August 30, 2006 – A battle over immigration heated up at a West Side church Wednesday where an undocumented woman is holed up.
Groups on both sides of the issue rallied in front of the Adalberto United Methodist church Wednesday. Elvira Arellano and her 7-year-old son have been there for two weeks to avoid deportation.

The boy was born in the US, making him an American citizen. Arellano says she needs to stay in this country so her son can get medical help for attention deficit disorder.

Those for and against undocumented immigrants sharply disagree on this issue.

“Illegal alien women are producing and utilizing children as hostages until demands for citizenship are met in the United States of America,” said Michelle Dallacroce, Mothers Against Illegal Aliens.

“We honor the love of a valiant mother for her son. We honor her courage and standing up publicly and peacefully to an unjust law,” said Emma Lozano, Pueblo Sin Fronteras.

Last week, a lawyer for Arellano filed a lawsuit saying deportation would violate her son’s rights.

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Police say an Echo Park woman drove five teenagers around so they could spray graffiti. About 100 sites were hit, authorities contend.

Editors note: One big happy family! Note that there is no mention of a “dad.”This is something I have never been able to understand about some hispanics. There seems to be some sort of inherent need to distroy both public and private property. These people will even goes so far as to scribe their graffiti into toilet seats! Thats where my ass sits! Thats where all that excess urine goes. Here in California, there is graffiti on virtually every verticle surface. From the walls in the public restrooms to the most remote locations in Yosemite. It fucking sucks!!!

A fine example of what I mean would be something as simple as a sand castle. When me and my children go to the beach, we enjoy building sand castles. We’re actually pretty good at it. Most people will walk up and admire our hard work. I don’t what it is, but hispanic kids just can’t help themselves. They wander over looking at the sand castle. then they begin to look around to see if anyone is watching them. Just when they think the coast is clear, they pull back a foot to kick it down when I scream at them and tell them to move on. This goes on all day! They just can’t stand the fact that the sand castle exists in the first place. We have to sit there all day guarding the damn thing against these little vandals. Again, Absolutely amazing!!!! JD

On Avalon Street in Echo Park, Victoria Villicano is known as a devoted mother who is often seen behind the wheel of her SUV, driving her two teenage sons to stores and sporting events.

But Los Angeles Police Department detectives say the 42-year-old woman also drove a five-member tagging crew, including her two children, around Silver Lake and Echo Park, stopping long enough for the group to jump out and vandalize.

Authorities believe the crew is responsible for spray-painting about 100 sites along Sunset Boulevard, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Their alleged reign came to an end last week when police received a call about some teens tagging a 7-Eleven store in Silver Lake.

Undercover vandalism detectives said they found one of Villicano’s sons — with fresh paint on his hands — near a wall, dumping clothing and paint cans into a trashcan. Police found the other alleged taggers waiting with Villicano in her SUV.

“This had to be a first,” said one of the detectives, who asked that his name not be used because of the nature of his work.

But a relative said the allegations do not square with the woman he knows.

Ray Bermudez, Villicano’s stepfather, said she would often leave the house with her sons, but it was to go shopping or play sports.

“She goes shopping, she comes back and it’s normal,” said Bermudez, 60, who shares a small ramshackle house with Villicano and her two sons, ages 15 and 19. “She’s a good mom. She’s old enough to know better.”

Villicano and her 19-year-old son, David Ramirez, were scheduled to be appear today in Los Angeles County Superior Court on five counts of felony vandalism of more than $400. Four juveniles ranging in age from 14 to 16, including Villicano’s 15-year-old son, are also being held.

This was not Villicano’s first arrest. She pleaded no contest in 2002 to felony possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon. She was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years’ probation. In January, she was charged with one felony count of possession or purchase of a cocaine base for sale. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in jail with credit for nearly three months behind bars. She was again placed on probation.

Because of the prior arrests, she is being held without bail. Ramirez is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.

In Echo Park — where graffiti has been a major problem —some residents said they were disturbed by the arrest.

“I can’t understand what kind of mother would do that,” said Evie Seifu, who runs a business near Villicano’s home. “It’s telling her children that it’s OK to do this kind of thing.”

Seifu said she and her husband have had to paint over graffiti on the wall of their Echo Park studio at least 10 times in the last year.

“Seeing graffiti still makes you feel unsettled, no matter where you’re at,” said Seifu, who lives in Silver Lake. “It’s not about the property, it’s about something being violated.”

The arrests were made by the Northeast Area station’s criminal apprehension team, the enforcement arm of the station’s detectives. Team members work plainclothes and target specific crime problems or trends in the area.

