Refugee/Migrant Crisis
- Thread starter Tecumsehsbones
- Start date
You could move them up a notch if you sort by 'number of innocents killed per year'
World top 15:
1.China
2.Russia
3.United Kingdom
4.Vietnam
5.USA
6.Egypt
7.S.Korea
8.Sweden
9.Turkey
10.France
11.India
12.Poland
13.Australia
14.Netherlands
15.Israel
1.China
2.Russia
3.United Kingdom
4.Vietnam
5.USA
6.Egypt
7.S.Korea
8.Sweden
9.Turkey
10.France
11.India
12.Poland
13.Australia
14.Netherlands
15.Israel
Last edited:
LEVY: Feds never really had a plan for irregular migrants
Sue-Ann Levy
Published:
November 11, 2018
Updated:
November 11, 2018 5:32 PM EST
Border Security Minister Bill Blair appears as a witness at a standing committee on public safety and national security on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in Sept. 2018. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Some 21 months ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flung open Canada’s door to asylum seekers and 36,000 irregular migrants have since crossed our borders from the United States, severely taxing the city’s social service system.
Now, as then, statistics show the feds never really had a plan for those desperate people except to pretty much dump their care and welfare on the city and the province — which have been scrambling to find permanent housing, schooling and paying to accommodate and provide social assistance to irregular migrants.
Ottawa is not only downloading cost, it’s failing those lured here with the false promise of help — offering people who are staying little real help to thrive and integrate in a new country, and now speeding up the deportation of those who came here in droves following Trudeau’s #WelcomeTo Canada tweet.
With an eye to next fall’s election and possibly criticism about the lack of a plan, Trudeau recently handed over $7.46 million to the Canadian Border Services Agency to speed up deportation of rejected migrants — with 10,000 failed refugee claimants to be deported by March, a rate 35% higher than the past two years, and 10,000 anually thereafter until the backlog is addressed.
And as Marie-Emmanuelle Cadieux, spokesman for Border Security Minister Bill Blair, told me recently the number of irregular migrants continues to “decrease every month.
“It is lower than the amount at this time last year,” she told me in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, as we’ve seen in the past six months, the city of Toronto has been forced to scramble to find refugees temporary space, shuttling them from the city’s emergency shelters to college dorms and hotels, warehousing them while they await permanent housing and the processing of their claims, which could take up to 21 months.
City spokesman Natasha Hinds-Fitzsimmons said there are 2,523 refugees in the shelter system — which includes 1,772 in temporary refugee shelter response hotels like the Radisson Toronto East and 751 in the city’s permanent shelter system.
If one includes the temporary hotels, refugees are currently taking up 37% of Toronto’s emergency shelter system. That has forced City Hall to come up with alternatives for the city’s own homeless and transients this winter, including the creation of three pre-fab shelters at $2.5-million each.
As of the end of October, some 1,772 refugees were still housed in four hotels in the Toronto area — and will remain there until January — or until more permanent housing solutions are found, whichever comes first.
Hinds-Fitzsimmins says they city is also supporting 35 clients in two hotels in the GTA.
So far all the feds have paid out to the city is some $11-million — that amount provided to help accommodate refugees who were staying in dorms at Centennial and Humber Colleges during the early part of the summer.
Mariam Oyagbohun, a Nigerian migrant, is pictured at Centennial College residency where she is being temporarily housed in Toronto on Friday, July 6, 2018. Migrants staying at College residencies will be asked to vacate their temporary shelters on August 15 as many continue to struggle to find permanent rented accommodation. (Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Ontario Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod said recently the province asked the feds back at the end of July to compensate the province and municipalities for the $200 million already spent on housing irregular migrants.
According to McLeod, the $200 million includes $74 million spent by Toronto for temporary housing, $3 million for the Red Cross, $12-million for the city of Ottawa, $90 million shelled out in Ontario Works assistance and $20 million for elementary and secondary school spaces.
As of last week, the city would only concede Toronto’s costs to temporarily house refugee/asylum claimants from January of 2017 to the end of this year are predicted to be “in excess of” $64.5-million.
Since the province was already reporting costs to Toronto of $74 million at the end of July, I wouldn’t be surprised if that number is closer to $90 million or more by year’s end.
Hinds-Fitzsimmins says COSTI Immigrant Services has been given $2.6 million this year to provide support services to refugees in three Toronto hotels (the city takes care of support services for asylum seekers in the fourth hotel.)
COSTI spokesman Mary Cellucci says they help refugees with their search for housing, as well as referrals for school enrollment and to obtain legal support for their refugee board claims.
“Not all clients are remaining in the hotels until January,” she said.
“Clients are moving out on a regular basis to permanent housing.”
Cellucci said since July 1, 130 families — 511 people — have moved from temporary shelter to permanent housing.
