The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/texts/term_papers/elmer.txt

Text File | 1994-07-05 | 11KB | 192 lines

BackGround
According to I.N.S. head Jerry Valentine The Border Patrols mission is to
maintain control of the International boundaries between the ports of entry by
detecting and preventing the smuggling and illegal entry of aliens into the
United States As part of its mission, the Border Patrol alsointerdicts narcotics
and other contraband In 1991, the Office  National Drug control policy
designated the Border Patrol as the primary agency for narcotics interdiction
between the ports of entry, In accomplishing its mission, the Border Patrol
patrols the international boundaries  and inspects passengers and vehicles at
checkpoints located along highways leading from border areas, at bus and rail
stations, and at air terminals  The Border Patrol uses its vehicles and aircraft
to patrol areas between the ports of entry  It also uses electronic equipment,
such as sensors and low light level televisions, to detect illegal entry into the
country.  In addition, the Border Patrol has received funds from other agencies
so they can  interdict narcotics .

But what he doesn't mention, is the internal problem associated with the job.

Being the only government Law enforcement agency that has no external
review,  the oprotunities for impropriety are enormous. In fact,  In just the last
eight years the power invested in  each I.N.S. official has increased three fold.


Since 1985  both the power to review bussiness hiring practices and intercede
in drug traficing, in addition to their main funcution of enforcing U.S.
imigration laws.

Can you imagine what type of coruption that could go on a government
agency Has many of the powers of the DEA, and The Better Bussiness
Bureau. In adittion to the power to control Imigration.

And to make it all the more tempting no outside review  to worry about.

And worst of all few of the agents are properly trained for any of the duties
they are to perform.



Here are a couple of extreme instances. To allow the uninformed of the
gravity of the problem.








On the evening of March 18, 1992, a motorist alleges that Tucson Border
Patrol Agent Michael Elmer assaulted him, with the motorist requiring
stitches for one of his wounds, Later that night witnesses allege that Elmer
shot at a group of 30 undocumented immigrants, wounding One of them.
Neither  of the incidents was reported by Elmer or the other agents who were
present. Complaints lodged by the imigrants  were ignored.
     Neither of these incidents or the allegations that Elmer had consumed
and sold drugs  during a raid,  would have been discovered if Elmer had not
been reported  by , Border Patrol Agent Thomas Watson, who  reported the
fatal shooting of Dario Miranda vaIenzuela by his partner,  In doing so he
broke the Border Patrol's traditional code of silence.
     The  Investigation  revealed the NogaIes border region to be a modem
day Wild West, where agents with little training and or  supervision shoot
with impunity at suspected drug smugglers.

     According to trial testimony, Agents Elmer, Watson and three other
Border Patrol agents were patrolling a remote canyon near Nogales, Arizona.
Agents Elmer and Watson pursued three men whom they believed to be
lookouts for drug smugglers.  Watson fired warning shots over the head of
one of the men they encountered.  The three men then fled toward Mexico.
Elmer shot at one of the men  a dozen times. Two bullets struck the, who was
unarmed, in the back.
     According to Watson's trial testimony, the two agents did not call for
medical assistance. but instead considered planting a weapon on Miranda so it
would appear to be a legitimate shooting. They also discussed how to dispose
of the victim's body. Watson also testified that, when Elmer told him he had
shot Miranda," He was happy, the best way I could describe it. like somebody
that had shot their first deer. He was elated, and pumped up."  After shooting
Miranda, Elmer shot at one of the other fleeing men. Elmer then dragged the
body into a gully and hid him behind a tree trunk. Agents Watson and Elmer
then joined the three other agents in the area and returned to the border patrol
station without reporting the shooting. Doctors estimate Miranda  may have
lived for 30 minutes after he was shot
     Watson reported the shooting the next day, June 13, approximately
15 hours after it occurred. In his statement, Watson explained that he
waited because he was afraid that Elmer would harm him if he reported
the shooting the day it happened. Elmer was arrested and became the first
Border Patrol agent to be charged and tried for murder.

