Friday, February 16, 2018
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ICE lawyer admits stealing immigrant IDs Afghans submitted 1.17 M
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East Oregonian
SEATTLE (AP) — The former
chief counsel for U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement in
Seattle acknowledged in court
Thursday that he stole the identi-
ties of people facing immigration
proceedings and used them to
run up credit card and other bills
totaling more than $190,000.
Raphael Sanchez, 44, oversaw
deportation proceedings in Alaska,
Idaho, Oregon and Washington
before resigning when charges
were filed Monday.
In a plea agreement, he said
took personal information from
immigration files and then forged
identification documents, such as
Social Security cards and drivers’
licenses, in his victims’ names.
Sometimes, he said, he used a
picture of a murder victim that
had appeared in a newspaper as a
license photo.
He used the forged IDs to obtain
lines of credit, used credit-moni-
toring services to determine which
of his victims had the best credit,
and listed three victims as depen-
dents on his income tax returns.
“It is the duty of our federal
immigration authorities to ensure
the honest enforcement of our
nation’s immigration laws,” Acting
Assistant Attorney General John
Cronan said in a news release.
“Raphael Sanchez betrayed that
solemn responsibility and abused
his official position to prey upon
aliens for his own personal gain.”
Sanchez pleaded guilty to wire
fraud and aggravated identity theft
in U.S. District Court on Thursday.
He acknowledged he defrauded
financial institutions, including
Bank of America and Capital One,
and told U.S. Magistrate Judge
John L. Weinberg that his victims
were vulnerable due to their immi-
gration status. His attorney and
prosecutors agreed to recommend
a four-year prison term when he’s
sentenced in May.
The Justice Department’s Public
Integrity Section said that begin-
ning in 2013, Sanchez stole the
identities of at least seven people
in various stages of immigration
proceedings — and investigators
found the personal information
and official documents of 20 others
when they searched his home.
Cronan credited ICE with
“quickly and fully investigating
this matter.”
“Raphael Sanchez is a good
person who has made serious
mistakes,” his attorney, Casey
Stamm, said in a written statement.
“Mr. Sanchez does not offer
excuses for his acts; rather, he
simply provides his sincere and
immense regret.”
Sanchez is the second lawyer in
ICE’s Seattle office to run into legal
trouble in recent years. Jonathan
Love pleaded guilty in 2016 to a
charge that he forged documents in
an effort to deprive an immigrant
of the legal permanent resident
status to which he was entitled.
The latest case drew condem-
nation from immigrant rights
advocates.
“The prosecution of ICE Chief
Counsel Raphael Sanchez under-
scores the perception that ICE is
a rogue agency,” Rich Stolz, exec-
utive director of the immigrant
rights group OneAmerica, said in
a written statement.
“When law enforcement offi-
cials are the ones being investigated
for crimes they have committed,
and when long-time community
members are being torn from their
families due to unauthorized status
alone, one must ask whether any
increased investment in immigra-
tion enforcement makes sense for
the nation, or for ICE, an agency
that still needs to get its own affairs
in order.”
In a news release, ICE Deputy
Director Thomas Homan said he
was “appalled by these egregious,
independent acts of criminal
misconduct by Mr. Sanchez.” But
he added that he remained confident
in the agency and its Seattle office.
“I am grateful to the men and
women of ICE who do their job
with the utmost professionalism
every day,” he said.
war crimes claims to court
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) —
Since the International Criminal
Court began collecting material
three months ago for a possible war
crimes case involving Afghanistan, it
has gotten a staggering 1.17 million
statements from Afghans who say
they were victims.
The statements include accounts
of alleged atrocities not only by
groups like the Taliban and the
Islamic State group, but also
involving Afghan Security Forces
and government-affiliated warlords,
the U.S.-led coalition, and foreign
and domestic spy agencies, said
Abdul Wadood Pedram of the
Human Rights and Eradication of
Violence Organization.
Based in part on the many state-
ments, ICC judges in The Hague
would then have to decide whether to
seek a war crimes investigation.
The statements were collected
between Nov. 20, 2017, and Jan.
31, 2018, by organizations based in
Europe and Afghanistan and sent to
the ICC, Pedram said. Because one
statement might include multiple
victims and one organization might
represent thousands of victim
statements, the number of Afghans
seeking justice from the ICC could
be several million.
“It is shocking there are so
many,” Pedram said, noting that
in some instances, whole villages
were represented. “It shows how the
justice system in Afghanistan is not
bringing justice for the victims and
their families.”
The ICC did not give details
about the victims or those providing
the information.
“I have the names of the organi-
zations, but because of the security
issues, we don’t want to name them
because they will be targeted,” said
Pedram, whose group is based in
Kabul.
Many of the representations
include
statements
involving
multiple victims, which could be the
result of suicide bombings, targeted
killings or airstrikes, he said.
