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Oct 4, 2017, 10:16:03 PM10/4/17

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Digest #2111

4 Canadians killed in Vegas shoot by

2.1

US Immigration by "law_union_news" law_union_news

2.2

US Immigration by "law_union_news" law_union_news

3.1

Extradition by "law_union_news" law_union_news

4.1

Crime by "law_union_news" law_union_news

4.2

Crime by "law_union_news" law_union_news

5.1

Deportation by "law_union_news" law_union_news

6.1

Opinion by "law_union_news" law_union_news

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1 4 Canadians killed in Vegas shoot

Wed Oct 4, 2017 6:06 pm (EST) . Posted by:

4 Canadians among dozens killed in Las Vegas mass shooting
At least 6 Canadians were injured in Sunday night attack on music festival
By Michelle Ghoussoub, CBC News
Posted: Oct 02, 2017 8:22 AM PT
Last Updated: Oct 03, 2017 1:12 PM PT

Jordan McIldoon, 23, of Maple Ridge, B.C., was among those killed when a gunman opened fire on an outdoor concert Sunday in Las Vegas, his parents confirmed. (Family photo)

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Four Canadians are among the 59 dead in Sunday's mass shooting in Las Vegas.
On Tuesday it was confirmed that Calla Medig and Tara Roe Smith, 34, both from Alberta, died in the attack.
Medig, who was in her 20s, was from Jasper, Alta. Roe, 34, was from Okotoks, just south of Calgary. She had been reported missing since Sunday.
Jordan McIldoon, 23, of Maple Ridge, B.C., and Jessica Klymchuk, 34, of Valleyview, Alta., were also killed when a gunman opened fire on a large crowd near the end of the outdoor festival on the Vegas Strip. Their deaths were confirmed by their families on Monday.
Two women from Manitoba and two men from Saskatchewan remain in hospital after Sunday night's mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival.
A beloved mother and teacher
Klymchuk was a mother of four and worked at a Catholic school in Valleyview, east of Grande Prairie.
Local pastor Rev. Abraham Joseph said teachers and students cried when they were informed of her death.
Joseph said Klymchuk was loved by the kids and said he'll be spending time at the school this week to support them and the staff.

Jessica Klymchuk worked as an educational assistant, librarian and bus driver for St. Stephen's school in Valleyview. (Facebook)
'We had one child'
McIldoon's parents, Al and Angela, confirmed their son's death.
They said he was attending the music festival with his girlfriend, and they were supposed to return home Monday night.
"We only had one child," they said. "We just don't know what to do."
They wrote that their son grew up on the family acreage in Maple Ridge, and was a "self-described cowboy boot, tattoo-covered redneck who loved the outdoors."
McIldoon was a heavy-duty mechanic apprentice and about to start trade school in the Okanagan.
They said the Canadian Consulate was being supportive, and they had received calls from McIldoon's girlfriend and Las Vegas paramedics.
'I just couldn't leave him'
Heather Gooze, who was working as a bartender at the concert, said she was with McIldoon after he was shot.
"I felt his fingers, like, tighten and then loosen," she said.

Gooze said that when his phone rang in his pocket, she answered, then found out his name from the friend who had called. She wrote his name down on his arm, then looked up his family on Facebook and started messaging them.
She said she eventually contacted his girlfriend, who was in lockdown nearby.
"She said, 'Please be honest with me, what's going on?'" said Gooze.
"And I said, 'I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, but he didn't make it.'"
McIldoon's mother then called and Gooze promised she would stay with her son — which she did, for hours.
"I wouldn't want anybody to leave. You know, I couldn't just leave him by himself."

Several Canadians in hospital
Sheldon Mack, 21, from Victoria was also injured in the attack.
Two Manitoba women and two men from Saskatchewan are also in a Las Vegas hospital. One of the men, who was shot in the head, is unresponsive.
Another Saskatchewan woman in her 30s from the same group was shot in the foot.
By Monday afternoon, officials confirmed that at least 59 people were killed and 527 injured.
Global Affairs is deploying a team of consular officials to Las Vegas to assist Canadians.
According to a release, they will be working closely with U.S. authorities to identify and help any Canadians hurt in the attack.

McIldoon's parents said he was attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival with his girlfriend. (Jordan McIldoon/Facebook)

With files from Briar Stewart

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/4-canadians-among-dozens-killed-in-las-vegas-mass-shooting-1.4316485

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2.1 US Immigration

Wed Oct 4, 2017 6:18 pm (EST) . Posted by:

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Center for Immigration Studies debunked October 02, 2017

Facebook https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/10/02/center-immigration-studies-debunked# Twitter https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/10/02/center-immigration-studies-debunked#

Hatewatch Staff

Since 1985, the Center for Immigration Studies https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/center-immigration-studies (CIS) has served as the anti-immigrant movement’s go-to think tank. The organizaton publishes dozens of reports and hundreds of blog pieces each year that are cited by elected officials and the media. But its reports have been widely criticized and debunked by groups such as the Immigration Policy Center, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the CATO Institute.

