Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 286 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
November 28, 2014
FRIDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Obama’s action fuels worry about immigration scams
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Advocacy groups barely waited for President Barack Obama to finish speaking about sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration system to start warning about scams. “We hear horror stories about people getting taken advantage of horribly,” attorney Ginger Jacobs told several dozen people who watched the president's speech at Alliance San Diego offices. California Attorney General Kamala Harris and
Mexican consulates sounded similar alar ms after Obama promised executive action that is expected to shield about 5 million people from deportation. For decades, immigrants have fallen victim to attorneys and consultants who disappear with their money or give bad advice that may land them in deportation proceedings.
“Anything related to immigration tends to have this activity associated with it,” said Laura Vazquez, senior immigration legisla-
tive analyst at National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group. “There are people who really want to get right with the law and seek any opportunity to adjust their status. They'll sometimes believe things that aren't true.” Harris, whose state is home to an estimated 2.4 million people who immigrated to the U.S. illegally, issued a lengthy “consumer alert” Tuesday, saying changes of the magnitude Obama announced often invite con artists. Her tips
A big thanks to the community
include making sure that attorneys are licensed and advisers are recognized by the U.S. Justice Department's Board of Immigration Appeals.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles warned of fraud when delivering Thanksgiving turkeys Wednesday and will repeat the message at a workshop next month at the Los Angeles Convention Center, said political director Apolonio Morales. The advocacy group recom-
Timothy P. Howsare Photo
By 1 p.m. Thursday about 450 people were served a free Thanksgiving dinner at the Fraternal Order of Eagles banquet hall on South Sunset Avenue. Another 100 meals were delivered, said Johnny Gonzales, co-chairman of the Community Volunteer Program. Gonzales is seated with his wife and family members. Gonzales said this marked the 37th year the organization has served a free Thanksgiving dinner to elderly and low-income individuals. A gospel band entertained the crowd. Gonzales thanked all the volunteers, individual donors and corporate donors who helped make the event a success. He especially thanked his wife Mary and other family members, who took over coordinating the event after he went into the hospital. Gonzales said it is still possible to make a financial contribution to help cover the cost of the dinner. Checks can be mailed to Community Volunteer Program, P.O. Box 2790, Roswell, NM 88282.
mends working through trusted community organizations. There have been few reports of efforts to profit from the president's announcement, which promises work permits for parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents who have been in the country for five years and have a clean criminal record. It also makes more people who arrived as young children eligible to stay. Some are encouraged that a 2012 reprieve for
some young immigrants didn't produce widespread abuse. Dan Kowalski, editor of Bender's Immigration Bulletin, credits advocacy groups for aggressive outreach and says social media has allowed word of scams to spread quickly. The Federal Trade Commission reported 891 complaints for immigration services last year, up from 746 the previous year but down from 1,220 in 2011. The extent of abuse is
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Voters in one of New Mexico’s booming oil and gas communities are set to decide on a measure that would require a photo ID in local elections in what is the latest battleground over requiring strict identification to cast ballots. A special election in Hobbs next month to amend the city’s charter comes after a number of cities and states across the country have enacted similar voter ID measures despite objections from civil rights groups. Supporters of the measures say the new laws would help eliminate potential in-person voter impersonation and increase public confidence in elections. But civil rights groups say such laws disproportionately affect blacks, Latinos, senior citizens and the poor by unduly restricting voting and imposing unnecessary costs. “These people just need
to quit,” NAACP Hobbs Branch President Joseph Cotton said. “This is all about discouraging people from going out to vote.” Organizers behind the Hobbs initiative, which resulted from a petition drive, say their efforts are part of a larger movement to enact voter ID legislation across the country and not because there were widespread voter irregularities in the southeastern New Mexico city. “We’re not seeing a whole lot of fraud down here,” said Shon Williams, head of the Patriots of Lea County, one of the groups pushing for the change in Hobbs. “But if we get this passed here, we can get it passed in other cities and eventually get it statewide.” Bob Wright, spokesman for the New Mexico Citizens Coalition, a group behind the petition, said the movement is a result of “national
Voters in Hobbs to decide on voter ID
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Indicted developer hired Ferguson decision opens wounds in Albuquerque as Albuquerque teacher
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A former real estate developer indicted on charges last year of embezzlement and fraud was able to get a job as an Albuquerque teacher. Albuquerque Public Schools officials told the Albuquerque Journal on Thursday that English teacher William Kalinowski is on paid leave from Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School. Authorities say Kalinowski, a former luxury home developer in Santa Fe, owed millions of dollars to
investors, subcontractors and banks by 2008. APS spokeswoman Monica Armenta says Kalinowski, who was hired in February, was put on leave after KRQE-TV brought his ongoing criminal case to their attention. Armenta says state law did not allow them to ask Kalinowski on his initial application about any felony convictions or charges. APS will now require applicants disclose such matters just before getting hired.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, is reopening old wounds in Albuquerque. That’s because none of the Albuquerque officers in the more than 40 police shootings since 2010 has faced charges. And it’s still unclear if the officers in the high-profile March shooting of homeless camper James Boyd, 38, will face indictments. Albuquerque officials
recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to overhaul the police force. But advocates say the agreement’s credibility could be at stake if no officers face charges in police shootings and excessive force cases.
