VICTOR SANTOS-OCHOA,45, MEXICAN IMMIGRANT FELON ILLEGALLY ENTERED USA BORDERS 4 TIMES

VICTOR SANTOS-OCHOA,45, MEXICAN IMMIGRANT FELON ILLEGALLY ENTERED USA BORDERS 4 TIMES:

OCHOA HAS BEEN ARRESTED AT LEAST 20 TIMES, INCLUDING SEVERAL SERIOUS DUI OFFENSES.

HE WAS FINALLY SENTENCED TO 8 YRS IN PRISON.

AFTER SERVING HIS SENTENCED, OCHOA WILL BE DEPORTED AGAIN.

FEDERAL JUDGE HAS ORDERED OCHOA NOT TO RETURN.


Post Sources: AP, Richmond Dispatch, Justice.gov, Youtube


****** Mexican Repeat offender who illegally entered U.S. four times sentenced to 8 years


A Mexican citizen who illegally entered the U.S. four times and racked up a long criminal history was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday, more than twice the term suggested under federal sentencing guidelines.

Victor Santos-Ochoa, 45, convicted of more than 20 other crimes in the U.S. since 1992, pleaded guilty Feb. 14 to illegal re-entry following a conviction of an aggravated felony and was facing a prison term of 37 to 46 months under the sentencing guidelines.

“Quite frankly, you are the type of individual U.S. immigration policy is intended to keep out of the United States,” U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson told Santos-Ochoa shortly before imposing the term.

Earlier, Hudson told Nia Vidal, Santos-Ochoa’s lawyer, that he has handled 200 immigration cases as a federal judge.

“I believe this is the worst,” Hudson said.

S. David Schiller, an assistant U.S. attorney, told Hudson, “I have done in excess of 500 of these ... cases. I haven’t seen many that come close to this.”

According to court records, the U.S. attorney’s office said that between 1992 and 2007, Santos-Ochoa was convicted of 18 misdemeanors in California, Georgia and Virginia and spent eight of those 25 years in state and federal prisons.

He was deported, apparently in 2007, and then re-entered the U.S., showing up in Chesterfield County, where in 2008 he was convicted of malicious wounding. Deported again, he was caught re-entering the U.S. in Arizona in 2010, sentenced to 57 months and deported again.

He returned to Chesterfield, where he was convicted of possession of marijuana in 2016. Deported again, he returned and was most recently arrested in Chesterfield in September for assault and battery of a family member — a 5-year-old child — and another drug charge.

Vidal told Hudson on Thursday that the guideline range of 37 to 46 months already took into account his prior illegal entries and relevant criminal history. She asked the judge to sentence him within the guideline range, which was not binding on Hudson.

But Hudson cited the defendant’s long criminal history and disrespect for the law in going over the guidelines.

Presuming he will be deported again after his eight-year prison term, Hudson told Santos-Ochoa, “Needless to say, do not return to the United States without proper authorization, sir.”

HONDURANS LOSE PROTECTED STATUS TO REMAIN IN UNITED STATES (ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION)

HONDURANS LOSE PROTECTED STATUS TO REMAIN IN UNITED STATES (ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION):

MOST HONDURANS HAVE LIVED IN U.S. SINCE 1999 YET THEY DID NOT APPLY FOR LEGAL CITIZEN.

HOW IS IT THEY WERE ALLOWED TO LIVE AND WORK IN ANOTHER COUNTRY ILLEGALLY FOR 19 YEARS??

WHAT ABOUT THE MS-13 GANGS?


Post Sources: Fox News, Daily Mail, PBS News, Washington Post, Youtube


***** Trump administration ends protections for 50,000 Hondurans living in U.S. since 1999


More than 50,000 Hondurans who have been allowed to live and work in the United States since 1999 will have 20 months to leave the country or face deportation, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced Friday, the latest in a series of DHS measures aimed at tightening U.S. immigration controls.

The Hondurans were granted temporary protected status (TPS) in 1999, shielding them from deportation, after Hurricane Mitch slammed their country and left 10,000 dead across Central America.

Under President Trump, DHS has been eliminating TPS programs one by one, arguing they were never designed to grant long-term residency to foreigners who may have arrived illegally or overstayed their visas.

In the past six months, DHS has ended TPS for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans, 50,000 Haitians and 9,000 Nepalis, giving those groups 12 to 18 months to prepare a departure or secure some other form of legal status.

According to a DHS statement, Nielsen “carefully considered conditions on the ground” before making the Honduras decision.

“The Secretary determined that the disruption of living conditions in Honduras from Hurricane Mitch that served as the basis for its TPS designation has decreased to a degree that it should no longer be regarded as substantial,” the DHS statement read.

“Since 1999, conditions in Honduras that resulted from the hurricane have notably improved,” the statement continued, adding that the country has made “substantial progress in post-hurricane recovery.”

It was not clear from the DHS statement which improvements Nielsen was referring to.

Honduras remains one of the most violent countries in the world and has been roiled by political instability since presidential elections last year whose legitimacy was rejected by the Organization of American States and other international observers.

Congress established TPS as a humanitarian program in 1990 to avoid deporting foreigners to countries that have been destabilized by natural disasters or civil strife.

The Trump administration hasn’t ended the protections for every eligible nation; in January, Nielsen extended TPS for nearly 7,000 immigrants from war-torn Syria.

More than 86,000 Hondurans received TPS protections after the hurricane, and the latest government estimates show that about 50,000 still depend on the designation to remain in the United States.

Last November, DHS ended TPS for 2,500 Nicaraguans who were also allowed to stay after Hurricane Mitch.

Hondurans were the second-largest group of TPS recipients after Salvadorans, and many have lived most of their adult lives in the United States, running businesses, purchasing homes and raising American-born children.

Critics of the Trump administration say forcing otherwise law-abiding immigrants out of the United States is shortsighted and heartless, particularly at a time when Honduras and some other nations are teetering from gang warfare and political unrest.

“There is little doubt that the White House has been driving these TPS decisions based on ideology, not based upon what is best for our foreign policy interests and for the region,” said Kevin Appleby, senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies, a nonpartisan think tank.

“It makes the situation in Honduras and Central America worse and will assuredly come back to haunt us in time,” ¬Appleby said.

Honduras is a significant source of illegal immigration to the United States, and many of the families who joined the migrant caravan through Mexico that captured the attention of President Trump last month said they fled their country in fear for their lives.

They joined thousands of other Central Americans who arrive every month at the U.S. border with Mexico to request asylum, many of them families or women with children.

IMMIGRATION REFORM CORNERSTONE OF TRUMP'S SOTU SPEECH (MS-13)

IMMIGRATION REFORM CORNERSTONE OF TRUMP'S SOTU SPEECH (MS-13):

DEALING WITH FAKE SYRIAN REFUGEES AND VICIOUS, COLD-BLOODED MS-13 GANGS EVEN WHEN IT’S NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIMS OR LATINOS.

IT’S SOLELY ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY.


Sources: Yahoo News, CBC News, Fox News, Youtube


Tuesday night, January 30, 2018 Donald J. Trump our 45th legally elected leader of the Free world (USA), delivered his first State of the Union address before the entire world.

