Mexico

TUCSON, Ariz. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Nogales Commercial Facility seized nearly $4.6 million in fentanyl and methamphetamine totaling close to 650 pounds on Saturday from a Mexican national when he attempted to enter the United States through the Port of Nogales. The seizure is the largest seizure of fentanyl in CBP history. The methamphetamine seizure represents the third largest at an Arizona port. 
 
CBP Officers discovered more than 400 packages of drugs concealed within a special floor compartment of a trailer that was laden with cucumbers, driven by a 26-year-old truck driver. Following an alert by a CBP narcotics detection canine, CBP officers seized nearly 254 pounds of fentanyl with a value of approximately $3.5 million and almost 395 pounds of methamphetamine valued at $1.1 million. 
 
Nogales Area Port Director Michael Humphries praised his staff at the Mariposa Commercial Facility for this record breaking drug seizure and arrest.
 
 “I want to express my gratitude to the CBP officers involved in this case and Nogales personnel who selflessly perform their duties with dedication, vigilance, and professional even during a funding hiatus,” said PD Humphries. “Opioids pose a real danger to every community in America and are having fatal consequences across our nation. This past weekend our CBP officers were able to stop an enormous amount of these deadly narcotics from hitting our streets.”
 
The driver of the vehicle was arrested and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), who charged him with two counts of 21 USC 841, possession with intent to distribute and is currently in federal custody.
 
“This case clearly shows that HSI’s and CBP’s collaborative efforts continue to have an impact, as those attempting to smuggle illicit drugs are stopped at the border,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown. “These efforts exhibit the combined resources of law enforcement agencies’ resolve to combating these deadly drugs from entering our communities.”
  Read more about CBP officers seize largest amount of fentanyl in history

The House voted Thursday to give President Trump $5.7 billion for a border wall, hours after Trump warned Republicans that he would veto the spending bill if it didn't boost border security.

The bill passed 217-185, and while Democrats were predicting a GOP split would prevent it from passing the House, only eight Republicans voted against it.

But the victory will likely be short-lived, as Democrats in the Senate are expected to reject the bill. That rejection looks increasingly likely to lead to a partial government shutdown after Friday.

 

After Trump rallied his party on the need for a border wall in a White House meeting, Republicans said the $5.7 billion is needed to secure the border and keep out dangerous migrants.

“It is common sense to secure our borders and know who is entering our country,” said Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, adding that drugs moving across the border has devastated rural Maine. “The greatest Christmas gift for America is securing our borders.”

Democrats objected and said Republicans were setting up a shutdown of several federal agencies just before Christmas.

“House Republicans have caved once again to Trump’s political whims,” said House Appropriations Committee ranking member Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is expected to take up the House-passed bill Friday. Senate Democrats will block it, and House Republican leaders suggested Thursday they will negotiate a compromise with Democrats.

If no agreement is reached, the lack of new spending authority will force several agencies to start furloughing workers after Friday.

But the bill is a win for Trump, who faced pressure from well-known conservatives all week to reject any bill that doesn't include wall funding. Several Republicans warned that Trump would face a difficult re-election in 2020 had he caved in.

Earlier in the week, Republican leaders told House lawmakers they believed Trump would sign a bipartisan bill that excludes wall funding. But Trump, under pressure from his conservative base, called Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Thursday, and summoned Republicans to the White House to tell them he would not sign a bill without the wall money.

The funding bill as passed by the House would keep funds flowing for about 25 percent of the federal government, including the Justice Department and Homeland Security. A temporary measure that's currently in place expires Friday.

The rest of 2019 government funding, including military spending, was signed into law earlier this year and will continue uninterrupted, regardless of how this week's fight ends.

Democrats say they’ll only agree to a fiscal 2018 level of $1.3 billion for border security but nothing for a wall.

The House-passed bill also includes another $7.8 billion in disaster aid to states hurt by wildfires and hurricanes.

  Read more about Trump's veto threat pays off: House approves $5.7B for border wall

Information obtained from the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) indicated on October 1, 2018 that 738 of the 919 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) in the state’s prison system were Mexican nationals — 80.30 percent of the criminal alien prison population (Note: The number of Mexican nationals incarcerated in DOC prisons does not necessarily equal the number of Oregon residents victimized by this specific group of criminal aliens).

