enforcement

Although Donald Abar wanted to locally prosecute the man who investigators say is responsible for the death of a Marion County sheriff’s deputy, the decision was out of his hands.

The suspect in the 2007 death of deputy Kelly Fredinburg, Alfredo De Jesus Ascencio, faces two counts of criminal negligence. De Jesus Ascencio, however, is thought to be in Mexico and those crimes are not extridictable.

So the Marion County deputy district attorney announced Monday that the agency is working with Mexican authorities to prosecute De Jesus Ascencio, 25, and that a warrant has been issued in Mexico for his arrest.

“We wanted prosecution here because this is an Oregon case. It happened in our community, Kelly Fredinburg was part of our community, it was kind of a personal thing,” Abar said. “This came to the point where it’s just not going to happen.”

The Marion County District Attorney’s Office plans to charge the case through Article Four prosecution, a unique Mexican statute which allows Mexican citizens who commit crimes in foreign territories to be prosecuted in Mexico.

De Jesus Ascencio was indicted locally on the charges in August 2007 after a head-on traffic crash that occurred in June 2007 on Highway 99E near Gervais. The crash left two people dead: Fredinburg and Ocar Ascencio-Amaya, 19, of Woodburn.

Fredinburg was driving south on Highway 99E en route to an emergency call in Gervais with lights and sirens activated. De Jesus Ascencio was driving north and crossed into the southbound traffic lane, hitting Fredinburg head-on, police said.

Ascencio-Amaya was the suspect’s cousin and was a passenger in his vehicle at the time of the crash.

De Jesus Ascencio was taken to Oregon Health and Science University hospital in Portland where he stayed for several weeks. However, authorities were not able to locate him after his release from the hospital in mid-June.

Abar said that officials think De Jesus Ascencio is in Mexico and that prosecutors have been working with Mexican authorities in locating him.

The warrant, Abar said, has been valid since 2011. Investigators and prosecutors did not alert the public of the development at that time because they worried it would alert De Jesus Ascencio, Abar said. However, Mexican authorities have since mistakenly arrested one of De Jesus Ascencio’s relatives for the charges, and Abar said investigators now think he is aware of the warrant’s existence, so they are making it public.

Sheriff Jason Myers said that Fredinburg’s death was felt by the community and sheriff’s office.

“We’re very, very hopeful that the victim’s family will find some peace in knowing that we haven’t given up and that someone will come forward with the information we need to arrest this fugitive,” Myers said.

Kevin Fredinburg, brother of the fallen deputy, also announced at the press conference that they have established the Oregon Officer Reward Fund, a $20,000 reward offered for information that leads to the arrest of De Jesus Ascencio.

“I can’t relax until he’s caught ... this is one thing I can do that is legal to make that happen,” Kevin Fredinburg said. “It’s time to close this. I’ve been impatient for a long time.”

The fund will exist even when his brother’s case is closed, Fredinburg said. The fund, which will be donation-driven, offers rewards for assistance in future cases that involve the death or critical injury of an officer.

“I’ll stay with it until the day I die, I believe in it that strongly,” Fredinburg said.

$20,000 Reward Announced in Search for Suspect Sought in June 2007 Traffic Death of Marion Co. Deputy and Second Person
Oregon State Police - 08/06/12

Anyone with information related to this investigation to help locate De JESUS ASCENCIO can report tips by phone at:

* In Oregon, call 800-452-7888
* From anywhere in the United States for English and Spanish speakers to the Crime Stoppers Tip Line, refer to case #07-28, (bilingual call takers), call 1-503-823-4357
* Residents within Mexico can call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line, refer to case #07-28, (bilingual call takers) at 00-1-503-823-4357
* Residents within Mexico can call the Specialized Unit Against Crimes Committed Abroad (UEDE) at 0-1-555-346-1669

Email tips can be sent to: crimetips20SP@state.or,us . Read more about Suspect in Marion County officer's 2007 death sought in Mexico

On July 29, 2012, a special kind of bus tour across the American Southwest departed from Phoenix, Arizona. The passengers aren’t going to be relaxing in luxury resort spas or sightseeing majestic landmarks in the desert. There are no rock stars on board, at least, not in the way we’re used to thinking.

The people riding on this bus have embarked on a precarious mission to show Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, along with the United States federal government, that they will no longer live in the shadows. They want to let them know that they are no longer afraid, and that they have begun organizing to take a public stand for the rights of undocumented people in the U.S.

Four days earlier, on July 25, a group of protestors gathered outside the U.S. District Court, where Sheriff Arpaio was testifying in a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund on behalf of all Arizona residents (documented and undocumented alike) who have been victims of racial profiling. Arpaio’s own words were used against him during the trial, and he spent six hours responding to racist comments he made in media interviews.

The protestors that Tuesday included four undocumented individuals – Miguel Guerra, Natally Cruz, Leticia Ramirez, and Isela Meraz – who were arrested outside the courthouse for blocking an intersection and had immigration holds placed on them in jail. Everyone but Guerra has been released.