During his speech Trump talked about his administration’s first year achievements as all U.S. Presidents have done when delivering their SOTU speeches.

Trump then proceeded to provide an update on the cornerstone topic of his administration’s agenda and the topic which helped to secure his 2016 election.

That topic is ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM.

Trump mentioned during his SOTU address that he is halting the FAKE Syrian Refugee program until further notice.

Considering how most of the Men who entered America’s borders under the guise of “Syrian Refugees” were actually from IRAQ and were actually members of ISIL, I can see how choosing to halt this program although not POLITICALLY CORRECT, would be in the best interest of our country as it relates to NATIONAL SECURITY.

Trump then went on to discuss his agenda for dealing with GANG WARFARE as in the notorious, most Cold-Blooded Gang to ever exist.......the MS-13.

MS-13 is an international Gang comprised solely of Young LATINO Men, not BLACK Men.

These Young LATINO Men hail from MEXICO, South America, Central America and Honduras.

MS-13 Gang Members are so cold-blooded and violent, they also target and viciously MURDER LATINO citizens just as easily as they frequently Kill American citizens.

This Gang uses MURDER to Terrorize, Intimidate and Control entire American Communities.

In many instances even the POLICE are afraid of MS-13 Gang Members.

Choosing to prosecute and deport Young LATINO Men who are active members of MS-13 is not a POLITICALLY CORRECT decision for Trump’s administration because for years Politicians and other Elected Officials have feared throwing Latino or Middle Eastern Men into Jail, or Deporting them even for MURDER or TERRORISM because it’s not POLITICALLY CORRECT.

However these Politicians and Elected Officials had absolutely No Fear of throwing Young BLACK Men into Jail in a New York minute, even for minor offenses.

Can you say Double Standard based on RACE??

Yet were it not for BLACK Voters, neither VIRGINIA nor ALABAMA Democrats would have won the 2017 elections.

So I commend Pres Trump for standing up for what is right for the USA even when it’s not Popular or POLITICALLY CORRECT to do so.

To wrap it up........

If you are from MEXICO and have been living in the United States for more than 10 years and enjoying America’s FREEDOM and RESOURCES, yet you have NEVER applied for LEGAL CITIZENSHIP, you should be made to Apply ASAP or be Deported.


****** Trump honors parents of MS-13 gang victims at SOTU


One of the longest standing ovations during President Trump’s first State of the Union address came when he introduced the parents of two teenage victims of gang violence.

Evelyn Rodriguez, Freddy Cuevas, Elizabeth Alvarado and Robert Mickens were invited by the White House to attend Tuesday’s speech. Their daughters — Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens respectively — were killed by members of the MS-13 gang on Long Island in September 2016, on the eve of Nisa’s 16th birthday. Federal authorities later arrested 13 gang members in connection with their deaths. Ten of those arrested had entered the country illegally.

Trump used their killings to highlight what he views as America’s “open borders” that “have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities.”

“These two precious girls were brutally murdered while walking together in their hometown,” Trump said. “Six members of the savage gang MS-13 have been charged with Kayla and Nisa’s murders. Many of these gang members took advantage of glaring loopholes in our laws to enter the country as unaccompanied alien minors — and wound up in Kayla and Nisa’s high school.”

The president turned to their parents, who were seated next to first lady Melania Trump.

“Evelyn, Elizabeth, Freddy, and Robert: Tonight, everyone in this chamber is praying for you,” Trump said. “Everyone in America is grieving for you. And 320 million hearts are breaking for you. We cannot imagine the depth of your sorrow, but we can make sure that other families never have to endure this pain.”

The parents then received a long standing ovation as they wiped away tears.

Trump called on Congress to “finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other criminals to break into our country.”

“We have proposed new legislation that will fix our immigration laws and support our ICE and Border Patrol agents, so that this cannot ever happen again,” he continued. “So tonight, I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties — Democrats and Republicans — to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion and creed. My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too.”

BALTIMORE TO LOSE FEDERAL $$$ AS A SANCTUARY CITY (MS-13 GANGS)

BALTIMORE TO LOSE FEDERAL $$$ AS A SANCTUARY CITY (MS-13 GANGS):

DOJ TOP CHIEF JEFF SESSIONS REMINDS MUNICIPALITY LEADERS THEY ARE NOT ABOVE FEDERAL LAW IN HARBORING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

SANCTUARY CITY LEADERS ENDORSE IMPRISONING BLACK MEN WHILE PROTECTING ILLEGAL LATINO MEN.

IT SHOULDN'T BE ABOUT RACE, ONLY ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY.


Sources: Fox News, Youtube


**** DOJ threatens to withhold crime-fighting funds from four sanctuary cities


Attorney General Jeff Sessions is reinforcing threats to go after sanctuary cities, warning the administration may withhold federal crime-fighting funds for four places struggling with gun violence.

It is the latest threat made by Sessions in his public campaign to force cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration officials.

The Justice Department sent letters to police departments in Baltimore, Md., Albuquerque, N.M., Stockton and San Bernardino, Calif. telling them if they wanted federal help to root out drug trafficking and gang crime, they’d have to work with federal immigration authorities.

Among other things, the Justice Department said they must give the authorities access to jails and provide advance notice before releasing someone in custody who is wanted on immigration violations.

The four cities targeted had all expressed interest in the DOJ’s new Public Safety Partnership, which enlists federal agents, analysts and technology to help communities find solutions to crime.

“Based on our review, we have concluded that your jurisdiction has levels of violence that exceed the national average, that your jurisdiction is ready to receive the intensive assistance the Department is prepared to provide, and that your jurisdiction is taking steps to reduce its violent crime,” the Aug. 3 letter said.

The letter sent by the DOJ to the four prospective cities’ police departments also asks them for proof of their compliance to step up efforts to help detain and deport people in the United States illegally. The deadline is Aug. 18.

Separately last week, Sessions told jurisdictions they need to meet the same conditions or lose out on millions of dollars from a separate program that aims to send grant money to support law enforcement.

The attorney general rolled out the rules as part of his promised crackdown on sanctuary cities.

His threat didn’t sit well with some – prompting a defiant pushback on the request.

Under old rules, cities seeking grant money needed only to show that they weren't prohibiting local law enforcement from communicating with immigration authorities.

Police use the money for everything from bulletproof vests to body cameras.

Sessions unveiled the policy amid speculation about whether he would retain his job following President Trump's blistering public criticism for his recusal from the Russia probe. The terse warning from the president seems, for now, to have subsided.

MS-13 GANGS TO BE DEPORTED BUT EL SALVADOR SAYS NO THEY DON'T WANT THEIR CRIMINALS BACK

MS-13 GANGS TO BE DEPORTED BUT EL SALVADOR SAYS NO:

MEXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA SENT THEIR GANG AND DRUG CRIMINALS TO TERRORIZE UNITED STATES.

NOW MEXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA RESISTS TRUMP ON TAKING THEM BACK.


Sources: Washington Post, Youtube


****** Trump wants to deport MS-13 gang members. El Salvador is dreading their return.


The Trump administration’s push to deport more Central American gang membershas alarmed officials here who fear that the returning gangsters could exacerbate violence in one of the deadliest countries in the hemisphere.

