1. Atty. Gen. called to resign
2. DC bill cuts detainment time
3. Union wants to see evidence
4. 13 arrested at AL protest
5. Occupy Oakland arrestee
1.
GOP members call on Eric Holder to quit
By Mackenzie Weinger
Politico (DC), November 15, 2011
A group of House Republicans Tuesday called on Attorney General Eric Holder to immediately resign because of Operation Fast and Furious, saying he did not tell the truth about the controversial “gun-walking” program.
During a Capitol Hill press conference, several members — including Reps. Paul Gosar, Raul Labrador, Tim Huelskamp and Blake Farenthold — also said President Barack Obama should join in their demand that Holder quit.
Labrador, an Idaho Republican, said the attorney general should resign for his role in the controversial operation.
“Attorney General Eric Holder cannot avoid responsibility for his involvement with a government program that directly led to the tragic death of a decorated Border Patrol agent,” Labrador said. “As our nation’s top enforcer of the principles of law and justice, Mr. Holder has now lost credibility and should step down immediately.”
And the Republican members said they should no longer be the only ones putting pressure on Holder to resign — Obama must also take action.
“When you have the privilege of leading the Department of Justice there is no excuse for not knowing what is going on, especially when it relates to something as controversial and dangerous as Fast and Furious,” Huelskamp, a Kansas Republican, said. “But ultimately the buck stops with the president of the United States. And I believe it’s time for the president to join us and step up to the plate and ask Mr. Holder to resign.”
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) also announced he’s circulating a letter among colleagues that he plans to send to the White House, appealing to Obama to ask Holder to resign.
Meanwhile, Texas Republican Farenthold called for Holder to “tell us what you knew, tell us who else knew, do the right thing and take responsibility for the actions you authorized.”
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68421.html
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2.
New D.C. bill cuts time frame for detaining illegals
By Tom Howell Jr.
The Washington Times, November 15, 2011
The D.C. Council introduced a bill Tuesday that cuts in half the amount of time U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has to pick up illegal immigrants placed on a civil detainer.
The bill, co-introduced by all 13 members of the council, requires the federal government to pick up detainees within 24 hours and pay for the detainee’s incarceration.
It also stipulates the District will only hold ICE detainees who have been convicted of violent offenses.
Council member Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat, said the bill is aimed at growing distrust of the Secure Communities program, designed to join federal, state and local agencies in removing serious criminals not in the United States legally.
Critics question whether the program, in which localities share with ICE and the FBI the fingerprints of individuals booked into jails to determine their immigration status, meets the intended goal of removing dangerous aliens or potentially tears apart families by deporting nonviolent immigrants.
The council’s bill, the Immigration Detainer Compliance Amendment Act of 2011, emphasizes the District’s discretion in complying with ICE and is modeled after legislation adopted in cities such as Chicago and New York City, Mr. Mendelson said at Tuesday’s meeting of the Committee of the Whole.
Mr. Mendelson referred to a letter the council sent to the Department of Homeland Security in September, which emphasized the need to build trust with the immigrant community to effectively prevent or investigate crimes in the District.
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray signed an order last month that prohibits public-safety officers from asking people about their immigration status.
The executive order also directs officers in seven D.C. agencies not to arrest people based only on their immigration status.
City officials said the mayor’s order should not be viewed as a plan to opt out of Secure Communities, which is expected to be implemented nationwide by 2013.
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/15/new-dc-bill-cuts-time-fr...
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3.
Union: Show evidence against border agent
By Jerry Seper
The Washington Times, November 15, 2011
The union that represents U.S. Border Patrol agents is challenging an effort by Texas prosecutors to block the release of information used to build a successful case against a Border Patrol agent convicted of wielding excessive force, saying the American public has a right to see the evidence.
Shawn P. Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), said the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas sought a protective order to prohibit the release of discovery material without stating a reason — other than to suggest it contains information of a “sensitive nature.”
“Could the reason behind this motion be that U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman does not want the public to see the real nature of his selective prosecution of Border Patrol agents,” said Mr. Moran, whose group has taken its case to U.S. District Court.
“Perhaps it is to hide the flimsy evidence that supported his prosecution in order to avoid the public outcry as occurred after the prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean.”
In 2009, President Bush commuted the sentences of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who had become cause celebres after being sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively, for shooting a drug smuggler in the buttocks. The agents were released after serving two years.
The NBPC has criticized as an “exorbitant waste of time” the prosecution of Agent Jesus E. Diaz Jr., who was sentenced last month to 24 months in prison for depriving a 15-year-old suspected drug smuggler of his constitutional rights.
Diaz was indicted in November 2009, charged with deprivation of rights under color of law during an October 2008 arrest near Eagle Pass, Texas, where agents had responded to a report that illegal immigrants had crossed the Rio Grande with bundles of drugs. He was convicted after a two-day trial on one count of using excessive force and five counts of making false statements.
The agent was accused of lifting the handcuffed suspected drug smuggler’s hands above his head while placing his knee in his back. The prosecution had been sought by the Mexican government, with the Mexican Consulate in Eagle Pass sending a formal complaint just hours after the arrest, alleging that the teenager had been beaten.
Defense attorneys argued that there were no injuries or bruises on the suspected smuggler’s lower arms where the handcuffs had been placed nor any bruising resulting from a knee on his back. Evidence presented at trial showed only marks on his body from the straps of the pack he carried containing the suspected drugs.
