August 14, 2010 (Washington D.C.) – President Barack Obama signed the Southwest Border Security Bill into law yesterday. The measure will significantly increase resources in the San Diego area.

“Today's action by Congress answers my call to bolster the essential work of federal law enforcement officials and improve their ability to partner with state, local, and tribal law enforcement,” the President said of the measure. "This new law will also strengthen our partnership with Mexico in targeting the gangs and criminal organizations that operate on both sides of our shared border.”

July 23, 2010 (San Diego) -- The FBI is seeking information that will lead to the arrest of the following individuals in relation to the"Operation Luz Verde" (green light) charges announced early today on federal racketeering charges related to a drug trafficking cartel:  

Juan Carlos Rique, aka JC Age 26 Tijuana, Mexico
Jennifer Escamilla Age 26 Tijuana, Mexico
Hassain Alzubaidy, aka Arab Age 25 Moreno Valley, California

Official in Mexican Attorney General’s office implicated; arrests include numerous San Diego County residents
 

East County News Service

July 23, 2010 (San Diego)—A criminal complaint was unsealed today charging 43 defendants with participating in a federal racketeering (RICO) conspiracy. The RICO conspiracy alleged involves the commission of both state and federal crimes, including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, drug trafficking and money laundering offenses. The complaint accuses defendants of being members and associates of the Fernando Sanchez Organization (FSO), an offshoot of the Arellano-Felix drug-trafficking cartel.
 

Hunter introduces bill to block federal lawsuit against Arizona; local activists head to Arizona for mass protest

Obama administration audits thousands of companies to force them to drop undocumented immigrant workers
 

By Miriam Raftery

July 23, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) –Local opponents and supporters of Arizona’s new immigration law are taking actions ranging from protests to legislation. Meanwhile, a new statewide Field poll of California voters released this week finds the public nearly evenly divided, with 49% in support and 45% opposed. 

July 1, 2010 (Campo) – The second annual Robert Rosas Memorial Off-Road ride will be held on July 10th. Proceeds will benefit the family of slain Border Patrol Agent Rosas, who was shot and killed while on duty in July 2009 near Campo.

Update:  The injured man, Anastasio Hernandez, died Saturday. The County Medical examiner's office listed high blood pressure, methamphetamine use, and the physical altercation with officers as contributing factors in his death.

May 29, 2010 (San Diego) – San Diego Police homicide detectives are investigating the serious injury of a 32-year-old Mexican border crosser. Following a struggle, a Border Patrol agent used a Taser to subdue the suspect, who quit breathing and is not expected to survive, according to SDPD.

May 19, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) – One week after signing a controversial immigration bill that opponents fear will lead to racial profiling by allowing police to question anyone believed to be in the U.S. illegally, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed a new bill that outlaws ethnic-studies programs in public schools. The move has sparked outrage among some educators and students, while drawing praise from other quarters.

Council votes to oppose measure; local conference unites groups in opposition
 

National polls show majority favors Arizona's new law

By Bill Pogue and Miriam Raftery

May 10, 2010 (San Diego) – The San Diego City Council has voted 7 to 1 to condemn Arizona’s tough immigration law, Senate Bill 1070. "This law threatens to divide our union," Councilman Ben Hueso said. "I believe it violates the Constitution. It victimizes legal residents as well as those who are here in the country illegally. And, it discourages the victims of crimes in the immigrant community to access justice."

Councilmembers joined mayors of San Francisco and Minneapolis, 12 City Councilmembers in New York City, Tucson and Flagstaff city governments in criticizing the measure. San Diego Unified School Board is also preparing to vote on opposing the measure as well as warning parents that travel to Arizona may subject their families to unlawful scrutiny.

ADL OFFERS $2,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO ARREST & CONVICTION

By Miriam Raftery
 

May 6, 2010 (El Cajon) –On Monday, April 26, a man with a shaved head banged his knuckles against the office window of a prominent Latino rights leader in El Cajon and issued a death threat. 

Since then, vandalism and a break-in have occurred, raising concerns that a prominent Latino organizer here may be the target of hate-motivated crimes. Now the victims are fighting back--determined not to let threats of violence intimidate them into silence.

By Miriam Raftery

May 4, 2010 – ECM has received several e-mails from readers with updates on the situation in Baja, California and Mexicali in Imperial County more than a month after the devastating Easter earthquake.

According to an eyewitness in Mexico, flooded villages have started to dry up and trucks have been dispatched to remove large quantities of mud from homes. Crowds of people have been asked by police to return to their villages, but sleep outside of their damaged homes.