This year the U.S. government has deported 398 gang members to this country, compared with 534 in all of 2016, according to Salvadoran government statistics. This sharp increase in the rate of gang deportations — and the prospect of more gang roundups in the United States — has prompted Salvadoran authorities to hold emergency meetings and propose new legislation to monitor suspected criminals who are being sent home.

“This clearly affects El Salvador. We already have a climate of violence in the country that we are combating,” said Héctor Antonio Rodríguez, the director of the country’s immigration agency. “If gang members return, of course this worries us.”

In tweets and speeches, President Trump has made MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, the leading symbol of the dangers of illegal immigration and the need for more and faster deportations. He has compared the gang’s “meanness” with that of al-Qaeda. He promised last week that the organization will be “gone from our streets very soon, believe me.” Recent high-profile killings, such as that of a 15-year-old Salvadoran girl in Springfield, Va., and a string of slayings on Long Island, have fueled concerns of an MS-13 resurgence in the United States.

In El Salvador, this gang and rivals such as the 18th Street gang have terrorized neighborhoods for decades. MS-13 formed in Salvadoran immigrant communities in Los Angeles in the 1980s, building its ranks with refugees from the country’s civil war. Waves of deportations over the years helped MS-13 take root in El Salvador and grow into a powerful criminal organization with tens of thousands of members across Central America.

In El Salvador, this gang and rivals such as the 18th Street gang have terrorized neighborhoods for decades. MS-13 formed in Salvadoran immigrant communities in Los Angeles in the 1980s, building its ranks with refugees from the country’s civil war. Waves of deportations over the years helped MS-13 take root in El Salvador and grow into a powerful criminal organization with tens of thousands of members across Central America.

Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities have launched raids recently to capture dozens of MS-13 and other Latino gang members. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced this month the arrest of more than 1,300 gang members across the country in what it described as the largest anti-gang crackdown in agency history.

Salvadorans are dreading the return of those captured in the U.S. raids.

“Probably we won’t feel the symptoms today or tomorrow or the next week. But probably in six months or a year we’ll be feeling the symptoms of what these deportations are causing now,” San Salvador Mayor Nayib Bukele said in an interview.

Gang members make up a small fraction of the deportee total. Salvadoran authorities say 6,922 people were brought back here from the United States in the first four months of the year, up slightly over last year.

This year the total number of deportations by United States has dropped about 12 percent, to around 56,000 people, compared with the same period last year. Officials have attributed the decline to the fact that the federal immigration court system is overtaxed.

But the Trump administration is clearly working to expel more gang members.

“You know about MS-13?” Trump said during a speech in April to the National Rifle Association. “Get them the hell out of here, right?”

Salvadoran officials worry that although the number of killings has fallen this year, gangs could quietly be strengthening or reorganizing. MS-13 has at least 49 “cliques” in El Salvador, according to Guadalupe de Echeverría, the head of the homicide and anti-gang unit at the attorney general’s office. Over the years, some of these cliques have named themselves after the cities in the United States where members lived before being deported.

One important dynamic within MS-13, Echeverría said, is a recent rupture between the historic leaders, most of whom have long been imprisoned, and an offshoot known as the “503” — the telephone country code for El Salvador.

“They have already formed a new group, and very probably with deported people,” she said. “We’ve already seen a certain amount of violence between them.”

To prepare for moredeportations, the Sánchez Cerén administration recently proposed legislation to monitor gang members who return to the country. Under the measure, if the suspected gangster had no warrant for crimes in El Salvador, he would be asked to check in with police once a month and notify authorities whether he moved. The law also would create “internment centers,” possibly guarded by the military, that would be something like a halfway house for returning gang members.

Rodríguez, the head of the immigration agency, said that many gang members in the United States had fled conflicts with rivals in El Salvador.

“To return,” he said, “some run the risk of danger for having escaped. That’s why we think there is an opportunity in the internment centers to protect them and be able to reinsert them into society.”

Human rights workers here have questioned the legality of holding suspected gang members if they have not been charged or convicted of a crime in their home country.

MS-13 GANG MEMBERS & DRUG CARTEL LEADERS ARE BEING PROSECUTED & DEPORTED AFTER 8 YRS OF ROAMING FREE

MS-13 GANG MEMBERS & DRUG CARTEL LEADERS ARE FINALLY BEING PROSECUTED AND DEPORTED AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF ROAMING FREE:

OBAMA & KEY DEMS ALLOWED MS-13 GANG MEMBERS TO COMMIT CRIMES AND BLAMED THOSE CRIMES ON BLACK MEN.

UNDER OBAMA TEMP AGENCIES AND OTHER EMPLOYERS HIRED LATINO MEN NOT BLACK MEN.

UNDER OBAMA POLICE WERE ORDERED TO ATTACK BLACK MEN WHILE IGNORING MS-13 GANG MEMBERS.

OBAMA & KEY DEMS DIVIDED THIS COUNTRY TO WIN 2016 ELECTION YET THEY STILL LOST.

TRUMP IS MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN AND HEALING BLACK & LATINO COMMUNITIES BY PUTTING THINGS BACK IN ORDER.


Sources: Breitbart, Newsmax, Fox News, Youtube


**** Trump to MS-13: We’re Sending You ‘The Hell out of Our Country


Speaking at a rally in Harrisburg, PA, President Donald Trump assured American citizens that the Salvadoran gang known as MS-13 would be quickly removed from the country.

Following chants of “build that wall,” President Trump addressed the crowd in relation to the deadly Salvadoran gang MS-13:

“We will build a wall folks, don’t even worry about it. Go to sleep. As the final thing we needed, we need it.” said President Trump in relation to the wall, adding:

If the Democrats knew what the hell they were doing, they would approve it so easy because we want to stop crime in our country. Obviously, they don’t mind illegals coming in. They don’t mind drugs pouring in. They don’t mind MS-13 coming in.

We are getting them all out of here. Members of congress who will be voting on border security have a simple choice. They can either vote to help drug cartels and criminal aliens trying to enter the United States, like frankly, the Democrats are doing, or they can vote to help American citizens and American families be safe.

That is the choice.

President Trump continued:

At the heart of my administration’s efforts to restore the rule of law has been a nationwide crackdown on criminal gangs, and that means taking the fight to the sanctuary cities that shield these dangerous criminals from removal. The last very weak administration allowed thousands and thousands of gang members to cross our borders and enter into our communities, where they wreaked havoc on our citizens. The bloodthirsty cartel known as MS-13 has infiltrated our schools, threatening innocent children.

We have seen the horrible assaults and many killings all along Long Island where I grew up. We are seeing the vicious spread of transnational gangs into all 50 states and the human suffering they bring with them. I have been with the parents.

It is devastation. A very respected General recently told me that MS-13 are the equivalent in their meanness to Al Qaeda. My administration will not rest until we have dismantled these violent gangs, and we are doing it rapidly, and we are sending them the hell out of our country.

At this point, President Trump received. thunderous applause. He went on to say, “We are sending them back home where they belong. One by one, we are finding the illegal immigrant drug dealers, members and killers and removing them from our country. Once they are gone, you see what we are doing. They will not let them back in. They are not coming back.”