Using DOC U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration detainer numbers, the following table reveals the total number criminal alien inmates along with the number and percentage of those alien inmates incarcerated on October 1st in the state’s prisons who declared themselves as being Mexican nationals.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 October 18.

Mexican (MEX) national criminals were sent to DOC prisons from 27 of 36 Oregon counties —75.00 percent of the counties in the state.

Six Oregon counties, Marion (197 MEX inmates), Washington (150 MEX inmates), Multnomah (122 MEX inmates), Clackamas (64 MEX inmates), Lane (32 MEX inmates) and Jackson (27 MEX inmates) had 592 of the 738 Mexican national inmates incarcerated in DOC prisons — 80.22 percent of the criminal alien inmates.

Using DOC ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the number and percentage of Mexican national inmates incarcerated on October 1st that were sent  to prison from the state’s 36 counties.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 October 18.

Here are the ways Oregon residents were victimized by the 738 Mexican national criminals.

Using DOC ICE detainer numbers, the following table reveals the number and percentage of Mexican national inmates incarcerated on October 1st by type of crime.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 October 18.

Using the DOC ICE detainer numbers from October 1st, the following table reveals the total number of criminal alien inmates by crime type, the number of Mexican national inmates incarcerated by type of crime and the percentage of those crimes they committed.
 

Source: Research and Evaluation DOC Report ICE inmates list 01 October 18.

Beyond the DOC Mexican national incarceration numbers and incarceration percentages, per county and per type of crime, criminal aliens from Mexico pose high economic cost on Oregonians.

An individual prisoner incarcerated in the DOC prison system costs the state approximately ($108.26) per day.

The DOC’s incarceration cost for 738 Mexican national inmates is approximately ($79,895.88) per day, ($559,271.16) per week, and ($29,161,996.20) per year.

None of preceding cost estimates for the DOC to incarcerate the 738 Mexican national inmates includes the dollar amount for legal services (indigent defense), language interpreters, court costs, or victim assistance.

Bibliography

Oregon Department of Corrections Population Profile (unpublished MS Excel workbook) titled Incarcerated Criminal Aliens Report dated October 1, 2018.

Oregon Department of Corrections Issue Brief Quick Facts IB-53, February 1, 2017:
http://www.oregon.gov/doc/OC/docs/pdf/IB-53-Quick%20Facts.pdf

David Olen Cross of Salem, Oregon writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime. The preceding report is a service to Oregon state, county and city governmental officials to help them assess the impact of foreign national crime in the state. He can be reached at docfnc@yahoo.com. His past crime reports can be found at http://docfnc.wordpress.com/. Read more about Oregon Department of Corrections: Mexican National Crime Report October 2018

United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is an important element of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who along with other elements of DHS collectively work together in attempting to keep our nations citizens and residents safe from foreign national threats to public safety.

A critical responsibility of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is preventing foreign nationals (criminal aliens) who have been convicted of domestic or foreign crimes and deported from the country from illegally entering or reentering the United States of America.

The U.S. Border Patrol Criminal Alien Statistics webpage is an excellent source for information that indicates the number of criminal aliens CBP caught, interdicted or prevented from entering the country. Moreover, the Criminal Alien Statistics webpage reveals the types of prior criminal convictions that prohibited them by federal law from being legally present in the country.

For Fiscal Year 2018 Year to Date (FY2018YTD), October 1, 2017 – August 31, 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has taken into custody and arrested 6,259 criminal aliens (Note: CBP’s Fiscal Year runs from October 1, 2017 – September 1, 2018).

Listed below are the total criminal convictions of the 6,259 criminal aliens by types and numbers of crimes for FY2018YTD; the most recent U.S. Customs and Border Protection criminal alien numbers available were posted on the CBP webpage on October 23, 2018 (Note: The preceding CBP number of criminal aliens doesn’t match the actual number of illegal alien criminals because some aliens had more than one criminal conviction.).