Speaking about CIS head Mark Krikorian on NPR, Alex Nowasteh, an Immigration Policy Analyst at CATO said in early 2017, "Oh, I'm convinced that he’s wrong about all the facts and issues. They're wrong about the impact of immigrants on the U.S. economy and on U.S. society.” In August, Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez said, "[CIS’] research is always questionable because they torture the data to make it arrive at the conclusion they desire, which is that immigrants are criminals and a burden on the U.S. and our economy. It is the worst kind of deception, but politicians, the conservative media and some Americans eat it up because it always looks somewhat legitimate at first glance.”
CIS’s veneer of legitimacy starts with its motto on the top of its website claiming the group is “low-immigration, pro-immigrant.” But the truth is that CIS was founded by white nationalist John Tanton https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/john-tanton and throughout its 30-plus years of existence, the group has promoted an immigration platform that has never strayed far from its origins. In between reports about the cost of undocumented immigration are others promoting age-old racist tropes about immigrants bringing disease into the country and blaming them for increases in crime, as well as fear-mongering around terrorism. In 2011, for instance, CIS attempted to add a “scholarly veneer” to the “terror babies http://prospect.org/article/terror-babies-go-legit” concept, arguing that birthright citizenship left the nation at risk of raising future terrorists.
The CIS reports follow a similar pattern: after posing the problem of immigration, they then shift focus to claims there are only two solutions to immigration reform – amnesty or mass deportation, and argue that neither of these options would be successful. In offering a third solution, attrition through enforcement, CIS reports focus on five main themes: 1) the relationship between ICE and undocumented immigrants, 2) immigrants are criminals and terrorists, 3) immigrants use a disproportionate amount of welfare, 4) immigrants negatively affect the U.S. economy, 5) the general public wants to reduce immigration.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) rounded up four debunked studies back in 2009 https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2009/center-immigration-studies-reports. What follows is a look at more recent CIS studies, challenged by an array of immigration policy experts. When the economic analyses and arguments advanced by CIS come apart, the foundation for the “low immigration, pro-immigrant” vision of the organization shifts to what Tanton, CIS founder, said in a letter in 1993: "I've come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Undocumented Immigrants In February 2015, Jessica Vaughan claimed http://cis.org/sites/cis.org/files/vaughan-work-permits-2-2.pdf the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued 5.5 million new work permits since 2009 to undocumented immigrants. However, her data includes individuals who are also documented, from temporary and permanent workers to students, refugees and asylum seekers. She mentions the culpability of the Obama administration, however, it is in fact a responsibility of the DHS in accordance with Immigration and Reform Control Act of 1986. Moreover, she both says undocumented immigrants are an issue and DHS can stop the “next 5 million” undocumented immigrants by stopping the DACA program. However, DACA only accounts for 10% of the 5.5 million work permits issued, or less than 600,000 permits.
In June 2017, Vaughan alleged https://cis.org/Vaughan/Records-Reveal-Few-Central-Americans-Deported very few Central Americans were being deported. She says that deportations to Northern Triangle countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) declined by 40 percent but only compared 7 months of this year to 12 months of last year. The decline she found makes sense considering this incomplete analysis – she counted 5 fewer months. In fact, deportations have increased.
Criminals and Terrorism CIS has further built on the idea that undocumented immigrants are criminals through their briefs on sanctuary jurisdictions.
For example, an ICE detainer is a voluntary request, not a warrant. There is no penalty if local agencies do not comply. A detainer is most often issued by an ICE officer if an investigation has been initiated. However, an ICE detainer doesn’t mean that a person is subject to deportation or ICE has a reason to believe so.
As the ACLU points out https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/issue_brief_-_what_ice_isnt_telling_you_about_detainers.pdf, the Supreme Court has explained that “detaining individuals solely to verify their immigration status would raise constitutional concerns.” This is what ICE asks of local agencies in issuing ICE detainers. ICE detainers violate the Fourth and Fifth amendment since there is no probable cause in issuing them. Sanctuary jurisdictions are directly addressing this issue and do not comply with detainers.
In an effort to promote ICE and immigration restriction, CIS often conflates https://cis.org/Rejecting-Detainers-Endangering-Communities a detainer with a judicial warrant. CIS notes, “A detainer is the primary tool used by ICE to gain custody of criminal aliens for deportation.” This is not true. An ICE detainer is also not a criminal detainer, which can only be issued if there are charges pending in another juridisiction against a person serving a criminal sentence.
Moreover, CIS has created a map https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/issue_brief_-_what_ice_isnt_telling_you_about_detainers.pdf labeled with sanctuary jurisdictions which they claim “have laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies, or other practices that obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals from ICE — either by refusing to or prohibiting agencies from complying with ICE detainers, imposing unreasonable conditions on detainer acceptance, denying ICE access to interview incarcerated aliens, or otherwise impeding communication or information exchanges between their personnel and federal immigration officers.” This map has been used to propagate the false notion that (a) ICE detainers are legally binding, (b) ICE detainers are primarily used to detain criminals, and (c) sanctuary cities that do not comply with ICE detainers obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals from ICE.
In October of 2013, former CIS analyst Jon Feere wrote The Myth of the Otherwise “Law Abiding” Illegal Alien. https://cis.org/Myth-Otherwise-LawAbiding-Illegal-Alien Feere attempted to prove that undocumented immigrants are criminals by providing a list of statutes that an undocumented person has the potential to violate. However, Feere leaves out an analysis of how undocumented immigrants are charged differently than citizens for the same crimes.
