Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Disabled veteran's wife not wanted by country he risked life for 3 times

Disabled War Vet Fights New Battle: His Wife's Deportation
ABC
By EMILY DERUY
April 06, 2013


A disabled war veteran who deployed four times -- three times to Iraq and once to Korea -- and nearly lost his life serving the United States is now fighting a different battle altogether at home in Las Vegas.

James Courtney's wife, Sharon, is an undocumented Mexican immigrant who faces possible deportation. Sharon came to the United States from Juarez, Mexico, as a teenager and the two have been married for more than a dozen years. They have three young sons.

The couple recently joined immigration activists in Washington, D.C., to tell their story and urge lawmakers to take action to prevent the separation of families like theirs.

Sharon was awarded a one-year work visa in the early 2000s, then denied a green card based on a false claim of citizenship.

But James, who suffered a traumatic brain injury during his second deployment to Iraq that resulted in short-term memory loss and other difficulties, disputes that claim and said it has been "the kiss of death."
read more here

Monday, March 25, 2013

Booted and banned: Former U.S. troops battle to come home

Tony Lamson in the photo is from Point Man Ministries and doing all he can to help these veterans know they have not been forgotten and are not alone.

Booted and banned: Former U.S. troops battle to come home
By Bill Briggs
NBC News contributor
Five ex-American service members are mashed into a two-bedroom apartment in the Mexican border town of Rosarito Beach — a place of last stand, a foreign exile they’ve dubbed the “support house for banished veterans.”
Courtesy of Hector Barajas Expelled to Mexico from the United States after serving in the American military, veterans Fabian Rebolledo (first from the left), Juan Jose Sotomayor (third from the left) and Hector Barajas fourth from the left) are waging a legal battle for medical benefits and, perhaps, a return home. Tony Lamson, (second from the left), is a missionary helping the veterans


All five were deported from the United States after being convicted of unrelated crimes — including nonviolent offenses — committed after serving their nation, both in war and peace. They’re using their cramped hub to push for veterans’ medical benefits and lobby for a Congressional hearing to examine their expulsions. Yet there’s an even more pressing matter: more ex-U.S. troops are headed their way following similar deportations.


“It’s just a matter of time before I get two or three more guys. We don’t have the room. I guess we’ll put up some tents outside,” said Hector Barajas, 36, leader of the house and an Army paratrooper from 1995 to 2001. He immigrated from Mexico with his family when he was a child, growing up in Compton, Calif. Soon after his service, he pleaded guilty to firing a gun into a vehicle. No one was hurt. He served two years. In 2004, he was deported to Mexico.

read more here

Monday, January 7, 2013

Deported Vets Eligible for VA Healthcare, GI Bill

Deported Vets Eligible for VA Healthcare, GI Bill
Jan 07, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan

There is irony and tragedy in the death in Mexico last year of 55-year-old U.S. Army veteran Manuel de Jesus Castano.

The irony is that Castano, a life-long legal U.S. resident deported for a past criminal conviction that had nothing to do with his Army service, was allowed into the U.S. for burial -- with full military honors -- at Fort Bliss, Texas. It was, as far as his family knew, the last and only veteran’s benefit he was entitled to.

Deported in 2011 from El Paso, Texas, where he was getting healthcare from the Department of Veterans Affairs for Lupus and Lou Gehrig’s disease, his conditioned worsened, according to his nephew. He died last June following a heart attack.

The tragedy is that Castano, his family and his supporters -- including other “banished veterans” forced to live outside the U.S. -- never knew that he was entitled to VA healthcare, including medications, regardless of his deported status.

VA spokeswoman Jo Schuda told Military.com that a deported veteran who already has VA healthcare can use the VA’s Foreign Medical Program, which is set up for veterans traveling or living overseas. Under the program, the VA assumes responsibility for necessary medical services related to a veteran’s service-connected medical conditions.

The same program can be used by vets submitted a claim and requiring evaluations and physicals, she said.

Even education benefits remain available.

“Veterans who are eligible for education benefits and have been deported may use their benefits to attend school outside of the U.S. as long as they enroll in a VA approved program,” she said. The VA’s Weams Institution Search website lets veterans find approved schools and universities both within the U.S. and overseas.
read more here

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Jon Hammar, Ex-Marine Jailed In Mexico, Released

Jon Hammar, Ex-Marine Jailed In Mexico, Released (VIDEO)
By CURT ANDERSON
12/21/12

MIAMI — A Marine veteran jailed for months in Mexico after trying to carry a family heirloom shotgun across the border has been freed, U.S. officials and his lawyer said late Friday.