Witnesses spotted a crew tagging at Micheltorena Street School in Silver Lake on Aug. 22 and followed them to the 7-Eleven at Sunset Boulevard and Rosemont Avenue, where undercover detectives caught up with them.

Detectives said they found the letters “HIV” or “HIVC” spray-painted at both sites, as well as at about 100 other locations within a two-mile area along Sunset Boulevard between Virgil Avenue and Lemoyne Street. Law enforcement sources said the moniker stood for either “High in Violence” or “High in Vandalism.” Detectives are investigating whether the rash of graffiti was part of some rivalry with another tagging crew.

LAPD Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger said he was taken aback when he first heard about the arrest and said it underscores the need for parents to be responsible.

“Sometimes we search for answers as to why young people become engaged in irresponsible acts,” he said. “We look to social and economic conditions as causal factors. But often it’s parents abdicating their responsibility to be parents.”

Bermudez said he once confronted a tagger who was spray-painting near the coffee shop he frequents in Echo Park

“I told one of them to put some on his rear end, that’s where it belongs,” Bermudez said.

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Officials in New York are campaigning to stop the broadcast of a new series of reality show Survivor which divides contestants into ethnic “tribes”.

City council officials are to stage a rally on Friday to urge New York-based CBS network to pull the 13th series of Survivor, due to air from 14 September.

Campaign group Hispanics Across America called the programme “racist TV”.

CBS said it had “full confidence in the producers and their ability to produce the programme in a responsible manner”.

The broadcaster added that it “fully recognises the controversial nature of this format”.

Diverse

The network announced on Wednesday that the 20 “castaways” would be initially segregated into groups of blacks, whites, Asians and Latinos before merging later in the series.

It said the move was aimed at addressing complaints that there had not been sufficient ethnic diversity in previous series.

What will it mean for a team – a race – to fail in a battle of wits and strength against another race?
Fernando Mateo,
Hispanics Across America

But New York councillor John Liu told the Associated Press: “The idea of having a battle of the races is preposterous.

“How could anybody be so desperate for ratings?”

The programme could encourage racial division, he added.

Hispanics Across America founder Fernando Mateo called the move an “offensive and cheap trick” to boost ratings.

“The participants will be held to the daunting and unfair challenge of representing an entire race of people,” he said.

“What will it mean for a team – a race – to fail in a battle of wits and strength against another race?”

Twenty contestants will compete for a $1m (£530,000) prize while stranded on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.

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Tucson Police say a dangerous man is off the streets and locked up in County Jail.

Fernando Egurrola-Gutierrez, a 26-year-old resident of Mexico, was arrested Saturday night after Police responded to reports of a home invasion.

Police arrived on the scene about two minutes after getting the call.

When they got there they say Gutierrez was on top of the female victim.

Sergeant Decio Hopffer told News 4, “We had to go hands-on with him. He did not immediately comply with our demands so we had to go hands-on to detain him.”

After booking Gutierrez, Police say they found solid evidence linking him to another attempted sexual assault in the same area.

On July 16, a man fitting the same description as Gutierrez pulled a gun on two hair stylists at the Supercuts salon about two blocks away.

In that case, the attacker locked one of the women in a bathroom and attempted to assault her sexually.

The second stylist got away and when she left the building the opening door sounded a bell which spooked the attacker who took off running.

Police believe that man was Gutierrez and they say he was getting more brazen.

“He forced himself inside a bedroom before attempting sexual assault so he was getting more violent, more aggressive. There is no doubt in my mind that he would strike again,” said Sgt. Hopffer.

Gutierrez was booked into the Pima County Jail on several charges including attempted sexual assault, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault and burglary.

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24 August 2006

AN illegal immigrant went to the same money shop in Stevenage three times but each time using a different nationality passport.

And when Ovioliu Cirlig was arrested he was found to have another two fake passports and a fake driving licence, Luton Crown Court heard.

Cirlig, 31, had his picture on Danish, Norwegian, Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian passports, said Nicholas Lobbenberg, prosecuting.

He added that on the third occasion Cirlig carried out a transaction at the shop staff put “two and two together” and alerted police.

The other fakes were found at his home in Harrow.

Cirlig pleaded guilty to three charges of using a false instrument and three of possessing a false instrument.

He was sentenced last Thursday to 21 months imprisonment and recommended for deportation.

William Noble, defending, said: “He came to this country illegally and was exploited by others. His arrest came as a relief and he welcomes being returned to Romania.”