CHARLOTTE, NC MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS BUYING FAKE IDs (WHERE ARE THE FEDS?)

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS BUYING FAKE IDs (WHERE ARE THE FEDS?):

MEXICAN MAN (HUMBERTO GINEZ-EDMUNDO) CHARGED WITH SELLING FAKE IDs TO NORTH CAROLINA ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

YET COMPANIES CONTINUE TO HIRE MANY MEXICAN CITIZENS VERSUS LEGAL CITIZENS.


Sources: Charlotte Observer, Fox News, Youtube


***** Man going to prison for selling fake IDs to undocumented immigrants in Carolinas


A Mexican man was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison on Wednesday for providing fake documents to undocumented workers and others in the Carolinas and Georgia.

Humberto Ginez-Edmundo, 27, charged $130 to $600 for the fake Social Security cards, state identification cards, driver’s licenses and permanent residence cards he produced beginning in November 2015, court records show.

Ginez-Edmundo was convicted of fraudulent identification document conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.

Chief U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney sentenced him in federal court in Charlotte.

Ginez-Edmundo will face deportation proceedings after serving his sentence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations led the investigation into the fake documents Ginez-Edmundo produced and sold.

MS-13 GANG VIOLENCE INCREASED UNDER OBAMA LIKE ISIL (BORDER PATROL)

MS-13 GANG VIOLENCE INCREASED UNDER OBAMA LIKE ISIL:

MS-13 GANG MEMBERS CONSIST MAINLY OF LATINO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

UNDER OBAMA MEDIA ONLY FOCUSED ON BLACK GANG VIOLENCE.

US TROOPS SHOULD PATROL TEXAS-MEXICO BORDERS.

TIME FOR GOP & DEMS TO UNITE AGAINST ALL GANG VIOLENCE.


Sources: Fox News, CBS, Business Insider, YouTube


***** How MS-13, One of America’s Most Dangerous Gangs, is Funded


President Donald Trump is ready to crack down on the infamous, money-making MS-13 gang, after a violent quadruple homicide in Long Island, N.Y. last week left four teenagers dead and badly beaten. Trump is promising to remove the gang from U.S. streets “fast.”


MS-13, a group that was started by Central American immigrants in Los Angeles in the 1980s, is known for its ruthless and violent tactics. Most of the founding members were from El Salvador and fled to the U.S. during the country’s civil war that lasted 12 years, from 1980-92. Since then the gang’s membership has ballooned to at least 10,000 members in the United States and more than 30,000 worldwide, according to the FBI and Treasury Department.

“[MS-13] is one of the most dangerous and rapidly expanding criminal gangs in the world today,” Philip Holloway, a legal analyst and former police officer, told FOX Business. “MS-13’s mottos is ‘Mata, roba, viola, controla’ (Kill, steal, rape, control),” he noted.

The gang has managed to expand its business tentacles into a variety of illegal activities, despite sanctions levied against the group by the U.S Treasury Department under the Obama administration. “They are involved in multiple crimes including murder, racketeering, drug trafficking, sex trafficking and human trafficking including prostitution,” Holloway said.

MS-13 also uses violence as a means for extortion, which constitutes much of its income, University of Houston sociology professor Luis Salinas told FOX Business.

“A lot of the violence is part of the extortion … and prostitution. Once they get here they get these individuals and extort money from their families. They’re also into extortion for protection of this neighborhood or that neighborhood,” Salinas said.

In 2015 the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of three members of the gang who were funneling funds back to higher-ups in El Salvador from prison. These actions were an attempt “disrupt” MS-13’s financial network by cutting off profits from illegal activities in the United States, the Treasury Department said. In 2012 the Obama administration designated MS-13 a transnational crime organization and implemented sanctions against six members in 2013.

While the U.S. government attempts to target MS-13’s earnings, targeting its culture is proving more difficult. The fierce loyalty among members is unique, Ron Hosko, former assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, told FOX Business.

“They're very cohesive and often directed by imprisoned bosses in El Salvador to recruit and expand in American communities. That tends to mean there's an aggressive internal enforcement mechanism which equates to internal discipline involving physical violence and murder for disrespect or betrayal,” he said.

Membership in street gangs showed no signs of decreasing, according to the FBI’s 2015 National Gang Report, and MS-13 was identified as one of the top gangs involved in cross-border crimes. Recently, law enforcement has taken a tougher stance on making arrests; a move spurred by Attorney General Jeff Session’s focus on illegal immigrant crime, Hosko said.

“MS is a clear example [of illegal immigrant crime]. Affiliates would cross the border and make their way to American enclaves where they found friends and relatives living here already,” he said. “Citizenship is a combination of American born (many to illegals) and illegal immigrants.”

Salinas said about 60-70 percent of current U.S. members in MS-13 are immigrants, the majority of which could be illegal.

On Tuesday during an interview on Fox News, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he believes the gang “could qualify” as a terrorist group. In El Salvador, MS-13 has already been designated as a terrorist organization.

Hosko said President Trump’s administration is changing the narrative quickly for both gang members and law enforcement in the United States.

“[The FBI] believed that claiming of ‘credible fear’ of persecution, gang retaliation, other bad acts in their homeland to immigration authorities likely resulted in widespread release of bad actors into the U.S. as their claims were being evaluated. With Obama, that was acceptable risk. I think that's changing fast.”

.

TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PROMISES (ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION)

"You look at our Borders, they're like Swiss cheese."
Donald J. Trump, 2016


TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PROMISES (ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION):

HE FOCUSES ON PROTECTING AMERICA'S BORDERS.

CRITICIZES GENERAL MOTORS FOR MANUFACTURING CARS IN MEXICO.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ALL U.S. MILITARY TROOPS & VETS.


Sources: DonaldTrump.com, CNBC, Fox News, Reuters, Youtube



***** Donald J. Trump’s 10 Point Plan to Put America First


1. Begin working on an impenetrable physical wall on the southern border, on day one. Mexico will pay for the wall.

2. End catch-and-release. Under a Trump administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country.

3. Move criminal aliens out day one, in joint operations with local, state, and federal law enforcement. We will terminate the Obama administration’s deadly, non-enforcement policies that allow thousands of criminal aliens to freely roam our streets.

4. End sanctuary cities.

5. Immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties. All immigration laws will be enforced - we will triple the number of ICE agents. Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country.

6. Suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur, until proven and effective vetting mechanisms can be put into place.

7. Ensure that other countries take their people back when we order them deported.

8. Ensure that a biometric entry-exit visa tracking system is fully implemented at all land, air, and sea ports.

9. Turn off the jobs and benefits magnet. Many immigrants come to the U.S. illegally in search of jobs, even though federal law prohibits the employment of illegal immigrants.

10. Reform legal immigration to serve the best interests of America and its workers, keeping immigration levels within historic norms.

---------------------------------------------



**** Trump team seeks agency records on border barriers, surveillance

In a wide-ranging request for documents and analysis, President-elect Donald Trump's transition team asked the Department of Homeland Security last month to assess all assets available for border wall and barrier construction.

