Judge rules blood test results of driver charged in 2017 Palm Beach County ambulance crash that killed two paramedics cannot be suppressed

A Palm Beach County judge denied a defense request to prevent the results of a blood test taken on the driver charged with the June 2017 driving while intoxicated second degree felony death of two paramedics in Jupiter, Florida from being entered into evidence

Palm Beach County public records dated November 8, 2019 reveal the attorney defending Guatemala native Genaro Delacruz Ajqui in the death of paramedics Paul Besaw and Lahiri Garcia was unsuccessful in his effort to claim an illegal blood draw. 

While the Fourth Amendment clearly provides all searches of persons and property are unreasonable absent a warrant or exception, in the State of Florida all licensed drivers consent to give breath or blood in exchange for the privilege to drive under Florida State Statute 316.1932 (1) (c).

The process of attempting to find Delacruz Ajqui mentally deficient to proceed to trial and waving his right to a speedy trial has also slowed the day of reckoning in this case.

Having been declared indigent after his June 2017 arrest and citing traumatic brain injury in addition to anxiety disorder, Ajqui was found mentally incompetent to proceed almost one year after his June 2017 arrest  when in May 2018 he was remanded to a Florida Department of Children and Families mental health facility for six months. Court records reveal defendant Ajqui was subsequently found competent to proceed to trial in a December 2018 status check.

Although this WPTV news report cited a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) statement that: 

"ICE lodged a detainer on Genaro De La Cruz , a citizen of Guatemala, with the Palm Beach County Jail after he was arrested on local charges.", 

the arrest report on file with other court documents does not nor does the arrest & bond section of the county website indicate if Ajqui is lawfully present in the United States.

Nearly two and one-half years after his arrest Ajqui has been order to appear in court again on January 3, 2020.

Fake marriage operation nets this Indian national 7 years in prison

Foreign national from India overstays his non-immigrant visa, entered into a fraudulent marriage and operated an immigration marriage fraud business in Bay County, Florida. According to the statement of facts he recruited female U.S. citizens to marry Indian foreign national visa-overstays in exchange for payment.

From the U.S. Attorneys Office, Northern District of Florida:

Panama City Marriage Fraud Defendant Sentenced to 7 Years

PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA – Ravi Babu Kolla, 47, an Indian foreign national residing in Panama City, was sentenced to 84 months in prison for conspiracy to commit marriage and visa fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The sentence was announced by Lawrence Keefe, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Panama City received information from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office during November 2017 that an unusually large number of marriages were occurring in rural Alabama counties. The marriages almost always involved male Indian nationals from throughout the United States and local women from Bay County, Florida. The evidence established that Kolla organized over 80 fraudulent marriages, and the majority of the Indian nationals involved had overstayed their visas or Student Exchange Visitor Program requirements and were unlawfully present in the United States. Each bride was to be paid $12,000 over a defined period for agreeing to participate in a fraudulent marriage.

Read the rest here

Not Lawfully Present: previously convicted child sex offender from Mexico sentenced to 4 years in prison

Authorities discovered Ramos in New Caney, Texas during a traffic stop in January 2019. 

During his prosecution in Houston for illegal re-entry into the U.S. the court heard of his 2007 conviction in Los Angeles, California for continuous sexual abuse and lewd act upon a child.

From ICE.gov:

Previously convicted child sex offender from Mexico sentenced to 4 years in prison for illegally reentering US

HOUSTON – A 40-year-old Mexican man who was previously convicted of multiple sex offenses on a 7-year-old, and was removed from the country in 2013, was sentenced to four years in federal prison, Aug. 16.

The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Houston, Texas, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Martin Mejia Ramos, aka Ricardo Morales Rodriguez and Martin Jose Romes-Ramirez, pleaded guilty May 10, 2019, to illegally reentering the United States following an aggravated felony conviction.

Mejia Ramos is expected to face removal proceedings following completion of his prison sentence.

