http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_3459422

Mexican federal agents arrested four Iraqis preparing to sneak into the U.S.
From staff and wire reports

Mexican federal agents arrested four Iraqis apparently preparing to sneak into the United States without proper documents, government officials said Monday. Wasim Francis Schamoun and Ivan Yalda, both 23, and Refon Chlil Oraha and Thaer Salem Yelda, both 27, were found on a bus in Navajoa, in the state of Sonora, about 350 miles south of Nogales, Ariz., after police received an anonymous tip.

Officials on Monday said they were investigating the background of the four. The four have family names that are common among Iraq's minority Christian community.

Many undocumented Iraqi nationals have been captured in Mexico en route to the U.S. border. None have been found to have any links to terrorism.


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Chino-based Friends of the Border Patrol announced Monday its intent to install a low-cost network of cameras to monitor the border.

The group said it is developing the Free Electronic Domestic Observation and Monitoring system to enable law enforcement and civilian volunteers to watch the border remotely.

"We can do it at a much lower cost than the government can," said Andy Ramirez, president of the group.

Ramirez said they expect to complete a prototype of the system soon.

The group has been awarded tax-exempt nonprofit status, he said, and will use that to solicit donations for building the system. The cameras could run $5,000 to $7,000 each, Ramirez said.

Camera towers would be built on consenting land owners' property, but Ramirez said they would seek permission to put them on public land as well.

"Since the president likes to talk about bringing freedom to other parts of the world, this will help restore it along the border, because the bad guys control the border," he said.

Information: www.friendsoftheborderpatrol.com.


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SAN BERNARDINO - A group of protesters converged on California Sen. Barbara Boxer's Inland Empire office Monday, urging the senator to oppose a temporary worker program for Mexican immigrants.

Although no such plan exists in the immigration and border security legislation pending in the Senate, Upland activist Robin Hvidston said the group was concerned new provisions could be added to the bill.

"That's why we're here. We're saying do not vote for amnesty or a guest worker plan for people unlawfully in our country," Hvidston said.

Hvidston was joined at Boxer's office in San Bernardino several other activists who had previously participated in the Minuteman volunteer border patrols. The House of Representatives passed the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act on Dec. 16. The plan was sent to the Senate, where many believe a guest worker program -- as proposed President Bush -- will be inserted into the bill.


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The U.S. Border Patrol arrested a Mexican immigration official caught traveling in the United States with a group of undocumented migrants, and may charge him with human smuggling, U.S. officials said Monday.

Immigration agent Francisco Javier Gutierrez, 43, was stopped Sunday at a checkpoint near Alamogordo, N.M., about 80 miles north of the border, said Doug Mosier, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas.

He was traveling with three Mexican citizens who are believed to have sneaked into the United States, Mosier said. All four are being held the Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, pending charges, he said.


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NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Assailants in this embattled border city fatally shot a 25-year-old man outside of a house where a party was being held, police said Monday.

The victim, who has not been identified, was killed late Sunday in downtown Nuevo Laredo, across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas, said Jose Gaznares, a police commander for Tamaulipas state, where Nuevo Laredo is located.

The latest shooting brings the number of homicides in Nuevo Laredo to 22 since the beginning of the year.

Violence in Nuevo Laredo has spiked since early last year. U.S. and Mexican authorities blame two powerful drug cartels battling for control of the area's key smuggling corridors into the United States.

- Staff writer Kenneth Todd Ruiz and Mason Stockstill, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.