Deported But, they Don't get to take belongings and Life with them

Derek Lucas Reyes, 20, went from being undocumented in the U.S. to undocumented in his native Mexico.
He sits at a table after breakfast in a shelter filled with people recently deported from the U.S. to Nogales, Sonora. At his feet is a paper shopping bag the Department of Homeland Security gave him for his belongings. Inside the bag: his deportation paperwork, a toothbrush, toothpaste and some other necessities he got from Mexican aid workers.
Lucas Reyes just finished serving a 30-day federal sentence for illegal crossing. When he was caught by the Border Patrol in the Arizona desert, he says, he had a backpack of essentials.
"I had an ID, money and a cellphone that I didn't get back. In that phone were phone numbers for my family who could've given me shelter. Now I have nothing — no money and no way to contact people I know," he says.

A report released Wednesday by the humanitarian group No More Deaths says it's not an unusual situation. The U.S. government is deporting thousands of people back to Mexico without their belongings, and according to the report, they're being sent back without money (they used up everything being held in Detention) or identification cards (As ID was considered Fake).
"It's every day," says David Hill, co-author of the report. It's based on more than 14,000 cases out of Arizona and echoes similar findings by University of Arizona researchers borderwide.
Roughly one-third of people deported to Mexico were missing something. Here's how it seems to happen: When people are arrested, they go from Border Patrol custody to U.S. Marshals to local jails or to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Their property stays behind.
"It doesn't get transferred to where it needs to be for the person to receive it upon deportation and it gets destroyed after 30 days — declared abandoned and destroyed," Hill says.

“ Mexican authorities could think I'm illegally in the country. I could be kidnapped because people might assume I'm not from Mexico.

- Derek Lucas Reyes, recently deported from the U.S.

Under the U.S. Constitution, property should be held only if it's evidence in a crime or was actually used to commit a crime — neither of which seems to be the case here. The Department of Homeland Security oversees both ICE and Customs and Border Protection. In an email, DHS spokeswoman Marsha Catron writes the agency has standards to ensure detainees' property is safeguarded and returned when they are released or deported. "Any allegation of missing property will be thoroughly investigated," the email says.
Among the most problematic charges are missing IDs and missing money. Hill says when people do get their money back, it's often in a form utterly useless in Mexico.
"We're talking about checks that are drawn on U.S. banks and cannot be deposited in Mexican banks, whether you have an account or not, whether you have an ID or not," Hill says.
Lucas Reyes has no money or ID, so he's worried about traveling 2,000 miles to his home in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo, next to Central America.
"Mexican authorities could think I'm illegally in the country. I could be kidnapped because people might assume I'm not from Mexico," he says.
Among other recommendations, the No More Deaths report calls for DHS to work harder to keep people and their property together — and to return money in cash.

Transition Back to Mexico for Deportees to be eased.

Initiative eases transition back to Mexico for deportees

Brittany Duckworth/Cronkite News Service | November 21, 2014 @ 2:49 pm

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)

NOGALES, Sonora, Mexico -- Deported after 25 years in the United States on domestic violence charges, Jose Castellea stepped off a bus here at the border gate eight days ago with only the clothes on his back and a few belongings.
"The first time you're scared when you're here in Mexico," Castellea said. "Now, well I have to be here the rest of my life."
Until he figured out how to get to relatives in Guadalajara, Castellea was able to find food and shelter for a week through the Kino Border Initiative operated by Roman Catholic groups.
Since 2009, the legally incorporated binational organization has provided an Aid Center for Deported Migrants serving two meals a day, a Nazareth House shelter for migrant women and children and a First Aid Station for migrants.
The Rev. Sean Carroll, a Jesuit priest who serves as executive director of the Kino Border Initiative, said many of those deported through Nogales are vulnerable and that his group offers aid, research and advocacy to create a more humane experience.
"We're moving towards a time when I think we have a border that truly is humane, where there is binational collaboration and where the humanity of the migrant man woman and child is respected," Carroll said.
A 20-minute walk from the port of entry or a brief drive for Mexican migration officials, the initiative offers each migrant help for eight days. After that, migrants generally return to their hometowns with bus tickets subsidized by the Mexican government or stay in Nogales, though some will attempt to cross the border again, Carroll said.
Sister Alicia Guevara Perez, a migrant aid coordinator, said although the inititiative helps people the work can be challenging emotionally.
"I've been here with them for a year, and I've learned to guide them, listen to their stories," Guevara Perez said. "However, I know I need to disconnect myself a little from the reality they live so I can continue helping them."
This day, Guevara Perez served as the coordinator for dinner. Throughout the meal she interacted with the migrants and offered prayers for those interested.
"Being here is a way to show them that they're not alone," she said. "We worry about their reality and their situation, and that all of us need to unite to provide them with that support."
The Rev. Peter Neeley, assistant director of education, said faith in God isn't required, though he does offer prayer and confession as a way to help the migrants.
"That's very intimate, it's therapy for them in the sense they just get rid of all that they've been carrying around," Neeley said.
The Kino Border Initiative's annual report for 2012 said it brought in $781,651 in grants and donations. Its largest expenditures were for humanitarian assistance and education: $175,689 and $105,663, respectively.
Carroll said as much as the program is for migrants it has created a strong opportunity for advocacy and education on both sides of the border.
"On the U.S. side a lot of our focus has been deportation and detention issues, and on the Mexican side it's really been robberies by police in Mexico," he said.
Last year, American University prepared a report for the Kino Border Initiative noting that Central Americans were three times more likely to fall prey to police than Mexican nationals.
Another area for advocacy, Carroll said, is nighttime deportations.
"It violates their dignity to be deported at night and put their lives at risk by putting the situation in where they''re in Nogales, Sonora, in the middle of the night with people from organized crime waiting for them," he said.
Inside the gates of the aid center, the Kino Border Initiative provides a safe place for Castellea and other migrants.
After receiving a hot meal and some clothes, Castellea took his bag and left for Guadalajara.
"I feel bad you know because the people are good here," he said. "I don't want to go, but I have to go."