Leticia Ramirez came to the United States with her parents when she was nine years old, and she has been living on this side of the border for eighteen years. Her children were born in Arizona. She does what she can to help others, including volunteering at a neighborhood food program where children get the breakfast and lunch they need every day.

“Life in Arizona has gotten complicated since they passed their anti-immigrant laws,” says Ramirez, who worries daily about her husband while he’s at work. “Now we can’t go out of the house or enjoy time with our children. We’re afraid to leave because of the police who harass us. Because they want to arrest us.”

Miguel Guerra, who has been here for fourteen years and has a wife and three children, works in construction and has been a volunteer with the Puente Human Rights Movement since shortly after the passage of SB1070.

Guerra says, “We want President Obama to see that we are no longer afraid and that that we are demanding that he take action to solve our community’s problems.”

Natally Cruz, who has been in the United States for sixteen years, also volunteers for Puente; she has a seven-year-old son. Isela Meraz came here with her parents at the age of eight and has lived in Phoenix for twenty-one years. She has participated in hunger strikes and has organized art shows for 3^rd Space’s Queer Cultura.

These four protestors, along with many other undocumented residents, have made their lives in the United States. For them it’s not a viable option to return to Mexico. They’ve planted solid roots in Phoenix, where they work hard and contribute to the community in any way they can.

Ramirez, Cruz, and Meraz, who were released the day after they were arrested, have been riding on the UndocuBus, along with Carlos Garcia, an organizer with the “Arrest Arpaio Not the People” campaign and with Puente Arizona. So far, they have been through New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas.

UndocuBus will be in Austin on Friday, August 3, at noon at the Travis County Sherriff’s office. The gathering includes the support of Austin Immigrants Rights Coalition, the University Leadership Initiative, Grassroots Leadership, Proyecto Defensa Laboral and other immigrant advocates in Austin. Undocumented riders will come out publicly, support local people to build barrio defense, and perform peaceful civil disobedience.

After leaving Austin, they will continue through Texas to Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. The tour will end in North Carolina at the Democratic National Convention (September 3-6, 2012), where the party that promises reform but has so far produced record deportations, will decide whether to include or exclude the undocumented leaders who have put themselves at great legal risk.

Would you put yourself at risk by riding on UndocuBus if you were undocumented? Do you think these protestors are doing the right thing?

  Read more about UndocuBus Comes to Austin: No Papers, No Fear – Ride for Justice

Roughly one in six illegal immigrants is re-arrested on criminal charges within three years of release, according to new government data being released Tuesday.

Those charges range from murder to drunken-driving and, according to House Republicans pushing out the report, are symptoms of what they describe as a "dangerous and deadly" immigration policy.

The findings, obtained by Fox News, are contained in reports by the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee and nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. They are the result of the committee’s subpoena request for Department of Homeland Security records from October 2008 to July 2011.

The information was analyzed by the CRS, which also broke down the information for criminal immigrants -- legal immigrants who committed crimes and were arrested again over the three-year period. Together, the two groups also had a roughly one-in-six recidivism rate.

The records show 276,412 reported charges against illegal and criminal immigrants over that three-year period as identified by Secure Communities, a federal program that essentially attempts to make best use of resources by identifying and prioritizing which illegal immigrants pose the biggest threat to public safety and should be arrested or deported.

Of the 160,000 people in the database, more than 26,000 were re-arrested -- accounting for nearly 58,000 crimes and violations.

They allegedly committed nearly 8,500 drunken-driving offenses and more than 6,000 drug-related violations. The records also show major criminal offenses, which included murder, battery, rape, kidnapping and nearly 3,000 thefts. Roughly 2 percent of the crimes included carjacking, child molestation, lynching and torture, according to the 13-page Congressional Research Service report.

“The Obama administration could have prevented these senseless crimes by enforcing our immigration laws,” the committee chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said. “But President Obama continues to further his anti-enforcement agenda while innocent Americans suffer the consequences.”

The report showed that more than 7,000 of those re-arrested were illegal immigrants. Among their charges were 19 murders, three attempted murders and 142 sex crimes.

The records were subpoenaed last year in large part over concerns that Obama administration changes to Secure Communities was allowing “potentially millions of illegal and criminal immigrants to avoid current immigration law,” according to the GOP-led House committee.

The Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for comment.

Committee members cited one case in which an illegal immigrant was flagged by Secure Communities for a June 2010 vehicle theft and then arrested five months later for attempted grand theft.

He was then arrested roughly six months later in connection with murder. He and two other men allegedly attempted to rob a 68-year-old man. When the victim’s grandson intervened, the illegal immigrant allegedly shot and killed the grandson, according to the committee.

“While this illegal immigrant should have been detained and deported, he was not considered a priority under the Obama administration’s reckless immigration policy and was released onto our streets,” the committee concluded.

