A RANGE OF REALITY ON THE ARIZONA-MEXICO BORDER; adapted from a
CCIPRA update from August 15, 2010 (CCIPRA = Cochise County Individual
and Property Rights Association).
A D.C. 'BURB CAN CHECK FOR ILLEGALS, BUT ARIZONA CAN'T
On August 1, 2010, in Prince William County, Virginia, a drunk alcoholic
drove into an oncoming car, killing one nun and injuring two. So far,
just another routine drunk driving story.
But the story got national attention for two reasons.
-- 1, The driver was an illegal alien (from Bolivia), in the second
year of deportation proceedings against him -- proceedings which
consisted of nothing but canceled hearings.
-- 2, Since 2007 -- over 3 years ago -- Prince William County has had
an "ask about immigration status" resolution like Arizona's SB 1070.
There's an O. Henry twist to the story: the driver was being
represented in the deportation proceedings by a legal arm of Catholic
Charities. See
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/aug/12/nuns12-ar-422815/
But that didn't come out until August 12.
THE BASIC FACTS
On August 1, an illegal alien from Bolivia named Carlos Martinelly
Montano (Martinelly with a "y," & sometimes the last names are
hyphenated) drove into oncoming traffic and caused a car crash that
killed one nun and injured two others.
CBS, at
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20012650-504083.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody
says Montano "is charged with drunken driving, involuntary manslaughter
and felony driving on a revoked license after his car crossed a median
Sunday morning and struck a car carrying three nuns. Sister Denise
Mosier, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene ...." Montano had
been "arrested twice before and charged with drunk driving, and has
other arrests for other traffic-related offenses."
TV station WUSA says at
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=106179&provider=top
that Montano "used several social security numbers and aliases over the years."
The Washington Post, at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/04/AR2010080406937.html
and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/03/AR2010080306951.html
reports that Montano's family "entered the United States illegally in
1996, when [Montano] was 8 .... In 2007, [they] got work permits from
... Homeland Security .... [A] spokesman for the temporary employment
agency ... said [Montano] 'successfully cleared the ... verification
process and ... was eligible for employment in the U.S.'"
However, "work permits do not confer legal status to undocumented
immigrants.... ' In fact, all the government is saying to them
is: "You have what appears on its face to be a valid petition for
legal residency. So while we're trying to decide that, we'll let you work."'"
Deportation proceedings against Montano began in October 2008, after
his second drunk driving arrest. The Post says Montano "was
released on his own recognizance .... The hearing was set for April 21,
2009, then postponed to May 7, 2009, then delayed until Dec. 3, 2009,
then rescheduled for Aug. 19 [2010]." In other words, by the time
Montano killed the nun, THREE hearings had been cancelled and a FOURTH
hearing was a few weeks away. (And now Montano's legal team from
Catholic Charities says the fourth hearing will be delayed until the
criminal case is over.)
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the delay is a
mystery to her. She asked at a press conference "Why is it that
this individual was driving? ... Why did the removal process take so
long?" However, Napolitano's statements are poor guides to the
facts. She promised more National Guard troops on Arizona's border by
August 1; but later a public relations minion said we had all
"overinterpreted" Napolitano's words. It's hard to take Napolitano at
face value when she uses a press agent to explain that we shouldn't
believe our lying ears.
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY SEEKS OUT ILLEGAL ALIENS
An Associated Press story which ran in the Arizona Daily Star on Monday, August 9 at
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/article_f0ecb3fd-6eaf-5403-850a-9402fcdf82d7.html
says that in July 2007, Prince William County passed a resolution
"requiring police to determine the immigration status of all people
arrested on suspicion of violating state or local laws." That
story isn't quite correct.
Actually, the 2007 resolution instructed police "to inquire into the
citizenship or immigration status of persons who are lawfully detained
for a violation of state or local law ...." A full arrest was not
required. See the Prince William County website at
http://www.pwcgov.org/print.aspx?topic=040074003460004636
On Sunday, August 15, an article in the Sierra Vista Herald at
http://www.svherald.com/content/news/2010/08/15/sb-1070-discussion-spurs-screening
says "Two months later [that is, after July 2007], the law was
repealed". However, the current Prince William County website
says that in April 2008, about nine months after the resolution was
passed, the "requirements regarding mandated pre-arrest immigration
inquiries ... were suspended" and replaced by a new policy allowing the
inquiries of anyone "under physical custodial arrest for a violation of
state or local law."