North Mexican Border Areas Are Safe

Mexico News

Mexico - November 22, 2014 It's fun, warm and safe on Mexico's Pacific Coast It's that time of year when we book our annual trip to Mexico and this is what we hear: Why are you going to Mexico? Why not somewhere safe? We worry about you. Is it safe where... - Read More Mexico, Central America hail Obama immigration plan Mexico's President on Friday joined Central American leaders and Latino celebrities in applauding US President Barack Obama's landmark offer to shield millions of undocumented m... - Read More These 'True Tales' Add Nuance To The Immigration Discussion We need more stories and books that treat Mexican immigrants as humans - novel idea, right? But far too often, the media and authors cast them as sinners or saints, with little .

Acapulco Warning

US Embassy in Mexico Issues Security Warning for Acapulco 

Mexico News Mexico - November 23, 2014 US Embassy in Mexico Issues Security Warning for Acapulco The U.S. Embassy in Mexico has issued a security warning on Saturday, urging U.S. citizens to avoid Acapulco due to violence and protests. The protests have escalated in recent ..

Brave Boy undergoes operation

Absolutely huge tumor removed from boy, 11

It took 25 medical professionals and 12 hours to remove a massive tumor from an 11-year-old Mexican boy who had traveled to the US for help. They  describes the growth on the neck, shoulder, and upper torso of Jose Antonio Ramirez Serrano's left side as football-sized: almost a foot long and 4 inches wide and deep. The operation took place Monday at the University of New Mexico Hospital and was "two years in the making," says Kristean Alcocer, a ministry coordinator for the First Baptist Church of Rio Rancho, which helped get Jose to the US. The church members came upon the boy during a missionary visit to Ciudad Juarez in 2012 and learned his parents had hit a dead end in terms of getting medical help for Jose in Mexico.
A humanitarian visa was arranged for Jose, who KOAT reported was born with a golfball-sized growth, and he arrived in New Mexico in July of that year; he's been traveling back and forth to receive treatment since. Reuters describes lymphangiomas as rare lymphatic system "malformations." Though the tumor itself is benign, Jose's parents say its size led to eyesight complications, limited his movement on the left side, and grew into his trachea, which the El Paso Times reports hampered his breathing. The church has raised funds for the treatment, and Alcocer says his medical expenses have been covered. He'll be in the hospital for at least a month; in future surgeries, his shoulder bone will be rebuilt, and excess skin will be removed.
This story originally appeared on Newser:

Travel Mistake lands Woman in Jail.

Aussie woman trapped in Mexico

Melbourne woman Kylie Bretag is trapped in a Mexican immigration detention centre.

IT’S a simple travel mistake any of us could have made, but it’s landed one Australian woman in a Mexican detention centre with no idea when she will be released.

Kylie Bretag, a 30-year-old waitress from Melbourne, was arrested on October 20 at a checkpoint in the town of Tenosique after Mexican officials boarded her bus to check passengers’ passports, according to her friend Natalie Wayt.
Ms Wayt, 27, was due to meet Ms Bretag in Cancun but was forced to return to Houston after finding out her friend had been detained. It’s understood Australian consular officials are working with Mexican authorities to resolve the issue.
The nightmare began when Ms Bretag followed advice posted on TripAdvisor which said it was cheaper to cross the border into Mexico from California and take a domestic flight from Tijuana to Guadalajara, rather than fly directly in, Ms Wayt told news.com.au from the US.

Kylie Bretag was travelling in Mexico to celebrate her 30th birthday. Source: Supplied

However, Ms Wayt said border officials failed to stamp her friend’s passport when she crossed over from California, despite being asked to do so. Without a stamp in her passport, the Federales who later boarded her bus claimed she was in the country illegally.
Ms Bretag, who recently completed a degree in public relations, was taken to an immigration detention facility where she now sleeps in a crammed cell, head-to-toe with other women and children and no access to proper bathroom or shower facilities.

Wildlife Center Owner (an American) in Mexico Killed by Camel

 A 60-year-old American was killed by a camel which escaped from its pen and attacked him at a wildlife center he owned in the Mexican beach resort of Tulum, local emergency services said on Tuesday.

Richard Mileski, who was from the Chicago area, was found dead early on Monday, said Antonio Gomez, a Tulum emergency services spokesman.

"When we arrived, the people who were there said (the camel) got out of its stable and attacked him," said Gomez. "It dragged him, climbed on top of him, was kicking him, biting him and sat on top of him."