For over 20 years, since the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, undocumented immigrants have been charged more severely than their native-born counterparts. For example, an aggravated felony for an undocumented immigrant could include shoplifting or falsifying tax data for which their native-born counterpart would likely be charged with a misdemeanor. Subsequently, legal permanent residents and unauthorized immigrants convicted of an aggravated felony face mandatory deportation http://immigrationimpact.com/2013/10/15/nativist-group-pretends-that-all-unauthorized-immigrants-are-criminals/.
Feere offers a list of “criminal illegal aliens” but leaves out the qualifications of their title. The fact remains that most of the undocumented immigrants deported each year are nonviolent https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/enforcement-without-focus-non-violent-offenders-caught-us-immigration-enforcement-system.
In May 2014, Jessica Vaughan wrote an article detailing Obama’s release of thousands of immigrants who are criminals in ICE Document Details 36,000 Criminal Alien Releases in 2013 http://cis.org/ICE-Document-Details-36000-Criminal-Aliens-Release-in-2013. The headline is a bit misleading. First, the 36,000 criminal aliens she discusses includes legal permanent residents. Second, 33,000 of the convictions of the 36,000 were for traffic offenses. Third, all of these individuals have served their jail time and paid their offenses. And finally, the judge in this case has the final say and the ability to keep undocumented immigrants in jail if they pose a threat to public safety.
In February 2017, Vaughan wrote another report insinuating immigrants from the countries included in Trump’s Travel Ban are terrorists http://cis.org/vaughan/study-reveals-72-terrorists-came-countries-covered-trump-vetting-order. She claims that 72 terrorists came from countries covered by this ban. Thanks to analysis from FactCheck.org, we know this is not at all true.
In fact, 44/72 of the individuals listed here were not convicted on terrorism charges, 25/72 were convicted of helping to finance terrorism outside the U.S., and 4/72 were arrested in foreign countries and extradited to the U.S. for prosecution. Not one of these individuals was responsible for any terrorist related deaths in the U.S during the same time almost one million refugees from those countries came to the United States. In total, there were 28 convictions – a third of what Vaughan claimed and not one of them were affiliated with Libya or Sudan as she asserts.
Welfare The articles below, which focus on the welfare usage of immigrants, lack control variables, do not make side-by-side comparisons, and leave out the two largest issues in the welfare state – Medicaid and Social Security.
In September of 2015, CIS research director Steven Camarota attempted to make the case https://cis.org/Welfare-Use-Immigrant-and-Native-Households#19 that immigrant families, relative to native-born populations, disproportionately use welfare programs. In his attempts to demonstrate the high welfare use among immigrants, he includes a welfare use of households – many of which are mixed status families. Here, he doesn’t account for American spouses and children, which heavily skew the data.
Camarota also left out the cash value of welfare; the data he uses only analyzes the rate of each welfare program, which is determined by amount of people in the household. This is worrisome for multiple reasons. First, the amount of welfare a household is entitled to radically differs depending on the number of dependents. Second, without an analysis of the cash value of the program, and therefore the amount of welfare being used, it is impossible to make a comparison. Camarota also chooses to compare wealthy, high socioeconomic status (SES) native households to poor, low SES immigrant households. This sort of comparison cannot yield an accurate result. In fact, a comparison of the cash value and usage of welfare between low SES native-born and low SES immigrant households, demonstrates that poor immigrants use public benefits at a lower rate https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/edb17.pdf than poor native-born citizens.
In May 2016, CIS writer Jason Richwine, building upon the work of his colleague, insisted that welfare use http://cis.org/Cost-Welfare-Immigrant-Native-Households by immigrant households is disproportionate to native-born led households. His report faces the same methodological issues https://www.cato.org/blog/cis-exaggerates-cost-immigrant-welfare-use as Camarota’s. Richwine compared immigrant households including those that have U.S. born children and spouses to households headed by native-born Americans.
There are a plethora of issues in using immigrant households as a point for comparison. First, U.S.-born citizens constitute the bulk of children in immigrant households, which make the majority of immigrant households mixed status homes. Second, while many immigrants are ineligible for programs like Medicaid and Social Security, their American born children, and at times spouses, participate in these programs. This means during data collection, despite the actual immigrant not using these programs, a mixed status household would be counted as a participant in Medicaid and Social Security, misrepresenting the welfare use of immigrants.
Third, the definition of immigrant that CIS holds includes naturalized citizens. However, naturalized citizens and native-born citizens have virtually the same rights and there is no reason they should be included in the count of immigrant households. Fourth, welfare usage depends on the amount of people per household – something this study does not factor in. And this is a big deal – immigrant families are on average https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/workingpaper-13_1.pdf#page=25 larger than native-born led families (3.4 to 2.5). Finally, households can also include non-family members living in the same house such as native-born renters, further altering data.
Cost Analyses and Impact on U.S. Economy In May of 2010, Camarota claimed http://cis.org/teen-unemployment that low skilled immigrants force native-born teenagers out of the labor market. However, this is only true based off of the 1994 Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) he cited, which was the recorded all time high for teenagers. The LFPR largely fluctuates regardless of immigration trends. For example, the LFPR in the 1960s was the same as the 2000s.