The team also asked about the department's capacity for expanding immigrant detention and about an aerial surveillance program that was scaled back by the Obama administration but remains popular with immigration hardliners. And it asked whether federal workers have altered biographic information kept by the department about immigrants out of concern for their civil liberties.

The requests were made in a Dec. 5 meeting between Trump's transition team and Department of Homeland Security officials, according to an internal agency memo reviewed by Reuters. The document offers a glimpse into the president-elect's strategy for securing the U.S. borders and reversing polices put in place by the Obama administration.

Trump's transition team did not comment in response to Reuters inquiries. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment.

In response to the transition team request, U.S. Customs and Border Protection staffers identified more than 400 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border, and about the same distance along the U.S.-Canada border, where new fencing could be erected, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Reuters could not determine whether the Trump team is considering a northern border barrier. During the campaign, Trump pledged to build a wall and expand fencing on parts of the U.S.-Mexico border but said he sees no need to build a wall on the border with Canada.

One program the transition team asked about, according to the email summary, was Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that authorizes 1,200 Army National Guard airmen to monitor the southern border for drug trafficking and illegal migration.

The program once deployed 6,000 airmen under President George W. Bush but was downsized by Barack Obama, a move blasted by some conservatives who argue the surveillance is vital to border security.

POLICY SHIFT

The transition team also asked for copies of every executive order and directive sent to immigration agents since Obama took office in 2009, according to the memo summarizing the meeting.

Trump has said he intends to undo Obama's executive actions on immigration, including a 2012 order to allow children brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents to remain in the country on temporary authorizations that allow them to attend college and work.

The program, known as DACA, collected information including participants' addresses that could theoretically be used to locate and deport them if the policy is reversed. Another request of the transition team was for information about whether any migrant records have been changed for any reason, including for civil rights or civil liberties concerns, according to the internal memo seen by Reuters.

"Votar Por Obama!" Obama Woos Latino Voters At 2012 NAELO Conference

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama Widens Latino Voting Gap


The enormity of Mitt Romney’s Latino challenge was made clear here Friday in the 45 seconds an audience of Hispanic elected officials stood and applauded before President Barack Obama spoke.

The president depicted himself as a champion of immigration reform, blasted Republicans for blocking the DREAM Act and recounted his decision to stop deportations of many young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents.

Obama touted his health care overhaul and his actions to boost the economy. He brought out the bilingual phrases “Yes, we can” and “Si, se puede” from the 2008 mothballs.

The crowd loved it.

The day before, Romney told Hispanics that they have suffered under Obama’s economic stewardship. He tiptoed around the president’s deportation shift, saying it doesn’t matter whether he’d reverse it because his focus as president would be on a long-term solution.

The mostly Democratic crowd, which didn’t even fill the Disney World ballroom, was unmoved.

The difference was clear. Obama brought a prize for Hispanics, an immigration action that he admitted was long in coming, while Romney did not.

Obama brought reminders that the DREAM Act was once a bi-partisan exercise blocked in 2010 by Senate Republicans, while Romney avoided mentioning that he had pledged to veto it during the primary campaign.

Obama, speaking to a full house during the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, did not let the audience forget.

“He has promised to veto the DREAM Act, and we should take him at his word,” Obama said, referring to Romney not by name but as “your speaker yesterday.” As the cheering faded, Obama added a tart, “I’m just sayin’.”

The president hit the immigration theme hard, devoting the heart of his 28-minute speech to his support for, and the Republican blocking of, changes to immigration policy.

“We should have passed the DREAM Act a long time ago.

It was written by members of both parties,” Obama said of the bill, which creates a path to citizenship for some young illegal immigrants who served in the military or went to college. “The bill hadn’t changed. The need hadn’t changed. The only thing that had changed was politics.

And I refused to keep looking young people in the eye, deserving young people in the eye and tell them, ‘Tough luck, the politics is too hard.’”

Obama’s speech here comes at a perilous time for both his reelection campaign and the political energy of Hispanic voters.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule next week on the legality of Arizona’s tough immigration law, which Obama’s Justice Department challenged.

The high court also is expected to rule as early as Monday on Obama’s landmark health care law, more popular among Hispanics than the nation at large.

Romney’s campaign responded with statements from supportive Hispanic Republicans in Congress criticizing Obama on the economy.

Romney campaign spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg accused Obama of enacting “job-killing policies that have led to 11% Hispanic unemployment and millions of Hispanics living in poverty. On Day One, Mitt Romney will take our country in a new direction and get our economy back on the right track.”

Republicans here said Obama broke a promise to introduce an immigration overhaul bill during his first term. But they worried the president’s recent actions and voters’ short memories will lead to Obama getting credit for helping immigrants — and little blame for taking so long.

And they said Republicans have missed an opportunity with Latino voters.

“The bottom line is the Republican Party has made a mistake of not articulating a legislative agenda as it pertains to immigration,” said Juan Zapata, the chairman of the NALEO Education Foundation and a former Florida Republican state representative from Miami.

He praised the efforts of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whose alternate DREAM Act proposal contains much of what the Obama administration announced last week. “Sen. Rubio tried to do something. I think it would have been great if it started a year ago, and I think it would have done the party a lot more good,” Zapata said.

Zapata, who supports Romney, said he hopes Hispanics in Florida and elsewhere remember Obama’s broken pledges. But he warned that Obama’s message about Romney’s opposition to the DREAM Act will resonate with Latinos.

“I’ll tip my hat to the president, you know, that was a good statement, a good comeback,” he said. “But the reality is also the president made a promise in front of this crowd, two promises, that he’d come back the year after [his election] as president and that he’d file immigration in his first year, and he hasn’t kept either of those promises.”

Obama spoke after a morning session that featured a stirring speech by Rubio, a tea party hero whom Romney said Tuesday is being vetted as a possible running mate. Rubio declared a need for a compromise on immigration policy for the nation’s estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.

“As long as this issue of immigration is a political ping pong that each side uses to win election and influence votes, it won’t get resolved,” he said, drawing polite applause that lacked the enthusiasm shown for Obama.

While Rubio’s words, primarily on immigration, kept the crowd rapt, the audience wasn’t snapping photographs and recording the event as they did for Obama.

Of the ultimate answer, Rubio said: “Here’s the truth, if we’re honest with ourselves, we don’t know yet.”

The administration shift in deportation policy is boosting Obama’s already large lead among Latinos over Romney.

A survey of swing-state Latinos released Friday showed Obama ahead by 36 percentage points among Hispanic voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Virginia, with his most substantial leads in Arizona, Colorado and Nevada.

The move’s popularity in Florida, where a heavy contingent of Latinos are either Cuban, who are legal residents upon reaching U.S. shores, or Puerto Rican, who are citizens from birth, is less than in other states.

“The people that don’t like him aren’t going to look at him differently after this anyway,” said state Rep. Luis Garcia, one of three Hispanic Democrats in the state Legislature. “The people he’s looking out for are the ones who are borderline.”

In Florida, Obama leads Romney by 16 percentage points among Hispanics — a sizeable amount, but not the 48-point margin he has in Colorado, where state Rep. Dan Pabon said the president’s announcement has already spurred more enthusiasm.