Types of Criminal Convictions                                Number Criminal Convictions

- Assault, battery, domestic violence                                                     506;

- Burglary, robbery, larceny, theft, fraud                                               322;

- Driving under the influence                                                              1,062;

- Homicide, manslaughter                                                                          3;

- Illegal drug possession, trafficking                                                      816;

- Illegal entry, re-entry                                                                        3,637;

- Illegal weapons possession, transport, trafficking                                 98;

- Sexual offenses                                                                                      78;

- Other offenses                                                                                  1,298.

Total Number of Criminal Convictions:                                         7,820

Explaining the preceding numbers, U.S. Customs and Border Protection took into custody and arrested for FY2018YTD 6,259 criminal aliens having 7,820 previous criminal convictions.

To help politicians, electronic / hardcopy media outlets or interest persons put a real world face on some of the 6,259 criminal aliens that were arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for illegally entering or reentering the country during FY2018YTD the CBP Newsroom webpage is a starting point to look for local or national media releases on criminal aliens.

Wanting to find out if U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained and arrested any criminal aliens convicted of crimes in the State of Oregon, I clicked on the upper left side of the CBP Newsroom webpage on News Releases and opened the Media Releases webpage.

Near the top of the CBP Media Releases webpage I set the date search criteria to reflect the FY2018YTD time period (October 1, 2017 – August 31, 2018), set the Media Releases box to read Local Media Releases, typed in the Keywords box Oregon, clicked the Apply button and multiple stories that fit the parameters of my search appeared in the form of individual press releases.

Here are excerpts and hyperlinks to five U.S. Customs and Border Protection press releases about criminal aliens with past criminal convictions apprehended by CBP for illegal reentry into the country with a past connection to Oregon:

“Yuma Border Patrol Agents Arrest Rapist with Kidnapping and Burglary Convictions

Friday, May 25, 2018 | Local Media Release

YUMA, Ariz. – Border Patrol agents patrolling the area of San Luis, Arizona arrested a Mexican national with previous felony convictions of first-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, and first-degree burglary early Thursday evening. Photo Courtesy...”
Read More >

“Yuma Border Patrol Agents Arrest Convicted Rapist

Thursday, March 29, 2018 | Local Media Release

YUMA, Ariz. – Yuma Station Border Patrol agents arrested a previously deported Mexican national with multiple felony convictions late Tuesday. At approximately 9:30 p.m., agents arrested Jose Arajo-Dominguez, a 50-year-old Mexican national, after he...”
Read More >

“Border Patrol Agents Arrest Man Convicted of Manslaughter

Monday, March 12, 2018 | Local Media Release

TUCSON, Ariz. – Tucson Station Border Patrol agents arrested a Mexican man Sunday afternoon shortly after he illegally entered the United States south of Three Points. The agents later learned of his first-degree manslaughter conviction in Oregon....”
Read More >

“Border Patrol Agents Arrest Convicted Felon

Friday, January 19, 2018 | Local Media Release

TUCSON, Ariz. – Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Ajo Station arrested a previously-deported Mexican man Thursday afternoon and later discovered he was convicted and incarcerated for Class A felonies in 2007. Agents patrolling near...”
Read More >

“Ajo Agents Arrest Illegal Alien Convicted of Rape and Assault

Tuesday, January 16, 2018 | Local Media Release

TUCSON, Ariz. – Border Patrol agents assigned to the Ajo Station arrested a Mexican man Sunday morning with a conviction for rape and assault in Marion County, Oregon in 2012. Agents patrolling in Lukeville, Arizona, arrested five men illegally...”
Read More >

Following the preceding how to instructions, politicians, electronic / hardcopy media outlets or interested persons, if they aren’t already doing so, can now to put a face on some of the 6,259 criminal aliens, possibly with a connection to their state or location, with past criminal convictions who were arrested and detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for illegal entry or reentry into the United State of America.

David Olen Cross of Salem, Oregon is crime researcher who writes on immigration issues and foreign national crime. The preceding report is a service to federal, state, county and city elected and non elected governmental officials to help them assess the impact of foreign national crime in the United States of America. He can be reached at docfnc@yahoo.com. His past crime reports can be found at http://docfnc.wordpress.com/.
  Read more about U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Criminal Alien Report for Fiscal Year 2018 Year to Date

A man accused of killing a Salem couple while driving drunk was on his way back to Marion County Jail Monday following his arrest by deportation officers.