Updated 1:20 p.m.

May 3, 2010 (Alpine) – An off-duty Border Patrol Agent was reportedly pumping gas at a Circle K Station in Alpine last night when he was approached by a man who made threatening and challenging statements. The agent, who was dressed in civilian attire, displayed his badge and pointed a handgun at the still approaching subject, according to a preliminary Sheriff's report.

1,500 TURN OUT IN LOCAL MAY DAY PROTESTS; OFFICIALS & CANDIDATES VOICE VIEWS

By Miriam Raftery

May 1, 2010 – Across America, hundreds of thousands participated in May Day marches and rallies to protest Arizona’s new immigration law, which requires that law enforcement officers demand papers proving legal status from anyone suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Supporters say the law is necessary to stem the flow of illegal immigration, but opponents fear it will lead to civil rights violations, illegal detention of legal residents, and a climate of intimidation.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor
 
April 28, 2010 (Deerhorn Valley) – Five days after a man’s dead body was found by motorists on Deerhorn Valley Road following a night of freezing temperatures, San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore has not bothered to issue a press release. Neither has the County Medical Examiner. The Sheriff’s office has not returned a call from ECM requesting information on the man, who carried no identification.  
 
Why aren’t local authorities interested in getting public help to identify the deceased stranger?
 

By Miriam Raftery

April 26, 2010 (Washington D.C.) – Congressmen Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) have joined a bipartisan coalition of 78 Congressional members asking that the U.S. renegotiate the U.S.-Mexico trucking program created under NAFTA. The members sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. Trade Ambassador Ronald Kirk, following an announcement that the U.S. and Mexico have established a working group to discuss the cross-border trucking issue.

“Reinstating the cross-border trucking program would directly undermine our nation’s border security, endanger public safety, and disadvantage American trucking companies,” Hunter stated last week in a press release.

 

Edited by Robert A. Donnelly and David A. Shirk


Book Review by: Dennis Moore

January 13, 2010 (San Diego’s East County)--Yajaira Mota Orozco,a San Diego mother of two children, lost her life while eating at a restaurant in Tijuana. During December, she became the 88th victim of alleged gang and drug violence in a single month, underscoring the theme of a new book edited by Robert A. Donnelly and David A. Shirk, Police And Public Security In Mexico.

December 24, 2009 – Local groups are pitching in to help the family of a Border Patrol Agent involved in a shooting that made international news. Early this morning, holiday gifts for the Ramos family, including four children, were stolen out of their vehicle at a La Quinta Inn during a stopover en route to El Paso. Several other vehicles were reportedly burglarized as well.

 
County warns public of sick puppies sold through local pet dealers
 
December 16, 2009 (Tecate) --On Monday evening, 15  two-month-old puppies were discovered by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers as a smuggler attempted to bring the puppies into the U.S. at the Tecate Port of Entry. The sick puppies, all described as mixed breed miniature poodles, were immediately taken to an emergency veterinary hospital by Animal Control officers with the County Department of Animal Services. The majority of the puppies has been diagnosed with parvo and will be receiving intensive care provided by County Animal Services or an adoption partner.

By Miriam Raftery

December 14, 2009 (San Diego) – In Tucson, Arizona on December 4, a federal judge ordered a theology student to reconsider his refusal to accept community service as a sentence for leaving water jugs for migrants crossing the border in an area where hundreds of border crossers have died in the past year alone. Walt Staton was convicted of littering by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. He plans to appeal his conviction.

But the judge warned, if Staton refuses to accept his sentence(which included community service, a year of supervised probation and a one year ban on entering the federal wildlife refuge where he left water jugs), he could be fined $100,000 and spend up to a year in prison, the Arizona Daily Wildcat reported.

November 22, 2009 (Campo) – Christopher Daniel Castro-Alvarez, 17, pled guilty in federal court Friday to charges of murdering Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas during a robbery. In court, he testified that he and others lured Rosas from his vehicle to rob him.  But Britt Craig, who heard the fatal shots and spoke with Rosas shortly before the Agent was killed, told East County Magazine that he does not believe that the story is plausible.

By John Falchi

November 22, 2009 (San Diego) -- The Center for Social Advocacy (CSA), an El Cajon-based organization,  held its “Homeless in Our Community, Homeless at Our Border” awareness event at the San Diego Woman’s Club on November 6th. The program focused on a long-overlooked and growing epidemic of homelessness prevalent in the County, also recounting the haunting stories of real people facing desperate situations.