The attorney for 27-year-old Jon Hammar tweeted Friday night that his client had been released from a detention center in Matamoros, Mexico.

"Jon is out, going home!" Eddie Varon Levy tweeted.

Patrick Ventrell, the acting deputy spokesman for the State Department, confirmed Hammer's release and return to the U.S. in a statement Friday night.
read more here

Family fears for OEF OIF veteran

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Media didn't notice end of the world was canceled

This is why you can't trust what you read. The day before the "end of the world" was supposed to happen, reporters actually thought to go and interview the one group they should have interviewed a long time ago. Did they think good news wouldn't sell? I guess I have to pay my credit card bill now.
Maya Apocalypse 2012: Maya In Mexico Say Apocalypse Won't Happen (PHOTOS)
Huffington Post
Andrew Burmon
December 20, 2012

San Juan de Dios, Mexico is an unremarkable town 10 kilometers into the forest south of the ruins at Coba, where tourist buses park next to a shallow, crocodile-infested lagoon. There are no buses here, just a main square with a gazebo and the sound of soft Mayan consonants swishing from the PA system jerry-rigged above the police station.

I've come here to ask some actual Maya people about the so-called apocalypse said to be prophesied by Coba's Stela 1, a chunk of elaborately carved limestone much scrutinized by day-trippers down from Cancun. I'm keenly aware that the doomsday warning has been inflated by members of the media like myself and I'm ready for my penance, prepared to be treated as the village idiot.

That I'm not is more of a testament to the patience and politeness of San Juan's Maya community than it is to the veracity of the claims that have resulted in a scramble for hotel rooms in nearby Valladolid. The men I speak with -- women in floral Yucatecan dresses giggle and flee my presence -- listen thoughtfully to my questions and pause to consider the inconsiderate queries before responding.

Policarpo Dzib Dzib, who looks to be in his early 50s and sports a neatly groomed Hitler mustache, leans against the counter of his grocery for a minute before shaking his head. He has several colorful displays boasting an almost incalculable variety of flavored chips.

"I think the 21st is only the end of the calendar year," he says. "I do not think this is the end of the world."

December 21, it should be noted, is the end of every Maya calendar year and Policarpo, it should also be noted, is a Christian who doesn't know very much about the ancient gods. He believes in the apocalypse as foretold in the Book of Revelation, but doesn't "know any better than anyone else when that will happen."
read more here

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Family fears OEF OIF veteran's PTSD getting worse in Mexican Prison

UPDATE Jon Hannar released
Conditions in notorious Mexican prison worsens Jon Hammar's PTSD, family fears
By Joseph J. Kolb, Jr.
Published December 19, 2012
FoxNews.com

Every day that former Marine Jon Hammar spends in a notorious Mexican prison can only worsen the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder he suffers from after serving his country in multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to his family and mental health professionals.

Hammar has been in the notorious CEDES prison in Matamoros, Mexico since being arrested Aug. 13, on what his family says is a trumped up weapon charge. During the four-month ordeal, Hammar has faced death threats from the cartel gangsters that control the prison, been put in isolation and been chained to his metal bunk.

Hammar was honorably discharged from the marines in 2007 and, according to his father, Jon Hammar Sr., was diagnosed with PTSD in 2008. Hammar Sr. said his son had never been able to relax since coming home from the wars.
read more here

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Family of Ex-Marine fears for his safety in Mexican jail

UPDATE Jon Hannar released
Family of Ex-Marine fears for his safety
PALMETTO BAY, Fla.
(WSVN) -- A South Florida family is desperate to get their son home safely before the holidays. He is being held in a Mexican prison and has been there already for more than six months.

"I try not to think too far ahead you have to go one day at a time," said Olivia Hammar.

The mother of a former US Marine who has fought for our freedom in the middle east cried for her son who is now trapped in Mexico fighting for his own freedom.

After being treated for post traumatic stress syndrome Jon Hammar and another former US Marine wanted to get away and surf.
read more here

Friday, November 2, 2012

Secret Service mourning loss of agent after suspected suicide

Source: Secret Service agent dead of apparent suicide
By Carol Cratty
CNN
November 1, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Rafael Prieto was a 20-year veteran of the Secret Service
He was assigned to President Obama's protective detail
Authorities were looking into a suspected long-term relationship with a foreign national

"Rafael Prieto had a distinguished 20-year career with the Secret Service that was marked by accomplishment, dedication, and friendships," said Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan. "The Secret Service is mourning the loss of a valued colleague."
A law enforcement source says his death last Saturday was an apparent suicide Washington (CNN) -- A Secret Service agent suspected of having a romantic relationship with a Mexican woman is dead of an apparent suicide, a law enforcement official told CNN Thursday.