Moreover, the effects of minimum wage need to be taken into account. If teenagers truly have lower skill sets and are consequently less desirable for employers, the market in theory should adjust itself via wages. However, due to minimum wage this doesn’t happen, and employers shift to older, more skilled candidates. This is true with or without immigrants.
Low-skilled immigrants don’t force teenagers out of the labor market. Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago agree http://www.chicagofed.org/webpages/publications/chicago_fed_letter/2007/january_234.cfm:
We find no compelling evidence that associates the recent decline in teen participation with greater labor market competition due, for example, to larger cohorts of teens or an increase in the number of unskilled workers entering the market because of the 1996 welfare reform or change in immigration.
CIS also claims that teenagers without summer employment experience suffer from lower wages in the future. This is contradicted by evidence that shows a minimum 33 percent decline in youth summer employment was due to higher summer school or college enrollment.
In 2012, with the help of CIS demographer Karen Ziegler, Camarota argued http://cis.org/who-got-jobs-during-obama-presidency that immigrants take jobs from all sectors of the labor market. To do so, Ziegler and Camarota attempted to analyze the growth of the labor market. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests using seasonally adjusted data to determine employment growth. Seasonally adjusted data, for example, would factor for annual fluctuations in employment such as the summer when students are out of school and able to work. CIS did not do this and also used unadjusted data to claim that 67 percent of jobs created under the Obama administration went to immigrants from 2009 to 2012.
Similar to previous reports, this study includes naturalized citizens in their definition of immigrants. This is likely a major reason for their miscalculations -- census data http://immigrationimpact.com/2012/11/05/nativist-group-releases-hopelessly-flawed-report-on-immigrants-and-job-creation/ shows that almost 50 percent of all employed immigrants in 2012 are naturalized.
Ziegler and Camarota are also working off of the “lump of labor fallacy,” which says there is a fixed amount of work regardless of other factors. This isn’t true, however. A variety of economic factors work to determine the number and type of jobs. More important, forcing immigrants out of a job will not automatically make them available to native-born workers. Often, these jobs disappear all together https://object.cato.org/pubs/pas/PA709.pdf. For example, in the first four years following Legal Arizona Workers Act, employment in the farming industry declined by 15.6 percent -- and American workers did not fill these jobs.
In May of 2014, Camarota and Ziegler, asserting that wage growth is one of the best measures of labor demand, declared http://cis.org/sites/cis.org/files/camarota-STEM.pdf there was no shortage of STEM workers, since wages barely increased. However, this report doesn’t offer a comparison of STEM wages and employment with other occupations in the industry. STEM wages actually did increase by 2 – 5 percent during this period while overall employment fell by almost 1 percent. There is, in fact, a deficit of STEM workers, and this is a consequence of declining student enrollment in computer science fields in conjunction with reduced government and industry support for research http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1096024.
This report also doesn’t acknowledge the impact STEM immigration has had on the American economy and what altering this form of immigration would mean. In 2012, a quarter of engineering and technology companies founded in the United States between 2006 and 2012 had at least one founder who was foreign-born. In 2012, these companies employed http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/resources/entrepreneurship-policy-digest/the-economic-case-for-welcoming-immigrant-entrepreneurs almost 600,000 people and made $63 billion in sales. If STEM immigrants were no longer welcome, the economy would shrink, and wages, employment, and productivity would all be negatively impacted https://www.cato.org/blog/tags/center-for-immigration-studies.
In February 2017, Camarota explained https://cis.org/Report/Cost-Border-Wall-vs-Cost-Illegal-Immigration how the Border Wall would pay for itself. He rationalized that if a border wall prevented a “small fraction” of undocumented immigrants, the savings would be enough to cover the costs of a border wall. The savings would not be enough. Camarota mistakenly relied on a statement by Senator Mitch McConnell instead of the DHS’ estimate – which is $6.6 billion less than the DHS’s to make his calculations. The report additionally uses 2010 data instead of available 2015 data to predict the level of undocumented immigration. CATO points out that changing just these two factors would mean that 5 – 6 times as many immigrants would have to be stopped in the next 10 years for the wall to pay for itself.
Beyond the costs of building an actual wall, Camarota fails to recognize the many expenses associated with it such as border agents and deportations. DHS estimates the removal of each undocumented immigrant is almost $10,000. CATO estimates it would cost $6.2 billion to hire the 5,000 border agents mandated by the executive order. However, perhaps most importantly, CIS doesn’t offer any evidence that the wall will actually deter undocumented immigration. In fact, it sounds like a very costly experiment.
Public Opinion
Finally, in July of 2017, CIS contributor James Gimpel said that immigration has become a partisan issue and is gaining importance in the GOP. He believes https://cis.org/Immigration-Opinion-and-Rise-Donald-Trump Trump’s popularity is a direct result of his stance on immigration. He says that Americans have favored decreasing or keeping immigration at present levels since 1999.
However, Gimpel only offers polls on those in favor of maintaining and decreasing immigration, not the rise of those in favor of increasing immigration. He also only shows the data from 1999 to present – not the full term of the study dating back to the 1965 – likely because there was a huge reduction in those in favor of decreasing immigration between 1990 and 1999 (65% to 40%). Both of these issues contradict Gimpel’s claim that Americans are in favor of decreasing immigration. In fact, pushes for less immigration are as unpopular now as they were in 1965 and pro-immigration sentiments are at a record-high https://niskanencenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Niskanen-Americans-Favor-Immigration.pdf.