By Enrique Morones

October 1, 2009 (San Diego) – Today marks the 15th anniversary of the wall of death—the border wall of shame. Since October 1st 1994 and the launching of Operation Gatekeeper here in San Diego, thousands have died. Nobody knows the exact number: 5,000, 6,000, 10,000. How many more?

August 16, 2009 (San Diego) -- Sheriff William D. Gore announced this week that San Diego County will receive an additional $4.9 million in funding from Operation Stonegarden. This is an augmentation of the initial $8.8 million awarded to the region last month. The Operation Stonegarden grant enhances the capabilities of local law enforcement to coordinate with federal, state and local agencies in an effort to deter violence and combat illegal activity along the Southwest Border.

By Miriam Raftery
 
Photos by Deborah Craig
 
August 6, 2009 (San Diego) –The U.S. Border Patrol has added a $250,000 reward to the growing pool of reward money offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for killing agent Robert Rosas July 23 at the border near Campo.
 
“As a result of some of the media attention and as a byproduct of the investigation we are following up on a number of leads here in the U.S. and in Mexico,” FBI special agent Darrell Foxworth told East County Magazine in an interview today. “This is one of the highest priority investigations that we are conducting here in the Southern California law enforcement community.” The FBI previously announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to arrest and conviction of the killers, plus a $10,000 reward for information leading to recovery of Rosas’ stolen .40 caliber service pistol, a Heckler-Koch P2000.

 
 
FUNDRAISER PLANNED FRIDAY IN SAN DIEGO TO HELP ROSAS' FAMILY

July 29, 2009 (San Diego)--The FBI is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, who was murdered near Shockey Truck Trail in Campo on Thursday, July 23, 2009. In addition, a $10,000 reward has been added for information leading to recover of a black .40 caliber service pistol (Heckler & Koch P2000) believed stolen from Rosas the night he was murdered.

 
July 22, 2009 (San Diego)—San Diego County Sheriff William D. Gore announced Friday that of a $5 million federal grant to combat drug-related criminal activity along the international border. San Diego County shares a 60-mile border with Mexico, which begins at the Pacific Ocean and traverses rugged terrain to the Imperial County line. The grant, provided as part of stimulus funds under the Economic Recovery Act, identified two key project goals:

By Miriam Raftery
Exclusive: An East County Magazine special report
 
June 14, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) – Shawna Forde, leader of Minutemen America Defense(MAD), has been arrested along with two men and charged with double homicide in a home invasion. The victims included a nine-year-old girl and her father. Forde has recently visited Camp Vigilance, a high-desert training camp operated by Minuteman Civil Defense near Boulevard in San Diego’s East County in 2008, East County Magazine has learned. A second suspect arrested also has ties to Minutemen Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), which operates a Minutemen training facility in East County.photo: Forde in East County, courtesy of Campo Minutemen.
 

June 2, 2009 (San Diego) – “This economy is built off immigrants, and immigration reform will benefit the economy,” El Cajon resident and Center for Social Advocacy spokesperson Estela De Los Rios said at a press conference Friday in San Diego, where community leaders announced launch of the Reform Immigration For America Campaign (www.immigrationforum.org).

HUNTER SEEKS CLOSURE OF BORDER

UPDATED April 29, 2009 (San Diego)—Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in California to request federal funds for emergency services and supplies to combat the disease. To date, 91 cases have been confirmed in the U.S., including 11 in California and five in San Diego County. The first U.S. death, a boy who traveled to Texas from Mexico, was confirmed today and tests are being done on a Los Angeles man who died following symptoms of swine flu. (Tests on a second L.A.man proved negative.) The outbreak has spread to Europe, Asia, the middle East and Canada. In Mexico, over 149 deaths have occurred and nearly 2,000 cases reported, prompting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to issue a travel advisory asking travelers to avoid nonessential trips to Mexico.

By Miriam Raftery

April 18, 2009 (San Diego)—Congressman Bob Filner (R-San Diego) has introduced the “Save Our Border Communities Act, H.R. 670. The bill would require the federal government to reimburse costs for local police, firefighters and other first responders to provide services associated with U.S. ports of entry on the international border.

April 16, 2009 (San Diego)—Alan Bersin has officially been appointed Border Czar by President Barack Obama, Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano announced today. Bersin held a similar position during the Clinton administration. He served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California a the U.S. Justice Department’s special representative for the Southwest border. He was Education Secretary of California and Superintendent of San Diego Schools, often clashing with teachers’ unions.