  Read more about Republicans decry 'deadly' policy as report shows illegal immigrants committing new crimes

The driver of a car that Oregon State Police said held 55 pounds of "high-grade" cocaine that was found during a traffic stop Tuesday on Interstate 5 near Ashland has been identified as Hipolito Carrillo, 41, of Ontario, Calif.

The man initially gave troopers a false name and birth date.

At about 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, an OSP trooper stopped a 2011 Nissan Altima with California license plates near Milepost 12 for a traffic violation.

A drug dog used during the stop indicated drugs were present and officers said they found 25 individual sealed packages of cocaine hidden inside the car.

Two passengers, an elderly woman and a boy, were released and not arrested, police said.

Carillo remained lodged in the Jackson County Jail Thursday on charges of possession, delivery and manufacture of cocaine, first-degree child neglect and suspicion of being in the country illegally. He was being held without bail.
  Read more about Police identify man arrested after cocaine is found in car

Police say two men in a possibly stolen BMW eluded officers, crashed the car, then sent police on a foot chase Saturday evening.

Salem police attempted to pull over the vehicle about 5:30 p.m. near 14th Street SE and Hines Street SE. The vehicle then took off at a highrate of speed, circled the block and crashed into a guard rail and fire hydrant, eventually stopping at 14th Street SE and Oxford Street SE, police said.

Police set up a perimeter in the area when the two occupants of the car then ran from the car. A police dog tracked the two men, who were reportedly hiding in some bushes.

After they did not respond to police orders to come out, the police dog apprehended the suspects.

The men, Jaime Carrasco, 35, of Salem and Jose Morales, 25, of Salem were arrested. They were both taken to Salem Hospital for injuries sustained from the accident and police dog, police said.

Carrasco was cited for two charges of eluding police, failing to perform the duties of a driver, failing to carry a driver’s license and reckless driving.

Morales was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, a parole violation and two bench warrants.

Police say they believe the vehicle was stolen but are still investigating the incident to confirm.
 

NOTE:  There is currently an ICE hold on Jose Morales Read more about Men crash car, arrested after foot chase in southeast Salem

The National Border Patrol Council Local 2544 in Tucson, Ariz., is just a little angry. Local 2544, which is the largest Border Patrol union local with over 3,300 dues-paying members, tags itself as "the real border security experts". What are they angry about? Apparently, the current administration's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) senior officials have created what agents call "virtual brainwashing videos". Their website states that Border Patrol agents have been forced to take a virtual learning course on "active shooters" where the bottom line is that if they encounter an active shooter, as in Fort Hood, the Giffords shooting, or Columbine, they — as law enforcement officers — are to "run away" and "hide".

The site goes on, "If we are cornered by such a shooter we are to (only as a last resort) become 'aggressive' and 'throw things' at him or her." As if the Border Patrol is not law enforcement, they are then advised to "call law enforcement and wait for their arrival …. Multiple quizzes throughout the course and a final test ensure repeatedly that we know that we only have three options … 1. Run away; 2. Hide; and 3. Only put up a fight as a last resort by acting aggressively and throwing things at the shooter. Not one mention anywhere of 'if you are carrying a gun and you have the opportunity take the shooter out'."

The union local's website statement ends like this:

It is always comforting to know that for those of us who carry a weapon when we are off-duty, if we should encounter such a situation, stop a shooter and save countless lives, we can look forward to being disciplined or fired by the Border Patrol because we should have run away to hide and then maybe thrown objects at the killer instead of taking action and stopping him with a firearm. ...

Welcome to the New Patrol.

With these complaints public, DHS is now trying to reverse itself and says it will "revise and clarify this training" shortly. Local 2544 put up a statement saying they "look forward to seeing the new training".

I spoke at length to a long-time, well-respected senior member of the border enforcement community yesterday and he rolled his eyes when I mentioned the video. All immigration law enforcement has been required to watch the video, he said. He described the idea that law enforcement officers are not to do their job in clear and dangerous situations as "simply ridiculous and insulting".

This verification of the Tucson local's commentary from a senior official whom I trust made me wonder about the competency and true intent of DHS officials — who, to date, have been nothing short of brazen in rolling back immigration enforcement across the board. This training is being forced on law enforcement officers without caveats or exceptions to the "active shooter" rule in either the literature or virtual learning videos. What conclusion is any reasonable immigration law enforcement officer supposed to draw other than "hide" or "throw things" in such a situation? If a choice is made to stop a shooting rampage, the outcome could be a serious reprimand, even if lives are saved.

Does the Obama administration not mind a scenario where chaos multiplies because they do not want guns used? Can they not see the possibility of another Fort Hood massacre? This is the same administration that actively supported "Fast and Furious", a gun-walking operation that resulted in hundreds killed in Mexico and at least one border agent in the United States. The hypocrisy is blatant. Nothing new, I know. Yet it remains hard to sit by and watch hard-working immigration law enforcement officers demeaned and repeatedly told not to perform their sworn duties. Read more about Border Patrol Training Videos Say to "Hide", "Run Away" in Active Shooter Situations