy system to defraud; it’s temptation. People are out of work, out of money, they’re looking for a way to get an extra dollar,” Shepherd said of the lure of the fraud operation. “You can’t buy certain things on a Oregon Trail Card you can buy with cash.”

Court hearings

Judge Marci Adkisson’s courtroom was packed Tuesday afternoon with Gold Card suspects and other, unrelated defendants. It was standing room only as people stood in the aisle and spilled out into the hallway.

Moreno-Hernandez and Ortega-Vargas were both present in restraints, as neither has posted their bail amounts.

Currently held in lieu of a $1 million bail bond, Moreno-Hernandez had previously pleaded not guilty to 10 charges. His trial date was set for July 2 at 9 a.m.

A settlement offer in the case should be prepared by the end of the week. District Attorney Rob Patridge said in court the state is waiting for additional information from the KCSO.

“It will take a while,” Patridge noted. “We believe there are funds stashed elsewhere as well.”

Ortega-Vargas, held in lieu of $750,000, had his trial also set for July 2. Patridge noted there might be pending immigration issues with both suspects.

According to Patridge and his deputy DAs, offers and discovery information should be completed for the rest of the Gold Card suspects by the end of this week.

Other cases

Detective Shepherd said several other food stamp fraud cases have sprung up around Oregon. Last week in Beaverton, a man accused of running a scheme similar to the alleged dealings in Klamath Falls was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

According to the Oregonian, 42-year-old Mahmoud Tajgerdu was trading cash for benefits out of his meat market and gas station. He may have been able to steal more than $1 million from the welfare system.

Several of Tajgerdu’s employees were charged in the case as well, according to the Oregonian. Read more about Food stamp fraud defendants flood the court

BEND, Ore. - As about a dozen supporters rallied outside, a man and woman protesting Republicans' inaction on immigration reform staged a sit-in at Rep. Greg Walden's Bend office Wednesday, saying they won't leave until they are arrested -- and they were.

After police were called to the Bond Street office of the congressman, Greg Delgado and Ann Havill still refused to leave, were cited for criminal trespass and released, said Officer Rob Emerson.

Here's the news release issued earlier by Causa, a statewide Latino immigrant rights organization:

It’s been nearly a year since the U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan immigration bill, and during that time, House Republicans have used nearly every excuse in the book as to why they can’t finish the job and pass comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.

Today, in solidarity with actions happening around the nation, members of the Central Oregon community are holding a sit-in and rally at Congressman Greg Walden's District office in Bend. They are demanding that Congressman Walden take action immediately on reforming our nation's broken immigration system.

“He has admitted that the system is broken, but he has yet to do anything”, said Greg Delgado, Causa's Central Oregon Organizer. “ We urge him to sign the discharge petition, take action on the Immigration Reform Bill already passed by the U.S. Senate or have the U.S. House create a bill.”

Delgado added, “It’s now or never for the GOP. We’re here today to remind Congressman Walden and Republicans: your time is nearly up. They either heed the calls of their constituents and call Speaker Boehner to demand he schedule a vote by June 28^th, or sit idly as their party kisses the White House—and eventually Congress—goodbye for decades to come.”

“The future of the Republican Party is on the line," he added." "Doing nothing will sever their ties with Latino, Asian, and immigrant voters for decades. Unless they come out publicly against the Republican obstruction, every House Republican is responsible for blocking immigration reform, and they will be blamed for tearing apart our families and communities.”

STOP SEPARATING FAMILIES: We are calling on Congressman Greg Walden and Republicans to show moral courage and leadership by calling for a vote in the House on Comprehensive Immigration Reform with a path to citizenship.

Who: Human rights advocates, farmworkers, students, faith leaders, labor community and Central Oregon residents committed to passing immigration reform that respects the dignity and the rights of all immigrants and includes a path to citizenship. Read more about Sit-in protesters arrested at Walden's Bend office

According to the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) Inmate Population Profile dated May 1, 2014 DOC indicated there were 14,657 prisoners incarcerated in DOC’s 14 prisons (See attachment).

Not included in DOC’s May 1st Inmate Population Profile was DOC data indicating there were 1,133 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) incarcerated in its prison system (See attachment).

All 1,133 criminal aliens incarcerated on May 1st by DOC had United States (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), detainers. The U.S. DHS–ICE is responsible for indentifying whether a DOC inmate is a criminal alien or a domestic inmate. If an inmate is identified as being a criminal alien, at U.S. DHS–ICE’s request, the DOC places an “ICE detainer” on the inmate that directs DOC officials to transfer custody to ICE following completion of the inmate’s state sanction.