“More people are willing to knock on doors, make phone calls, I mean, it’s actually had a marked change in not just, ‘I support the president,’ but ‘All right, I’ll pick up the phone now, I’ll knock on a door now, I will donate now,” said Pabon, who estimated 70 percent of the conference attendees are Democrats. “It’s really unleashed another level of support for the president.”
And that gap played out here.

As Romney took the stage, many in the audience didn’t stand or applaud, and many of his usual applause lines received no reaction from the crowd. At times he paused awkwardly, appearing to expect a reaction but not getting one.

When the former Massachusetts governor – who like Obama is used to delivering remarks to friendly audiences — offered his oft-used and generally most well-received line about repealing “ObamaCare,” only a small fraction of the audience applauded and one man booed.

Obama, upon taking the stage, received the standing ovation. He said, in Spanish, that it is good to be among friends.



President Obama Shreds Romney’s Chances With Hispanic Voters In Speech To Latino Group

On Friday afternoon, President Obama followed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney‘s hotly-anticipated speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) with his own speech to the group, which presented a golden opportunity to keep Romney on the ropes with Hispanic voters regarding the President’s recent immigration policy change. It was also an opportunity to challenge Romney’s false claim that it was the President who stood in the way of comprehensive immigration reform, rather than Romney’s Republicans.

It was a week ago today that President Obama shot immigration up to the top of the presidential campaign with his announcement of a major immigration enforcement policy change, one which allows young undocumented immigrants to apply for deportation relief, if they meet the requirements of the DREAM Act. Since then, Mitt Romney has doggedly refused to say whether he will reverse that policy change if he’s elected.

In his speech today, President Obama spent a great deal of time laying out his economic plans for the country, and applying it to the Latino community. Notably, the President emphasized not only the “choice” election he’s been promoting all along (as opposed to a referendum on the economy), but also his “vision” for America’s economic future, a term that reflects recent polling advantages.

But the real meat of the speech was his direct challenge to rival Mitt Romney, whom he didn’t reference by name, but rather referred to as “your speaker from yesterday” or “the man at the top of their ticket.”

The President rebutted Romney’s assertions that he hadn’t done anything on immigration. “Just six years ago,” the President said, “an unlikely trio, John Mccain, Ted Kennedy, and President Bush, came together to consider comprehensive immigration reform. I, along with a lot of Democrats, were proud to join 23 Senate Republicans in voting for it. Today, those same Republicans have been driven away from the table by a small faction of their own party.”

That line drew applause from the crowd, which is not a good sign for the effectiveness of Romney’s Thursday speech in bridging the huge polling gap he has with Hispanic voters.

The President followed up by talking about his recent policy change. ”In the face of a Congress that refuses to do anything on immigration, I’ve said that i’ll take action wherever I can. My administration has been doing what we can without the help of Congress for more than three years now. Last week we took another step. On Friday, we announced that we’re lifting the shadow of deportation from deserving young people who are brought to this country as children.”

He also responded directly to the absurd criticism that Republicans are making, that his policy change was somehow unnecessary, had he but asked them to pass the DREAM Act. “We should have passed the DREAM Act a long time ago,” President Obama said. “It was written by members of both parties. When it came up for a vote, a year and a half ago, Republicans in congress blocked it. The bill hadn’t changed. The need hadn’t changed. The only thing that changed was the politics.”

“For those who say we should do this in a bipartisan fashion,” he later added, “Absolutely. My door has been open for three and a half years. They know where to find me. I’ve said time and again, send me the DREAM Act. I will sign it right away.”

Most devastatingly, though, the President exposed Mitt Romney’s dance on the DREAM Act as the empty spectacle it is. “Your speaker from yesterday has a different view,” the President said. “In his speech, he said that when he makes a promise to you he’ll keep it. Well, he has promised to veto the DREAM Act, and we should take him at his word.”

Judging from the crowd’s reaction, the President’s speech nullified whatever inroads Romney made with Hispanic voters Thursday, if he, indeed, made any.


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Sources: Mediaite, MSNBC, Politico, Google Maps

Illegal Immigration Becomes Central Focus Of 2012 Presidential Election (Latino Voters)

George W. Bush used the SCOTUS Court to Win the 2000 Presidential Election.
Now Barack Obama is using his DREAM Act/ Amnesty/ Illegal Immigration Reform to Win the 2012 Presidential Election.
What's wrong with that?
Bush is WHITE.
Obama is BLACK.
SAME Game, Different Strokes!
Obama is using his Political Influence to "buy" 800,000 Latino Votes, while George W. Bush used his Political Influence to Eliminate more than 200,000 BLACK Votes.
ALL is Fair in Love, War & Politics baby!
Only the Strong Survive!
That was a Smooth Move Pres. Obama!
I have to give it to you for that one Bro.







Republicans refine immigration message after Obama's scoop

Caught off guard by the Obama administration's shift in immigration policy last week, Republicans on Tuesday refined their response in an effort to lessen any political bounce for the president at what had been a tough time in his campaign.

Certain GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney led the Republican counterattack, accusing President Barack Obama of undermining the possibility of long-term immigration reform by taking the partial step of halting deportations of some young illegal immigrants who came to America as children.

Speaking in an interview on Fox News Radio, Romney said Obama could have proposed immigration reform earlier in his term, when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress, but instead waited until his re-election was pending.

"The reason this came out was the president is trying to shore up his base with Latino voters," Romney said, noting that Obama's campaign has struggled in recent weeks to deal with a disappointing jobs report and what he called self-inflicted wounds.

"He is also trying to change the subject from his miserable speech last week, from his gaffe that the private economy is doing fine," Romney added.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, acknowledged that Obama's move "puts everyone in a difficult position," telling reporters it will "make it much more difficult for us to work in a bipartisan way to get to a permanent solution."

Boehner also said that the policy change might violate the Constitution and that the president made no attempt to work with Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, called such Republican arguments hypocritical and "phony outrage."

"The complaints are varied, but they have one thing in common: None of them actually take issue with the substance of President Obama's directive," Reid said, adding: "They just don't like the way President Obama made the decision -- or that he will get the credit for bringing out of the shadows 800,000 trustworthy young men and women who know no other home but the United States."

Tuesday's spin by leading Republican moderates Romney and Boehner differed from the initial reaction by conservatives who called Obama's move an amnesty -- a buzzword for right-wing opposition that has stymied immigration reform efforts.

Now the Republican criticism focuses on the process rather than the content, and for good reason.

A Bloomberg poll released Tuesday showed that a solid majority of likely voters back the policy change Obama announced Friday, including coveted independent voters.

According to the survey, 64% of respondents agree with the new policy, while 30% disagree. Among independents, the percentage in agreement rises to 66%, while 26% are opposed.

The poll also showed that 86% of Democrats support the new policy, while 56% of Republicans disagree with it.

Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University, called Obama's move "very shrewd" because it showed leadership on an issue important to his liberal base and the Hispanic community.

"This is a major, major step toward cementing the bond between the Latino community and the Democratic Party in an active way," Schiller told CNN, adding that voters will remember that the Democrats were "the party that let me stay in this country, ... that kept my family intact."

In announcing the change Friday, Obama said it would make U.S. immigration policy "more fair, more efficient and more just."

