RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Local governments cannot opt out of a federal program that checks the fingerprints of people who are arrested against a database to determine if they are illegal immigrants, the head of the immigration enforcement agency said Friday. Read more
Nowhere-Near-the-Border Patrol in Forks
How a flushgovernment agency
found trouble in the coastal home of Twilight.
By NinaShapiro
pubished:
July 27, 2011
One day earlier this May, Benjamin Roldan Salinas and Crisanta
Ramos decided to explore a new area of the Olympic National Forest. The
Hispanic couple was looking for salal, a green, oval-leafed plant that is
prized by florists around the world for its ability to stay fresh for weeks. It
grows like a weed on the mountainsides around Forks, a tiny town on the Olympic
Peninsula Read more
30 days to comment – Environ. Impact Statement on Port Angeles BP Station
| This is a link to the full 127 page impact statement. Fascinating reading – especially the last part which shows the actual signin sheet from that late-notice public meeting and has all the comments submitted by all of us last time around. They basically say there is minimal impact of a new station. Also mention future increases in agents, etc.We have thirty days (till March 29, 2011) to comment! | |
| Title: | Draft EA And FONSI For The Proposed Construction, Operation, And Maintenance Of DHS U.S. Customs And Border Protection U.S. Border Patrol Station Port Angeles, Clallam County, Washington |
| Date Posted: | 25-Feb-2011 |
| File Size: | 8244513 KB |
| Summary: | This document will be available for one month from 28-Feb-2011. |
Bellingham reporter shares concern about secrecy of detentions.
I share your concern. The idea that the government protects “privacy” by
allowing people to be arrested and detained in secret is bizarre.
But the fact is that the policy here is the same. Detention of people on
immigration violations is cloaked in secrecy. When ICE raided a local
laundry years ago, we tried to use FOIA to get their names to no avail.
Read more
Border law agencies pledge more cooperation with Bellingham residents
JOHN STARK / THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
BLAINE – Representatives of federal border agencies pledged to work to improve their relationships with local residents, after hearing complaints and questions from an audience of about 150 people at the school district’s Performing Arts Center.
“I’m going to work as hard as I can to address your concerns,” said U.S. Border Patrol Section Chief John Bates. “We’re going to do everything we can to make our agents ambassadors. .. Read more
Feds say fingerprint and check immigration database or else!
Localities Warned on Fingerprinting
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tell ICE to Stop Secretive Local Police Collaboration
Tell ICE to Stop Secretive Local Police Collaboration
Recently, an immigrant living in California called the police during a domestic violence incident. Instead of receiving the help she needed, she was arrested, fingerprinted and transferred into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody—even though no charges were filed against her.
Read more
Obama signs Border Bill to Increase Surveillance
By JULIA PRESTON, New York Times August 14, 2010
President Obama signed into law a $600 million bill on Friday to pay for 1,500 new border agents, additional unmanned surveillance drones and new Border Patrol stations along the southwest border.
The measure sailed through Congress in little more than a week with broad bipartisan support, demonstrating Read more
AP Impact: US-Mexico border isn’t so dangerous
By Associated Press Writer Martha Mendoza,– Thu Jun 3, 11:38 am ET
It’s one of the safest parts of America, and it’s getting safer.
It’s the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data obtained by The Associated Press show it actually isn’t so dangerous after all.
The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso and Austin, according to a new FBI report. Read more
“Secure Communities” lets ICE use local police in secret!
Homeland Security Targets “Criminal Aliens”
Thursday 18 February 2010
by: William Fisher, t r u t h o u t | Report
(Photo: r3v || cls)
A little-known program run by the Department of Homeland Security is using inaccurate databases and functioning “as little more than a dragnet to funnel even more people into the already overburdened” detention and deportation system of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, according to three civil rights organizations that have filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Read more
“Anti-Terror” Patrol Planes in Bellingham
The boys are bragging about their new technology! Check it out:
Bellingham (WA) among sites that will get anti-terror patrol planes
From the article from the AP, some of the rationale used to justify this military buildup:
“Someone who could fly a plane full of narcotics in could also fly a plane full of terrorists in, could also fly a plane full of explosive’ in,” Boyd said
And any plane carrying border patrol agents . . .