Thread: N.M. town protests police immigration enforcement

NM town protests police immigration enforcement

Posted Wednesday, May. 16, 20120
By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA
Associated Press

ANTHONY, N.M. — About 400 residents of the tiny border town of Anthony have signed a petition demanding that local law enforcement officers stop random immigration checks, activists said Wednesday.

Border Network for Human Rights spokeswoman Christina Parker said the signatures were delivered to the city council Wednesday evening following a march through the community along the Texas-New Mexico border.

Anthony was recently incorporated, and Parker said her group has received information that local law enforcement officers have been acting as immigration agents, sometimes in coordination with federal immigration agencies.

City Clerk Gloria Irigoyen said the community's police department consists of one officer and that it was news to her that immigration checks could be happening.

"They are trying to make it an issue, but it's not," she told The Associated Press.

The immigration rights group contends that when police departments enforce immigration law, residents are less likely to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.

The petition asks the council to support the principles of community policing by ensuring the police department gains the trust of all community members to more effectively fight crime.

"The enforcement of civil immigration law is the responsibility of the federal government," Jose Manuel Escobedo, the group's policy director, said. "It is unconstitutional and just as improper for local police to ask for immigration papers as it would be for them to ask for proof of filing taxes to the IRS."

The residents who signed the petition represent about 4 percent of Anthony's population.

NM town protests police immigration enforcement | Latest State headlines from AP | News ...

Anthony, NM, just a sleepy little town.......

Drug arrests center on Anthony, New Mexico pecan farm

By Diana Washington Valdez \ El Paso Times
01/28/2012 12:00:00 AM MST

The owners of a pecan farm in Anthony, N.M., and a codes enforcement officer in Horizon City were arrested Friday on federal charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, according to officials.

Eight people were arrested on various charges of a 24-count federal indictment that was unsealed Thursday, and one person was arrested on a criminal complaint.

According to the indictment, from September 2011 through January 2012, the defendants conspired to distribute cocaine and heroin, said Elizabeth Martinez, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Albuquerque.

Charged in the indictment are Oscar L. Portillo Sr., 53, and his wife, Sandra L. Portillo, 51, part owners and operators of Pettit Farms and Nursery, a pecan farm and nursery. Also charged were their sons, Matthew Portillo, 25, and Oscar Portillo Jr., 29.

The indictment also charges Cesar Ramos, 32, Fernando A. Ramos, 40, and Ruben Ortiz-Rivera, 46, of El Paso, and Natasha N. Coronado, 23, of Vinton.

April Garcia, 35, a codes enforcement officer employed by the Horizon City Police Department, is charged in a criminal complaint, Martinez said.

The arrests stemmed from a multi-agency five-month investigation, which included the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in El Paso, the FBI office in New Mexico and the Internal Revenue Service in Arizona.

Officials said that Oscar L. Portillo Sr. and Sandra L. Portillo used the pecan farm as a place to store and sell drugs, and they and that their sons

sold drugs to an undercover agent on five occasions.Oscar L. Portillo Sr. and Sandra L. Portillo allegedly laundered the proceeds from some of these drug deals by asking an undercover agent to pay for the drugs with money orders that the suspects cashed and deposited into bank accounts in the name of the pecan farm. They also allegedly provided the agent with invoices that falsely asserted that the agent had purchased pecan trees.

Matthew Portillo and Oscar Portillo Jr. assisted their parents in distributing drugs and laundering drug proceeds, officials alleged.
According to the indictment, Cesar Ramos and Fernando Ramos and Ruben Ortiz-Rivera, were the source of the drugs for the Portillo family.

The criminal complaint charging April Garcia alleges that she conspired with others to possess cocaine and methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and to launder drug proceeds.

While executing the search warrants in connection with the arrests, officers seized about 450 grams of cocaine, a quantity of marijuana, five firearms (a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols), nine vehicles and a tractor.

"This investigation targeted a Southern New Mexico-based drug trafficking organization responsible for the transportation of shipments of cocaine and marijuana from Chihuahua, Mexico, to locations throughout the United States," said El Paso DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit.

"Organizations such as this one are essential to distribution networks of Mexican suppliers, and the arrests and seizures in this case will affect their ability to conduct business as usual."

Drug arrests center on Anthony, New Mexico pecan farm - El Paso Times



Firefighter, pecan farm caught up in New Mexico drug busts
Published January 27, 2012
Associated Press

"Organizations such as this one are essential to distribution networks of Mexican suppliers, and the arrests and seizures in this case will affect their ability to conduct business as usual," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph Arabit

Read more: Firefighter, pecan farm caught up in New Mexico drug busts | Fox News

Feds: Pecan farm fronted drug ring
Nine busted as feds raid homes, farm
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Feds: Pecan farm fronted drug ring