Gomez said the dromedary, which is a type of camel predominantly from the Middle East and North Africa, was then taken away by Mexico's federal agency of environmental protection Profepa. He also said the emergency services then closed the park.

Mileski was the owner of the Tulum Monkey Sanctuary where the attack took place, Gomez added. The park's website was down on Tuesday and telephone calls went unanswered.

Tulum, which is near the Caribbean beach resorts of Cancun and Playa Del Carmen, is the site of one of the most beautiful beaches in Mexico, and is popular with tourists.

Mexican Navy Contracts Damen for Two Vessels

Rendering of the FCS 5009 (Image courtesy of Damen)

Secretaria de Marina orders seventh patrol vessel and a fast crew supplier

In August 2014 the Mexican Navy (Secretaría de Marina) and the Netherlands’ Damen Shipyards Group signed contracts for the delivery of the design, material package, technical assistance and training for two vessels that will be built by the Mexican Navy, using the Damen Technical Cooperation program, which enables customers to build their vessel on the location of their choice.

The first contract is for a Damen Stan Patrol 4207, the seventh of the Tenochtitlan-class (named after the first vessel of this class in use by the Mexican Navy), to be built on the navy yard ASTIMAR 1 in Tampico. This yard, located on the Gulf of Mexico, has already concluded the construction of three Stan Patrols and will now undertake the construction of the other four.

The second contract is for a Damen Fast Crew Supplier 5009, which features the Damen Sea Axe bow that reduces slamming up to 70%. The FCS 5009 has been adapted to meet specific Mexican Navy requirements. Among others it will include a deck crane and an extra accommodation module. In total the vessel can transport 145 passengers and 17 crew members. The vessel has four Caterpillar 3512C TA engines, and can reach a speed of 21 knots. The vessel will be constructed on the Navy yard ASTIMAR 6 in Guaymas, a city on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

Damen Technical Cooperation allows yards that are not a part of the Damen Shipyards Group to build modern, high quality vessels. With the design, material packages and technical and logistical assistance, these shipyards can improve their capabilities, using the experience and taking advantage of the quality of Damen. Through this building method over five hundred vessels, on shipyards all over the globe, have been built.

damen.com
 

• 
  Rendering of the FCS 5009 (Image courtesy of Damen)

Mexican Navy Contracts Damen for Two Vessels

Rendering of the FCS 5009 (Image courtesy of Damen)

Secretaria de Marina orders seventh patrol vessel and a fast crew supplier

In August 2014 the Mexican Navy (Secretaría de Marina) and the Netherlands’ Damen Shipyards Group signed contracts for the delivery of the design, material package, technical assistance and training for two vessels that will be built by the Mexican Navy, using the Damen Technical Cooperation program, which enables customers to build their vessel on the location of their choice.

The first contract is for a Damen Stan Patrol 4207, the seventh of the Tenochtitlan-class (named after the first vessel of this class in use by the Mexican Navy), to be built on the navy yard ASTIMAR 1 in Tampico. This yard, located on the Gulf of Mexico, has already concluded the construction of three Stan Patrols and will now undertake the construction of the other four.

The second contract is for a Damen Fast Crew Supplier 5009, which features the Damen Sea Axe bow that reduces slamming up to 70%. The FCS 5009 has been adapted to meet specific Mexican Navy requirements. Among others it will include a deck crane and an extra accommodation module. In total the vessel can transport 145 passengers and 17 crew members. The vessel has four Caterpillar 3512C TA engines, and can reach a speed of 21 knots. The vessel will be constructed on the Navy yard ASTIMAR 6 in Guaymas, a city on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

Damen Technical Cooperation allows yards that are not a part of the Damen Shipyards Group to build modern, high quality vessels. With the design, material packages and technical and logistical assistance, these shipyards can improve their capabilities, using the experience and taking advantage of the quality of Damen. Through this building method over five hundred vessels, on shipyards all over the globe, have been built.

damen.com
 

• 
  Rendering of the FCS 5009 (Image courtesy of Damen)

Mexico Mine Still causing Pollution, Blocking Investigation

       

A Mexican copper mine which spewed millions of gallons of acid into a river last month is still causing pollution and the facility’s owners are blocking the work of investigators probing the accident, authorities said.
The massive acid leak in August, involving some 40,000 cubic meters (10.6 million gallons) of sulfuric acid, was one of Mexico’s largest ever mining-related environmental disasters.
“As of this moment, the government of Sonora (state) totally breaks off any relationship with the mining company,” which is continuing to discharge toxic substances in the river, director of the state civil protection agency, Carlos Arias said at a press conference Friday.

The toxic acid, used to dissolve copper from ore, spilled out of a holding tank at the Buenavista copper mine in Sonora State, one of the largest in the world.
The chemical turned a 60-kilometer (40-mile) stretch of the Sonora River orange, causing authorities to shut off the municipal water supply to 20,000 people in seven towns.
Arias said since the spill, Buenavista, a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, has blocked access to investigators, and he warned Sonora state authorities would come back — this time backed up by security forces.
“We will act with the full weight of the law, because they are already in a plan that cannot continue,” Arias said, adding the government was mulling permanent closure of the mine.
The mining company “categorically denied the accusations,” in a statement Friday night.
“Buenavista del Cobre has worked alongside state authorities,” the company said, lamenting “the politicization of the accident.”
The mining company has created a fund of two billion pesos ($147 million) to repair the environmental damage. Environmental authorities have also imposed fines of more than 44 million pesos ($3 million) over the spill.
Federal prosecutors are still investigating whether the leak was caused by shoddy construction and installation of the pipeline or, as the company argues, by excessive rains.