SLevy@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/levy-feds-never-really-had-a-plan-for-irregular-migrants
Sue-Ann Levy
Published:
November 11, 2018
Updated:
November 11, 2018 5:32 PM EST
Border Security Minister Bill Blair appears as a witness at a standing committee on public safety and national security on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in Sept. 2018. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Some 21 months ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flung open Canada’s door to asylum seekers and 36,000 irregular migrants have since crossed our borders from the United States, severely taxing the city’s social service system.
Now, as then, statistics show the feds never really had a plan for those desperate people except to pretty much dump their care and welfare on the city and the province — which have been scrambling to find permanent housing, schooling and paying to accommodate and provide social assistance to irregular migrants.
Ottawa is not only downloading cost, it’s failing those lured here with the false promise of help — offering people who are staying little real help to thrive and integrate in a new country, and now speeding up the deportation of those who came here in droves following Trudeau’s #WelcomeTo Canada tweet.
With an eye to next fall’s election and possibly criticism about the lack of a plan, Trudeau recently handed over $7.46 million to the Canadian Border Services Agency to speed up deportation of rejected migrants — with 10,000 failed refugee claimants to be deported by March, a rate 35% higher than the past two years, and 10,000 anually thereafter until the backlog is addressed.
And as Marie-Emmanuelle Cadieux, spokesman for Border Security Minister Bill Blair, told me recently the number of irregular migrants continues to “decrease every month.
“It is lower than the amount at this time last year,” she told me in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, as we’ve seen in the past six months, the city of Toronto has been forced to scramble to find refugees temporary space, shuttling them from the city’s emergency shelters to college dorms and hotels, warehousing them while they await permanent housing and the processing of their claims, which could take up to 21 months.
City spokesman Natasha Hinds-Fitzsimmons said there are 2,523 refugees in the shelter system — which includes 1,772 in temporary refugee shelter response hotels like the Radisson Toronto East and 751 in the city’s permanent shelter system.
If one includes the temporary hotels, refugees are currently taking up 37% of Toronto’s emergency shelter system. That has forced City Hall to come up with alternatives for the city’s own homeless and transients this winter, including the creation of three pre-fab shelters at $2.5-million each.
As of the end of October, some 1,772 refugees were still housed in four hotels in the Toronto area — and will remain there until January — or until more permanent housing solutions are found, whichever comes first.
Hinds-Fitzsimmins says they city is also supporting 35 clients in two hotels in the GTA.
So far all the feds have paid out to the city is some $11-million — that amount provided to help accommodate refugees who were staying in dorms at Centennial and Humber Colleges during the early part of the summer.
Mariam Oyagbohun, a Nigerian migrant, is pictured at Centennial College residency where she is being temporarily housed in Toronto on Friday, July 6, 2018. Migrants staying at College residencies will be asked to vacate their temporary shelters on August 15 as many continue to struggle to find permanent rented accommodation. (Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Ontario Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod said recently the province asked the feds back at the end of July to compensate the province and municipalities for the $200 million already spent on housing irregular migrants.
According to McLeod, the $200 million includes $74 million spent by Toronto for temporary housing, $3 million for the Red Cross, $12-million for the city of Ottawa, $90 million shelled out in Ontario Works assistance and $20 million for elementary and secondary school spaces.
As of last week, the city would only concede Toronto’s costs to temporarily house refugee/asylum claimants from January of 2017 to the end of this year are predicted to be “in excess of” $64.5-million.
Since the province was already reporting costs to Toronto of $74 million at the end of July, I wouldn’t be surprised if that number is closer to $90 million or more by year’s end.
Hinds-Fitzsimmins says COSTI Immigrant Services has been given $2.6 million this year to provide support services to refugees in three Toronto hotels (the city takes care of support services for asylum seekers in the fourth hotel.)
COSTI spokesman Mary Cellucci says they help refugees with their search for housing, as well as referrals for school enrollment and to obtain legal support for their refugee board claims.
“Not all clients are remaining in the hotels until January,” she said.
“Clients are moving out on a regular basis to permanent housing.”
Cellucci said since July 1, 130 families — 511 people — have moved from temporary shelter to permanent housing.
SLevy@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/levy-feds-never-really-had-a-plan-for-irregular-migrants
500 lashes as the world did not need that kind of 'extermination'.
Do you have a link as they seem to have been hired by the Dutch merchants who already had settlements in all the best locations around the globe.
The first US settlers came from settlement is Brazil. I just read that today, amazing. I'll up that other thread once I decide what isn't important in this links.