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/10/02/center-immigration-studies-debunked https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/10/02/center-immigration-studies-debunked

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2.2 US Immigration

Wed Oct 4, 2017 7:07 pm (EST) . Posted by:

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3.1 Extradition

Wed Oct 4, 2017 6:24 pm (EST) . Posted by:

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Canadian Court Allows Extradition Of Tax Shelter Promoter By Natalie Olivo

Law360, New York (October 3, 2017, 4:32 PM EDT) -- A Canadian court has granted the U.S. government’s request to extradite a tax attorney who is facing charges back home accusing him of helping former partners of Ernst & Young LLP develop and market fraudulent tax shelters, while dodging more than $8 million in taxes himself.

David L. Smith is the only defendant named in an indictment, lodged in New York by federal prosecutors in 2007, yet to be apprehended. In fighting the U.S. government’s efforts to extradite him from Canada, Smith had argued before the...

https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/970797/canadian-court-allows-extradition-of-tax-shelter-promoter https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/970797/canadian-court-allows-extradition-of-tax-shelter-promoter

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4.1 Crime

Wed Oct 4, 2017 6:29 pm (EST) . Posted by:

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Two charged after police intercept cocaine shipped through Port of Vancouver

Kim Bolan More from Kim Bolan http://vancouversun.com/author/bolankim

Published on: October 4, 2017 | Last Updated: October 4, 2017 9:12 AM PDT

One hundred and thirty-two kilograms of cocaine and 40,000 fentanyl pills were seized in a joint effort by the Waterfront Joint Forces Operation unit of the RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime section, the US Department of Homeland Security and the Canada Border Services Agency. RCMP

Two Metro Vancouver residents will be back in court later this month on drug charges after police seized 132 kilograms of cocaine from a shipping container from Brazil.
Yan Chau (Andrew) Lam, 48, and Sok Wai (Gertrude) Cheong, 43, were arrested in February 2016 after a joint investigation between U.S. law enforcement agencies and the RCMP.
The RCMP was first alerted to the illicit shipment 18 months ago after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in California discovered three roller suitcases inside a refrigerated container in transit to the Port of Vancouver.

The U.S. agents found 110 packages containing more than 30 kilograms of cocaine inside the suitcases.
They notified their counterparts in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations which has an office in Vancouver.
The U.S. officers began collaborating closely with Canadian authorities to obtain further evidence about the circumstances surrounding the shipment and identify possible suspects.
“We believe they were tailgating,” RCMP Supt. Cal Chrustie said. “That’s when drug traffickers piggyback a legitimate shipment of goods.”
The RCMP arrested Lam, a Richmond resident, and Cheong, who lives in Vancouver, in February 2016, shortly after the shipment was picked up from the shipping container.
“At that time police also gathered evidence to support a search warrant for a Richmond apartment, where numerous exhibits were seized including 40,000 fentanyl pills and a one kilogram brick of methamphetamine,” Staff Sgt. Annie Linteau said in a news release.
Chrustie said the seizures “would definitely have impacted the transnational organized crime networks involved.”
“Even more importantly, we believe that preventing these drugs from reaching our communities has undoubtedly saved countless lives,” he said.
The Canada Border Services Agency was also involved in the investigation.
“This seizure is a great example of the agency’s commitment to working with domestic and international partners to effectively manage and respond to emerging risks at our borders,” CBSA enforcement director Yvette-Monique Gray said in a release.
Lam is charged with conspiracy to import a controlled substance, conspiracy to possess a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Cheong faces one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
Both have been released on bail, and are scheduled to be back in court in Richmond Provincial Court on Oct. 31.
kbo...@postmedia.com http://vancouversun.com/news/crime/kbo...@postmedia.com
Blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop http://vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop
twitter.com/kbolan http://twitter.com/kbolan