Among those alleging war crimes
is a man who asked The Associated
Press to be identified only by his first
name, Shoaib, because he fears for
his safety.
Shoaib said his father, Naimat-
ullah, was on a bus in Dawalat Yar
district in Afghanistan’s central Ghor
Province in 2014 when a band of
gunmen stopped it and two other
buses, forced the passengers off and
told them to hand over their identity
cards. The 14 Shiites among them
were separated from the rest and
killed, one by one, he said.
RAMPS: ODOT plans to upgrade and add ramps along Southwest Emigrant
Continued from 1A
access it, or lacking a set of bumps
for vision-impaired pedestrians to
know they are stepping out into a
roadway.
Tom Strandberg, public infor-
mation officer for ODOT’s Region
5, said ODOT has been fixing curb
ramps as it completes other work.
When the department installed
new traffic control cameras along
Highway 395 in Hermiston in 2015,
ADA-compliant curbs marked with
yellow bumps were installed, giving
Hermiston some of Oregon’s curb
ramps classified as “good.” More
of those ramps will be installed later
this year on Northwest 11th Street
(Highway 205) when ODOT part-
ners with the city of Hermiston to
add traffic signals to its intersections
with Orchard and Elm avenues.
Due to the settlement agreement,
ODOT has also set some money
aside to do projects specifically
focused on ADA compliance. In
the fall, Strandberg said, ODOT
will put a project out to bid that
will upgrade and add ramps along
Southwest Emigrant Avenue in
Pendleton between Southwest
Ninth and Southwest Fifth Streets.
Other projects in Eastern Oregon
will come at later dates.
“Obviously they can’t all be
done at once,” Strandberg said.
They might not be able to all be
done at once, but having 883 cross-
ings out of 26,225 compliant since
1991 is not moving fast enough
in the view of Disability Rights
Oregon.
“If you’re only managing to
complete 3 percent of ramps in
27 years, your progress is not
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A sidewalk without a wheelchair ramp on Southeast Court Avenue in Pendleton.
adequate,” Stenson said.
He said creating proper curb
ramps on state highways is not just
about following the law, it’s about
allowing people with disabilities to
fully and safely participate in their
community. Stenson said he has
seen people have to move out into
oncoming traffic to access a side-
walk and has one client who showed
him how she had to turn around and
back up too-steep ramps to avoid
tipping over in her wheelchair.
Darren Umbarger of Clearview
Mediation and Disability Resource
Center in Pendleton said things like
that can be a major problem for
Pendleton residents who want to
access buildings along state high-
ways like Emigrant Avenue.
“People will get mad because
here’s someone riding down the
bicycle lane in a wheelchair. ...
Sometimes it’s easier to go down a
bicycle lane and sometimes it’s not,
but sometimes there’s no choice,”
he said.
Umbarger said ADA-compliant
ramps aren’t just for people in
wheelchairs — they can make
things easier for senior citizens
with walkers, parents pushing baby
strollers or delivery people pushing
dollies.
Although ODOT-controlled state
highways through Pendleton often
lack good accessibility, Umbarger
praised the city of Pendleton and
community members for working
hard to make Pendleton in general
more accessible. Efforts include
more accessible city parks, electric
wheelchair-charging
stations
around town and projects by down-
town businesses to change steps
into ramps.
While the ODOT inventory
focused on state highways, Stenson
said city and county roads across
the state have similar problems.
“Some municipalities do a
better job than others, but I think
the problems you see with ODOT
you would find similar issues with
municipal governments as well,” he
said.
In 2017 ODOT published the
Americans with Disabilities Act
Title II Transition Plan Update
detailing a game plan for becoming
fully ADA-compliant, including
making all of its buildings more
accessible and aggressively moving
to fix curb ramps.
“ODOT is committed to
improving the accessibility of the
transportation system and its facil-
ities. ... ODOT has made significant
progress in reducing the number
of missing and non-compliant
curb ramps in recent years, and a
commitment to ongoing resources
will address remaining shortcom-
ings,” the report says.
ODOT’s plan for ADA compli-
ance can be found online at www.
oregon.gov/ODOT/Business/OCR/
Documents/Final%20ADA%20
Transition%20Plan%202017.pdf.
An inventory of every state highway
crossing in Umatilla County and
its ADA-compliance rating can be
found here: droregon.org/wp-con-
tent/uploads/umatilla-county.pdf.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com or
541-564-4536.
WHEAT: Every $1 billion in farm exports
supports more than 8,000 jobs in 2016
MCLEAN: Co-founded BMCC’s
annual community Christmas Eve dinner
Continued from 1A
Continued from 1A
check per year.”
“It’s the administration
that’s got to determine how
important this trade relation-
ship is,” said Blaine Jacobson,
executive director of the Idaho
Wheat Commission.