Feds talking with Pakistan about bringing Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy to Canada
Canadian Press
Published:
November 12, 2018
Updated:
November 12, 2018 8:26 PM EST
In this Nov. 20, 2010, file photo, Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, listens to officials at a prison in Sheikhupura near Lahore, Pakistan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, File
OTTAWA — The federal government is talking with Pakistan about the possibility of bringing a Pakistani woman, who was recently released from death row, to Canada.
Asia Bibi, a Christian, was sentenced to death in Pakistan eight years ago for blasphemy after being convicted of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad — a charge her family has long denied.
Pakistan’s high court recently overturned Bibi’s conviction and ordered her release in a decision that triggered public outrage and protests across the predominantly Muslim country.
‘Fake’ images show acquitted Christian woman leaving Pakistan
Christian woman freed after acquittal of blasphemy charges in Pakistan
Since her release, Bibi and her family have faced threats and her husband has pleaded with countries in the West to relocate them.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in an email Monday that Canada is in talks with Pakistan about Bibi.
Cameron Ahmad said the government recognizes the delicate domestic context and won’t comment further on the case, but he noted Canada is a welcoming country.
Bibi’s 2009 arrest came after she was accused of blasphemy following an altercation with two fellow farm workers who refused to drink from a water container a Christian had used. A mob accused her a few days later of insulting Muhammad, which led to her 2010 conviction.
— with files from The Associated Press
http://torontosun.com/news/world/fe...istian-woman-acquitted-of-blasphemy-to-canada
Canadian Press
Published:
November 12, 2018
Updated:
November 12, 2018 8:26 PM EST
In this Nov. 20, 2010, file photo, Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, listens to officials at a prison in Sheikhupura near Lahore, Pakistan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, File
OTTAWA — The federal government is talking with Pakistan about the possibility of bringing a Pakistani woman, who was recently released from death row, to Canada.
Asia Bibi, a Christian, was sentenced to death in Pakistan eight years ago for blasphemy after being convicted of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad — a charge her family has long denied.
Pakistan’s high court recently overturned Bibi’s conviction and ordered her release in a decision that triggered public outrage and protests across the predominantly Muslim country.
‘Fake’ images show acquitted Christian woman leaving Pakistan
Christian woman freed after acquittal of blasphemy charges in Pakistan
Since her release, Bibi and her family have faced threats and her husband has pleaded with countries in the West to relocate them.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in an email Monday that Canada is in talks with Pakistan about Bibi.
Cameron Ahmad said the government recognizes the delicate domestic context and won’t comment further on the case, but he noted Canada is a welcoming country.
Bibi’s 2009 arrest came after she was accused of blasphemy following an altercation with two fellow farm workers who refused to drink from a water container a Christian had used. A mob accused her a few days later of insulting Muhammad, which led to her 2010 conviction.
— with files from The Associated Press
http://torontosun.com/news/world/fe...istian-woman-acquitted-of-blasphemy-to-canada
He hit sanctuary city -- then he murdered three: Cops
Brad Hunter
Published:
November 12, 2018
Updated:
November 12, 2018 6:56 PM EST
One more chance... Luis Rodrigo Perez has been charged in a gruesome triple murder. A New Jersey sanctuary city refused to turn him over for deportation. SPRINGFIELD POLICE
Luis Rodrigo Perez got a free pass courtesy of a “sanctuary city” county in New Jersey.
Last week, Perez was charged with a triple homicide in Missouri.
The illegal immigrant was sprung after being arrested on domestic violence charges in Middlesex County, N.J., last year.
At the time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted to deport Perez back to his native Mexico following his arrest.
Unfortunately, Middlesex has a non-cooperation policy with ICE and wouldn’t let the feds know when Perez was being released in February.
Cops say Perez got the gun from gal pal Sabrina Starr. The next day, he allegedly murdered her too. FACEBOOK
“Had ICE’s detainer request in December 2017 been honoured by Middlesex County Jail, Luis Rodrigo Perez would have been placed in deportation proceedings and likely sent home to his country — and three innocent people might be alive today,” Corey Price, acting ICE executive associate director, told the Washington Times.
Perez — who has a long criminal history packed with violence — somehow made his way to Springfield, Missouri.
And when he was kicked out of the home he shared with two other men? He went on a shooting rampage in two different homes.
His victims were Steven Marler, 38, Aaron Hampton, 23, and Sabrina Starr, 21, according to NJ.com.
According to cops, the terrified victims were heard “begging for their lives” when Perez allegedly pulled the trigger. Aaron Anderson, 19, was charged as an accomplice.
John Tsoukaris, ICE’s deportation operations field director in Newark, N.J., called Middlesex County’s policy reckless.
“We hope that this tragic turn of events forces Middlesex to reconsider its policy and that the local elected officials stop protecting criminal aliens,” Tsoukaris said.
Middlesex officials have passed the buck and are fingering ICE for dropping the ball. They didn’t think Perez was violent.
