Trenton, New Jersey

Man gets 2¹/₂ years for arranging sham marriages for illegal immigrants

A Middlesex County man was sentenced Friday to 21/₂ years in prison for arranging up to 99 sham marriages for illegal aliens or Peruvians seeking legal status. Abelardo Yaya, of the Avenel section of Woodbridge, was also ordered to pay a $2,500 fine by U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson. Yaya pleaded guilty last year to a single conspiracy charge, admitting that he conducted the scheme from February 1995 to September 1999. He charged thousands of dollars for his services, which included finding a U.S. citizen to participate in the marriage and completing applications to the INS, according to court documents. The INS does not consider marriages as legitimate if they are entered only to gain immigration benefits, such as a green card, which confers permanent residency for an immigrant.

We Get E-Mail

Re: Immigrants add vitality, enrichment

Immigrants.....You say they are people with hopes. I also have hopes; I hope that this country remains great for my children and grandchildren and that this current wave of illegal immigrants that is turning it into a third-world country is brought under control. You say they have dreams. My dream is that when my children are adults they will not be faced with impossible traffic congestion (have you driven the L.A. or Dallas/Fort Worth freeway systems lately?), unmanageable water and air pollution, widespread urban sprawl that blights the countryside, the loss of wide-open spaces that have always been a wonderful part of this country. And I dream that my grandchildren will not be faced with a public school system so overcrowded that the quality of education will be even worse than the deplorable situation we now find ourselves in as a result of the tens of thousands of children who are in our schools illegally, many who do not speak the official language of these 50 states. Nor do they wish to, in many instances.

Palominas, Arizona

More illegals robbed while sneaking into U.S., helicopters to be used on border

Eight U.S. Army helicopters will be used beginning Saturday to help deter banditry and other criminal activity along Cochise County's border with Mexico. One objective is to stem preying on undocumented migrants [illegals] in the Palominas area following another report of armed robbery there Thursday. A group of 15 Mexicans entering the United States on foot was robbed and forced to disrobe about 6 p.m. by armed, masked bandits. The robbery was the fourth in the past two weeks near the corrals on the San Pedro River. It is believed the same group of robbers was involved in each of those incidents and another south of the border in Mexico. An international effort involving U.S.B.P., the Cochise County Sheriff's Dept., Mexican law enforcement and the Army aims to stem the robberies, according to B.P. spokesman Rob Daniels.

Queens, New York

Officials seize ecstasy pills, $1.5M in cash in two drug busts

The first bust came early Wednesday in East Elmhurst, where investigators arrested four men and found more than $1 million stashed in suitcases and duffel bags in the basement of a house at 31-10 96th St. Jose Martinez of East Elmhurst, Jose Borron of Yonkers and Nelson Santana and Santo Domingo Cabrera of Brooklyn -- are charged with first- degree money laundering, which carries an 81/3- to 25-year prison term. Later that same day, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police at Kennedy Airport arrested a woman (Ana Maria Esteves, of Odivelas, Portugal) who allegedly had five plastic bags stuffed with ecstasy pills duct-taped to her body. She was trying to board a flight to Tampa, Fla., authorities said.

Huntington, New York

School snit over language ends as migrant stabs boy, 14

A Huntington High School junior, who friends said had been upset because some students made fun of his English language skills and ethnicity, stabbed another student during a fight in the school yesterday, Suffolk police said. What appeared to be just a minor altercation at first turned ugly when the two students engaged in a fistfight that led to the stabbing, police and school district officials said. William Ulloa- Rivera, 17, stabbed a freshman as they struggled in the school's hallway, Det. Sgt. Brian Traynor said. Gregory Ortiz, 14, was taken to Huntington Hospital, where he had emergency surgery to repair possible damage to his colon, police and relatives said. A hospital spokeswoman said Ortiz was in stable condition yesterday.

David Gaddis Smith

Mexico to be a priority on Bush's menu

Beginning tomorrow, enchiladas and flan may be regular features on the White House menu. And when it comes to foreign policy, Mexico is also likely to be a fixture. George W. Bush, who regularly ate enchiladas and flan in the Texas governor's mansion, has called for a "special relationship" with Mexico. Although he has not traveled much, he did visit Mexico three times as governor. Kevin Middlebrook, director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California San Diego, said Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox have important decisions to make with each other. "Because of NAFTA, the United States has come to appreciate the importance of Mexico," said Middlebrook.

More On The Story

Alleged abuse during arrest investigated

The El Paso Police Department is investigating [an illegal alien] motorist's claim that when he was arrested Nov. 28 on the West Side, one of the police officers shoved an unknown object -- presumably a nightstick -- into his rectum and severely injured him. The police officers deny injuring the man in the manner he alleges, said Fred Haiman, the lawyer for the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, who will represent the officers if the department chooses to discipline them. -- The case has also drawn the attention of the Mexican government. Mexican Consul General Antonio Meza Estrada of El Paso urged Police Chief Carlos Leon to investigate the case. The consulate got involved because Perez is originally from Mexico [he's an illegal].