The industry is working
to educate people who have
contact with the adminis-
tration, he said, in hopes of
reaching “critical mass,”
recognizing TPP as a benefi-
cial trade arrangement for the
U.S.
“There’s
widespread
support for getting back into
it, but whether or not we have
reached the right people yet is
still unknown,” Jacobson said.
Asian customers want soft
white wheat from the Pacific
Northwest, Jacobson said.
“They might be willing
to pay a minor premium,” he
said. “As time goes on, those
customers will probably find
a way to make use of wheat
other than PNW wheat. In the
short-term, a modest impact,
but in the long-term, probably
a major impact on markets.”
Squires
warned
of
“ripple effects” throughout
the industry, which could
happen as soon as U.S. wheat
becomes uncompetitive in
overseas markets, he said
Without exports to Japan,
the grain commission esti-
mates volume would drop
by 62.5 million bushels. That
equals 19,000 fewer rail cars
little bit confidante. Without
her, a lot of them wouldn’t
have made it.”
McLean, he said, “moth-
ered more rodeo champions
than anyone in the world.”
Her
orb
extended
beyond the rodeo team, he
said, as “she was handed
down from graduating class
to graduating class.”
Mike Beers, who went
on to rope and bulldog
professionally after his time
on the BMCC rodeo team,
credits McLean for keeping
him on track academically.
“If it wasn’t for her,
I wouldn’t have made it
through school,” he said.
BMCC
Foundation
Director Margaret Gianotti,
a friend and colleague,
said McLean was strict but
driven by kindness. Gianotti
said McLean co-founded
BMCC’s annual commu-
nity Christmas Eve dinner.
“She made sure they
used real linens and glass
plates — she wanted people
to feel like it was a four-
star dining experience,”
Gianotti said. “She found
people in need to attend.”
Goodrich got a front-row
seat to the ways of McLean
during the almost two years
he lived under her roof.
Routinely, when he got
home from rodeo practice,
sometimes at 11 p.m., he
found her asleep on the
Capital Press File
The U.S. wheat industry is asking President Donald
Trump to re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
“There’s widespread support for
getting back into it, but whether
or not we have reached the right
people yet is still unknown.”
— Blaine Jacobson, executive director of the Idaho
Wheat Commission
and nearly 70 bulk vessels
each year. Impact would be
felt by port facilities, barges,
elevator longshoremen, ship
handlers, and other industry
members, Squires said.
Every $1 billion in farm
exports supports more than
8,000 jobs in 2016. Wheat
export losses of $500 million
per year would lead to reduc-
tions in the work force across
the supply chain, Squires said.
Squires is encouraged
that people are beginning to
realize that the situation is
imminent.
“I think it can be done if
the president puts his mind to
it,” he said. “The bottom line
is, we are heavily dependent
on trade and trade is a benefit.
We just want to be part of that
trade. We believe the president
can make that happen.”
———
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
couch like a worried parent
waiting for him to return.
“I’d go take a shower,”
he said. “When I came out,
she’d have dinner ready at
the dining room table.”
Years later, McLean
helped with food at
Goodrich’s wedding.
At yesterday’s memo-
rial service, a tube of
McLean’s favorite shade
of red lipstick sat in a
display, along with photos,
her favorite apron and
her white gloves. During
a time of open remarks,
BMCC graduate Rex Baker
described a prank involving
McLean’s cherished green
Volkswagen Bug. Baker
and his fellow pranksters
disabled the car, gave her a
ride home after she couldn’t
start the engine and prom-
ised to get it running.
Instead, under cover
of darkness, they later
removed the center post
of one of the doorways of
Pioneer Hall, drove the car
into the hallway and parked
in front of her office. The
next morning, a secretary
put a ribbon and bow on
the vehicle. BMCC Pres-
ident Ron Daniels placed
a tongue-in-cheek note
on the windshield, which
Baker paraphrased to best
of his memory: “Gene Ann,
while I realize that you’re
unhappy with your present
parking situation, I must
point out that these subtle
hints are of little help.”
McLean, aghast, ordered
her car removed “before the
newspaper gets here.”
Grinning at the memory,
Baker’s expression sobered
as he expressed gratitude
toward his former advisor.
“She mothered me,
bossed me, fed me,
educated me and made me
realize my self-worth and
intelligence,” Baker said.
“She is a big part of every-
thing in me that is good.
God speed, G.A.”
Before and after her
retirement in 1997, McLean
volunteered in the commu-
nity and served on the
Arts Council of Pendleton
board.
McLean and many of
the students she nurtured
stayed in touch over
the years. She watched
many of her cowboys
compete at the Pendleton
Round-Up. Goodrich won
the all-around title there
in 2004. Beers, a world
champion roper who was
inducted into the Pro Rodeo
Hall of Fame in 2003, won
the steer roping title in
Pendleton in 2004.
Neither will forget
McLean.
“She was a legend. …”
Gianotti said. “She really
made a footprint here.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0810.