The county added that the feds sat on their hands for 51 days.
“Instead ICE officials chose to do nothing, which places all responsibility of Mr. Perez’s actions squarely upon ICE,” the county government said in its statement.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/he-hit-sanctuary-city-then-he-murdered-three-cops
Brad Hunter
Published:
November 12, 2018
Updated:
November 12, 2018 6:56 PM EST
One more chance... Luis Rodrigo Perez has been charged in a gruesome triple murder. A New Jersey sanctuary city refused to turn him over for deportation. SPRINGFIELD POLICE
Luis Rodrigo Perez got a free pass courtesy of a “sanctuary city” county in New Jersey.
Last week, Perez was charged with a triple homicide in Missouri.
The illegal immigrant was sprung after being arrested on domestic violence charges in Middlesex County, N.J., last year.
At the time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted to deport Perez back to his native Mexico following his arrest.
Unfortunately, Middlesex has a non-cooperation policy with ICE and wouldn’t let the feds know when Perez was being released in February.
Cops say Perez got the gun from gal pal Sabrina Starr. The next day, he allegedly murdered her too. FACEBOOK
“Had ICE’s detainer request in December 2017 been honoured by Middlesex County Jail, Luis Rodrigo Perez would have been placed in deportation proceedings and likely sent home to his country — and three innocent people might be alive today,” Corey Price, acting ICE executive associate director, told the Washington Times.
Perez — who has a long criminal history packed with violence — somehow made his way to Springfield, Missouri.
And when he was kicked out of the home he shared with two other men? He went on a shooting rampage in two different homes.
His victims were Steven Marler, 38, Aaron Hampton, 23, and Sabrina Starr, 21, according to NJ.com.
According to cops, the terrified victims were heard “begging for their lives” when Perez allegedly pulled the trigger. Aaron Anderson, 19, was charged as an accomplice.
John Tsoukaris, ICE’s deportation operations field director in Newark, N.J., called Middlesex County’s policy reckless.
“We hope that this tragic turn of events forces Middlesex to reconsider its policy and that the local elected officials stop protecting criminal aliens,” Tsoukaris said.
Middlesex officials have passed the buck and are fingering ICE for dropping the ball. They didn’t think Perez was violent.
The county added that the feds sat on their hands for 51 days.
“Instead ICE officials chose to do nothing, which places all responsibility of Mr. Perez’s actions squarely upon ICE,” the county government said in its statement.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/he-hit-sanctuary-city-then-he-murdered-three-cops
These are the people we need to bring to Canada assuming she would be grateful to immigrate to a country that would welcome her.
'I'M GETTING MY GOLD WATCH': Mexican man who killed family with sledgehammer put to death in Texas
Associated Press
Published:
November 15, 2018
Updated:
November 15, 2018 12:25 AM EST
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Roberto Moreno Ramos.Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Mexican citizen on death row in Texas was executed Wednesday night for the sledgehammer killings of his wife and two children more than 26 years ago.
Roberto Moreno Ramos was condemned for the 1992 deaths of his 42-year-old wife Leticia, seven-year-old daughter Abigail, and three-year-old son Jonathan at their home in Progreso, located along the Mexico border.
When asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Ramos thanked the Mexican consulate for assisting with appeals in his case and said he was grateful for “the humane treatment I got in prison in Texas.”
“I’m getting my gold watch that it took the governor 30 years to forge,” he said without elaborating. “Thank you God. Lord, send me a chariot. I’m ready.”
As the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, the 64-year-old Ramos took a couple of deep breaths, sputtered once and began snoring. Within seconds, all movement stopped.
Eleven minutes later, at 9:36 p.m. CST, Ramos was pronounced dead.
He became the 21st inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the 11th given a lethal injection in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state. No friends or relatives of Ramos or his victims witnessed the execution.
Mexican officials had called for his execution to be stopped, arguing he was part of a group of Mexican citizens condemned in the U.S. who were never told when first arrested that they could get legal help from the Mexican government.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday night cleared the way for the punishment when it denied two appeals seeking to halt the lethal injection. Ramos’ attorney on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to stop his execution, arguing that Ramos’ constitutional rights were violated as lower courts refused to fully review his claims that his trial lawyers failed to present any evidence about his mental illness and abusive childhood that could have persuaded jurors to spare his life.
Three retired justices who had served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals filed court documents with the Supreme Court on Wednesday in support of stopping the execution. The ex-judges alleged the appeals court appointed an incompetent appellate attorney who early in the post-conviction process failed to investigate Ramos’ case.