Criminal aliens made up approximately 7.73% of the DOC May 1st prison population (See table).

  Read more about Six year report: Criminal aliens incarcerated in the Oregon Dept. of Corrections

An overwhelming number of children are being apprehended while attempting to illegally cross the the U.S.-Mexico border during recent months. The crisis, which has strained federal resources, has prompted lawmakers from around the U.S. to demand more funding to "accommodate" the children crossers. Opponents, however, claim that increased funding will not fix the real problem--they believe that the Obama Administration's failure to secure the border is ultimately what caused the spike in child victimization.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, more than 60,000 unaccompanied children are expected to illegally cross into the United States this year--that figure is substantially up from 2011, when only about 6,500 minors crossed. The Rio Grande Valley (RVG) Border Patrol Sector alone now apprehends about 1,000 illegal aliens per day, many of whom are children without parents.

The sharp influx of youth traveling into the U.S. has strained federal resources and left authorities without a plan-of-action moving forward.

Roll Call reported that this "phenomenon" has turned "Border Patrol offices into day cares and military barracks into youth dormitories. The Health and Human Services Department struggles to keep up with the demands for its foster care, often leaving the kids stuck in detention facilities designed for adults."

U.S. facilities have become so overcrowded that 1,000 illegal immigrant children were recently sent to San Antonio's Lackland Air Force Base where they were provided with clothing, food, education, foster care programs, and "behavioral treatment centers." The cost of the provided benefits and housing has not been disclosed to U.S. taxpayers.

Academics and government officials claim to be "stumped" as to why there has been such a steep incline of children illegal crossers along the border.

Some cite safety concerns and the pressure to join cartels.

Breitbart Texas’ contributing editor and border expert, Sylvia Longmire said, "It’s so difficult for many Americans to really comprehend the horrible situation these families and children find themselves in every single day, because we don’t have to worry about our own children being forcibly recruited into these lethal gangs."

Not everyone, however, agrees that safety is the real cause of the increase of child crossers.

Zack Taylor, Chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, told Breitbart Texas that the Obama Administration's rhetoric has "encouraged" illegal immigrants to cross the border.

"Being an illegal alien is not a right to citizenship," Taylor said. "When Vice President Biden says these kinds of things, that is just an invitation for foreign nationals to come up here. It's time for the U.S to get serious about immigration. We can start by taking away their incentives to be here. All benefits: medical, food stamps, public housing, education, everything."

Rather than focus on the root of the problem, which in Taylor's view is border security, Washington would rather throw money at the problem.

"Senate appropriators have said there is an obvious need for more money to help DHS intercept and humanely detain the unaccompanied minors, to aid HHS in housing and caring for the children and to facilitate trials to determine whether the children will be deported," Roll Call reported.

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara A. Mikulski told a panel, "This is a humanitarian crisis, and we have to go to the edge of our chairs to at least get the estimate for fiscal ’15...our failure to appropriate could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis."

New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen reportedly added, "Rather than worrying about the silos where the money comes from, we need to think about what we can do that’s right for the kids."

It is easy to surmise that Mikulski, Shaheen, and their colleagues are using emotional appeals to divert attention away from the need to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.

One could additionally surmise that the "humanitarian crisis" was brought about by the Obama Administration's narrative that has seemingly sought to victimize immigrants while demonizing Border Patrol agents.

"The U.S. is partly responsible for foreign nationals taking extreme measures that risk the lives of their children," Taylor concluded. "Our government is encouraging foreign nationals to come into our country illegally and stay." Read more about Sharp Increase in Illegal Immigrant Children at Border Causes Crisis

Republicans are already in the beginning stages of planning their legislative agenda if they take control of the Senate in November, and many say immigration reform would be a top priority, even while President Obama's trustworthiness as a legislative partner remains in doubt.

“I don’t know anyone who thinks the immigration system is working the way it should, so we’re gonna have some ideas and we’re going to move them across the floor in smaller consensus — on a consensus basis. And not the sort of divisive, all-or-nothing, pig-in-the-python sort of method,” Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn told Breitbart News last week when asked about the prospect of a GOP-controlled Senate pushing its own immigration reform agenda.

Days earlier, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said Republicans would “absolutely” try to pass better immigration reform legislation if the GOP wins the Senate in November.

Even some noted anti-amnesty hawks sounded relatively optimistic.

“I think there is a better prospect that we would go forward with some immigration initiative if the Republicans control the Senate, but we still have the problem of trusting the president. But I think we’d be in a better position to try and enforce the law if we have both the House and the Senate,” Texas Republican Lamar Smith told Breitbart Tuesday.