That is like one part of Arizona's SB 1070. The original version of SB
1070 allowed the inquiries upon any police "contact" with a person; the
amendment, passed a week later, allows the inquiries upon "any lawful
stop, detention or arrest." That is one of the parts of SB 1070
that were put on hold pending the outcome of the federal lawsuit
against SB 1070.
If the requirement is unConstitutional when Arizona imposes it, it's
unConstitutional when Prince William County imposes it. So why
haven't the feds sued Prince William County?
Possibly because P.W. County largely IS feds. P.W. County is in the
D.C. metro area, with many homes for federal employees who work in D.C.
And possibly because P.W. County's feds are RICH. P.W. County is
the 14th richest county in the U.S. Half the households in P.W.
County earn over $90,000 a year -- almost triple the halfway point in
Cochise County (check out Wikipedia). And a USA
Today article at
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2010-08-10-1Afedpay10_ST_N.htm
reports that over the past nine years, "federal employees' average
compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers
earn ...."
No matter what happens in places like Cochise County, people in P.W.
County will -- at least until the old adage that "money talks" is
repealed -- insist that their own homes and lives be protected.
On August 2, 2010, Virginia's Attorney General even "issued an advisory
opinion concluding that police have the authority to inquire into the
immigration status of any person stopped or arrested ...." See
http://www.oag.state.va.us/OPINIONS/2010opns/10-047-Marshall.pdf
IMPLICATIONS FOR SB 1070
Prince William County is an example of the feds allowing "patchwork"
immigration enforcement.
The federal government knows about the
patchwork enforcement, because P. W. County is not just next door to
D.C., it's full of people who work for the federal government in D.C.
Yet in the case against Arizona, the feds argue,
hypocritically, that our
country cannot have a "patchwork of immigration enforcement."
"Sanctuary cities" have nullified federal immigration law. San
Francisco is the most famous, but there are many more. A list is
at
http://www.ojjpac.org/sanctuary.asp
(Note that the immigration patchwork was not created by the current
administration. San Francisco became a "sanctuary city" in
October 1989, early in Bush I's term. Prince William County
passed its policy in 2007, when Bush II had over a year left in his
term.)
In the ongoing case, Arizona can argue about "selective enforcement" or
"selective prosecution," which is what's happening to us. For the basic
ideas, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_enforcement
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_prosecution
This is hardly a new thought. For instance, on July 29, USA Today
ran a discussion between conservative and liberal columnists, at
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-07-29-column29_ST_N.htm
in which the conservative said "It's funny that the administration has
had nothing to say about the 'sanctuary cities,' like San Francisco,
presided over mostly by Democratic mayors. We don't want a 'patchwork'
of immigration laws, unless the patches fit into our open-borders
quilt. Selective enforcement mocks the law." The liberal dodged,
but the feds can't dodge in court.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE COCHISE COUNTY?
The feds aren't going to protect the border, they'll just go through
the motions. There are several apparent reasons why Arizona
doesn't matter much to the people at the center of power. Arizona
doesn't have many electoral votes; lots of people are doing all they
can to make the border meaningless (think NAFTA); and the "War On
Drugs" has made drug dealing so profitable that many immensely rich
people are doing what they can to keep the status quo -- which includes
a border like a sieve.
Arizona's state government won't help; sleazy pols like Russell Pearce
will push badly written laws and work like the devil to get publicity,
but they'll ignore the real needs of border counties. So will Joe
Arpaio, the always-embarrassing lover of sadism in central Arizona, far
from the border. Cochise County
citizens are, for all practical purposes, on their own.
Our County Supervisors could do a lot; they declared a border emergency
five years ago, giving them immense power, but the Supes won't even
talk about using that power. There's no guarantee that the Supes
can find anything effective to do -- but it's certain that they can't
succeed if they never try. At least one Supe won't discuss using
the power on the basis that appointed deputy county attorney Britt
Hanson says the County might be sued if it actually did anything -- as
if Hanson knows in advance every idea that citizens might come up with,
if the Supes would bother to listen.
The citizens of Cochise County have the right to a little help from
their County government. The Supes had better start trying to
solve the problem. If they let it get much worse, they may never
be able to ride the tiger of citizens protecting themselves.
ED ASHURST'S OUTSTANDING LETTER ABOUT THE BORDER
Our friend Bob Kern has forwarded around a letter from Ed Ashurst, whose ranch is near the Krentz ranch. The full text is at
http://www.federalobserver.com/2010/07/27/ashurst-a-border-manifesto/
(incidentally, that federalobserver is a VERY interesting site) and here are a FEW of the important statements in the letter:
"... I live on the ranch bordering the Krentz ranch
to the east and north. I can see the Krentz home looking out of
my front door approximately 10 miles away. The day after Rob's
death I was involved in tracking the outlaw into Mexico. I saw the
outlaw's footprints where he crossed the border fence. I mention
this to say I feel that I'm qualified to speak about current border
issues.