“This all hits close to home,” said Ralph Arellanes, president of the LULAC Albuquerque chapter and a critic of the police department. “And Albuquerque is bigger than Ferguson. We’ve been dealing with this for
years.” Second Judicial District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said it’s difficult to show probable cause to bring charges against officers in shootings because of state law and federal court decisions. “Officers have a right to defend themselves,” said Brandenburg. “And every case is different.” During a protest in Albuquerque on Tuesday, dozens called for the indictments of Albuquerque officers linked to shootings. Some carried
See VOTERS, Page A3
posters of Keith Sandy, a detective who shot Boyd after an hours-long standoff in March. Officer Dominique Perez also shot Boyd, according to police. Sandy recently put in a formal notice that he was retiring from Albuquerque police. But he came under scrutiny recently after state police audio was released in which Sandy is heard using foul language. He also was heard telling a New Mexico State
Students share cultures, cuisines at international cookoff BY SAYYED SHAW NEW MEXICO DAILY LOBO
ALBUQUERQUE — The University of New Mexico’s international education week started Nov. 17 with the second international cook-off. The event, organized by the Global Education Office in collaboration with the Division of Enrollment Management, featured teams from Japan, China, Iran, Bangladesh, India and the Czech Republic participating in the live “Iron Chef”-style competition for superior cuisine. Team Japan won the competition, while the team from Czech Republic placed second and the Iranian team was third. The team from China took the people’s choice award. “One thing that we enjoy about this event is that it is students preparing food from their countries, teaching us about their cultures, and that is what we are all about here: for people to share their cultures,” said Mary Anne Saunders, special assistant to the
president, who is responsible for global initiatives on campus. Saunders said organizers hoped the attendees learned a lot about the cuisines of these six countries and also learned a little bit about their cultures. “One of our major goals is to get our domestic students from New Mexico or around the United States to be interested in expanding their horizons,” she said. “We want to encourage our domestic students to study abroad.” The idea of sharing and having a bilateral relation is very important, she said. “Many New Mexican students would not have the opportunity to study abroad even if sometimes they wanted to because they might have to work or they might have family responsibility,” Saunders said. The Saunders family is interested in cooking and cuisines from around the world, and that helped UNM come up with the idea of inter national
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cooking competition, she said. “When I came here (last year), we arranged our first international cookoff,” she said. “We expected just a few students, and there were nearly four hundred, so we knew it was popular.” The international students would be proud that they managed to share their cultures with our domestic students, she said. “When we first got infor mation about the event, we decided to participate in the competition. We wanted to let international students taste authentic food from India,” said Varun Reddy, a graduate student at the Department of Computer Science. The Indian team cooked Vegetable Biryani, made of rice, potatoes, beans, carrots and Indian spices, he said. “Winning apart, we wanted to let everyone enjoy our national food,” he said. This was an amazing event for stuSee COOKOFF, Page A3
• JASON BYRD
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A7
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Aaron Anglin Photo, New Mexico Daily Lobo
Geetha Yedida works on a fruit sculpture during the International Cook-off event at the SUB at the University of New Mexico. The cooking competition was put on by the Global Education Office, with teams comprised of international students from Bangladesh, China, the Czech Republic, India, Iran and Japan. CLASSIFIEDS ..........B7
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
SPORTS .................B1
FINANCIAL ..............B3
OPINION .................A4
NATION ..................A7
COMICS .................A8
HOROSCOPES .........A7
WEATHER ............A10