The new policy allows people younger than 30 who came to the United States before the age of 16, pose no criminal or security threat and were successful students or served in the military to receive a two-year deferral from deportation.

They also can apply for work permits.

Administration officials emphasized that the change offers no path to citizenship or legal residency, and they said it will allow the Department of Homeland Security to focus resources on keeping out new illegal immigrants and tracking down repeat offenders, criminals and others.

The policy change mimics legislation called the DREAM Act, which Democrats were unable to push through Congress in 2010 because of a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate.

In that vote, five Democrats in the Senate joined Republicans in blocking the measure, while three GOP senators voted with Democrats to bring it up.

The final tally of 55-41 was five votes shy of breaking the filibuster.

Reid complained Tuesday that Republicans have continually resisted efforts to work with Democrats on immigration reform and the DREAM Act.

"Every time Democrats offer to work together on comprehensive immigration reform, Republicans find an excuse to fight sensible change," Reid said. "And every time Democrats propose bipartisan legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for children brought here illegally through no fault of their own, Republicans find an excuse to oppose our practical reforms."

After Obama announced the policy change Friday, conservative House Republicans immediately blasted it as a backdoor amnesty, with Iowa Rep. Steve King threatening to sue the administration.

However, Republican aides acknowledge that immigration is a divisive issue within their party, with GOP members in competitive districts needing to appeal to Hispanic voters to win re-election this fall.

To Schiller, the Obama move put Republicans in a tough spot if they oppose his policy of halting the deportations.

Noting the children of illegal immigrants affected by the change had to be very young when they arrived in America with their parents, she called it "a population that is impossible to paint in a negative light."

"How can you support a policy that would break up families? You can't," she said.
Boehner and Romney reflected that reality Tuesday.

"I think we all have concerns for those who are caught in this trap through no fault of their own and are here," Boehner said.

Romney pledged to "work from the beginning of my administration to put in place a piece of legislation which deals with this issue on a long-term basis," saying young illegal immigrants who serve in the military "should be able to become permanent residents of the United States," a step short of full citizenship.

In the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, avoided a direct answer to repeated questions from reporters about his response to Obama's move, deferring instead to a speech by Romney later this week at a major Latino conference in Florida.

"He is the leader of our party from now until November and we hope beyond, and we're gonna wait and hear what he has to say about it," McConnell said.

Romney has endorsed efforts by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate, to draft a Republican version of the DREAM Act.

Obama's move effectively ended that effort, a Rubio aide acknowledged Monday.
"We're re-evaluating our plans," Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said. "The president's announcement took away our momentum and made the politics a lot tougher."

Rubio had planned to introduce the bill this summer, citing concerns about certain students facing deportation ahead of the new school year, but his office said the president's step erased any sense of urgency.

"This approach requires a long-term solution, and my biggest concern -- and I may be proven wrong -- my biggest concern is that by doing it this way, the president had undermined and set back the hopes of getting a long-term solution done on this issue," Rubio told CNBC on Tuesday.

Audrey Singer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in immigration issues, said the exceptionally bitter political divide right now made Republican calls for comprehensive immigration reform ring hollow.

During the GOP primary campaign, Romney said he wanted illegal immigrants to deport themselves, "meaning if we make it miserable enough for (them), they will leave," Singer told CNN.

Now his desire for comprehensive reform also sounds like campaign talk that might not translate to results should Romney win the White House in November, she said.

If Obama's policy change is close to what Rubio was proposing, then both sides should be able to coalesce around it, Singer noted, adding: "The fact is that Obama has enacted something similar that doesn't somehow add up to bipartisan support, and that, my friend, is politics."

Both Obama and Romney are scheduled to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials annual conference later this week in Florida, a key general election battleground state with a large Hispanic population.

Both candidates also released Spanish-language ads this week. Romney unveiled a spot Monday attacking the president's record on the economy, while the Obama campaign released a spot Tuesday featuring Latino talk show host Cristina Saralegui, who endorsed the president after last week's policy shift, according to the campaign.


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Sources: CNN, Youtube, Google Maps

Dharun Ravi/ Tyler Clementi Case Wrongfully Labeled A Hate Crime: Ravi Didn't Cause Tyler's Suicide

Rutgers’ Ravi: ‘I Wasn’t the One Who Caused Him to Jump’

Former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi, convicted last week of a hate crime for spying on his gay roommate’s date, regrets his “dumb kid” actions, but told ABC News today that he takes “comfort” in the belief that his webcam peeking is not the reason Tyler Clementi jumped to his death.

Ravi, 20, of Plainsboro, N.J., spoke about the case just days after a New Jersey jury convicted him of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering and hindering arrest for using a webcam to peek at Clementi’s date in their college dorm room on Sept. 19, 2010 and encouraging others to spy during a second date, on Sept. 21, 2010.

Ravi was not charged in connection with Clementi’s death.

“Even though I wasn’t the one who caused him to jump off the bridge, I did do things wrong and I was stupid about a lot of stuff,” Ravi said in an exclusive broadcast interview with “20/20″ co-anchor Chris Cuomo.

Ravi, who was 18 at the time, was initially rattled by Clementi’s death, which the press depicted as the result of cyber bullying.

He asked himself, “Is this because of me?” Ravi told Cuomo.

But Ravi said that what he learned about his freshman roommate during the course of legal proceedings — including information that hasn’t been made public — convinced him that the 18-year-old took his life for reasons that didn’t have anything to do with Ravi and his webcam.

“The more and more I found out, it would be kind of obnoxious of me to think that I could have this profound effect on him,” Ravi said.

At another point he added, “After all this time and reading his conversations and how and what he was doing before, I really don’t think he cared at all.

I feel like I was an insignificant part to his life. That’s giving me comfort now.”

Ravi also pointed out that Clementi left behind a note, and that its contents have never been made public.

“The fact that we weren’t allowed to read it, that they said it didn’t have anything to do with this, that gave me comfort also because I figured if it has nothing to do with me…it must have been something else that was going on,” he said.

“He didn’t even care about this… He had bigger problems in his life,” he said.

Ravi, alerted by his dorm resident adviser that Clementi was aware of his spying and wanted a room change, sent Clementi a text and an email apologizing. That text was sent about the same time that Clementi jumped off the bridge.

“What is frustrating was I never knew if he got my text or the e-mail that I sent.

It was very frustrating to think I didn’t get a chance to say anything to him. To this day, I just say you know what, I’ll just think he read it and he got it and I’m going to accept that as that’s what happened. …At least he had to hear what I had to say.”
Ravi is scheduled to be sentenced May 21 and could face five to 10 years in prison.

As an Indian citizen who is in the U.S. on a green card, Ravi could also face deportation.

Despite the hate crime conviction, Ravi maintains his innocence. He said he never hated Clementi and is not homophobic. That’s why, he said, he turned down prosecutors when they offered a plea deal that included no jail time in exchange for admitting to charges of intimidation against Clementi.

“I had to go up there in front of a judge under oath and say I intimidated Tyler because of sexual orientation — (to say that) I did this because I had this hate for gay people,” he said. “I don’t hate gay people.”