Eduardo De La Lima-Vargas, 39, of Hubbard, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when he left the county jail after posting bail Thursday.

In a matter of hours, Marion County prosecutors filed a motion with the Marion County court to reconsider holding him without bail in order to prevent his removal from the United States so he can face prosecution for his alleged crimes here before being deported to Mexico.

According to ICE officials, De La Lima-Vargas is a citizen of Mexico residing illegally in the United States.

Marion County Judge David Leith ruled in the prosecutors' favor, and as of midday Monday, De La Lima-Vargas was en route to Salem from an ICE detention facility in The Dalles.

De La Lima-Vargas was first arrested after midnight on Aug. 19 on manslaughter, DUI and reckless driving charges.

According to police, he was driving his truck pulling an occupied horse trailer on Mission Street near Interstate 5 when he ran a red light and hit a motorcycle carrying Logan Wilson, 34, and Jessica Wilson, 32.

The Wilsons, a married couple with several young children, later died at Salem Hospital.

Responding officers described Vargas as smelling strongly of alcohol and swaying on his feet while standing. He failed a field sobriety test and his blood-alcohol content was at .10 percent two hours after the crash.

Several witnesses reported seeing him swerving and driving recklessly, according to court records. Two hours before the crash, he was involved in a property damage incident. After one witness called police and told him not to leave, De La Lima-Vargas allegedly threatened to shoot the witness and drove away.

Prosecutors noted that after the deadly crash, De La Lima-Vargas did not ask about the condition of the people he hit.

"He did, however, express concern for his horse, which had been in the horse trailer at the time of both of the crashes," prosecutors said.

De La Lima-Vargas also told investigators his wife was concerned about his driving the night of the crash. She offered to come and get him, but he declined because he did not know where he was.

Prosecutors said the public was at risk of physical injury if De La Lima-Vargas was released. They asked that he be held without bail.

Leith ordered that De La Lima-Vargas be held without bail until a hearing scheduled for Sept. 5.

During the hearing, Leith set bail at $500,000, finding that De La Lima-Vargas was charged with bailable offenses.

ICE officials confirmed that De La Lima-Vargas was taken into custody after posting $50,000 security the next day.

“ICE’s mission is to protect public safety by upholding the immigration laws of the country,"  ICE officials said in a statement Friday, adding that they considered De La Lima-Vargas to be threat to public safety.

ICE officials said they are not associated with the criminal proceedings in Marion County and would transfer De La Lima-Vargas back into local custody if Marion County prosecutors filed the appropriate motion.

Prosecutor Katie Suver filed a motion Friday asking the court to reconsider holding De La Lima-Vargas without bail to "protect the rights of the victims and the public and to avoid the possible removal of the defendant from the United States."

Suver said they were advised that De La Limas-Vargas could be removed from the country. Law enforcement would have no way ensuring his attendance at future court hearings if he was deported.

"At best, the defendant would remain in 'warrant' status and the case would never be tried," Suver said.

Shortly after prosecutors filed the motion, Leith ordered that De La Lima-Vargas be transported back to Marion County and held without bail until a new hearing scheduled for 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Prosecutors said the issue of bail will be addressed at the Tuesday hearing.

After De La Lima-Vargas's arrest, ICE issued an immigration detainer with Marion County Jail.

Detainers serve as a legally authorized request, upon which a law enforcement agency may rely, to continue to maintain custody for up to 48 hours so that ICE may assume custody for deportation.

"The Marion County Jail does not honor any aspect of an ICE detainer, absent a criminal arrest warrant issued by a magistrate judge," ICE officials said.

The issue of not honoring ICE detainers has become part of a contentious national debate over "sanctuary cities."

In November, voters will decide on whether Oregon should repeal its sanctuary state law, which prevents law enforcement from detaining people who are in the country illegally but have not broken other laws.

Eduardo De La Lima-Vargas (Photo: Marion County Sheriff's Office)

For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodwort@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-399-6884 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth Read more about ICE detains man charged with manslaughter of Salem couple, DUI

WASHINGTON – Last Friday, three Congressmen � Congressman Steve King of IIowa, and Congressmen Andy Biggs and Paul A. Gosar, both of Arizona – filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, which is hearing a case brought by Texas and seven other states and two governors to have the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program declared unconstitutional. The Congressmen are represented in this effort by the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), which drafted the brief.