     In April 1993, Watson was fired by the Border Patrol for waiting 15
hours before reporting the killing and other violations. He told the Los
Angeles Times "its  a big coverup. I broke the code of silence and now
they  Want to get back at me.  I knew I was doing the right thing by
turning him in for murder."
         The  other three agents who had observed the Miranda shooting
were not  disciplined for failing to report the shooting and are believed  to
remain on the force.
     During the investigation into the Miranda shooting other abuses
involving Agent Elmer came to light.  Rene Romero was stopped by
Border Patrol agents while driving in southern Arizona near Tucson.
According to Romero,  E1mer pulled him from his car, threw him to the
threatened to kill him, Romero states that Elmer then pulled Romero's
pants down and told him to "bend down as if you're going to get fucked,"
and then told Romero to "open up his ass," After he was searched, Elmer
hit him in the stomach and ribs, The agents then took Romero to the
Border Patrol station in Nogales.
Two hours prior to this incident Border Patrol agents were patrolling the
Hindz Ridge area  for drug smugglers, They were directed to an area
where a surveillance team had Spotted a group of 30 people. Six agents
pursued the group.  Agent Elmer encountering them first, He began
shooting between the legs and feet of the individuals he encountered, and
shouting at them.  Francisco Salgado-Munoz, one of the undocumented
immigrants, later testified during the Elmer trial that he had been shot in
the stomach and leg during the attack.




Border Patrol Agent Luis Santiago Esteves

     Evidence indicates that Luis Santiago Esteves problems with law
enforcement began years before he donned a Border Patrol uniform While
in the Army Esteves was arrested for allegedly beating his first wife.
Charges in that case were dropped. When Eteves was prosecuted for the
rape of two women last summer, his second wife, Lucille Mal testified
that he had raped her, and threatened to rape her 10-year-old daughter.

     Once on the force, Esteves was reported to have been involved in
three incidents of sexual misconduct committed against women whom he
first encountered while on duty.
     The first incident Occurred on October 6. 1989. On that date,
according to the court records,"  Ima Cadilla, a teacher and U.S. citizen,
was travelling north along Highway 86 in Imperial County, California,
when she was STOPPED at an immigration checkpoint. Agent Esteves
inquired about her citizenship, and determined that she was a U.S.
citizen, and let her vehicle pass. About five miles down the road, Ms.
Cadilla noticed a vehicle approaching with flashing lights. She pulled
over to the side of the road. The vehicle turned off all lights, and Esteves
got out of the car and approached her.  Esteves asked Cadilla Several
questions which she answered, believing them to be official in nature.
Esteves then asked Cadilla for her telephone number and talked to her
about himself for fifteen minutes.  He asked her if she would be home for
the week.   She said no. Esteves told her "that  was  too  bad, because he
wanted to take her out  dancing, get drunk and have her sexualy abuse his
body "   According to the Los Angeles Times, The Border Patrol took no
action when this incident was reported.


     Two months later. December 16, 1989, twenty-year-old Maria was
stopped by Esteves in Calexico,   Maria agreed to go out with him, but
said that he first would .have to take her to her mothers house for
permission. Esteves said that he would have to go to his house first so
that he could change clothes. Once at Esteves house they exchanged
small talk. Then Esteves told her he wanted her to "be with him. " At this
point Maria describes him "changing' in his attitude and he became
angry. He told her she had to have sex with him. He told her to take a
shower and  positioned a gun on each side of the bed on two nightstands.
Esteves then told Maria to take her clothes off. Fearful because of the
tone of his voice and the location of the two guns, she complied. Esteves
then proceeded to force an object into her vagina, placed his hands into
various parts of her body, orally copulated her and forced her to have
intercourse with him.
     Maria reported to officers  that she was afraid and never consented
to any of the sexual acts. When Esteves left the room, Maria fled from the
house, climbing a six foot fence and breaking her ankle in her haste to get
away. Shortly thereafter Esteves was arrested and the local District
Attorney's Office filed rape charge  him ,while the case was pending
Esteves was suspended from the force. However, Maria failed to appear
in court for  preliminary hearing, probably due to fear of reprisal.   And
The District Attorneys Office was forced to drop the case against Esteves
for lack of  prosecution witness


ln July 1991, Esteves was arrested again, This time he was charged with
the rape of another woman, seventeen-year-old Rosa, whom he had
stopped while on duty. According to Rosa's testimony, on June 23, 1991
she and her mother were standing on the US, side of the border fence in
Calexico talking to her grandmother and her sister who were on the
Mexican side of the fence. Esteves approached the women and asked for
their immigration papers. Esteves spoke with rosa's mother for some
time, and found out that rosa had an upcoming deportation hearing, He
offered to assist her in that hearing. The following day, he called her and
told her not to worry about the deportation hearing. Esteves took Rosa
out and  picked her up at 10:45 p.m., and bought her two mixed drinks.
He then took her to the vacant apartment of a Border Patrol  friend.
     Rosas testimony indicted, that Esteves  became angry shortly after
they arrived, and  Esteves told her to take off her clothes. he  then ordered
her to masturbate. When she refused, he placed his hand on his gun. Rosa
testified that throughout the encounter, Esteves repeatedly slapped her
and at one point he punched her. Rosa contends that Esteves then
sodomized her. At one point he told her, "I know what I'm doing. And I
am capable of everything and if I want I can rape your mother."

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