Border Patrol agents found more than 150 pounds of marijuana at the arrest site.
The U.S. attorney's office, in a statement, acknowledged that the teenager admitted he was smuggling marijuana into the United States, but said it was Border Patrol agent trainees at the site who testified that Diaz used unnecessary force and complained about it to their supervisor. Prosecutors said Diaz improperly pulled the teenager’s handcuffed arms from behind his back while questioning him on where he and other suspected smugglers with him had hidden their drugs.
The initial allegations against Diaz, 31, a seven-year Border Patrol veteran, were investigated by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which cleared the agent of any wrongdoing. A year later, the Internal Affairs Division at U.S. Customs and Border Protection ruled differently and the agent was charged.
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/15/union-show-evidence-agai...
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4.
Police arrest 13 in immigration law protest
By Bryan Lyman
The Montgomery Advertiser, November 16, 2011
Mauricio Martel had one word to describe his 17-year-old daughter Diane's arrest: bien -- good.
"It's all in favor of our rights in a community, and that's why we're fighting against this law of hate," Martel, an immigrant from Mexico and resident of Bessemer, said through a translator Tuesday evening.
Diane Martel and a dozen people, ranging in age from 17 to 57, were arrested during a protest of HB 56, Alabama's new immigration law.
The protesters arrested were all undocumented immigrants, living in different parts of the country. Under the law, the protesters risk being turned over to immigration authorities and possible deportation, a risk all said they were aware of.
"This is a nation of immigrants, and as immigrants we have the right to be here," said Martin Unzueta, 57, an undocumented immigrant from Illinois who sat with 10 other people on a mat reading "We will no longer remain in the shadows."
About an hour later, two men -- Ernesto Zumaya, 25, of Los Angeles, and Cesar Marroquam, 21, who lives outside Philadelphia -- were arrested for failing to move out of the lobby of the State House. Both men are undocumented and said they were brought to this country as children.
"We'll do whatever it takes to ensure our community is not oppressed by laws like HB 56," Zumaya said.
The two-hour protest, which drew approximately 70 people and included a march around the Capitol, was energetic but peaceful.
City says arrests necessary
Protesters did not appear to resist Montgomery police, who began arresting them at about 4:15 p.m. after blocking South Union Street for about an hour. Police gave protesters warnings in English and Spanish before making the arrests.
The protesters in the street were charged with disorderly conduct, and transported to jail in a yellow school bus.
"When you are blocking a street and we're fixing to get into rush hour (traffic), we felt like it would not be in our community's interest (for them) to be occupying (the street)," Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said. "Plus, at some point in time, how can you condone civil disobedience?"
Both Strange and Chris Murphy, Montgomery's public safety director, said they were proud of the response.
"Instead of rushing in and doing something kind of off-the-cuff, we made some conscious decisions about how we would handle this so that the citizens would stay safe but also so the city would be proud of how we responded to that," Chris Murphy said.
Montgomery police chief Kevin J. Murphy said those arrested would be asked to provide documentation, which could lead to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be contacted.
"If it's shown they don't have documentation, that's reasonable suspicion to detain them for ICE," Murphy said.
ICE would ultimately make the decision whether to hold them on the immigration violations.
The protesters will be defended by a group of three to five Montgomery lawyers working pro bono, according to Mike Winter, one of the attorneys working on the case.
Winter said that if ICE detained those arrested, they would probably be transferred outside the city, possibly to a holding facility in New Orleans.
"I think they're incredibly brave, and I think they came to America for the same reason my ancestors came to Alabama almost 191 years ago, and that was to build a better family, and build a better community," Winter said.
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http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20111116/NEWS01/111160332/Police-arrest-13-immigration-law-protest-?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|p
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5.
Occupy Oakland arrestee faces deportation
By Demian Bulwa
San Francisco Chronicle, November 16, 2011
Occupy Oakland protesters rallied outside a downtown jail Tuesday in support of an activist who faces possible deportation to his native Mexico after being arrested during Monday's police sweep of the movement's encampment outside City Hall.
Francisco "Pancho" Ramos Stierle, a 36-year-old Oakland resident who friends said came to the United States six years ago to study astrophysics at UC Berkeley, is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin because of a federal immigration hold.
Stierle was one of 32 people arrested during the sweep early Monday in Frank Ogawa Plaza. Video footage shows Stierle - who "practices silence" every Monday, according to friends - meditating, sitting cross-legged and communicating with a police officer by writing on a notepad.
"He's serving the community in a major way," said friend Adelaja Simon, 24, of Oakland, who meditated next to Stierle and was also arrested. "For him to be jailed like this is a ridiculous waste of energy and funds."
Stierle was booked on suspicion of two misdemeanors, refusing to disperse and loitering - charges that would carry a $10,000 bail if not for the immigration hold. Alameda County sheriff's Sgt. J.D. Nelson said his agency had no control over federal immigration holds.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed her agency had "lodged an immigration detainer against Mr. Stierle," but declined to comment further. The detainer requires Alameda County to give immigration authorities a chance to take custody of Stierle before he is released.
Such holds have been controversial in the Bay Area, with some counties seeking to limit the circumstances in which they must share arrestees' fingerprints with the federal immigration agency.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/15/MNGC1LVES1.DTL
