Border Control and Customs

Mexican Boat Delivery of 1,200 Pounds of Marijuana to Laguna Beach Nets Charges

Eighty-five miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border in the wee hours of Feb. 4, men wearing black clothes in a 30-foot panga boat delivered 1,200 pounds of marijuana to the shore at Crystal Cove in Laguna Beach, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report.Using thermal imaging ... More >>

Miguel Lerma Jr., Former Border Officer, Gets 6 Years for Raping Two Women

Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Miguel Lerma Jr. pleaded guilty today to forcibly raping one woman and raping a second who passed out after too much alcohol.The 33-year-old Fountain Valley resident, who faced up to 32 years in state prison based on an April 2011 statement from pro ... More >>

Stanley Kuo Jua Yang Gets 30 Months for Hawking Knock-Offs of Exercise Machines

An Irvine man was sentenced this morning to 30 months in federal prison for hawking counterfeit goods, including knock-offs of Bowflex, Ab Circle Pro and Malibu Pilates exercise machines.United States District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner in Los Angeles immediately remanded Stanley Kuo Jua Yang, 3 ... More >>

237 lbs. of Pot Seized at Border Stop

So a 19-year-old guy drives solo in a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban through the 5 freeway border checkpoint south of San Clemente where, according to the agents, his demeanor raised suspicions.I'd say welcome to the world of parenting 19-year-olds, but the Border Patrol pulled the Chevy over for inspectio ... More >>

A Tale of Two 22 lbs. Methamphetamine Busts

Does methamphetamine now come in 22-lbs. bundles?On Wednesday, two Orange County men were among five people arrested in Kern County after authorities seized about 22 pounds of crystal methamphetamine.That's the same amount of the drug Border Patrol dogs sniffed out of a minivan at the San Clemente c ... More >>

Arizona Senate Bill 1070's Days of Rage

[Crossing the Line] The U.S. Supreme Court and President Barack Obama leave the undocumented and their allies no choice but to escalate civil disobedience

Refried Tuesdays

Brea Imrprov

Border Violence No Big Threat to U.S., Report Says

All the talk about Mexico's rampant drug-related violence bleeding into the U.S., along with the threat of terrorists creeping in from the southern border, is overblown, according to a new study. The Washington Office on Latin America, which promotes itself as a group focusing on human rights, demo ... More >>

Danny Noriego Doesn't Like ICE

[Moxley Confidential] Why are government officials protecting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who almost killed an innocent Anaheim man?

Kil Jun Lee Went All the Way to Korea and All He Got Were 40,000 Phony Boner Pills

​Irvine-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, found itself one of three corporate victims of a former South Korean law enforcement officer who allegedly tried to smuggle 40,000 fake boner pills through LAX.The $700,000 worth of copycat erectile-dysfunction pills--which also inclu ... More >>

San Clemente Coke Bust Caps 5 Days of Border Patrol Seizures of $1.4 Million in Drugs

​Hey, remember that Lake Forest cocaine safe house from Tuesday? Julio Cesar Perez-Arellano and Tomas Agustin Della Rocca Held in $4 Million Cocaine Bust Perhaps some recent U.S. Border Patrol busts produced some of the coke originally headed there.

Korean Tourist Nabbed at LAX with 63 Pounds of Erection Medicine

​Was a 40-year-old Korean national visiting Southern California hoping to obtain the biggest, longest-lasting erection in world history?Or did he just want everybody he knew to be, well, excited for weeks?Authorities briefly detained the unidentified tourist earlier this month at Los Angeles Inter ... More >>

Crystal-Meth Block Did Not Come Standard With Jetta Searched Near Border Checkpoint

​Border Patrol agents boast they intercepted a "bumper crop" of crystal methamphetamine near the San Clemente checkpoint last week.Wednesday morning's encounter with a "nervous" 24-year-old woman resulted in the discovery of 12 pounds of crystal meth hidden in the rear bumper of ... More >>

JEFF The Brotherhood: A Children's Jazz Odyssey of Super-Frankenstein-Party Music

Beka Cope​Yes, they're brothers and no, neither is named Jeff. Instead, Jamin (drums) and Jake (guitar / vocals) Orrall of JEFF The Brotherhood picked a name out of thin air to go with the heavy Wipers-guitar-meets-Thin Lizzy-rhythms songs they use to turn punk houses and rock clubs inside out for ... More >>