Border Protests starting Sept 18, 2014

Protest Plans to Shut Down Ports of Entry Moving Forward

Plans to shut down ports of entry between the United States and Mexico by a citizen protest group are being finalized. The list of ports includes six Texas ports, four in Arizona, two in New Mexico and five in California. Organizers say this is the final list and plan to move forward on all ports listed.

“This event is for Patriotic Americans who feel strongly about our nation’s sovereignty and bringing our Marine, Sgt. Tahmooressi, home,” said event organizer Stasyi Barth in a statement posted on the groups website. Sgt. Tahmooressi is being held in a Mexican jail for allegedly entering Mexico with weapons that are illegal in that country. He claims the entry was accidental.

Clarifying her previous comments about militia groups not being welcome in the protest, Barth said, “This is NOT a militia event,” Barth explained. “No militia groups have been involved in the organizing of this event, nor are they planning on participating. The mere mention of ‘militia’ draws fear and headlines, which is obviously the intent of the media.”

“We are standing up for law enforcement, not against them,” she continued.
 “This is a peaceful protest to air our grievances to our government, as allowed by the Constitution.”

In Texas, the group plans on blocking ports of entry located.
One of the leaders in Texas told another media outlet they have about 200 people lined up in Texas and expect more to just show up at the scene.
Laredo,             Rio Grande City,             Presidio, Hildago,
Brownsville            Del Rio.

California protests are scheduled for.
Calexico West,    Calexico East,    Stay Mesa,        Tecate,

San Ysidro. New Mexico protests are planned for Columbus and Santa Theresa while in Arizona, the ports of entry of Naco, Nogales, Douglas and San Luis are planned for closure.

“This event is for you, every patriotic American, to express your grievances in a safe and peaceful way,” Barth said on her website. As far as firearms Barth explained, “Yes, some states allow you to carry a firearm and I will not impede on that right. However, please keep it hidden and safely away from others.”

The website details out rules of conduct for event attendees to adhere to in order to assure the safety of all involved on both sides of the protest. She said she is anticipating counter protests and encourages all participants to not engage them. “They will say angry, hateful and vile things; do not respond” Barth continued. “They are looking for news coverage that they can point to, proving you are the bad guy.”

The events are all scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CDT (8 a.m. PDT)           

New Police force first test. Mexico City Kidnaping

Mexico lake town besieged by kidnappings is first assignment for new police force

The first assignment for members of a new police force created to combat crimes affecting industry, farms and businesses is Valle de Bravo, a chic resort town near Mexico City that has seen a recent spate of kidnappings, an official said Tuesday. Hundreds of members of the new force, known as the gendarmerie, have traveled to the town alongside a pine-rimmed lake.
A federal official said the group of officers is one of several being deployed throughout Mexico. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2014, file photo, officers belonging to Mexico's newest police force, known as the gendarmerie, salute during the launching ceremony for the new force at the Federal Police headquarters in Mexico City. Officials said Tuesday Aug. 27, 2014, that the first assignment for members of the new police force is Valle de Bravo, a chic resort town near Mexico City that has seen a recent spate of kidnappings.

In recent weeks, kidnappers have targeted Mexico City residents who keep a second home in the town as well as working class people.
Authorities say the kidnappers are members of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.
The group of officers is part of a special 5,000-strong police force launched last week to combat crime that is strangling commerce in some Mexican regions.
The gendarmerie is made up of fresh recruits whose average age is 28 and who have never served on another police force.
The group sent to Valle de Bravo will join about 600 other federal and Mexico state law enforcement officials, including soldiers and marines, who have recently been sent to the area 90 miles west of Mexico City.

MEXICO CITY — The first assignment for members of a new police force created to combat crimes affecting industry, farms and businesses is Valle de Bravo, a chic resort town near Mexico City that has seen a recent spate of kidnappings, an official said Tuesday.
Hundreds of members of the new force, known as the gendarmerie, have traveled to the town alongside a pine-rimmed lake.
A federal official said the group of officers is one of several being deployed throughout Mexico. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2014, file photo, officers belonging to Mexico's newest police force, known as the gendarmerie, salute during the launching ceremony for the new force at the Federal Police headquarters in Mexico City. Officials said Tuesday Aug. 27, 2014, that the first assignment for members of the new police force is Valle de Bravo, a chic resort town near Mexico City that has seen a recent spate of kidnappings. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

In recent weeks, kidnappers have targeted Mexico City residents who keep a second home in the town as well as working class people.
Authorities say the kidnappers are members of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.
The group of officers is part of a special 5,000-strong police force launched last week to combat crime that is strangling commerce in some Mexican regions.
The gendarmerie is made up of fresh recruits whose average age is 28 and who have never served on another police force.
The group sent to Valle de Bravo will join about 600 other federal and Mexico state law enforcement officials, including soldiers and marines, who have recently been sent to the area 90 miles west of Mexico City.