http://vancouversun.com/news/crime/two-men-charged-after-police-intercept-cocaine-shipped-through-port http://vancouversun.com/news/crime/two-men-charged-after-police-intercept-cocaine-shipped-through-port

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4.2 Crime

Wed Oct 4, 2017 7:23 pm (EST) . Posted by:

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Somali refugee is 'lone wolf' suspected in Canada terror attack https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525#

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525# https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525#
https://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.490571.1506879006!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_900/image.jpg https://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.490585.1506919725!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_900/image.jpg

A U-Haul truck rests on its side after a high-speed chase with police in Edmonton Alta, on Saturday Sept. 30, 2017. Police say the U-Haul intentionally swerved at pedestrians at crosswalks throughout the chase.
JASON FRANSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525#By ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: October 1, 2017

TORONTO — A car and knife attack on a police officer outside a football game and a high-speed chase of a moving van that left four people injured was the work of a Somali refugee who was likely working alone and was known to police for extremist ideology, Canadian authorities said Sunday.
Marlin Degrand, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said officers took a 30-year-old man into custody in the Western Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta.
Police declined to identify the man because he had not yet been charged, saying the pending charges included terrorism and five counts of attempted murder.
A Canadian government official identified the suspect as Abdulahi Hasan Sharif. The official agreed to reveal the name only if not quoted by name because he was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the police announcement.
Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht said an Islamic State group flag was found in the car that hit the officer, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it a terror attack.
The suspect was known to both Edmonton police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Degrand said he was flagged in 2015 for extremist ideologies and police interviewed him at the time, but he said charges were not warranted after an "exhaustive investigation."
Degrand said the suspect is a refugee from Somalia who had applied for refugee status.
"To the best of our knowledge, this was a lone wolf attack," Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson said.
The incident took place outside a Canadian Football League game at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday night.
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525#

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525# https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525#
https://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.490585.1506919725!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_900/image.jpg https://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.490571.1506879006!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_900/image.jpg

This undated image provided by the Edmonton Police shows Constable Michael Chernyk. A car and knife attack on a police officer outside a football game and a high-speed chase of a moving van that left several people injured was the work of a Somali refugee who was likely working alone and was known to police for extremist ideology, Canadian authorities said Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. Chernyk, a 48-year-old who has been an officer 11 years, was released from the hospital overnight with stab wounds on face and head and abrasions on his arms.
EDMONTON POLICE VIA AP

Police released graphic video showing a white Chevrolet Malibu ramming into a police officer standing in front of his cruiser. The officer flies into the air and the Malibu then crashes into the police car.
The driver gets out and appears to stab the officer, who wrestles the suspect to the ground and then rises as the suspect flees on foot.
"Seeing the video is very upsetting because of the level of violence and level of intent," Iveson said.
The Edmonton police chief said Constable Mike Chernyk, a 48-year-old who has been an officer 11 years, was released from the hospital overnight with stab wounds on face and head and abrasions on his arms.
"He was in a struggle for his life, holding on to his gun with one hand and blocking the knife with the other," Knecht said.
A few hours later, a U-Haul van was stopped at an impaired driving checkpoint north of downtown, on Wayne Gretzky Drive. Knecht said the name of the driver was similar to the name of the registered owner of the car that hit the officer.
He said the van then sped off toward downtown with police in pursuit. Police said the vehicle swerved at pedestrians at crosswalks throughout the chase.
Four people were hurt. Two had been released from the hospital and one was upgraded from critical to stable condition. Their injuries ranged from broken limbs to brain bleeding.
article continues below

The van eventually flipped near a downtown hotel and the suspect was arrested after a Taser was employed. No shots were fired by police or the suspect.
Witness Pat Hannigan told reporters he saw police pull a man from the windshield of the toppled van and estimated that 30 police cars had been chasing it.
Austin Elgie, manager of The Pint bar just west of the downtown core, also saw the van zoom by with police giving chase.
It "peeled" into an alley where people were smoking, he said.
"It was crazy," Elgie said. "It just came around the corner, ripping. I thought at first he was pulling over for the cops coming by, but he was clearly the one they were chasing."
Elgie said the van hit a man who was a bar customer.
"I have a registered nurse on my bar team, and I grabbed her and had her look after the guy until the ambulance came," he said. "He was breathing and we got him in the ambulance and he was still breathing."
It was military appreciation night at the football game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Trudeau said in a statement that Canadians "stand with the people of Edmonton after the terrorist attack on Saturday that sent an Edmonton Police Service officer to hospital and injured a number of innocent people who were out to cheer on their football team and to enjoy an evening in their city."
The White House condemned the attack and said U.S. law enforcement was in touch with Canadian authorities to offer assistance. In France on Sunday, a man with a knife attacked people at the main train station in the southeastern city of Marseille, killing two women before being fatally shot by soldiers, officials said.