"My home has been broken into twice. My son's
home has been broken into also and between us we have had between
twenty and thirty thousand dollars worth of stuff stolen .... A
guest house here on the ranch has been broken into so many times we
quit counting....
"... not long after Rob Krentz's death, Fox news
(channel 10 in Phoenix AZ) contacted me and expressed interest in
coming down and doing a news story .... I asked for assistance
from six other neighboring ranchers and businessmen.... Together
we made a map of the area ... from the southeastern corner of AZ going
west about 20 miles ... and going north about 30 miles .... On this map
we made marks recording violations to United States law committed by
illegal aliens ... that we knew had happened first hand, many of which
we had witnessed ... in the last several years.
"The sum total of what we recorded is this:
-- The arrest or capture of 40 illegal in one bunch - 40 (we didn't bother with the countless smaller groups)
-- Loads of Marijuana found and captured - 213
-- Dangerous encounters with illegal aliens - 132 (assault, burglaries, forced entries, etc.)
-- Dead illegal aliens found by civilians - 16
-- High speed vehicle chases between dope haulers and law enforcement - 14
-- Illegal aliens spotted with firearms - 12
-- Fires started by illegal aliens - 9
-- Over 100,000 acres burned with the cost to taxpayers of $40,000,000....
-- Outlandish incidents - 4 (Example: One
bachelor in the Portal area was burglarized around 100 times. He
finally took all his valuables and put them in a steel vault and welded
the door shut. He then moved out of his house into a shed hoping the
illegal aliens would leave him alone. They did not and he finally
abandoned his property. Another outlandish event ... outlaws
stole a brand new Caterpillar motor grader ... and drove south through
the border fence [with the blade down all the way!] never to be seen
again....)
-- Financial losses to private sector – $100,000,000.00 (... losses in wildlife habitat - immeasurable)
-- ... the murder of Rob Krentz ....
"... Within this area, there [are] perhaps 600
people .... No less than 80% ... have been burglarized or otherwise
molested by illegal aliens....
"... As early as February of 1999 Sheriff Larry
Dever warned ... at a town hall meeting ... that the Sinaloa Cartel was
moving into the Douglas-Agua Prieta area ....
"... At night people in Douglas are hearing machine gun fire from Agua Prieta south of the border fence.
"... the situation in Agua Prieta has deteriorated
dramatically in recent months. The good people are told to look
the other way 'or else.' ...
"... The situation on the border isn't just about a
few workers walking north. It has everything to do with big
business. Billions of dollars are being made trafficking humans,
drugs, and contraband across the International Boundary....
"... There are only two industries of any
significance in Douglas, AZ: law enforcement ... and the illegal
trafficking .... These two industries feed on each other, and the
powers that be seem happy with the situation...."
The entire letter is definitely worth reading, and passing on to people
who believe that lower crime numbers in Phoenix mean anything in
Cochise County.
THE CHIRICAHUA CORRIDOR
From September 2008, here's a fine piece of journalism by Leo Banks, at
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/the-chiricahua-corridor/Content?oid=1092390
This piece details some crimes from 2008, and describes their
long-lasting effects: "Already, residents have had to make room
in their lives for everything the traffickers bring with them --
suspicion, constant watchfulness, vandalism and break-ins. As a matter
of course, few people dare leave their homes without a sitter.
Alex Stone, a helicopter specialist for the Forest Service who owns a
house near Portal, on the east side of the Chiricahuas, says flatly,
'If you leave your house empty, it will be occupied.'"
If reporters based in the interior of the country, or in New York, L.A.
or D.C., would report on the long-term effects of coping with that kind
of stress, perhaps the rest of the country might understand our
priorities a little better.
(Incidentally, if you go to the Tucson Weekly website and look for more by Leo Banks, you will find a lot worth reading.)
SHERIFF DEVER'S MARCH 2006 STATEMENT TO CONGRESS
Dever's statement is as valid now as it was four years ago. And
Cochise County remains as neglected now as it was then. Thanks for nothing, Congress.
Here's Dever's statement:
"I was here in 1997 testifying before the Foreign
Relations Committee on border violence, as well, and it seems like we
are still pretty much mired in the same muck that we were at that time,
or if anything it is a little bit worse.