MEXICO CITY — The first assignment for members of a new police force created to combat crimes affecting industry, farms and businesses is Valle de Bravo, a chic resort town near Mexico City that has seen a recent spate of kidnappings, an official said Tuesday.
Hundreds of members of the new force, known as the gendarmerie, have traveled to the town alongside a pine-rimmed lake.
A federal official said the group of officers is one of several being deployed throughout Mexico. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2014, file photo, officers belonging to Mexico's newest police force, known as the gendarmerie, salute during the launching ceremony for the new force at the Federal Police headquarters in Mexico City. Officials said Tuesday Aug. 27, 2014, that the first assignment for members of the new police force is Valle de Bravo, a chic resort town near Mexico City that has seen a recent spate of kidnappings. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

In recent weeks, kidnappers have targeted Mexico City residents who keep a second home in the town as well as working class people.
Authorities say the kidnappers are members of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.
The group of officers is part of a special 5,000-strong police force launched last week to combat crime that is strangling commerce in some Mexican regions.
The gendarmerie is made up of fresh recruits whose average age is 28 and who have never served on another police force.
The group sent to Valle de Bravo will join about 600 other federal and Mexico state law enforcement officials, including soldiers and marines, who have recently been sent to the area 90 miles west of Mexico City.

MEXICO CITY — The first assignment for members of a new police force created to combat crimes affecting industry, farms and businesses is Valle de Bravo, a chic resort town near Mexico City that has seen a recent spate of kidnappings, an official said Tuesday.
Hundreds of members of the new force, known as the gendarmerie, have traveled to the town alongside a pine-rimmed lake.
A federal official said the group of officers is one of several being deployed throughout Mexico. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2014, file photo, officers belonging to Mexico's newest police force, known as the gendarmerie, salute during the launching ceremony for the new force at the Federal Police headquarters in Mexico City. Officials said Tuesday Aug. 27, 2014, that the first assignment for members of the new police force is Valle de Bravo, a chic resort town near Mexico City that has seen a recent spate of kidnappings. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

In recent weeks, kidnappers have targeted Mexico City residents who keep a second home in the town as well as working class people.
Authorities say the kidnappers are members of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.
The group of officers is part of a special 5,000-strong police force launched last week to combat crime that is strangling commerce in some Mexican regions.
The gendarmerie is made up of fresh recruits whose average age is 28 and who have never served on another police force.
The group sent to Valle de Bravo will join about 600 other federal and Mexico state law enforcement officials, including soldiers and marines, who have recently been sent to the area 90 miles west of Mexico City.

immigrants and the immigration issues

As early as 1895 at the Atlanta International Exposition, the great African-American educator, Booker T. Washington delivered his famous "Cast Down Your Bucket Where You Are" speech, which he pleaded with the racist titans of industry to hire African Americans rather than import cheap foreign labor. His pleas were ignored.
Then, in 1969, Cesar Chavez, who understood the law of labor supply and demand, took up Washington's long ignored challenge to big business, and led a march to the Mexican border to protest illegal immigration, which he knew reduced the wages of hard working legal Hispanic immigrants, particularly the wages of farm workers, to poverty levels. Those pleas, too, were ignored.
Typical of the economic catastrophe thus unleashed in the 1970's was the plight of African Americans working as janitors in buildings in Los Angeles who earned high wages and substantial benefits until greedy businessmen began to hire independent contractors who in turn hired illegal immigrants. Within a year, wages were cut by two-thirds, and benefits eliminated.
Then in 1986 an amiable but naïve President Ronald Reagan ushered in the great Amnesty Bill, offering amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants in return for assurances that border security would be tightened, and employers of illegal immigrants vigorously prosecuted. Democrats protested that, while such an amnesty might cater to the greed of big business' thirst for profits, it would inevitably lure even more cheap labor to the U.S. at the expense of African Americans and legal immigrants desperate to feed their families.
In the 1980s, at a time when African American teenage unemployment approached 80 percent, big business even petitioned the INS for visas for more cheap foreign labor on grounds that there was an "unskilled labor shortage." Amnesty apologists claimed that Americans wouldn't do the "dirty work" that illegal immigrants would perform, deliberately ignoring the fact that Americans gratefully collect garbage or risk their lives in the coal mines if decent wages are paid - wages which are reduced to poverty levels by the influx of cheap foreign labor.
Again, the cries of protest and reason were ignored, and the results are being played out at the U.S. border today. Not satisfied with luring cheap foreign labor to the U.S., the pro-illegal immigration lobby persists in touting amnesty even as its promises of future amnesty lure little children to risk their lives in the desert. In the words of the tort lawyer, the U.S. has now become the world's "attractive nuisance".
In the teeth of a survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center that showed that only 7 percent of Hispanics thought there were "too few" Hispanic immigrants, much of the media continues to promulgate the myth that politicians need to lure even more illegal immigrants with promises or amnesty - presumably on the premise that, unlike Cesar Chavez, African Americans and poverty-stricken Hispanics are ignorant of the effect of cheap foreign labor on wages. They are not, and politicians such as President George W. Bush won precious few votes by claiming to believe it.
When a National Academy of Sciences study showed that illegal immigrants without a high school degree cost Americans $100,000.00 more in social services and education than they contributed in labor, the study was ignored by the amnesty lobby.
The Reagan/Bush amnesty agenda has failed and caused untold misery amidst economic catastrophe for minorities and the poor. It turned the most basic human notions of fairness and decency on its head - rewarding those who commit illegal entry, felony forgery of government issued documents such as social security cards, and failure to pay taxes, while punishing those who patiently wait years for legal entry, endure extensive background checks, health examinations, and high fees. The health aspect of illegal immigration has by itself alarmed public health officials who are seeing the dramatic rise of diseases such as drug-resistant tuberculosis among immigrants who enter without health inspections.
Those who advocate streamlined procedures for legal immigration rather than spending billions to accommodate illegal entrants are marginalized and denigrated, while those who resist e-verify and border security, and deliberately confuse legal immigration issues with illegal immigration issues, are rewarded with media accolades for their "humanity".
Meanwhile, countries whose governments are faced with an expanding population that their economies are unable to support find it is the course of least resistance to encourage its excess population to migrate north rather than take on internal reforms or to provide women with basic rights and access to contraception. (If human-exporting countries were at least asked to reimburse the U.S. for the social costs of such a policy, they might be less enthusiastic about exporting the people they can't support in their own country).
In short, the amnesty lobby that continues to lure little children to risk their lives in the desert with false promises and hope, has lost the moral high ground, and are unlikely to regain it if they persist in following the failed Reagan/Bush agenda.