Pot Smuggling Boat Washes Up on Dana Point Beach

​A boat containing 740 pounds of marijuana was discovered on Monday, at approximately 6 a.m., but so far nobody has come to claim the haul, leaving experts guessing that it was most likely a Mexican cartel smuggling operation gone awry.The first clue: The boat was heading north whenever its occupa ... More >>

[UPDATED With Charges, Arraignment Date] Miguel Lerma Jr., Border Patrol Officer, Held in Sexual Assaults of Women in Garden Grove and Long Beach

​UPDATE, APRIL 4, 3:24 P.M.: U.S. Customs & Border Protection officer Miguel Lerma Jr. has been charged with one felony count each of forcible rape, sodomy by force and forcible oral copulation for allegedly attacking a woman in Garden Grove, plus one felony count of rape by use of drugs f ... More >>

Illegals in U.S. Marine Uniforms Get Off Easy

"Who you calling illegal, maggot!"​Head south of the Orange County border on the 5 freeway and you quickly encounter people in one of two kinds of uniforms: those of U.S. Border Patrol officials (think San Clemente checkpoint) and those of the U.S. Marines Corps (think Camp Pendleton).People in bo ... More >>

Did Arrestee at Border Pucker Up With a Meth Mouth?

​Four pounds of crystal meth were found taped inside the jacket of a woman at the San Clemente border checkpoint Sunday morning, according to the feds.The 34-year-old Chula Vista woman (and yes, haters, U.S. citizen) was riding in a van headed north on the 5 freeway. When she got out of the van, a ... More >>

Aparato Singer: Border Patrol Profiled Me

[Mental Notes] Also, No Doubt's famous 'Beacon Street' house for sale

¡Aparato! Singer Says She Was Profiled by Border Patrol

​ Anaheimer and front woman for the jarocho-rock band ¡Aparato!, Nancy Mendez (a.k.a. Cat) assumes the voice of the undocumented whenever she sings, "I'm not a criminal; I'm not who you say I am" on her pro-immigrant anthem "Kriminal." In the early-morning hours of Jan. 10, however, she had to re ... More >>

Khapra Beetle: The Destructive Breed of Beetles Discovered in Rice Shipment at LAX

Not what you want in your rice.​Things could have become pretty buggy for producers of grain and seeds if U.S. Customs and Border Protection would have been slacking on the job. On Dec. 29 at Los Angeles International Airport, CBP intercepted a shipment of Indian rice arriving from Saudi Arab ... More >>

The Feds Bury Border Patrol Abuses of Immigrants

But what's been unearthed reveals a culture of cruelty

Need a Job? Orange County Career Fair's Got 'Em

​Aflac, Wells Fargo, Farmers Insurance, Kaiser Permanente, National University, The Art Institutes, the University of Phoenix, Forest Lawn Memorial Parks, the Automobile Club of Southern California and United States Customs and Border Protection are among the companies and agencies participating ... More >>

Ismael Calixto Ortiz, Wanted in '05 Santa Ana Rape, Apprehended After Hopping Border

​In a brushy area of Imperial Beach in San Diego County early Monday, a Border Patrol agent confronted two Mexican nationals who illegally entered the United States. The agent managed to detain one man but the second resisted. Just as a second agent arrived, the combative man tried to yank the fir ... More >>

Grinding Justice

Operation Streamline costs millions, tramples the Constitution, treats migrants like cattle, doesn't work

20 Illegal Immigrants Busted Landing Boat at Calafia State Beach This Morning

Smithsonian InstitutionBoat people of another era.​Twenty undocumented immigrants trying to enter the U.S. illegally by sea were arrested this morning at Calafia State Beach in San Clemente.The 17 men and three women, all from Mexico, were riding in a small craft that hit land about 3 a.m., accor ... More >>

Seized

Inside the brutal world of America's kidnapping capital

Cowboy Down

Rob Krentz's Family Talks About the Life and Death of the Murdered Arizona Rancher

OC Sighs as the Only Illegal Things Border Patrol Finds in Car's Trunk are 230 Pounds of Weed

Courtesy of U.S. Border PatrolTrunk full of skunk weed​Missed this one earlier, but U.S. Border Patrol agents earlier this week seized 230 pounds of marijuana stashed in the trunk of a sedan at a San Clemente rest stop.

