allisnow: (usa // don'to crosso bordero)
This is fantastic news.

On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the controversial sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.

The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the men were just doing their jobs and were punished too harshly. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively.

Their sentences will now expire on March 20 of this year.

Ramos and Compean were sentenced in connection with the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who was shot in the buttocks while trying to flee along the Texas border. He admitted smuggling several hundred pounds of marijuana on the day he was shot and pleaded guilty last year to drug charges related to two other smuggling attempts.

Nearly the entire congressional delegation from Texas and other lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle pleaded with Bush to grant them clemency.


I was really worried that Bush would leave office without having done anything for these guys. I'm not saying they were completely without fault, so it's fitting that it's a commutation and not an outright pardon. But the fact that the prosecutors in this case actually brought Davila into the country to testify and, IIRC, basically gave him immunity... bah. It was a complete cluster and the sentences were much too harsh.
allisnow: (usa // don'to crosso bordero)
Haha, gotcha!



LOS ANGELES — An illegal immigrant who sought sanctuary in a Chicago church for a year to avoid deportation and separation from her 8-year-old American son was arrested Sunday, the church's pastor said.

Elvira Arellano was arrested before 3 p.m. outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church on L.A.'s historic Olvera Street where she had been speaking to reporters, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago where she sought sanctuary.


Why the hell didn't they arrest her when she left the church in Chicago, that's what I want to know.

No, scratch that. What I really want to know is why they didn't go into the damn church in Chicago and arrest her in the first place. The whole idea of taking sanctuary from the government (a foreign government, in this woman's case) in a religious institution has no legal basis that I'm aware of.

Okay, and the other thing? No one is forcing this woman to be separated from her son. No one is saying, "Well, your 8 year old is American, he has to stay here and you have to go home". Nope, she is perfectly OK to take the little tyke back to Mexico with her, and when he's 18 or whatever the legal age is down there, he can come back because he is an American citizen. She is not. Maybe she should have thought about that before she had her kid here.

Coleman said he was with Arellano when she was detained, but declined to provide other details.

"We're trying to determine her situation right now," he said.

It was unclear what law enforcement agency had taken Arellano into custody.

A call to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not immediately returned.

The 32-year-old Arellano arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday, leaving her sanctuary for the first time in a year to campaign for immigration reform.

Arellano has become a symbol of the struggles of illegal immigrant parents and a source of controversy. She had said Saturday she was not afraid of being taken into custody by immigration agents.


Isn't that kind of belied by the fact that she was 'hiding' from them in a church for a year?

"From the time I took sanctuary the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want," she said in Spanish. "I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight."


Nooooo you go back to Mexico, wench. I wonder if she speaks any Ingles. (That's "English" for you gringos.)

Arellano came to Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly after, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport.

She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and later convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August.

She sought refuge at the storefront church on Chicago's West Side Aug. 15, 2006. She had not left the church property until deciding to be driven to Los Angeles, Coleman said.


Seriously, people. WTF is wrong with this country's idea of sovereign borders and national-freaking-security??

ETA: Here's a quick primer on illegal immigration.
allisnow: (usa // no aliens)
Daily bwahaha: Tancredo sends head of lettuce to Chertoff

I don't think Tom has a hope of getting the nomination, but I do love him.

LETTUCE!
allisnow: (usa // no aliens)
I saw this cool website on the (network!) news tonight... US Patriot Companies. Basically it's a list of companies across the country who have pledged not to employ illegal aliens.

Some of the big ones are Baskin Robbins, U-Haul and Costco. You can find local companies by going to the website and looking under your state, and hey -- if you happen to know someone who belongs there, send in their name!

I know if I had the choice, I would much prefer to spend my money with companies who have made this public promise to follow the law and not give into the 'everyone else does it' apathy that has unfortunately become so common.

Craptastic

May. 28th, 2007 05:09 pm
allisnow: (usa // legal citizen)
[Poll #992958]
allisnow: (usa // no aliens)
This is one of the few times I wish I didn't live so far from the border.

National Minuteman 30-Day Border Watch Begins 4/1/07
allisnow: (usa // wall of fire)
Okay, this I love.

BOSTON (AP) -"Police! Policia! Police!'' yelled Daniel Monico, a deportation officer, holding his badge to a window where someone had pulled back the curtain. "Open the door!''

Moments later, agents led a dazed-looking Jose Ferreira DaSilva, 35, out in handcuffs. The Brazilian had been arrested in 2002 and deported, but had slipped back into the country. He now faces up to 20 years in prison.

In a blitz that began May 26, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested nearly 2,100 illegal immigrants across the country. Officials said the raids are aimed at child molesters, gang members and other violent criminals, as well as people like DaSilva who sneaked back into the country after a judge threw them out. The crackdown is called Operation Return to Sender.

"This sends a message,'' said Monico, standing outside the gray Victorian apartment where Da Silva had been hiding. "When we deport you, we're serious.''

An Associated Press reporter and photographer accompanied a fugitive task force as it made Operation Return to Sender raids Tuesday night and early Wednesday. The operation has caught more than 140 immigrants with convictions for sexual offenses against children; 367 known gang members, including street soldiers in the deadly Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13; and about 640 people who had already been deported once, immigration officials said. The numbers include more than 720 arrests in California alone. More than 800 people arrested already have been deported.


Keep it up, boys and girls!
allisnow: (usa // aliens)
Watching FNC's coverage of the illegal immigrant bill that's being worked on at the Senate. They're writing in 370 more miles of fencing, 200,000 guest workers the first year (instead of 375,000), and if you're an illegal with a felony or three misdemeanors your ass gets deported.

Alli like.

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