Also Wednesday, a federal judge in Austin dismissed Ramos’ request to temporarily block the execution. The request had been part of a lawsuit Ramos filed against the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals a day earlier. The suit alleged the appeals court had not allowed Ramos to present claims he had ineffective trial and appellate lawyers.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had previously turned down requests to halt Ramos’ execution.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday declined to recommend either a commutation of his sentence or a six-month reprieve.
In court documents, Ramos’ appellate attorney, Danalynn Recer, had argued Ramos suffered from bipolar disorder most of his life, including during the time of his family’s killings, as well as brain damage that affected his ability to control his impulses and regulate his emotions.
Recer said Ramos was also brutally beaten as a child by his father.
Ramos was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and grew up in Guadalajara and Tijuana before his family moved to the United States in 1970.
“No fact-finder or decision-maker entrusted with Mr. Moreno Ramos’ life has ever been provided with evidence of (his) ’diverse human frailties’ to assist them in dispensing the most severe punishment under law,” Recer said.
But the Texas Attorney General’s Office said Ramos’ death sentence was appropriate due to his “violent and dangerous nature.”
Authorities said Ramos bludgeoned his family members and then buried them underneath his home’s bathroom floor so he could marry the woman he was having an extramarital affair with at the time.
In court filings, the attorney general’s office highlighted testimony from Ramos’ then-19-year-old son, who told jurors at Ramos’ 1993 trial that his father “would continue to commit criminal acts of violence.”
In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, found Ramos was part of a group of 52 Mexican citizens awaiting execution in the U.S. who weren’t advised of their consular rights under the Vienna Convention when first arrested. It recommended they be tried again to determine if consular access would have affected their cases. Then-President George W. Bush directed states to reopen the cases.
But the Supreme Court in 2008 overruled Bush’s directive, saying only Congress can require states to follow the international court’s ruling.
Including Ramos, six Mexican citizens have been executed since being named in the international court ruling and all the executions were carried out by Texas, according to the Mexican government.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/mexican-man-who-killed-wife-2-children-set-to-die-in-texas
Associated Press
Published:
November 15, 2018
Updated:
November 15, 2018 12:25 AM EST
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Roberto Moreno Ramos.Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Mexican citizen on death row in Texas was executed Wednesday night for the sledgehammer killings of his wife and two children more than 26 years ago.
Roberto Moreno Ramos was condemned for the 1992 deaths of his 42-year-old wife Leticia, seven-year-old daughter Abigail, and three-year-old son Jonathan at their home in Progreso, located along the Mexico border.
When asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Ramos thanked the Mexican consulate for assisting with appeals in his case and said he was grateful for “the humane treatment I got in prison in Texas.”
“I’m getting my gold watch that it took the governor 30 years to forge,” he said without elaborating. “Thank you God. Lord, send me a chariot. I’m ready.”
As the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, the 64-year-old Ramos took a couple of deep breaths, sputtered once and began snoring. Within seconds, all movement stopped.
Eleven minutes later, at 9:36 p.m. CST, Ramos was pronounced dead.
He became the 21st inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the 11th given a lethal injection in Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state. No friends or relatives of Ramos or his victims witnessed the execution.
Mexican officials had called for his execution to be stopped, arguing he was part of a group of Mexican citizens condemned in the U.S. who were never told when first arrested that they could get legal help from the Mexican government.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday night cleared the way for the punishment when it denied two appeals seeking to halt the lethal injection. Ramos’ attorney on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to stop his execution, arguing that Ramos’ constitutional rights were violated as lower courts refused to fully review his claims that his trial lawyers failed to present any evidence about his mental illness and abusive childhood that could have persuaded jurors to spare his life.
Three retired justices who had served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals filed court documents with the Supreme Court on Wednesday in support of stopping the execution. The ex-judges alleged the appeals court appointed an incompetent appellate attorney who early in the post-conviction process failed to investigate Ramos’ case.
Also Wednesday, a federal judge in Austin dismissed Ramos’ request to temporarily block the execution. The request had been part of a lawsuit Ramos filed against the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals a day earlier. The suit alleged the appeals court had not allowed Ramos to present claims he had ineffective trial and appellate lawyers.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had previously turned down requests to halt Ramos’ execution.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday declined to recommend either a commutation of his sentence or a six-month reprieve.
In court documents, Ramos’ appellate attorney, Danalynn Recer, had argued Ramos suffered from bipolar disorder most of his life, including during the time of his family’s killings, as well as brain damage that affected his ability to control his impulses and regulate his emotions.
Recer said Ramos was also brutally beaten as a child by his father.
Ramos was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and grew up in Guadalajara and Tijuana before his family moved to the United States in 1970.
“No fact-finder or decision-maker entrusted with Mr. Moreno Ramos’ life has ever been provided with evidence of (his) ’diverse human frailties’ to assist them in dispensing the most severe punishment under law,” Recer said.