Havana

Cuba Calls Out Thousands to March Against U.S. Immigration Laws

President Fidel Castro led thousands of people in a march past the U.S. mission here Friday to protest American immigration policies Havana says lure Cubans to their deaths trying to reach the United States. The rally was called after the burial Thursday of two military cadets who died trying to leave the country as stowaways in a jetliner's wheel well - deaths the Cuban government blamed on the U.S. policies. "Down with the murderous law!" a young girl shouted over a loudspeaker as Castro, wearing his typical olive green uniform and white athletic shoes, started the trek down the Malecon coastal highway and past the U.S. Interests Section. Marchers vigorously waved tiny red, white and blue Cuban flags.

More on Vilsack's Folly

Marshalltown becomes Model for new Iowans

Gov. Tom Vilsack told Marshalltown leaders Thursday that a critical part of recruiting skilled workers will be selling the plan to skeptical residents. "This will not be an easy task, folks," Vilsack said. "There is a difficult set of issues." Vilsack was in Marshalltown to officially designate the city a "Model Community for New Iowans." -- Bob Schubert, a union representative, has some concern about an influx of workers driving down wages, "but I have more concern with illegals coming in," he said. Marshalltown has struggled in the past decade to assimilate hundreds of immigrants, many of them Hispanics who do not speak English. Debates have raged about increased methamphetamine traffic and whether to establish English as the county's official language.

Narco State Next Door

Fox won't attend Bush inauguration

Mexican President Vicente Fox will not attend Saturday's inauguration of President-elect Bush but expects Bush to visit Mexico next month, a spokeswoman said Thursday. "We don't have a date but it will be sometime in February," Alicia Buenrostro told The Associated Press. Mexican officials did not explain why Fox will not attend the inaugural. U.S. presidents have not traveled to Mexico frequently, but during the election campaign Bush touted his ties with Mexico as proof of his foreign policy experience. Ari Fleischer, spokesman for the president-elect, said he was not aware of any plans for Bush to travel to Mexico in February. On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow said that plans will soon be laid for a meeting.

Mason City, Iowa

City and state officials launch program to attract immigrants

Gov. Tom Vilsack touted his New Iowans Model Community program and the need to recruit workers to Iowa during a stop Thursday in Mason City. Vilsack said state projections show that 368,000 Iowans will retire in the next 10 years and that 198,000 additional jobs will be created - a total of nearly 570,000 jobs to fill. Yet only 114,000 new Iowans will be available to fill the void. Vilsack said the state has a program to entice young people to stay in Iowa and another program designed to encourage people who have left the state to return. A third program to fill the jobs need is his proposed "New Iowans" project - an invitation for immigrants to come to Iowa to live and work.

California: Overpopulated Mess

Power Crunch Heightens Anti-California Sentiment Among Neighbor States

Even in the best of times, California's neighbors think of the state as the obnoxious guy down the street. And with the state's electricity troubles rippling though the region, these aren't the best of times. Resentment is mounting as Westerners worry that California's poor energy planning will mean higher bills and less reliable power supplies across the region. -- "Certainly, we're nervous," said Arizona Rep. Jeff Hatch-Miller, chairman of that state's House Energy committee. "They have a huge population and they have a huge political presence." With that in mind, the governors of Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Utah and Wyoming wrote a letter last week to California Gov. Gray Davis, telling the state to put its house in order.

Diversity In The News

Inmates to be separated by ethnicity - Housing Mexican nationals in own units

The state Corrections Department is separating all its Mexican-national prisoners from inmates of other ethnicities because of increasing violence among the groups, Deputy Director Charles Ryan said yesterday. Those hostilities led to the slayings of three Mexican nationals during a 23-day period ending Dec. 6, Ryan said. The worst fighting has been between Mexican- American prisoners and Mexican nationals, he said. "There have been incidents of inmates fighting, inmates assaulting each other, and inmates in small groups attacking each other," Ryan said. The article says that Mex-Ams make up 23% of the prison population in AZ, whereas 10% are illegals and Mexican nationals (as of 9/00).

Arizona Onslaught

58 illegal entrants found in truck near Globe

Sheriff's deputies stopped a U- Haul truck Wednesday night carrying 58 illegal aliens near Globe. The group of illegals, believed to have crossed the border at Douglas, were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol. The driver, whom Border Patrol spokesman Rene Noriega did not identify, was detained for possible prosecution for alien smuggling. He also could be charged with endangerment for transporting the migrants in a dangerously overloaded vehicle under risky circumstances. The 58 migrants originally claimed to be Mexican nationals, but it was determined that 48 were illegals from El Salvador, one was a citizen of the Dominican Republic, and nine were Mexicans.

Miami

Honduran army officer deported under new INS program

A former Honduran military officer who admitted to kidnapping, killing and torturing guerrillas in Honduras during the 1980s was deported under a new federal program, INS officials said. Juan Angel Hernandez Lara was the first former Latin American military official sent back to his home country under Operation Home Run, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization officials said Thursday. The program calls for U.S. government agents to round up foreigners accused of human rights violations in their home countries and send them back. During the Cold War, members of military or security organizations from Latin American countries considered allies against communism were allowed to seek asylum in the United States, despite being accused of atrocities.