The source said Rafael Prieto, 48, was assigned to President Obama's protective detail. The Secret Service confirmed Thursday that Prieto's death last Saturday is currently being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, along with the medical examiner's office. No official determination of death has been made.

Prieto's access to Secret Service facilities had been suspended while authorities were looking into his apparently unreported and long-term relationship with a foreign national, the law enforcement official said.

"There is nothing to indicate that any classified or sensitive information was compromised as a result of this relationship," according to the source.
read more here

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Mexican police fired on US government vehicle

Navy: Mexican police fired on US government vehicle
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 24, 2012

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican federal police fired on a U.S. Embassy vehicle and wounded two U.S. government employees Friday after their vehicle drove into a rural, mountainous area outside the capital where the officers were looking for criminals, Mexican and U.S. officials said.
read more here

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Marine reservist found shot to death in Mexico

Marine reservist found shot to death in Mexico
© 2008 The Associated Press
Sept. 17, 2008, 7:55PM
EL PASO, Texas — A U.S. Marine Corps reservist has been shot to death in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the Marine Corps confirmed Wednesday.

Lance Cpl. Gustavo Zubia Lopez, 20, was found dead Friday in the violence-plagued border city across the Rio Grande from El Paso, said Capt. Nathan Braden, a Marine spokesman with Marine Forces Reserve Public Affairs in New Orleans.

Alejandro Pariente, a spokesman for the state prosecutor's office in Juarez, said Wednesday that Zubia was shot and thrown from a cliff along with 21-year-old Victor Delgado Fernandez.
go here for more
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6007950.html

Friday, July 11, 2008

California fires:International help arrives, more asked for

Butte County fire claims a life as Schwarzenegger musters more help
A body is found near a house in Concow, officials say. The governor calls up an additional 2,000 National Guard troops for duty. International firefighters arrive.
By Eric Bailey, Steve Chawkins and Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
2:13 PM PDT, July 11, 2008
Fire officials confirmed today that one person has died in a wildfire in Butte County as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called up an additional 2,000 National Guard troops for duty on the front lines of wildfires raging throughout Northern California.

In addition, firefighters from Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Greece have begun arriving to bolster the exhausted personnel who have been waging battle against hundreds of blazes for nearly three weeks.
click post title for more

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Mexican soldiers shoot at Marine's car

Mexican soldiers shoot at Marine's car

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

(05-20) 16:23 PDT PLAYAS DE ROSARITO, Mexico (AP) --

A Mexican official says soldiers shot at the car of a U.S. Marine who allegedly sped through a military checkpoint outside the beach town of Playas de Rosarito.

Police Chief Jorge Eduardo Montero says the gunfire shattered Pfc. Joshua Kendall Monnet's window around 4 a.m. Tuesday and sent a small piece of glass into his eye. He was being treated at a Tijuana hospital, where U.S. Consulate officials were interviewing him.

U.S. military officials say Monnet is assigned to Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. Playas de Rosarito is about 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the California border.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/05/20/state/n160545D85.DTL&tsp=1

Saturday, May 10, 2008

US soldier in Mexican jail for weapons charge

Future unclear for soldier jailed in Mexico

By Alicia A. Caldwell - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday May 10, 2008 16:12:00 EDT

EL PASO, Texas — When he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, Spc. Richard Torres was carrying a small arsenal in his car: an AR-15 assault rifle, a .45-caliber handgun, 171 rounds of ammunition, several cartridges and three knives.

At a checkpoint, Torres didn’t try to hide the weapons. But he insisted he hadn’t meant to cross the border with the guns, which in Mexico are restricted for use only by the military. While searching for parking in El Paso, he said, he inadvertently drove onto a bridge leading to Mexico and could not turn around.

Now the Iraq veteran is in a Mexican jail while a judge decides whether to believe his account: that an experienced soldier accidentally ended up in a border town where drug cartels pay top dollar for exactly the kind of high-powered weapons he happened to have.

“I want to go home. I just want to go,” Torres said last week at the jail in Ciudad Juarez.

Prosecutors have said only that the arrest reflected the government’s commitment to battling “every type of delinquency and organized crime.”

Torres, 25, said he had been driving all night to get from Fort Hood, in central Texas, to Fresno, Calif., where his mother lives. He planned to celebrate her birthday and put the weapons in storage while he deployed to Honduras to join the war on drugs. The guns were Torres’ personal property and not required for his military duties.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_torres_051008/