Illegal Immigration
Mexican national scheduled to be executed in Texas today
Umberto Leal Garcia
UPDATE to the UPDATE: Humberto Leal was put to death this evening in Huntsville, TX. He was pronounced dead at 7:21 ET. His last words were to apologize to his family and his victim’s family for causing so much pain. Hopefully, Adria’s family can have some peace.
UPDATE: The US Supreme Court voted 5-4 to not stop the execution of Leal-Garcia. The execution is set to take place anytime after 6pm tonight (Texas time)….so….anytime now.(thanks to wannacruize for this info).
There’s a lot going on with Mexico lately. Illegal immigration laws…Fast and Furious…and now this little story. Today in Texas, Umberto Leal Garcia is scheduled to be executed for the brutal 1995 rape and murder of 16 year old Adria Sauceda. It only took the jury 45 minutes to convict him because the prosecution had a mountain of evidence against Garcia. He has been sitting on death row ever since and tonight is the big night….but there’s a slight problem. Garcia is a Mexican national…even though he has been living in the US since he was 2 years old (yes..illegal immigrant). According to the 1963 UN Vienna Treaty, foreign nationals must be informed of their right to contact the embassy if they are arrested. Garcia (a Mexican citizen) wasn’t informed of this right….and he didn’t have to be because the US doesn’t have a law that enforces the treaty domestically. Also, a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision stipulates that the legal support of a foreign government — or governments — is not required in deciding whether to execute a foreign national convicted of a capital offense. The 6-3 majority ruled that state court judges are given the discretion to decide how a sentence is carried out. This is how the US was able to execute Jose Ernesto Medellin in 2008. There is a bill currently pending in Congress that would enforce the treaty and Garcia has petitioned the Supreme Court for a stay so that the bill can pass….this would trigger a retrial for Garcia.
The Texas Board of Pardons and their Court of Criminal Appeals have already denied the stay. Last Friday, the Obama administration petitioned Texas to grant a stay until Congress can pass the bill. Of course, Gov. Rick Perry can grant the stay (but will he?).
Hmmm…what to do? No one is claiming that this monster is innocent. They want him to “get off” on a technicality. He’s an illegal immigrant who, for 36 years, has enjoyed all the benefits of a US citizen (including our justice system) but now suddenly he wants to be treated like a Mexican.
Will Texas cave to political pressure?
I sure hope not.
Fast and Furious just got more interesting
Kenneth Melson
I know I’ve been doing a lot of posting on the Fast and Furious scandal and some of you might not be as enthralled as I am with it but I think this is heading downhill quickly for the DOJ (and thus Eric Holder) and I can’t wait to see where this will all end up. It’s like a great mystery movie where you watch and watch and wait to see “who done it”. We all know “who done it” here but will they get away with it and will it eventually end up in Obama’s lap?
Breaking news out late yesterday afternoon is that Kenneth Melson, Director of the ATF, is singing like a little bird and his song isn’t exactly music to the DOJ, ATF or the FBI’s ears. Melson was scheduled to meet next week with Rep. Issa and Grassley, who are heading up the investigation by the House Oversight Committee. Next week’s meeting would also have included lawyers from the DOJ (so they could keep an eye on him and do some damage control). Instead, Melson opted to have a secret meeting with Issa and Grassley so he could say what was really on his mind….and there was a lot on his mind.
Here’s a brief little summary of things discussed in the July 4th meeting…
So several other government agencies were also doing concurrent operations involving gun sales to Mexican thugs? Doesn’t the DOJ oversee the ATF and the DEA? Apparently the Arizona US Attorney Dennis Burke (an Obama appointee) is up to his eyeballs in the scandal because his office provided legal advice to the ATF during Fast and Furious. No matter which way you go with this fiasco….all roads lead back to the DOJ and Eric Holder.
I would love to be a fly on the wall in Holder’s office when he is discussing what the DOJ will do next.
Wouldn’t Project Gunrunner make a great movie? Starring Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford and….who else?
Mexican officials want US officials behind Fast and Furious tried in Mexico.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ircWNLcFBVI
Mexico is pissed….and with good reason. The more that is known about the Fast and Furious fiasco, the more apparent it is that the US screwed up and allowed 2500 assault rifles and revolvers to be transported into Mexico by thugs. These guns were supposed to be traced to high level mob-type gun traffickers (and drug cartel members) but for some reason….ATF agents just sat back and let the bad guys be bad guys and in the process, numerous people were murdered with these weapons (including a US border patrol agent…RIP Brian Terry ). Now Mexican officials want the ones responsible for Operation Fast and Furious (aka Project Gunrunner) to not only be tried in the US but also in Mexico.
Ay caramba! This could get very interesting…especially with 2012 right around the corner.
The investigation should go as far up as Obama himself but we all know that “The One” is bubble-wrapped and probably won’t be touched. At the very least, Eric Holder’s name should be listed at the top of the page of usual suspects. Holder remains eerily silent lately….trying to fly below the radar. I bet he hasn’t slept much lately.
Will Obama throw Holder under the bus? My guess is yes.
I hope Holder likes tequila and tacos.
Did Eric Holder drop CIA investigation to barter for Project Gunrunner?
I haven’t read too many articles or blogs that say it outright (yet) but…did Holder and the DOJ drop the investigation into CIA interrogation techniques in order to get the investigation of his botched Project Gunrunner dismissed? Was a deal made that would let Holder off the hook if he stopped his CIA witch hunt? Almost every article that I have read this morning about the CIA investigation has comments at the end that are wondering the same thing. Some other theories are that Holder dropped the investigation as a farewell gift to Panetta or that he dropped it because he’s afraid of Petraeus .