At issue is a motion to dismiss the case made by a group of Mexican nationals and others represented by the Mexican-American Education & Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF), an open-borders activist group. MALDEF’s clients were allowed to intervene in the case because the defendants, the United States and federal officials, agree with the plaintiffs that DACA is unconstitutional.

Now MALDEF claims the case should not go forward at all. Its main argument is that federal district courts in other parts of the country have blocked the Trump Administration’s rescission of DACA, and thus DACA cannot be struck down by the court in this case. As IRLI points out in its brief, however, whether DACA can be rescinded is a separate question from whether it was unconstitutional to begin with.  If it were unconstitutional to begin with, blocking its rescission would not reinstate it, but rather reinstate the last lawful state of affairs � that is, the situation pre-DACA.>

“It’s clear why MALDEF, with its open-borders agenda, wants this suit to go away,” commented Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “A victory here for Texas probably would be upheld by the Supreme Court, and DACA would be no more, rescission or no rescission. To try to stop that they’ll make any argument, even the mind-bending claim that, because a ruling by this court that DACA has never been lawful would change the effect of other courts’ rescission rulings, this court can’t take that step.”

The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen. In 2015, Judge Hanen struck down the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (“DAPA”) program, which would have granted amnesty to 4 million illegal aliens and included an expanded version of DACA. Both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and (in a 4-4 ruling) the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Judge Hanen’s DAPA decision.

The case is Texas v. United States, No. 1:18-cv-0068 (S.D. Tex.).

For additional information, contact: Brian Lonergan � 202-232-5590 � blonergan@irli.org Read more about Congressmen Bat Down MALDEF

Two men who were arrested earlier this month for transporting more than 70 pounds of methamphetamine through Oregon are Mexican nationals living in the U.S. illegally, The Daily Caller News Foundation learned.

Israel Mercado Mendoza of Creswell, Ore., and Rigoberto Morfin Pedroza of Los Angeles were arrested March 17 following a traffic stop on Interstate 5 in Douglas County, Ore. During the stop, a police dog signaled the presence of drugs in the car. A subsequent search led to the discovery of 74 pounds of meth, the largest seizure in county history, according to the Douglas Interagency Narcotics Team.

Mercado Mendoza and Morfin Pedroza are illegal immigrants, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. They were taken into custody and detained at the Douglas County Jail, where federal authorities placed immigration detention requests for both men.

“On March 19, ICE lodged detainers on Israel Salvador Mercado-Mendoza and Rigoberto Morfin-Pedroza, both citizens of Mexico illegally in the U.S...

Cross obtained the men’s immigration status as a part of his research into Oregon illegal aliens’ criminal activity...

Cross’ research has shown the vast majority of criminal aliens in Oregon’s prison system are serving time for what the FBI defines as violent crimes — murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault — or sex crimes under the Oregon criminal code.

Of the 975 Oregon DOC inmates with active ICE detainers as of February, 744 have been convicted of those violent crimes or sex offenses..

Oregon is one of the nation’s most active states when it comes to limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. It has had a sanctuary state law on the books since 1987....

(RELATED: Forget California, Oregon Is The Foremost ‘Sanctuary State’ In The US)

State officials have been particularly fastidious about refusing to honor ICE detainers. In 2014, a U.S. magistrate judge found Clackamas County, Ore. violated an illegal immigrant Maria Miranda-Olivares’s Fourth Amendment rights when it held her on an ICE detainer after she was eligible for bail. To avoid further civil lawsuits, the Oregon Sheriffs Association recommended jail officials stop responding to immigration detention requests unless they are backed by a federal arrest warrant.

Mercado Mendoza and Morfin Pedroza were charged with Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine, Unlawful Delivery of Methamphetamine, and Unlawful Manufacture of Methamphetamine. If sold by the pound, local street value of the drugs found in their car would be roughly $370,000, according to DINT detectives. Read more about Illegal Immigrants Arrested In Oregon County’s Biggest-Ever Meth Bust