House Republicans are quick to point out the lack of confidence many have in the Obama administration’s willingness to fully implement what Congress passes.

South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy noted that the GOP has controlled the Senate before without passing immigration reform and alluded to concerns about Obama’s lack of enforcement of immigration law.

“That is a very legitimate concern,” Gowdy said of Obama’s enforcement of the law, “and releasing detainees, some of whom have criminal records, really undercuts the authenticity of the president’s argument that he wants to do something.” Gowdy added, “That is impossible to explain.”

A recent report revealed that last year the Obama administration released more than 36,000 criminal immigrants, convicted of nearly 88,000 crimes and awaiting the outcome of deportation proceedings.

The Obama factor is not lost on one of the most vocal Republican backers of immigration reform, but for another reason.

“No matter who pushes immigration, here is your dilemma: We’re not going to get the visas we want, or the border security we want, and the employer verification we want without dealing with the 11 million,” said South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, who helped pass an immigration reform bill in the Senate last year.

“President Obama is still going to be president, there is no way he is going to sign a bill into law that doesn’t have some kind of firm, fair treatment of the 11 million, so that’s reality. We may have the House and the Senate but we don’t have the White House,” he added.

While many Republicans say they are for immigration reform, Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks said it is all in the definitions.

“I would say that over 90 percent of congressmen and senators are for immigration reform,” Brooks said Monday, adding that he is for immigration reform himself. “The problem is we have wildly different meanings when we use the phrase immigration reform. To me, for example, getting someone in the White House who enforces our laws and deports illegal aliens, that’s immigration reform. But that is not what Chuck Schumer, or Harry Reid, or Barack Obama mean.”

According to Brooks, Schumer, Reid, and Obama are looking at the current illegal immigrant population as future voters who will influence elections for the Democratic party.

Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz Balart (R-FL), on the other hand, has previously warned that Obama may unilaterally enact amnesty, blowing up the chances of a legislative deal. Asked about 2015, he was circumspect.

“I don’t want to talk about hypotheticals, but just a mathematical reality is that we need to do something based on Republican, conservative principles; but we’re going to have to get a few Democrats, obviously, otherwise we’re not going to be able to pass it,” he said.

Schumer told The Hill last week that Democrats likely would not be on board with the idea of immigration reform through separate bills and argued that, if the House did not pass immigration reform before August, it will not happen until 2017 or later.

Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King said he would need to see the details of any proposal and expressed optimism that, should the GOP take the Senate, Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley would likely be the next chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. King said if that were the case, he “would get more sleep at night” and that he believed such an effort “would look dramatically different than the one that came out of the Senate.”

King argued, however, that while lawmakers should have the debate, any new immigration legislation should be saved for another president’s desk.

“My counsel would be let’s have the debate, let's set the groundwork, let’s get to an American consensus, let’s put it on the desk of the next president, because this one has decried his own oath of office,” King said.

“This president will not enforce any law he does not like,” he added. “Plus, you put it on his desk, he’ll veto it, so why make a deal with him? If you make a deal with him you get a bill on his desk that he will sign, he will enforce the parts of the bill he likes; he’ll not enforce the parts he doesn’t like. That’s what he’s doing now.”

Indeed, Tuesday House Speaker Boehner, who has reportedly said he is “hell-bent” on passing immigration reform this year, did not point to the Democratically controlled Senate as the reason the House has not moved forward with immigration reform to date. He pointed to President Obama.

“We’ve talked about this literally every week for the last 18 months, and I think it's clear over the last several months that until the president gives us some reason, some confidence that we can trust him to implement an immigration reform bill, we’re really not going to have much to talk about,” Boehner said. "The ball is in the president’s court.” Read more about Immigration May Come Back With a Vengeance in 2015

It's been exactly one year since Princess Irina Walker, the daughter of the last king of Romania, was indicted on federal charges that she and more than a dozen co-defendants were involved in a cockfighting business in eastern Oregon...

...Apolinar Munoz-Gutierrez, also known as Polo. He has been in custody since his arrest and has an immigration hold.

At least three defendants pleaded guilty in a companion case from Washington state ...

Authorities say the couple staged at least 10 cockfighting derbies...

They have pleaded not guilty.

...trial is set for July 14.

Walker, 61, has lived in Oregon for decades. She is the third daughter of former Romanian

  Read more about Princess Irina co-defendant 'Polo' to change plea in eastern Oregon cockfighting case