The insanity of the federal government is endless as we recently learned that the U.S. State Department released a Mexican fugitive wanted for embezzlement. On February 1 of this year, Smith County sheriff’s deputies pulled over Hector Hernandez Javier Villarreal and his wife, Maria Teresita Botello, for not displaying a front license plate on his car. Upon pulling him over, deputies then asked for and received permission to search the car and in doing so discovered $67,000 in cash and a shotgun. But thanks the feds’ intervention, Villarreal remains at-large.

Villarreal and his wife, both Mexican nationals, were taken into custody and deputies routinely checked the serial number of the shotgun which is when Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith says “all of a sudden everyone in federal government became interested – ATF, FBI, Homeland Security, Immigration [and Customs Enforcement] all showed up.” Come to find out, Villarreal was the former secretary executive of the Tax Administrative Service of Coahulia, Mexico. Villarreal was also arrested in Mexico for embezzling millions from the Mexican government which led to his November arrest (in Mexico) before he posted bail and fled to the U.S. with an EB-5 visa (which are granted to foreign nationals who have invested at least $500,000 in this country).

On February 6, Villarreal and Botello both posted bond and were released into the custody of Homeland Security when U.S. State Department officials got involved and demand the pair be released. Rep. Louie Gohmert is calling for a congressional investigation into the matter and at this time is blaming the fugitives’ release on federal incompetence.

http://www.minutemanpac.com/index.asp

U.S. SETTLES SUIT OVER 2007 IMMIGRATION RAIDS

Eleven illegal immigrants who claimed immigration agents violated their rights during raids on their New Haven neighborhood in 2007 have won a $350,000 settlement from the U.S. government. As part of the settlement, the U.S. government has also agreed to halt deportation proceedings. The settlement is the largest ever paid by the U.S. in a lawsuit over residential immigration raids and the first to also waive pending deportation statuses.

The raids on the Fair Haven, CT, neighborhood came one day after the city of New Haven began offering identification cards to illegal immigrants leading critics to contend that the raids were retaliation for the ID program. Ross Feinstein, and ICE spokesman said, “The government is settling in order to avoid additional time and expense of further litigation.”

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, who introduced the ID card program, announced in December a proposal to extend voting rights to illegal immigrants and has also prohibited law enforcement officers from asking about immigration status. DeStefano is also against participating in the Secure Communities program which uses fingerprints of arrested individuals to identify illegal immigrants for deportation.