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525#.WdVsM4WcHIU https://www.stripes.com/news/us/somali-refugee-is-lone-wolf-suspected-in-canada-terror-attack-1.490525#.WdVsM4WcHIU

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5.1 Deportation

Wed Oct 4, 2017 6:58 pm (EST) . Posted by:

"law_union_news" law_union_news

Edmonton attacks
Exclusive: Suspected Edmonton attacker was ordered deported from U.S.
Exclusive: Suspected Edmonton attacker was ordered deported from U.S. in 2011

By Rachel Browne https://news.vice.com/story/author/rachel-browne Oct 3, 2017

The man accused of perpetrating a pair of attacks in Edmonton on Saturday had originally been ordered deported back to Somalia from the United States in 2011, VICE News has learned from a U.S. government agency.
A man named Abdullahi Hassan Sharif had been detained in an immigration jail in California in 2011 and eventually ordered deported back to Somalia.

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An official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told VICE News that, to their knowledge, this Sharif is “the same person” alleged to have perpetrated the Edmonton attack over the weekend.
Homeland Security spells Sharif’s name slightly different than the man arrested in Edmonton over the weekend: Abdullahi, instead of Abdulahi; and Hassan, instead of Hasan.
“Our operators have been talking to individuals to verify this,” department spokesperson Sarah Rodriguez told VICE News over the phone, although she declined to confirm whether these individuals included Canadian law enforcement.
A Canadian official with knowledge of the situation said the information is “consistent” with their knowledge of Sharif’s history.
The details sheds further light on Sharif, who was granted refugee status in Canada in 2012, the year he was supposed to be removed from the U.S.
On July 15, 2011, U.S. border agents transferred Sharif to ICE custody. He was then held in an immigration jail in San Diego, California.
On September 22, 2011, an immigration judge ordered Sharif to be removed back to Somalia.
“He was in the US illegally and after a review of his case, an immigration judge ordered him removed,” the spokesperson said in an email.
And “Sharif waived his right to appeal that decision,” according to the department.
Sharif had no known criminal history at the time of his encounters with ICE, the email added.
Sharif was released from the facility that November, “due to a lack of likelihood of his removal in the reasonably foreseeable future,” the spokesperson wrote. He was supposed to have been supervised upon his release by ICE.
He was ordered to report back to ICE in January, 2012. But he never did.
“Efforts…to locate him were not successful,” the U.S. official said.
Over the weekend, Canada’s federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters that Sharif crossed legally into Canada in 2012 at a regular border crossing and obtained refugee status at that time. Goodale said his refugee application raised no red flags at that time.
A spokesperson for Canada’s immigration department told VICE News on Tuesday evening in an email that “only individuals who are inadmissible, including for serious criminality, would be ineligible to make an asylum claim. Being detained for immigration purposes in another country would not prevent someone from being able to make an asylum claim in Canada.”
No other details on Sharif’s case could be provided due to privacy concerns, the spokesperson added.
Mahamad Accord, a member of the Somali community in Edmonton and a spokesperson for the Edmonton Coalition of Human Rights and Justice, told VICE News he’s looking for answers about Sharif’s life. Accord said he has been told that Sharif has a brother in Toronto, but not much more is known about that at this point.
Accord said he hopes to have further information on Sharif tomorrow based on conversations with other members of the Somali community.
In 2015, the RCMP investigated Sharif for espousing “extremist ideology” but never pursued any criminal measures. They eventually dropped the investigation based on a lack of evidence, and did not deem him a threat to public safety.

This piece has been updated to include further comments from government officials and Mahamad Accord.

https://news.vice.com/story/exclusive-suspected-edmonton-attacker-was-ordered-deported-from-u-s https://news.vice.com/story/exclusive-suspected-edmonton-attacker-was-ordered-deported-from-u-s

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6.1 Opinion

Wed Oct 4, 2017 7:19 pm (EST) . Posted by:

"law_union_news" law_union_news

Even behind bars, aging prisoners deserve proper health care

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/authors/sandra-martin

Sandra Martin https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/authors/sandra-martin
Special to The Globe and Mail
3 days ago October 2, 2017

Sandra Martin is the author of the award-winning book, A Good Death: Making the Most of Our Final Choices, which is now available in an updated paperback version.

