1. Republicans seek gun records
2. States' laws slowed by courts
3. Smugglers use sea routes
4. AZ announces recall election
5. Guatemala massacre suspect

1.
Republicans want records from Justice officials about botched gun operation
By Jordy Yager
The Hill (DC), July 12, 2011

Republican lawmakers have requested correspondence records, including emails and handwritten notes, from a dozen senior Justice Department officials who may have been involved in a controversial gun-tracking operation.

The Hill has obtained a letter sent from Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) to Attorney General Eric Holder this week in which they ask for communication records from 12 senior officials with the Department of Justice (DOJ), including James Cole, the recently confirmed Deputy Attorney General.

Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, are investigating the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) botched operation “Fast and Furious,” which sold thousands of weapons to known and suspected straw purchasers for Mexican drug cartels.

The move comes in connection with a separate letter sent by the lawmakers to Holder on Monday asking for records of a shared drive, which they say was provided to the computers of ATF officials and could jeopardize their investigation.

The drive contained documents relating to the Fast and Furious operation that the DOJ has given to the committee and possibly documents that it has not yet handed over, their letter states.

“Allowing witnesses access to such documents could taint their testimony by allowing them to tailor their responses to what they think the committees already know,” the lawmakers wrote.

The intent of the documents on the shared drive was to brief officials on what information lawmakers had been given, according to a committee interview with William McMahon, an ATF deputy assistant director for field operations.

The lawmakers sent the letters one week after the ATF’s acting-director Kenneth Melson was interviewed with his lawyer by staff of the two committees.

Issa’s office did not respond to questions about whether Melson’s interview revealed new information with regards to any of the 12 named officials’ possible involvement.

Shortly after the interview, Issa reversed his call a week prior for Melson to resign for his role in the Fast and Furious operation.
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http://thehill.com/homenews/news/171073-republicans-want-records-from-ju...

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2.
States' immigration drive hits impasse in the courts
By Tim Gaynor
Reuters, July 12, 2011

A year ago, immigrant labor activist Salvador Reza thought Arizona's tough state immigration crackdown could empty the work site he ran in north Phoenix.

But 12 months on, after a federal judge blocked key parts of the law, day laborers still line up from dawn to tout for work, occasionally heckled by protesters who want them gone. In short, deadlock.

"This is low intensity warfare that's going to go on for years," said Reza.

The stalemate at the sun-baked day labor site in Phoenix is emblematic of the impasse around the country as other states have followed Arizona's lead on immigration, only to be knocked back by the courts.

Parts of Arizona's law -- notably a measure requiring police to quiz those they detained and suspected of being in the country illegally about their immigration status -- were blocked hours before they took effect last July, after a judge ruled that immigration matters are Washington's responsibility.

The wave of judicial rebuttals continued in May, when a federal judge temporarily blocked Arizona-style enforcement provisions in a package of immigration laws passed by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert in March.

Then in June, key parts of tough state crackdowns due to take effect in both Georgia and Indiana on July 1 -- seeking immigration powers for police and other restrictions -- were stayed in temporary injunctions imposed by the courts.

In Alabama, civil rights groups last week filed a challenge to a law widely seen as the nation's toughest, requiring public schools to determine the immigration status of students and punishing employers who hire people who are not legal residents and landlords who knowingly rent property to them.

"It's been kind of one step forward and one step back," said Bruce Merrill, an Arizona State University pollster and political scientist, of the emerging pattern of deadlock.

"All it does for me is emphasize the need for true reform at the federal level," he added.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/12/us-immigration-states-idUSTRE7...

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3.
Tightened borders force immigrant smugglers to take risky sea routes
By Sam Quinones and Andrew Blankstein
Los Angeles Times, July 13, 2011

Before dawn Tuesday, California National Guard troops spotted a suspected smuggling boat moving up the coast from San Diego.

The boat had no lights and after about an hour, it headed for shore at Crystal Cove State Park, near Newport Beach in Orange County.

In the rough surf, the small craft flipped, spilling its occupants into the ocean.

No one was hurt. But federal customs authorities, working with the Guard troops, arrested 14 suspected illegal immigrants, all from Mexico; another immigrant escaped and remains at large.

The incident came two days after 15 immigrants from Mexico were rescued from Santa Cruz Island, where, according to authorities, they were abandoned by a smuggler.

The two cases are only the latest in an increasing number of forays by traffickers seeking to avoid increased enforcement on land. The panga boats used by smugglers are not designed for deep-water trips and are unsafe, officials said.

"In recent weeks we've had multiple instances where smuggled aliens have been ejected from these boats, suffering fairly significant injuries," said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Over the last year, boatloads of illegal immigrants have been captured from San Diego to Malibu. In one case, a woman with a broken nose and a man with a broken leg were hospitalized.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0713-immigrant-boat-20110713,0,3...

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4.
Ariz. gov. announces recall election for state lawmaker who sponsored illegal immigration law
The Associated Press, July 12, 2011

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has announced a Nov. 8 recall election for the leader of the state Senate who was the chief sponsor of the state’s controversial legislation against illegal immigration.

Brewer’s action Tuesday was expected because elections officials certified last week that opponents of Senate President Russell Pearce had collected enough signatures to force the recall election.

Pearce is best known for sponsoring immigration measures, including the 2010 enforcement law known as SB1070. A judge has placed key provisions of that measure on hold while they’re challenged in federal court.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ariz-gov-announces-recall-electio...

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5.
APNewsBreak: US deports Guatemala massacre suspect
By Amy Taxin
The Associated Press, July 12, 2011

A former member of an elite Guatemalan military force suspected of carrying out a 1982 massacre was extradited from the United States on Tuesday, ending a two-decade exile in which he spent years working in a southern California sweater factory.

Pedro Pimentel Rios, 54, was flown on a government-chartered plane to Guatemala and turned over to authorities, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The news was celebrated in Guatemala by a lawyer for victims of the Dos Erres massacre, in which more than 150 people were killed. Witnesses say men, women and children were tortured and robbed by the soldiers as part of a "scorched earth" effort to eliminate communities supporting insurgent groups at the height of Guatemala's 36-year civil war.

Attorney Edgar Perez said more than 100 witnesses would be available to testify in the case.

Pimentel, a former instructor at the Guatemalan training school for a force known as the "kaibiles," was ordered deported from the United States in May when an immigration judge rejected his bid for asylum.

He is one of more than a dozen former kaibiles who have been sought by Guatemalan authorities for the killings.

U.S. authorities have helped track down four of them. Three were arrested last year in the United States, and another was located and arrested in Canada and now faces extradition requests to the United States and Spain.

"It doesn't matter how long ago the crime was committed," said John Woods, deputy assistant director of ICE Homeland Security's Investigations Division. "If you're going to come to the United States, we're not going to permit safe haven here."

Since 2004, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested more than 200 suspected human rights violators from Bosnia, Rwanda and other countries who have sought refuge in the United States.

Some have faced criminal charges for allegedly lying on their immigration paperwork while others, such as Pimentel, have been called to immigration court for deportation proceedings.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jV6KgduGPl8ijax1QKOw-f...