IMMIGRATION: Many say they are being harassed. TIERRA DEL SOL-When Cole Dotson left home to join the Army, he left behind a sleepy backwater of ranches and rural hideaways along the U.S.-Mexico border, a place where his family and neighbors lived peacefully. Three years later, he returned to a war zone. Border Patrol agents sped down dirt roads at night with searchlights blazing. They trampled over fences to capture illegal immigrants hiding in the brush. Lifelong residents were stopped daily at checkpoints on outgoing roads, questioned about where they were going and why. [continues 455 words]
Courts: The agent pleads not guilty to allowing marijuana and immigrants into the United States at the San Ysidro checkpoint. San Diego-An immigration inspector was charged Monday with accepting $350,000 to allow thousands of pounds of marijuana and twenty illegal immigrants to enter the United States over the course of a year at the San Ysidro port of entry. Richard Lawrence Pineda, 41, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in federal court to charges of racketeering and drug and immigrant smuggling. [continues 299 words]