It is believed Clementi learned about his roommate’s spying over Ravi’s Twitter account, on which Ravi posted messages about the incidents.

The first time, Ravi said, he and a friend watched Clementi and his date kissing for just few seconds from another dorm room before quickly shutting it down.

The second time, Ravi said, he planned to let a friend watch the webcam feed, and through a Twitter post he also let other friends know about his plans. But he later decided against it and turned the camera away from Clementi’s bed, he told Cuomo.

During Ravi’s trial, the prosecutor rejected Ravi’s claim to have turned off his computer and turning the webcam away, arguing that it was Clementi who shut it off.

Ravi told Cuomo that his actions were never intended to hurt or shame Clementi and that the Twitter posts were just a way to keep in touch with his own friends and let them know what was going on in his life.

“Looking back, I was very self-absorbed with the whole thing. It was never, ‘What if Tyler finds out, how’s he going to feel about it?’” he said. “…I was 18, I was stupid, I wouldn’t think about my actions beyond a minute into a future. I was a dumb kid not thinking about it.”

Despite media depictions of Clementi and his suicide, Ravi said he believes the teen wasn’t fragile.

“Just because he’s gay doesn’t mean he’s automatically fragile and can’t deal with anything,” he said.

While Ravi believes he should face some punishment, that punishment shouldn’t include jail, he said.

“So much worse happens,” he said. “Kids actually get bullied and actually go through stuff much worse than this. I understand why people feel the need to punish me.

Bad stuff happens and they need to set an example, but it’s unfortunate this has to be the case where this happens.”

Ravi said he feels he’s been taken advantage of.

“The people that are fighting for gay rights, they have a just cause. I think this kind of detracts from their cause,” he said. “This is something people can point to and say, ‘You guys are going overboard.’ I think it’s bad for them.”


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Sources: ABC News, Google Maps

Dharun Ravi's Guilty Verdict vs REAL Hate Crimes (Gay Rights vs Civil Rights)

Dharun Ravi's Trial Proves that HATE CRIMES in America involving Blatant Racism against BLACK People are completely Ignored.

While HATE CRIMES against GAY People & ABORTION Providers are Prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law.

Welcome to 21st Century America!




Guilty verdict in Rutgers webcam spying case


A former Rutgers University student accused of spying on and intimidating his gay roommate by use of a hidden webcam was found guilty Friday of all counts -- including invasion of privacy and the more severe charges of bias intimidation -- in a case that thrust cyberbullying into the national spotlight.

Dharun Ravi, 20, was also found guilty of witness tampering, hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence, and could now face up to 10 years in jail and deportation to his native India.

Sentencing has been set for May 21.

The New Jersey jury was confronted with a series of questions on each charge after it asked for clarification on what constituted bias intimidation.

Though it found Ravi not guilty on several questions within the verdict sheet, because he was found guilty on at least one question on each main count, Ravi was convicted on all charges and could now face the maximum penalty.

His roommate, Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman, killed himself in September 2010 by jumping off the George Washington Bridge and into the Hudson River after learning that Ravi had secretly spied on his sexual encounter with another man.

CNN legal analyst Paul Callan called Friday's verdict "unprecedented," adding that it "sends a message to people across the rest of the country" about the potential consequences of unauthorized webcam use in an age of expanding social media.

"New Jersey enacted a law that said if you secretly record (someone engaged in an intimate act) with a webcam or any other kind of video and you broadcast that without their permission, that is a crime," Callan said. "Every place else in America up until this law was enacted, you could sue somebody for civil damages for the embarrassment, but you weren't going to go to jail.

New Jersey said it's criminal."

And because prosecutors were able to prove that Ravi's actions were born of a gay bias, the possible sentence doubles from up to five years to 10 years behind bars.

Clementi's death stirred discussion about bullying, with President Barack Obama releasing a videotaped message condemning it. A few months later, New Jersey legislators enacted stricter laws to protect against bullying in schools.

"This haunting and awful case shows how much society has changed," said CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin of Friday's verdict. "Even though he was not charged directly in connection with Clementi's suicide, that tragedy hung over the trial and undoubtedly played a major part in every aspect of the case."

After the verdict, Rutgers University released a statement saying, "This sad incident should make us all pause to recognize the importance of civility and mutual respect in the way we live, work and communicate with others."

Prosecutors had argued that Ravi, who sat expressionless in the courtroom Friday, had tried to embarrass Clementi because he was gay and that his actions were motivated by a desire to intimidate the Ridgewood, New Jersey, native expressly because of his sexual orientation.

"These acts were purposeful, they were intentional, and they were planned," prosecutor Julia L. McClure told the jury on the first day of the trial. Ravi "was bothered by Tyler Clementi's sexual orientation," she later said more bluntly.

Ravi's attorneys countered by saying their client acted thoughtlessly, portraying him as an immature college student who made a mistake, and that his actions were not based on homophobia.

"He hasn't lived long enough to have any experience with homosexuality or gays," attorney Steven Altman said in closing arguments earlier this week. "He doesn't know anything about it. He just graduated high school."

After the verdict Friday, Altman said he would "prepare some type of press release" next week, but vowed to appeal the ruling.

"Right now I am just dealing with the emotions that everyone involved with the Ravi family and the defense experienced and continue to experience with the verdict," he said.

Though Ravi and Molly Wei -- a fellow student who admitted to joining Ravi to watch the surreptitious encounter that others were alerted to via social media -- were charged in the wake of Clementi's suicide, they were not charged directly with his death.

Facing two counts of invasion of privacy, Wei reached a plea deal in May that required her to testify against her friend and former high school classmate as well as to complete a three-year program on cyberbullying and do 300 hours of community service.

Ravi turned down a plea deal offered by Middlesex County prosecutors that would have allowed him to avoid jail time in exchange for undergoing counseling, doing 600 hours of community service and disposing of any information that could identify the man who appeared in the Web video with Clementi.

Prosecutors also offered to help him avoid deportation, though they said they could not guarantee it.

Ravi, who had been studying on a visa at the New Jersey university, did not testify on his own behalf.

During the prosecution's phase of the trial, the man whom Clementi was intimate with, identified only as "M.B.," told jurors that he had noticed a Web camera aimed directly at Clementi's bed.

The 32-year-old man testified that he met Clementi on a social-networking site for gay men and that they eventually met three times in the student's dorm room. The two conversed online, exchanged text messages and eventually had sex, he said.

Wei testified that she watched M.B. and Clementi after Ravi had secretly set up the webcam in his and Clementi's dormitory room.

Ravi's attorney, Altman, has argued his client had initially switched on the webcam to monitor his personal items because he did not trust his roommate's visitor.

In Twitter messages from that day, Ravi wrote that he'd gone into a friend's room, "turned on my webcam" and saw his roommate "making out with a dude."

Then on September 22, 2010, Clementi took a train to New York and posted a mobile status update on his Facebook page that read, "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."
Ravi had apparently tried to make amends with his estranged roommate that same night, according to text messages revealed in court.

"I've known you were gay and I have no problem with it," Ravi wrote in messages after he apparently learned his roommate had requested a room change.

It is not clear whether Clementi ever viewed the messages before committing suicide.


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Sources: CNN, NJ.com, Google Maps