But the Texas Attorney General’s Office said Ramos’ death sentence was appropriate due to his “violent and dangerous nature.”
Authorities said Ramos bludgeoned his family members and then buried them underneath his home’s bathroom floor so he could marry the woman he was having an extramarital affair with at the time.
In court filings, the attorney general’s office highlighted testimony from Ramos’ then-19-year-old son, who told jurors at Ramos’ 1993 trial that his father “would continue to commit criminal acts of violence.”
In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, found Ramos was part of a group of 52 Mexican citizens awaiting execution in the U.S. who weren’t advised of their consular rights under the Vienna Convention when first arrested. It recommended they be tried again to determine if consular access would have affected their cases. Then-President George W. Bush directed states to reopen the cases.
But the Supreme Court in 2008 overruled Bush’s directive, saying only Congress can require states to follow the international court’s ruling.
Including Ramos, six Mexican citizens have been executed since being named in the international court ruling and all the executions were carried out by Texas, according to the Mexican government.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/mexican-man-who-killed-wife-2-children-set-to-die-in-texas
The White Helmets were working for the West, now we get to enjoy their company for decades. Is anybody going to deprogram them??
Border Patrol agent acquitted in Mexican teen's 2012 shooting death
Associated Press
Published:
November 21, 2018
Updated:
November 21, 2018 6:23 PM EST
In a Wednesday, March 21, 2018 file photo, Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz, left, makes his way to the U.S. District Court building in downtown Tucson, Ariz. .Ron Medvescek / AP
PHOENIX — An Arizona jury on Wednesday acquitted a U.S. Border Patrol agent of manslaughter in the shooting of a Mexican teen through a border fence, another loss for federal prosecutors in the second trial over the 2012 killing.
Jurors in Tucson found Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter but didn’t come to a decision on voluntary manslaughter. The verdict comes months after Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder by another jury that had deadlocked on manslaughter charges, allowing prosecutors to pursue the case again.
“My client is very relieved. He has had to live with the burden of this case hanging over his head for years. He is glad that it is finally over,” Swartz’s attorney, Sean Chapman, said in an email to The Associated Press.
Outside the courthouse, a small group of activists protested the verdict, and one man was detained, media outlets reported.
“We fully respect the jury’s decision, and we thank every member of the jury for the time and attention given to this trial,” Elizabeth A. Strange, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, said in a statement. “This was a difficult case, and I commend the trial team and law enforcement officers who assisted in the prosecution.”
Border Patrol agents are rarely criminally charged for using force. But the killing of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez sparked outrage on both sides of the border and came at a time when the agency was increasingly scrutinized for its use of force.
Prosecutors said Swartz was frustrated over repeated encounters with people on the Mexico side of the border fence who throw rocks at agents to distract them from smugglers. They say he lost his cool and fatally shot Elena Rodriguez. Swartz fired about 16 rounds, and the boy was hit at least 10 times in the back and head.
Swartz has said he was following his training and defending himself and other law enforcement officers from rocks, which he said could be deadly.
Prosecutors acknowledge that Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks at agents while two smugglers made their way back to Mexico, but they said that wasn’t justification for taking his life.
Swartz’s attorney, Sean Chapman, said Elena Rodriguez endangered the lives of the agents and a police officer who was on scene.
The verdict comes as President Donald Trump has deployed troops to the border to support U.S. authorities in response to a migrant caravan from Central America. The troops have been given authority to protect Border Patrol agents and other personnel, even though there have been no instances of violence against U.S. authorities.
Swartz still faces a civil rights lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the teen’s mother.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office said prosecutors haven’t decided whether to try Swartz again on the voluntary manslaughter charge.
http://torontosun.com/news/crime/border-patrol-agent-acquitted-in-mexican-teens-2012-shooting-death
Associated Press
Published:
November 21, 2018
Updated:
November 21, 2018 6:23 PM EST
In a Wednesday, March 21, 2018 file photo, Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz, left, makes his way to the U.S. District Court building in downtown Tucson, Ariz. .Ron Medvescek / AP
PHOENIX — An Arizona jury on Wednesday acquitted a U.S. Border Patrol agent of manslaughter in the shooting of a Mexican teen through a border fence, another loss for federal prosecutors in the second trial over the 2012 killing.
Jurors in Tucson found Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter but didn’t come to a decision on voluntary manslaughter. The verdict comes months after Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder by another jury that had deadlocked on manslaughter charges, allowing prosecutors to pursue the case again.
“My client is very relieved. He has had to live with the burden of this case hanging over his head for years. He is glad that it is finally over,” Swartz’s attorney, Sean Chapman, said in an email to The Associated Press.
Outside the courthouse, a small group of activists protested the verdict, and one man was detained, media outlets reported.