Judge Jeffrey Burke QC said: “Those who use false passports in current circumstances can expect nothing less than substantial prison sentences.

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Measures in Hazleton, Pa., and Riverside head to court.

I guess according to the ACLU, the people of the United States are no longer allowed to enforce the laws of their country. We have laws on the books that are supposed to prevent this invasion of what amounts to modern day slaves, but we aren’t allowed to execute these laws because it might offend the law breakers ….. Absolutely amazing. JD

By Emilie Lounsberry
Inquirer Staff Writer

In the first court challenges to new laws aimed at rooting out illegal immigrants, two lawsuits were filed yesterday targeting ordinances adopted last month in towns in northeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey.

One suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Scranton, seeks to block the Sept. 11 implementation of the Illegal Immigration Relief Act in Hazleton, Luzerne County.

The other, filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., focuses on the Burlington County town of Riverside, which passed a similar ordinance.

Hazleton’s law is viewed as one of the toughest measures of its kind in the nation: It sets English as the city’s official language, calls for a $1,000 fine for landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, and allows a five-year suspension of licenses for businesses that employ illegal immigrants.

The Riverside ordinance does not declare an official language, but it does ban hiring or renting to illegal immigrants, with employers and landlords facing a fine of $1,000 for each violation. It also denies business permits and municipal contracts and grants to employers of illegal immigrants.

The ordinances were enacted amid a national debate over how the United States should control its borders, and what to do about immigrants who have come here illegally or have overstayed their legal time here.

Other towns quickly took note. At least three more municipalities – Hazle Township, West Hazleton Borough and Mahanoy City, all in northeastern Pennsylvania – have passed similar ordinances, and others, including Bridgeport in Montgomery County, are weighing whether to adopt such laws.

Towns in Florida, Alabama, California and Massachusetts also are considering local ordinances aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants, and a town in Missouri has enacted one, according to the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, whose lawyers were among those who filed yesterday’s lawsuit in Scranton.

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta called the lawsuit “unfortunate” but pledged to “take this fight to the highest courts.”

“The city has taken what we believe to be proper legal steps in making Hazleton uncomfortable for illegal aliens, who are the root of some of Hazleton’s crimes, without directly infringing on their rights,” Barletta said in a statement yesterday.

Last night, the City Council tentatively approved a substitute ordinance that clarifies some of the language in the original bill but leaves the major provisions in place, the Associated Press reported.

The lawsuit challenging the Hazleton ordinance was filed by 11 Hazleton residents and business owners, along with three nonprofit Latino organizations, and it names the City of Hazleton as the defendant.

The lawsuit says the ordinance is “riddled with constitutional flaws” and ignores the legal doctrine known as “preemption,” holding that only federal authorities can make and enforce immigration policy.

The suit contends that some people who are lawfully in this country, such as some immigrants whose status may be unresolved, are deemed “illegal aliens” under the Hazleton law.

In addition, the court papers say certain people will not be able to live, work or even shop in the city without a U.S. birth certificate or identification papers in hand.

“If the ordinance is allowed to stand, anyone who looks or sounds ‘foreign’ – regardless of their actual immigration status – will not be able to participate meaningfully in life in Hazleton, returning to the days when discriminatory laws forbade certain classes of people from owning land, running businesses or living in certain places,” the suit states.

Tsiwen Law, a Center City lawyer who chairs the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s civil-rights and equal-rights committee and has been an immigrant-rights advocate, said he expected both ordinances to be thrown out as a result of the legal challenges.

Under immigration law, he said, the federal government has the authority to control U.S. borders, and states and municipalities have no right to interfere with immigration policy.

“A little hamlet here or there is not going to be able to tell it [the federal government] what to do. That just doesn’t happen,” Law said. “Preemption is a long-standing doctrine.”

The Hazleton city solicitor, Christopher Slusser, said city officials expected a legal challenge and believe that the law will survive judicial scrutiny.

The New Jersey legal challenge was brought by a Riverside resident, the Assembly of God Church, and the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders.

The suit names as defendants the Township of Riverside and Mayor Charles F. Hilton Jr., who could not be reached for comment yesterday. Riverside’s solicitor, Doug Heinold, has said that he believed the ordinance would be upheld because it governs township contracts and businesses in the township.

The lawsuit contends that Riverside’s ordinance is vague, does not define illegal alien, and has resulted in confusion.

“Riverside’s ordinance is placing business owners and landlords in a predicament whereby they will be afraid to hire or rent to a legal immigrant who is perceived to be an ‘illegal alien,’ thus giving rise to national origin discrimination,” it contends.

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