When crowds chanted "lock her up" about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, the implication was "and throw away the key." That vile sneer is threatening to become the reality north of the border for long-time inmates in federal institutions. As with the rest of Canadian society, the prison population is aging rapidly. Many will die behind bars, given the difficulty of getting parole, even on compassionate grounds.
According to the Office of The Correctional Investigator, which serves as an ombudsman for inmates, nearly 25 per cent of people (3,500 prisoners) incarcerated in federal penitentiaries are 50 or older, a number that has doubled in the past decade. More than one-third of them are serving long sentences – usually a minimum of 25 years – and rarely get parole. Most of them die of cancer, heart disease or liver failure, accounting for 366 of 542 prison deaths in the 10-year period between 2007 and 2017.
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There is a compassionate parole provision for terminally ill inmates, Section 121 http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-44.6/section-121.html of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, but very few are granted – about four or five a year, according to the ombudsman's office, with most prisoners dying before the parole board reaches a decision.
I had never considered the way prisoners die until I attended a scholarly conference http://icel2halifax.ca/ in September on End of Life Law, Ethics, Policy and Practice at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Lawyers, sociologists, philosophers and doctors had gathered from several parts of the world to debate protocols, safeguards, legal conundrums and access to medical assistance in dying (MAID) for mature minors, people suffering from refractory mental illness and dementia patients with advance directives.

The suffering of dying prisoners added a new dilemma to the intricacies of these conversations. Why should we care if an inmate old enough to be somebody's grandparent dies in a cell without adequate medical treatment, access to appropriate palliative care or medical assistance in dying? I think there are three reasons: compassion, equality and autonomy.
In a panel discussion, Crystal Dieleman of Dalhousie's School of Occupational Therapy pointed out that although prisoners are deprived of liberty while they are incarcerated, the rest of their human rights remain intact. Forget vengeance, they are entitled to the same access to health care as the rest of us, especially because our universal system is based on medical need, not social status. In fact, the most frequent complaints prisoners lodge with the ombudsman are about health care.
We have heard a lot lately about the dire consequences of solitary confinement, but little has been reported about how long prisoners wait to see doctors or nurses, or what access they get to medicines and other treatments. Adelina Iftene, who teaches law at Dalhousie's Schulich School, and has worked extensively on the legal implications of the aging prison population, described prisoners waiting three days to see a nurse and nearly two years to be examined by a specialist, all while suffering from a lack of palliative care or adequate pain management.
She said that 50 per cent of prisoners in chronic or acute pain are given nothing stronger than Tylenol 3s and relayed an anecdote in which some inmates donated money to buy another prisoner a bottle of Advil. "That's all the pain relief he had for one month," she reported.
Given prison demographics, this situation will almost certainly deteriorate. What will happen, Ms. Iftene asked rhetorically, if large numbers of prisoners start requesting MAID because they are suffering intolerably?

All Canadians, including those who are incarcerated, are entitled to patient autonomy in requesting MAID, if they meet the narrow eligibility criteria. More than 1,000 Canadians have had assisted deaths since Quebec and Canada implemented their legislation. Not one of them was an inmate in a federal institution. The prison process for requesting MAID is hazy because the Correctional Service Canada has not yet published its guidelines for the procedure. Consequently, it is impossible to know if CSC is willing to provide MAID in prisons or whether a qualifying inmate would first have to secure compassionate parole, and then wait for a transfer to a community hospital.
So far, according to a spokesperson for CSC, there have been six requests, but "only one inmate, who was already in a community hospital, met the criteria" for MAID. Unfortunately, the prisoner "died before the medical assistance in dying procedure could be provided by the hospital." Why am I not surprised?
As Nelson Mandela famously said, "… no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones." Surely, prisoners, especially those who are in chronic pain, terminally ill or locked in the fog of dementia fit that vulnerable category.

Play Video1:54

Therapy dogs visit with inmates at St. John’s jail (The Canadian Press)

Follow Sandra Martin on Twitter @semartin71 https://www.twitter.com/semartin71

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A Guide For Canadians Imprisoned Abroad
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/publications/imprisonment-emprisonnement-eng

Registration of Canadians Abroad
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/register

Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963
http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/9_2_1963.pdf

International Transfer of Offenders Application
http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/frmlrs/pdf/0308E.pdf

DATABASE of Canadians/Foreigners Detained in U.S.
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/aicap-aifap/database

Civil Rights for Offender Transfers
http://www.angelfire.com/mi3/transferofoffenders/index.html

Bill C-15: International Transfer of Offenders Act
May 13, 2004
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/bills_ls.asp?Parl=37&Ses=3&ls=c15

Prison lottery: Canadian inmates in U.S. often barred from transferring home
http://www.metronews.ca/news/canada/2016/06/23/prison-lottery-canadian-inmates-in-u-s-often-barred-from-transferring-home.html

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http://www.realcostofprisons.org/coalition.html

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The information provided herein is not legal advice.
Transmission of this information is not intended to create,
and receipt by you does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.

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