“We fully respect the jury’s decision, and we thank every member of the jury for the time and attention given to this trial,” Elizabeth A. Strange, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, said in a statement. “This was a difficult case, and I commend the trial team and law enforcement officers who assisted in the prosecution.”
Border Patrol agents are rarely criminally charged for using force. But the killing of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez sparked outrage on both sides of the border and came at a time when the agency was increasingly scrutinized for its use of force.
Prosecutors said Swartz was frustrated over repeated encounters with people on the Mexico side of the border fence who throw rocks at agents to distract them from smugglers. They say he lost his cool and fatally shot Elena Rodriguez. Swartz fired about 16 rounds, and the boy was hit at least 10 times in the back and head.
Swartz has said he was following his training and defending himself and other law enforcement officers from rocks, which he said could be deadly.
Prosecutors acknowledge that Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks at agents while two smugglers made their way back to Mexico, but they said that wasn’t justification for taking his life.
Swartz’s attorney, Sean Chapman, said Elena Rodriguez endangered the lives of the agents and a police officer who was on scene.
The verdict comes as President Donald Trump has deployed troops to the border to support U.S. authorities in response to a migrant caravan from Central America. The troops have been given authority to protect Border Patrol agents and other personnel, even though there have been no instances of violence against U.S. authorities.
Swartz still faces a civil rights lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the teen’s mother.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office said prosecutors haven’t decided whether to try Swartz again on the voluntary manslaughter charge.
http://torontosun.com/news/crime/border-patrol-agent-acquitted-in-mexican-teens-2012-shooting-death
Tijuana mayor declares 'humanitarian crisis' over migrants
Associated Press
Published:
November 23, 2018
Updated:
November 23, 2018 10:29 PM EST
A man carries a girl on his shoulders at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018.Ramon Espinosa / AP Photo
TIJUANA, Mexico — The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said Friday he was asking the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants, most of whom were camped out inside a sports complex.
The comments by Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum came as city officials and volunteers worked together to assist the 4,976 men, women and children who had arrived after more than a month on the road. The Trump administration has spent weeks lambasting the caravan, which it said was filled with criminals, gang members and even — it insinuated at one point without any proof — terrorists.
Manuel Figueroa, who leads the city’s social services department, said Tijuana was bringing in portable toilets and showers, as well as shampoo and soap.
It wasn’t enough.
“Because of the absence, the apathy and the abandonment of the federal government, we are having to turn to international institutions like the U.N.,” Figueroa said.
Rene Vazquez, 60, a Tijuana resident who was volunteering at the stadium, said Mexico’s federal government ignored the problem by allowing the caravan to cross the country without stopping. Now the city of 1.6 million is stuck with the fallout.
“I don’t have anything against the migrants, they were the most deceived, but this is affecting us all,” Vazquez said.
Gastelum vowed not to commit the city’s public resources to dealing with the situation. On Thursday, his government issued a statement saying that it was requesting help from the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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Vazquez, who plays on a soccer team that uses the sports complex, said Mexico should step up now and process humanitarian visas for the group so they can start looking for work. Meanwhile, since his soccer team can no longer practice at the complex, he was spending time passing out donated pizzas and roasted chicken to the migrants.
The migrant caravan that left Honduras in mid-October was mostly well received by the towns it passed through along the way to the border. Even cities with few resources made sure the migrants had food and a place to rest.
But in those places, the caravan stayed at most two nights — with the exception of Mexico City. In Tijuana, many of the migrants who are fleeing violence and poverty are seeking asylum in the United States and face the prospect of spending months in the border city before they have the opportunity to speak with a U.S. official.
Gastelum said Friday that the Mexican government has talked about sending 20 tons of resources to Tijuana to help but that three-fourths consisted of materials to reinforce the border and only 5 tons were for the migrants.
The mayor also criticized the federal government for not taking more seriously President Donald Trump’s threat Thursday to shut down the border if his administration determined Mexico had lost “control” of the situation in Tijuana.
“That’s serious,” he said.
The migrants also were receiving support from local churches, private citizens who have been providing food, as well as various agencies of the Baja California state government, which says it identified 7,000 job openings for those who qualify.
Adelaida Gonzalez, 37, of Guatemala City arrived in Tijuana three days ago and was having a hard time adjusting. She was tired of sleeping on a blanket on a dirt field, of waiting 30 minutes to go to the bathroom and again to get food and didn’t know how much more she could take.
“We would not have risked coming if we had known it was going to be this hard,” said Gonzales, who left Guatemala with her 15-year-old son and her neighbour.
She said she was considering accepting Mexico’s offer to stay and work in Chiapas as a refugee.