Badlands: From Ground Zero of the Immigration Crisis Along the Mexican Border

Tougher border enforcement in California and Texas has spelled disaster for southern Arizona

Rainbow Harbor Terror Attack is Just a Drill

​If you swing by Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach today and notice an unusually large presence of law enforcement types running around like chickens with their heads cut off, you are witnessing neither an actual terror attack nor filming of pick-up scenes for Monday night's 24 finale.

¿Ask a Minuteman?

[¡Ask a Mexican!] In honor of April Fools' Day, Jim Gilchrist puts on the sombrero and bandoliers this week

As the Know Nothings Turn: Jim Gilchrist versus His Former Allies

Gheen: Once called a Gilchrist supporter a "butt boy"​It's hard to keep up these days with who hates who in the various anti-immigrant movements. Most folks hate Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist even though everyone else would be nothing without him. Gilchrist doesn't like California Coalit ... More >>

Dude, Where's My VW Bus That Was Stolen 35 Years Ago? Oh, There It Is

Courtesy of U.S. Border and Customs ProtectionFound it!​You never know what will turn up in a container at the Long Beach port. Sure, the vast majority are filled with legal products bound for store shelves all across this great land. But every so often inspectors will find smuggled guns, drugs, h ... More >>

Is That a Song Bird in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

A bulbul sings the song of freedom.Sonny Dong was walking through security at Los Angeles International Airport last month when inspectors noticed something odd: bird feathers and droppings on his socks and bird tail feathers under his pants. Upon closer examination it was discovered the 46-year-old ... More >>

The Curious Case of the Crapping Minuteman

A couple of weeks ago, I received a fascinating envelope with the claim that a Minuteman Project member sent a racist letter to Wahoo's Fish Tacos founder Wing Lam AND took a shit in a Wahoo's trash can. The envelope carried a letter purportedly written by Minuteman Project member Brian Gilmore, and ... More >>

The Border Patrol Gets Pimped Out On Reality T.V.

If you didn't think reality television could get any more crass than the grating weekly doses of collagen-injected OC busybodies, guess again. ABC is scheduled to air its new border patrol  reality T.V. show during the same time slot as our desperate little OC housewives beginning in January. T ... More >>

Janet Napolitano's Sorry Service in Arizona Makes Her a Terrible Choice for Homeland Security Secretary

WEB EXCLUSIVE!

Rohrabacher Miffed That Border Agents Off Bush's Pardon List

That two names didn't make outgoing President George W. Bush's list of presidential pardons and commutations announced today has Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) steaming mad, although he noted Dubya "still has time to do the right thing."Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean ... More >>

Jim Gilchrist to Speak at Long Beach State Today--Students, Please Go

The Southern California progressive community is abuzz with word that Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist and his anti-illegals pal, Ted Hayes, will "lecture" at Long Beach State today. "The topic is to inform students and the general public on the Racist Agenda of the La Raza at the national, c ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

San Diego Minutemen Get Back Their San Clemente Adopt-a-Highway Sign

Mere hours after the Weekly's story regarding the tale of two Minuteman Project Adopt-a-Highway signs hit the streets, a federal judge ordered Caltrans to restore the one on Interstate 5 near the San Onofre immigration checkpoint sponsored by the San Diego Minutemen. In a misleading email sent out l ... More >>

[¡Ask a Mexican!] A Run for the Border Patrol. And Mucho Mas!

Quien es Más Minuteman?

You'll be hard-pressed to ever find two sides in a lawsuit less sympathetic than the parties who are scheduled to show up in Orange County Superior Court on May 27. On one side will stand Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist, who was fired last year from the organization he founded for accusation ... More >>

Going, Going, Gone to Court

The question of which Nguyen won is about to be answered. Or maybe not. The Los Angeles Times reports that OC Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley has finished the recount of the February 6 special election, and determined that Janet Nguyen is the winner. Republican Nguyen's margin of victory over Rep ... More >>

Fun in Spelling!

We're about as open borders as you can get, but even we rolled our eyes when a group of students announced a press conference outside SanTana's Valley High School this afternoon at 3:30 to talk about the walk outs of the last week. Done via blast e-mail, the press release is titled "SANTA ANA STUDNE ... More >>

FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPING TRAIL

Ex-Minuteman Bryan Barton puts the party in partisan agenda

TOO TOUGH TO DIE

On the borderline with the Minutemen, the media and MS-13

The Disorder at the Border

Rating the sides in the April 1 Arizona-Mexico border free-for-all

How to Sneak a Latin Alternative Band into the United States Without John Ashcroft Finding Out