TUCSON AZ ( Arizona Police Chief: Aim of SB1070 Was Scaring Immigrants )

TUCSON, Arizona – The Tucson police chief expressed the opinion that Arizona’s controversial SB1070 immigration law was designed to make the immigrant community afraid of law enforcement authorities and leave the state.

“This law was originally designed so that undocumented immigrants would be afraid of the police, be afraid of coming to ask for help, feel themselves to be a target and, in that sense, I think that the law was successful, given that some of them have left the state voluntarily,” said Roberto Villaseñor in an interview with Efe.

Arizona’s Hispanic community has continued to fight against SB1070 since it entered into force in 2010, and they complain about cases of abuse by the law enforcement agencies.

At the heart of the debate is the law’s controversial Section 2(B), also known as the “show me your papers” provision, that since 2012 requires police officers to ask about the immigration status of people they “suspect” of being undocumented.

Villaseñor said that his officers comply with SB1070 by contacting the Border Patrol as soon as they determine there is probable cause to believe a person may be undocumented, rejecting accusations that the Tucson Police Department discriminates against the immigrant community.

“The idea exists that the police have the option to call the Border Patrol or not, but the truth is that we don’t,” said Villaseñor, who was appointed police chief in 2009.

The TPD has been the target of protests after a confrontation last Sunday between police, Border Patrol agents and activists who lay down underneath official vehicles to try and prevent an undocumented immigrant from being handed over to immigration authorities.

“I understand the confusion and the dissatisfaction that exists among activists and members of the community about the interpretation of the law. The way in which SB1070 is written gives no other option to police departments than to verify the immigration status of the detained person,” Villaseñor said.

According to TPD figures, from June 12 to August 10 its officers verified the immigration status of 3,109 people under SB1070.

On those occasions, the Border Patrol responded just 45 times and took 24 people into custody.

One of the main things leading the police to ask for the immigration papers of drivers is the lack of a driver’s license or other official identification issued by the state.

According to the TPD, 43.1 percent of the people whose immigration status was verified under SB1070 were of Hispanic origin, which, according to Villaseñor, is in line with the proportion of Latinos in Tucson.

Mexico ( Human Rights Commission Investigates Acid Spill in Mexican River )

MEXICO – Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has opened an investigation into the toxic spill from the Buenavista del Cobre mine into the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers in the northwest of the country, that has affected local inhabitants and killed fish and livestock in the area.

According to information published by the media and quoted by the CNDH, there was a spillage last Thursday from one of the dams containing solutions with sulphuric-treated copper and other metals that found its way into the rivers.

A 60-kilometer (38-mile) orange slick was seen in the municipalities of Arizpe, Banamichi, Baviacora, Aconchi, Cananea, Hermosillo and Ures, all of them in the state of Sonora.

Mexico’s National Human Rights Commissioner Raul Plascencia said inspectors will be sent to the area to gather information and provide legal advice.

The National Water Commission has restricted water supply in the seven affected municipalities to prevent putting the inhabitants’ health at risk.

The federal prosecutor for environmental protection (PROFEPA) said a well containing the chemical substances near the mine overflowed due to heavy rains last Thursday.

The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) as well as PROFEPA are coordinating efforts to protect the flora and fauna of the region.

PROFEPA has also ordered the Buenavista del Cobre company, owned by mining giant Grupo Mexico, “to provide full remediation” for the spill.

Sonora is the country’s leading producer of gold, copper and graphite

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Mexico ( Nine Mexican Navy Service Members Killed in Accident )

MEXICO CITY – Nine Mexican navy service members died when the military vehicle in which they were riding overturned in the central state of San Luis Potosi, the Navy Secretariat said in a statement.

The accident occurred at around 5:00 p.m. Friday on the Matehuala-San Luis Potosi highway, the secretariat said.

It said it “deeply regrets the deaths of nine of its personnel and shares the sadness of their family members,” who are legally entitled to financial assistance.

Twelve navy service members who were injured in the accident “have already been taken to the General Military Hospital of San Luis Potosi for immediate care,” the statement said.

Mexico ( Gunmen Kill 3 Attending Children’s Party in Mexico )

VERACRUZ, Mexico – Gunmen killed three people and wounded two others who were attending a children’s birthday party in the Mexican Gulf state of Veracruz, police and city officials said.

The shooting occurred Friday night in Juan Diaz Covarrubias, a community outside the city of Hueyapan de Ocampo.

The gunmen, who were wearing masks and armed with AK-47 assault rifles, opened fire on people attending the party at the El Gran Chaparral restaurant, which is located on the side of the Matamoros-Puerto Juarez federal highway.

The three fatalities included two men and a boy, officials said, adding that the two people wounded in the attack were transported to a clinic.

Veracruz, Mexico’s third most populous state, has been plagued by a turf war between rival drug cartels that has sent the murder rate skyrocketing in the past few years.

The Gulf, Los Zetas and Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartels, as well as breakaway members of the once-powerful Familia Michoacana organization, are fueling the violence in the state.

The port city of Veracruz will be the site of the 24th Ibero-American Summit of heads of state and government and will host the 22nd Central American and Caribbean Games later this year.

Floods kill 45 in eastern India: official

NEW DELHI: Flooding in eastern India has killed 45 people and displaced more than 300,000 in the past week, a senior official said Monday, adding that water levels were now gradually receding.
Residents have been sheltering in relief centers in Orissa since being evacuated from their homes when torrential monsoon rains flooded rivers in mainly northern districts of the state.
“As of today, 300 to 400 villages are still marooned with a population of about 310,000 (evacuated people) affected,” said Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra, state deputy relief commissioner.
Mohapatra said 45 lives have been lost since the flooding hit last week, with 3.3 million people in total affected.
“The IMD (India Meteorological Department) is predicting good weather for the next few weeks. So we hope things will go back to normal in a day or two,” he told AFP by phone from the state capital Bhubaneswar.
Photos and television footage have shown parents and children crammed into trucks as they flee flooded homes and villages. Some, clutching belongings, are seen wading through thigh-deep water to safety, while others are huddled under makeshift tents on roadsides.
The hardest-hit regions have been around the Mahanadi and Baitarani rivers which started to burst their banks last Tuesday.
Torrential rains claimed as many as 48 lives last October in Orissa, just a month after a killer storm slammed into the coast — leaving 18 dead and destroying large tracts of farmland.
The strength of the annual June-September downpour is vital to hundreds of millions of Indian farmers and to economic growth. Asia’s third-largest economy gets 80 percent of its annual rainfall during the monsoon season.