Mexico spill could cost Grupo Mexico billions of pesos

UPDATE 1-Mexico spill could cost Grupo Mexico billions of pesos- Gov't

Mexican metals miner and railroad operator Grupo Mexico could face a bill running into billions of pesos to clean up a toxic spill that could prove to be the country's worst mining disaster in modern times, the government said on Tuesday.
Grupo Mexico could face an initial fine of 40 million pesos ($3.05 million) over the spill into a river near the Buenavista copper mine in the northern state of Sonora, Mexico's environmental prosecutor Guillermo Haro said.
The company is in the midst of a $3.4 billion expansion project at the mine, which was formerly known as Cananea and has the largest proven copper reserves in the world. The expansion aims to boost production capacity to 1.3 million tonnes by 2017.
Haro's office says Grupo Mexico pumped 40,000 cubic meters of toxic mining acid into the Bacanuchi river. It said the clean up of the spill "could run into hundreds of millions or even billions of pesos".
Shares in Grupo Mexico rose 1.24 percent on Tuesday at 47.21 pesos per share following news of the scale of the potential fine.
The spill could be "the worst environmental disaster in the country's mining industry in modern times," Per Environment Minister Juan Jose Guerra.
Last week, Mexico's Congress urged the government to cancel Grupo Mexico's concession to operate the mine. (1 US dollar = 13.1063 Mexican peso) .

crack split the Earth in the Mexican state of Sonora

A giant crack split the Earth in the Mexican state of Sonora this week, cutting a roadway in two and leaving locals not only surprised but puzzled as to what could have caused the Earth to separate. At the same time, many have become worried that whatever caused the two-thirds-of-a-mile trench might be a precursor. But scientists insist that there is no cause for alarm, even though they may not know -- yet -- exactly what caused the giant crack.
Traveler's Today reported Aug. 23 that the giant crack that recently appeared outside Hermosillo in Sonora in northwest Mexico has been labeled by scientists as basically harmless. Stretching a kilometer, the giant crack is almost five meters (16 ft) wide and eight meters (26 ft) deep and set in the middle of an expanse of farmland. A video taken with a camera attached to a drone flying the length of the massive trench shows what looks like a giant scar on the Earth.
The giant crack in the Earth lies in an area impacted by the San Andreas Fault, and some local officials, according to News.com, believe that a recent earthquake (Sunday) might have caused the fissure. But
"It's definitely not a cause for alarm for the population," Martin Valencia Moreno, head of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Regional Station of the Geological Institute, told the Excelsior newspaper, according to Huffington Post. "It's more something sensationalist and people like to encourage that sort of thing."
Moreno added that he did not believe that an eartquake had caused the deep fissure, either, noting that with an earthquake, the ground levels on the sides of the crack would have been staggered. Instead, they appeared to be relatively even, the fissure seeming to have be produced by a pulling apart and a falling away.
A group of geologists at the University of Sonora believe that the fissure was created by when land collapsed into what had been an underground stream. The stream was likely created by leakage from a farmer-built levee, which had created an underground stream that eventually weakened the earth above it, causing it to erode and collapse.
The unexpected rift divided Highway 26 and has caused a disruption in local traffic flow, forcing vehicles to drive around the affected area. And despite the reassuring words of experts, locals still worry, especially since another giant crack has been reported nearby.

Coke man run over by vehicle

Police: Man's legs run over at taquería in Palmview

Autopedestrian accident at the Taquería Tamaulipas in Palmview Authorities are investigating a Monday morning accident that ended with a man's legs being run over outside a drive-thru taco restaurant in Palmview. It all happened at the Taquería Tamaulipas off La Homa Road and 2 Mile Line around 11:30 a.m. Monday. Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office deputies told Action 4 News that a man was sitting down at the drive-thru restaurant. A car came through and reportedly ran over the man's legs. Investigators said the victim was a Coca-Cola employee who was working on a machine when the accident happened. Owners of the restaurant declined to comment about the accident.