I bet he made a deal with someone to slither out from under the Gunrunner scandal.
No deal is too slimy for this Administration.
Illegal immigration debate heats up in Georgia
Things are heating up down south…and I don’t mean the summertime temperatures. On May 13th, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed into law HB 87 which will crackdown on illegal immigration. Georgia needs this bill because they have one of the highest percentage of illegal immigrants of any state in the country (the 7th largest amount of illegal immigrants to be exact). The new law adds more criminal charges to illegals who are arrested…similar to the Arizona law. It also would make it a criminal offense to harbor or transport illegal immigrants. This and several other parts of the law were blocked by a federal judge a few days ago but the e-verify clause remains intact and since the Supreme Court upheld the e-verify challenge in May, this part of HB 87 won’t be challenged. This has many in Georgia screaming. Most of south Georgia is agricultural and farmers and politicians (from both sides of the aisle) are not happy. Protest rallies are being held all over the state and things are really getting ugly.
I like to read the Marietta Daily Journal because I used to live in Marietta and it’s a pretty conservative newspaper. They have a columnist named D.A. King who’s specialty is illegal immigration. He is the founder of the Dustin Inman Society which is a group of citizens who educate the public and elected officials on what’s really going on with illegal immigration….especially in Georgia. They know the law and it’s their mission to let the public know when the law isn’t being enforced. Mr. King wrote an article on June 17th titled “ Pro-law Americans turning tide on immigration” that got a lot of people hot under the collar.
Here’s a little piece of his article that sums up what he thinks…..
A recent survey of Georgia farmers requested by the governor revealed that only 5 percent had used the legal method to obtain farm help. They have been using the illegals because they could.
The agriculture industry receives billions of tax dollars in subsidies – and then howls that obeying American immigration law is “too costly.” If we enforce the law we will end up with that famous $10 head of lettuce? Guess what? According to many economists and studies, including one from the respected Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, labor costs comprise only 6 percent of the price consumers pay for fresh produce. If farm wages were allowed to rise 40 percent, and if all the costs were passed on to consumers, the cost to the average household would be only about $8 a year. Much cheaper than the $2.4 billion annual expense Deal cites as Georgia’s cost of subsidizing the illegals.
While his article is very good, what’s most eye-opening and more than a little frightening are the comments at the end. I encourage you to read all of the comments but here’s one of the ones that I find unbelievable…
« Angel Guttierez wrote on Monday, Jun 20 at 03:25 PM »
We have a destiny to fulfill in the land that historically has been ours for forty thousand years. And we’re a new Mestizo nation. And they want us to discuss civil rights. Civil rights. What law made by white men to oppress all of us of color, female and male. This is our homeland. We cannot – we will not- and we must not be made illegal in our own homeland. We are not immigrants that came from another country to another country. We are migrants, free to travel the length and breadth of the Americas because we belong here. We are millions. We just have to survive. We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. It’s a matter of time. The explosion is in our population.”
Yikes! Can we stop the invasion? It feels like we are under attack from all sides doesn’t it?
There are a lot of people who want to see America fall.
Perhaps our biggest enemy is living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Armed Mexican troops cross the US border.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xjFxJzUGFo
Did you hear about this? Two days ago, a convoy of trucks that were loaded down with Mexican troops and weapons crossed our border at bridge #2…which is located in Laredo, Texas. I have scoured the Internet and haven’t found much reported on this story. I picked it up by reading Moonbattery this morning. I don’t know about you…but I think this is a pretty big story. I suspect that this isn’t something that happens everyday….where’s the LSM? I found a brief report of the incident from one of Laredo’s local TV stations (the above YouTube clip) and a little blurb on their website but that’s about it. Amazing.
Here’s a little recap of what happened….
A convoy of three military trucks loaded with Mexican soldiers crosses the border at Bridge Number Two clearly violating international law.
It happens as Customs and Border Protection inspectors try to figure out what to do.
A CBP spokesperson says they got on the phone with Mexican authorities after being alerted that the military trucks were heading their direction loaded down with soldiers and weapons.
Mexican leaders say the soldiers, who had just been deployed to Nuevo Laredo, didn’t know the area, got lost and then made their way through Bridge Two.
Um….”Customs and Border Protection inspectors try to figure out what to do.”?
Holy Cow! They have to figure out what to do?
I think we’re in BIG trouble.
Pathetic turnout for May Day Rally in LA
Boo Hoo…..the Los Angeles May Day rally to support illegal aliens and their “rights” was a bust this year. It looks like only a few hundred people showed up. This is in contrast to the 2006 rally when there were well over 100,000 protesters.
( LA Times ) By 10 a.m. only a few hundred immigrant rights and labor activists had gathered at Broadway and Olympic Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles to rally public support for legislation that would legalize the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants.
“It’s really sad,” Luis Ortiz, an ice cream vendor who has been coming to the rallies for the last 15 years, said of the small turnout. “I’ve sold very little, almost nothing.”
Plenty of police officers on foot and bike patrol were on hand to monitor the crowd.
But Sunday’s turnout was a far cry from the excitement and unity that infused the May Day march in 2006, when hundreds of thousands of people marched through downtown Los Angeles.
I do feel bad for the street vendors who had hoped to make some money.
Perhaps they should target the Tea Party rallies instead.