Some of the migrants staged a small demonstration at the city’s Chaparral border crossing Thursday, and a few dozen spent the night there. Police cordoned off the streets around the crossing tangling traffic, but pedestrian traffic across the border continued uninterrupted Friday.
Alicia Ramirez, 65, a Tijuana businesswoman, said she had been worried she wouldn’t be able to make her annual Black Friday crossing to do her Christmas shopping, but had no trouble walking into California. About a dozen Mexican police stood by the crossing carrying plastic shields.
Still, the threat of a border closure kept her daughters in Los Angeles from coming to see her for the holidays.
“My daughters were worried, so they decided not to come,” she said.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/tijuana-mayor-declares-humanitarian-crisis-over-migrants
Associated Press
Published:
November 23, 2018
Updated:
November 23, 2018 10:29 PM EST
A man carries a girl on his shoulders at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018.Ramon Espinosa / AP Photo
TIJUANA, Mexico — The mayor of Tijuana has declared a humanitarian crisis in his border city and said Friday he was asking the United Nations for aid to deal with the approximately 5,000 Central American migrants, most of whom were camped out inside a sports complex.
The comments by Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum came as city officials and volunteers worked together to assist the 4,976 men, women and children who had arrived after more than a month on the road. The Trump administration has spent weeks lambasting the caravan, which it said was filled with criminals, gang members and even — it insinuated at one point without any proof — terrorists.
Manuel Figueroa, who leads the city’s social services department, said Tijuana was bringing in portable toilets and showers, as well as shampoo and soap.
It wasn’t enough.
“Because of the absence, the apathy and the abandonment of the federal government, we are having to turn to international institutions like the U.N.,” Figueroa said.
Rene Vazquez, 60, a Tijuana resident who was volunteering at the stadium, said Mexico’s federal government ignored the problem by allowing the caravan to cross the country without stopping. Now the city of 1.6 million is stuck with the fallout.
“I don’t have anything against the migrants, they were the most deceived, but this is affecting us all,” Vazquez said.
Gastelum vowed not to commit the city’s public resources to dealing with the situation. On Thursday, his government issued a statement saying that it was requesting help from the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
‘IT’S A DISGRACE’: Donald Trump rails against court, migrants in call to troops
Border Patrol agent acquitted in Mexican teen’s 2012 shooting death
American teacher found dead in Mexican canyons killed by Sinaloa Cartel member: Governor
Vazquez, who plays on a soccer team that uses the sports complex, said Mexico should step up now and process humanitarian visas for the group so they can start looking for work. Meanwhile, since his soccer team can no longer practice at the complex, he was spending time passing out donated pizzas and roasted chicken to the migrants.
The migrant caravan that left Honduras in mid-October was mostly well received by the towns it passed through along the way to the border. Even cities with few resources made sure the migrants had food and a place to rest.
But in those places, the caravan stayed at most two nights — with the exception of Mexico City. In Tijuana, many of the migrants who are fleeing violence and poverty are seeking asylum in the United States and face the prospect of spending months in the border city before they have the opportunity to speak with a U.S. official.
Gastelum said Friday that the Mexican government has talked about sending 20 tons of resources to Tijuana to help but that three-fourths consisted of materials to reinforce the border and only 5 tons were for the migrants.
The mayor also criticized the federal government for not taking more seriously President Donald Trump’s threat Thursday to shut down the border if his administration determined Mexico had lost “control” of the situation in Tijuana.
“That’s serious,” he said.
The migrants also were receiving support from local churches, private citizens who have been providing food, as well as various agencies of the Baja California state government, which says it identified 7,000 job openings for those who qualify.
Adelaida Gonzalez, 37, of Guatemala City arrived in Tijuana three days ago and was having a hard time adjusting. She was tired of sleeping on a blanket on a dirt field, of waiting 30 minutes to go to the bathroom and again to get food and didn’t know how much more she could take.
“We would not have risked coming if we had known it was going to be this hard,” said Gonzales, who left Guatemala with her 15-year-old son and her neighbour.
She said she was considering accepting Mexico’s offer to stay and work in Chiapas as a refugee.
Some of the migrants staged a small demonstration at the city’s Chaparral border crossing Thursday, and a few dozen spent the night there. Police cordoned off the streets around the crossing tangling traffic, but pedestrian traffic across the border continued uninterrupted Friday.
Alicia Ramirez, 65, a Tijuana businesswoman, said she had been worried she wouldn’t be able to make her annual Black Friday crossing to do her Christmas shopping, but had no trouble walking into California. About a dozen Mexican police stood by the crossing carrying plastic shields.
Still, the threat of a border closure kept her daughters in Los Angeles from coming to see her for the holidays.
“My daughters were worried, so they decided not to come,” she said.
http://torontosun.com/news/world/tijuana-mayor-declares-humanitarian-crisis-over-migrants