Deported U.S. military veterans activate in Tijuana

The Bunker of the Deported Veterans of America is located on 3rd street, near Parque Teniente Guerrero, on top of Baja Gym. Dark steps behind an iron door next to the gym's entrance lead you to two green doors and an open space. One of the green doors has a handwritten sign that reads “Bunker: Support House of the Deported Veterans of America. Director Hector Barajas.”

I knock on the door a couple times until I hear “Pasale.”

In the corner of a large open room, behind improvised desks, sit two veterans on their computers. A map of Mexico and a bunch of Army certificates decorate this corner they use as office space. The rest of the room has all the necessities for basic living. A loud fan barely helps allay the summer heat. A large American flag next to a smaller Mexican flag act as curtains for the sliding glass doors that lead to a balcony with no railing.

This is Spc. Hector Barajas’s home, a veteran who served in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne division from 1995 until 2001. Barajas shares his home with fellow deported veterans. Veterans can stay at the bunker while they find a better situation. Alex Caballero, a former Marine (1998-2007), is calling the place home for now.

“I see this house as the hub for all the deported veterans around the world,” says Barajas, “because this is where we've been doing a lot of the advocating, raising awareness, protests.... We are also working on an actual list of who are the deported veterans; these are numbers that the VA or Homeland Security doesn't have.”

Barajas estimates that there are between 3000 and 50,000 deported veterans around the world. He estimates that there’re more than 1000 in Baja California.

“The problem is that when you get deported, you think you are the only one. I talked to a guy that got deported to Jamaica, so I connected him to other veterans that have been deported there. We're forming virtual bunkers around the world. If someone gets deported in Tamaulipas, I help him connect with other veterans in the area. I tried to get these guys motivated, to raise awareness of their situation and where they are at and to get organized.”

Besides connecting veterans with one another, Barajas works to get benefits for them and to get them back home.

“Benefits are going to be easier to get; going back home is going to be more difficult. If they made me sign something that says I could go home and get none of my benefits, I would do it right now. If they tell me to jump from 100 airplanes, I'll serve a year in Iraq if I have to. I would do whatever it takes to go home.”

Like most deportees, a crime was committed for the system to notice them.

“A crime shouldn't take away your citizenship,” says Barajas. “I served a three-year prison term for a discharge of a firearm on to a vehicle…. I paid my debt to society.”

Alex Caballero claims he was unaware that he was part of a scam for Schwarzenegger's campaign as he presents me with a mountain of evidence and law jargon. Both, Caballero and Barajas call California their home. Barajas moved to Compton when he was seven years old; Caballero has lived all over California since he was two.

I ask them what comfort of home (besides family) they are missing and if there's something I can bring them next time I come back from San Diego.

“Family comes and visits the guys — for some is every week, others a month or so,” says Barajas. “You know what I miss, Church's Fried Chicken, KFC is not the same here. Church's hot and spicy is my favorite, the chicken over here doesn't taste the same at all.” — Hector misses a simple commodity, and since there's a Church's Chicken just across the border, I'll be bringing him some hot and spicy.

Alex in the other hand misses something that I cannot provide. “Just the freedom itself, the general feeling of being part of America, being around what you know, your family and friends.” 

Death in the Night

EXECUTED IN THE CASTRO, NEXT TO BRIDGE ABASOLO

Unknown subject came with another yet unidentified that short conversation after shot point-blank in the head, seeing him drop dead fled in an SUV Jeep Cheroke black color, which is tracked by the authorities.

It was about nine in the evening when the central patrol it was reported that in the back of the OXXO and a gas station that is on the bridge of Abasolo colony, an injured person shot in the head was, so municipal and ministerial agents made ​​ready the place where they found a person lying face down bleeding from the head,

Paramedics declared the man dead, so the presence of experts from the State Attorney's Office was asked to start lifting.

After several patrols were not traced or Jeep or the alleged murderer, he said he used a weapon whose high power 9 or 40 mm caps were in place on the body.

VIZIO 39- and 42-Inch E-Series Flat Panel Televisions

Consumers should stop using this product unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Recall date: August 06, 2014     Recall number: 14-251

Recall Summary

Name of product: VIZIO E-Series 39-inch and 42-inch televisions
Hazard:

The stand assembly can fail and cause the television to tip over unexpectedly, posing a risk of impact injury to the consumer.

Remedy:

View Details

Repair

Consumer Contact: VIZIO toll-free at (855) 472-7450 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT Saturday and Sunday. Consumers can also visit the firm’s website www.vizio.com and click on “Safety Notice” for more information.

Recall Details

Units

About 245,000

Description

This recall involves Vizio E-series 39- and 42-inch Full-Array LED flat panel televisions. The flat panel televisions are black with “VIZIO” printed in the lower right corner of the television front and the VIZIO logo in the center of the back. The following model and serial numbers are included in the recall:

Size	Model	Serial Number
39 Inch	Model No. E390-B0	LAE 8PSBP 4600517 to LAE 8PSBP 4701297 LAE APSBP 500001 to LAE APSBP 4501376 LAQ 8PSBP 5000001  to LAQ 8PSBQ 0804968 LAQ APSBP 4400181 to LAQ APSBQ 2201656 LAT 8PSBP 4801682  to LAT 8PSBP 5008235 LAT APSBP 4800026 to LAT APSBQ 1701656 LAU 8PSBP 4600301  to LAU 8PSBP 5100030 LAU APSBP 4400001 to LAU APSBQ 1100020
	Smart TV Model No. E390i-B0	LAE 8PSAP 4600217 to LAE 8PSAP 4800364 LAE APSAP 4300237 to LAE APSAP 4401296 LAQ 8PSAQ 1500001 to LAQ 8PSAQ 1505973 LAQ APSAP 4401657 to LAQ APSAQ 2401656 LAT APSAQ 0300001 to LAT APSAQ 1701656 LAU 8PSAP 4600001 to LAU 8PSAP 4600216 LAU APSAP 4300001 to LAU APSAP 4300216
42 Inch	Smart TV Model No. E420i-B0	LAQ APTAP 5200001 to LAQ APTAQ 2107039 LAU APTAP 5000001 to LAU APTAQ 2408327

Model and serial numbers are printed on a label on the back of the television.

Incidents/Injuries

VIZIO has received 51 reports of the recalled televisions tipping over. No injuries have been reported.

Remedy

Consumers using the stand assembly should immediately detach the stand, place the television in a safe location and contact VIZIO for a replacement stand assembly. Consumers with wall-mounted televisions should request the replacement stand assembly in case the stand is needed for future use.

Sold at

Best Buy, Meijer, Target, Walmart and other retail stores nationwide , online at Amazon.com, Costco.com, Meijer.com, Sams.com and other internet retailers from December 2013 through June 2014 for between $370 and $450.

Manufacturer

AmTRAN Technology Company Ltd., of Taipei City, Taiwan

Distributor

VIZIO Inc., of Irvine, Calif.

Manufactured in

China and Mexico

El Paso Border Area TV as real as life.

US-Mexico border crime takes center stage in ‘The Bridge’

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, August 3, 2014 9:16 EDT

 

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Murder, corruption and all sorts of sleazy behavior are found on both sides of the US-Mexico border in the US TV drama “The Bridge,” which focuses on an American and a Mexican detective trying to solve bi-national crimes.
The series, which just began its second season in the United States, Latin America and Spain, opened in July 2013 with the gruesome discovery of a woman’s mutilated body placed in the middle of one of the busy bridges over the Rio Grande that links El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The teeming urban sprawl of about 2 million people — some 1.4 million in Ciudad Juarez and about 600,000 in El Paso — is one city with deep historical, cultural and family ties divided by an international border.
In the show, Ciudad Juarez police detective Marco Ruiz, played by leading Mexican actor Demian Bichir and his Texas counterpart Sonya Cross, played by German actress Diane Kruger, work together to attempt to solve baffling serial killings that have suspects and leads on both sides of the border.
As the investigation unfolds, issues of drug trafficking, human smuggling, bribery and abuse of power in the United States and Mexico, inspired by real-life cases ripped from the headlines, are dealt with in the show.
“Here we talk of all the problems that two countries so different as the United States and Mexico share, but in a fictional setting,” Bichir told AFP in an interview.
The series “does not treat one country as good and the other as bad. That’s one of the things that keeps the viewer’s attention,” said Bichir, nominated for an Oscar for his lead role in the 2011 Chris Weitz movie “A Better Life.”
- Drug wars, illegal immigration -
“The Bridge” is a remake of the 2011 Swedish-Danish TV series “Bron/Broen” adapted to the busy 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border, legally crossed by one million people a day.
The show includes episodes that touch on the turf wars between Mexican drug cartels to control lucrative smuggling routes into the United States — the world’s largest illicit drug market — and the influence of the cartels on the northern side of the border.
It also addresses the illegal immigration of Mexicans and Central Americans, many of whom are robbed, abused, raped and sometimes murdered by criminal gangs before they even attempt to sneak into the United States.
In this context of rampant, out-of-control violence, Detective Ruiz faces endless obstacles, not only having to deal with the shocking cruelty of some of the crimes, but also the corruption of his own police colleagues.
In El Paso Detective Cross, who has Asperger syndrome and can be brusque and tactless, struggles to enforce US law even while she has a jaded, often uninterested supervisor.
The series “puts the finger on the sore” of the most controversial issues affecting both countries thanks to the honesty of the two lead characters, Bichir said.
- US-Mexican ‘marriage’–
“The Bridge” has found the right formula to bring Americans closer to what is happening in its southern border, “touching fundamental issues to open eyes and allowing viewers to reflect through emotions,” said Demian’s brother Bruno Bichir, who in the series portrays a dark character named Sebastian Cerisola.
“The most important thing is to realize, through this fiction, that Mexico and the United States are in a marriage and that we have a border that we must care for together,” he said.
Americans appear to be increasingly concerned about the southern border, especially with violence linked to the drug trade and the flood of illegal migration.
The show’s first season had some 3.3 million viewers in the United States, and some 14,000 followers on Twitter. The series airs on the FX network, part of the Fox Entertainment Group, and there has been no confirmation yet of a third season.
Demian Bichir hopes that “The Bridge” will take a closer look at the issue of migration to the United States.
“We have to talk about the origin of this massive exodus of children that has arrived at the border,” he said, in reference to the more than 57,000 minors, mostly from Central America, who have illegally crossed into the United States since October.
“It would be worthwhile if ‘The Bridge’ has the time to tell the history of this humanitarian crisis, and that it takes the time to put a face on the 12 million undocumented people living their daily lives in the United States,” he said.