"You have heard some interesting testimony about
some suggested needs and methods of trying to mitigate the violence
that is going on down there. I would just like to take a moment
and read to you from Arizona Sheriffs magazine a quote from the Border
Patrol chief of the Tucson sector, at that time Chief Jerald Jondall.
"He said, 'Within the last year, we have been
mandated by Congress to gain control of that border, and we are going
to do that along the southern border, whether it is narcotics, illegal
aliens, terrorists, criminals, or whatever.'
"That ... is dated autumn of 1987. I don't
need to tell you at what juncture we are at today. 1987 was the
year that we first organized the joint narcotics task force in Cochise
County in response to the cocaine trade that had entered that part of
the country. Cocaine Alley was the common name for that
particular corridor.
"At that time, there were no DEA agents in Cochise
County. There was no FBI. The Customs Office of Enforcement
had maybe 4 agents, and Border Patrol possibly a total of 100.
Today, the FBI is there, DEA is there, Customs has increased manyfold,
and there are well over 1,200 Border Patrol agents stationed in Cochise
County. Yet, the violence continues to increase ... and whether
that is because of the law enforcement presence or in spite of it,
nobody can dispute that it has markedly increased.
"Twenty to 25 years ago, working along the border in drug
interdiction, we actually jumped smugglers right on the fence and they
would just simply give up. Some of them would run back into
Mexico, but they always dropped their contraband and there was no fight
to be had. Today, it is just the opposite. We anticipate
that we will be in a fight, a very violent confrontation in every
interdiction effort, with running gun battles down congested public
roadways, populated residential areas, high-speed chases.
"[Another speaker] talked earlier about the
prosecution of two smugglers who caused a very serious accident, a
fatal accident in Sierra Vista just recently, driving recklessly in an
overloaded truck. Most of the vehicles that are used to transport
illegals are, in fact, stolen from the Tucson and Phoenix areas.
They are overloaded and their drivers are
inexperienced.
"The people-smuggling culture is marked by little,
if any, value for life or respect for persons or property. One study
estimates that 80% of all illegal aliens that enter this country become
victims of crime before they ever get here, and that those atrocities
continue after they cross the border.
"We have come across an interesting situation, where
smugglers mark their trails or locations where rape has occurred of one
of the illegal aliens being smuggled as a sign to others that they must
cooperate with the smuggler. They hang women's undergarments in
the tree to mark that location as a signal of their prowess and their
dominance in the smuggling environment.
"I mentioned running gun battles, fleeing felons,
placing law enforcement officers at great risk, as well as the general
public. I could tell you of many carjackings. I was
counseled by staff of a Congressman yesterday that I shouldn't talk too
much about specific examples of carjackings because it is so
commonplace in the Washington area that it wouldn't carry much
weight. Well, sir, you will forgive me, but that is just not
acceptable in my environment and the people that I work for. If
it becomes commonplace there, it certainly will be a sad day and a sad
situation.
"We desperately need your attention and your
assistance. You have heard today about several Federal initiatives and
joint initiatives. I would just like to emphasize that every
Federal initiative, every strategy that is implemented at the Federal
level has a local consequence, and those consequences aren't always
considered in the planning process. I would encourage whatever
influence or requirement that can be included in funding that would
require, in fact, that local participation be considered so that those
consequences will be totally understood before they are implemented."
Apparently the few Cochise County officials who are willing to speak sense don't matter. D.C. chooses not to hear.
A KGUN-9 TV STORY ABOUT ILLEGALS IN McNEAL
Thanks to a friend for forwarding the story, including a video of the newscast, at
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12973520
The text about McNeal includes:
"While the entire nation is talking about illegal
immigration, the residents of McNeal ... are living the issue.
Human and drug smuggling impacts residents on a daily basis....
"... under some desert brush [KGUN reporters]
Waldman and Sahagun saw ... a bunker hidden right in the middle of the
desert landscape.... A hole in the ground, surrounded by brush,
opened up into a roomy stash house ... so well hidden that no one would
know about it even now if not for a chance discovery.
"... two weeks prior to his visit, McNeal residents
called Border Patrol to report that the bunker was full of
people. The Patrol came out and detained 70 suspected illegal
immigrants....
"Other residents ... feel that some of the
politicians who need to hear the story have their fingers in their
ears. 'Obama wouldn't learn a damn thing he doesn't already know
if he came to the border,' said Humphries, who is a retired narcotics
officer. 'He doesn't care.'
"... Humphries is among those who feel that what
happened to murdered rancher Robert Krenz could happen next in McNeal.
'I think it is only a matter of time.'"