At the hearing, the court heard that in 2007, Ramos was convicted in Los Angeles, California, for continuous sexual abuse and lewd act upon a child. He was ordered to serve six years in prison and required to register as a sex offender for life. He was removed from the country in 2013.

Read the rest here

Raids on Mississippi chicken plants and the intersection of fake documents, disparate impact and employer fines for not hiring illegal aliens

Legal filings out of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi provide some very interesting insight into the raids on the Mississippi chicken processing plants earlier this month.

In some cases cited in the affidavits, under the terms and conditions of ICE electronic-monitoring programs, people who wear the ankle monitors were not authorized to work in the United States . 

But as the affidavits also reveal, an employer challenging the authenticity of the documents presented by employees (let's say under suspicion of forgery, fake social security numbers, photos) used as part of the employment check process could result in the employer being charged with national origin discrimination for failure to hire an illegal alien.

From The Conservative Treehouse reference to a WaPo story on the issue:

"Now, at first review it might sound like the plant employers would be in big trouble; however, buried deep in the article is this statement from one of the employers (Koch Foods), that everyone should pay attention to:

Koch spokesman Jim Gilliland told The Post that Koch Foods risked violating federal law that bans discrimination on the basis of national origin for requesting documents beyond what an applicant provides, if those materials appear authentic.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that what Mr. Gilliland says there is absolutely accurate.  There are two sets of laws in conflict with each-other; and you can be sued, and/or fined, by the United States Department of Labor and/or the U.S. DOJ Civil Rights Division for not hiring illegal aliens.

If you question the authenticity of any applicants identity; and that applicant is one of a legally protected category (think “ethnicity” or “origin”); and the employers authenticity challenge results in a “disparate impact” of non-eligibility for employment – as determined by ethnicity (Latino); then you are in violation of U.S. labor laws.  This happens regardless of it being unlawful to hire illegal aliens.

If you challenge the presented documents, and all the outcomes of those challenges result in non-eligibility of Hispanics as a greater percentage than non-Hispanics, you are violating employment law under the DOJ (Civil Rights Division) definition of “disparate impact.”   In this example, and it is common (believe me), additional employment eligibility checks due to suspicions of false ID’s, is unlawful and legally risky."

We already know use of E-Verify is federal law under 8 USC 132a(d) and one Twitter user suggested an action President Trump could take to make it mandatory through Executive Action:

Exit question: How will President Trump and Attorney General Barr and Acting Secretary of Labor Pizzella deal with the disparate impact issue and DOL fines? Can they do it by eliminating the requirement an employer keep paper backup records of the documents provided as part of the employment check process?

Why Floridians should expect businesses to operate lawfully and have a legal workforce

Well lookie here. Two Honduran nationals not lawfully present in the United States allegedly partner with a third Honduran who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, establish a business  in Florida purportedly employing construction work crews mostly comprised of illegal aliens. 

Oh, and just three short months ago an immigration judge ordered one of the men deported back to Honduras. 

From the U.S. Attorneys Office, Middle District of Florida: 

Three Orlando Men Indicted For Scheme To Facilitate Employment Of Illegal Aliens And Evade Payroll Taxes And Workers’ Compensation Laws

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces the return of an indictment charging three Honduran nationals, Gregorio Fuentes-Zelaya (26), Santiago Erazo-Zelaya (25), and Dennis Barahona (36), with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Fuentes-Zelaya is also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit tax fraud, five counts of wire fraud, and two counts of tax fraud. Additional charges against Erazo-Zelaya include one count of conspiracy to commit tax fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of tax fraud. Barahona is also charged with one count of wire fraud.

Fuentes-Zelaya and Erazo-Zelaya are Honduran citizens who are illegally present in the United States. On May 8, 2019, an immigration judge ordered Erazo-Zelaya to be deported to Honduras. Barahona is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Honduras.

Read the rest here

No word if someones application to enter the United States or apply for citizenship will be subject to review for false statements or misrepresentations.