"Ex-Senate intern was sex offender" by Alicia A. Caldwell | Associated Press, December 13, 2012
WASHINGTON — Senator Robert Menendez employed as an unpaid intern in his Senate office an illegal immigrant who was a registered sex offender, now under arrest by immigration authorities, the Associated Press has learned. The Homeland Security Department instructed federal agents not to arrest him until after Election Day, a US official involved in the case said.
A Homeland Security spokesman, Peter Boogaard, said Wednesday that it was ‘‘categorically false’’ that the department delayed the arrest of Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, 18, until after the election.
Sanchez, an immigrant from Peru, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in front of his home in New Jersey on Dec. 6, two federal officials said. Sanchez, who entered the country on a now-expired visitor visa from Peru, is facing deportation and remains in custody. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of Sanchez’s immigration case.
Boogaard said in a statement that ICE followed standard procedures working with local prosecutors before taking what he described as appropriate enforcement action.
Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who advocates aggressively for pro-immigration policies, was reelected in November with 58 percent of the vote.
Ah, the stinking stench of politics!
The senator said his staff asks interns whether they are in the country legally but cannot check to be sure.
What kind of a lame ass excuse is that?
‘‘We certainly wouldn’t have known through any background checks since he is a minor about any sex offender status,’’ Menendez said in an interview Wednesday with MSNBC. ‘‘Once it came to our attention, our New Jersey staff director let the young man go.’’
Is it just me, or is anyone else uncomfortable with underaged minors running around Capitol Hill doing "work?"
Online jail records did not indicate whether Sanchez has an attorney. Sanchez declined to be interviewed from jail.
--more--"
"Immigration agents waited to arrest intern, documents show" by Alicia A. Caldwell | Associated Press, January 16, 2013
WASHINGTON — Federal immigration agents were prepared to arrest an illegal immigrant and registered sex offender days before the November elections but were ordered by Washington to hold off after officials warned of ‘‘significant interest’’ from Congress and news organizations because the suspect was a volunteer intern for Senator Robert Menendez, according to internal agency documents provided to Congress.
Politics interfered with the apprehension of a dangerous pervert?
The Homeland Security Department said last month, when the delayed arrest of Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta was first disclosed, that AP’s report was ‘‘categorically false.’’
Yeah, they lied, but what else is new?
Sanchez, 18, was an immigrant from Peru who had overstayed a visitor visa.
Isn't that of age?
He eventually was arrested at his home in New Jersey on Dec. 6.
He has since been released from an immigration jail and faces deportation. Sanchez has declined to speak to the AP.
Then he is damn lucky: Sunday Globe Specials: Initiating Immigration Reform
After the AP report, which cited an unnamed US official, Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa and six other Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the Obama administration for details about the incident.
According to those documents, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Newark had arranged to arrest Sanchez at the local prosecutor’s office on Oct. 25. That was less than two weeks before the election.
Noting that Sanchez was a volunteer in Menendez’s Senate office, immigration officials in New Jersey advised that the arrest ‘‘had the possibility of garnering significant congressional and media interest’’ and “to postpone the arrest’’ until officials in Washington gave approval. The documents describe a conference call between officials in Washington and New Jersey to ‘‘determine a way forward, given the potential sensitivities surrounding the case.’’
The senators, in a letter to the Homeland Security Department, said the agency documents showed that Sanchez’s arrest ‘‘was delayed by six weeks,’’ as AP had reported. They asked for details about the department’s review.
During which he was free to abuse more children? All so the Democrat Menendez could hold the seat? That's sick.
--more--"
"Senator pushed contract for friend" by Raymond Hernandez and Frances Robles | New York Times, February 01, 2013
NEW YORK — Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, a wealthy Florida eye surgeon, has always been happy to help out his friend, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
In ways you won't see in this article.
He rushed to the senator’s side when Menendez’s mother died, flew him around the country on his private jet, and delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit Menendez and the national Democratic Party.
Menendez, a Democrat, has also been helpful to Melgen, according to records and interviews, in ways that could bring the doctor a lucrative windfall.
Two years ago, Melgen, despite an apparent lack of experience in border security issues, bought an ownership interest in a company that had a long-dormant contract with the Dominican Republic for port security. Menendez, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that holds sway over the Dominican Republic, subsequently urged officials in the State and Commerce departments to press the Dominican government to revive that contract, at an estimated $500 million value.
This week, a team of agents from the FBI raided Melgen’s offices in West Palm Beach, removing 30 boxes of documents and other material, and the senator now finds himself defending his relationship with a major political benefactor just as he is on the verge of reaching the most prestigious post of his career: chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
An FBI spokesman declined to describe the focus of the agency’s inquiry, and one law enforcement official cautioned that there were many issues involving Melgen that could be under scrutiny.
On Wednesday, Melgen released a statement through his lawyer: ‘‘The government has not informed Dr. Melgen what its concerns are. However, we are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times.’’
Menendez, who was elected to a second full term in the Senate last year, declined to be interviewed. His office issued a statement, saying, in part, ‘‘Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years.’’ An aide said in an interview that the senator had done nothing improper in advocating for Melgen’s business interests.
Aides to the senator also said, however, that Menendez had accepted two round-trip flights aboard Melgen’s jet for personal vacations in the Dominican Republic in 2010. He failed to report them as gifts or reimburse Melgen at the time, as required, and this month he sent the doctor a check to cover the cost of the flights.
What did he do while he was down there?
The friendship between the two men goes back to the 1990s, when Menendez, who began serving in the House of Representatives in 1993, began regularly visiting the Dominican Republic. They spent holidays together, often in the Dominican Republic, where Melgen has a home in Casa de Campo, a gated oceanfront resort where houses cost as much as $20 million and some of the country’s richest residents, like Oscar de la Renta, have homes.
Both enjoyed a good cigar and playing golf; Casa de Campo has several places to play, designed by the renowned course architect Pete Dye.
That's it? Smoked cigars and played golf?
Melgen, who friends say longed to be a power broker, and his wife began donating to Menendez’s campaigns in the late 1990s, and their contributions, and their friendship, grew over the years. By the 2009-10 election cycle, when Menendez took over the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Melgen became an important fundraiser for the effort. In May 2010, he flew the senator to the Dominican Republic and held a fundraiser at his home. He and his wife gave the committee $60,000 and helped raised more.
Later that summer, Melgen also flew Menendez to the Dominican Republic for the two short personal vacations, in August and September. Aides said it was simply because of sloppy paperwork that the senator did not repay Melgen at the time. After reports surfaced late last year on The Daily Caller website about his travels with Melgen, the senator sent Melgen’s company a check for $58,500.
That's a limp response (pun intended).
Also in 2010, Melgen moved to buy the ownership interest in ICSSI, a company that had been awarded a contract to provide extensive screening of cargo from ports in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican government was refusing to honor that contract, after Miguel Cocco, then the Dominican customs director, said the deal was an exorbitant giveaway to the company.
In a letter to the president’s legal adviser, Cocco said the deal was ‘‘against the interests of the Dominican government, due to its one-sided nature, exorbitant clauses, that it violates Dominican laws,’’ and that there had been a ‘‘lack of transparency, commercial ethics in the granting of the contract.
Aides acknowledged Wednesday that Menendez had spoken to State Department officials about the contract.
--more--"
Also see: Reid supports Menendez on ties to scrutinized doctor
And on the underaged prostitutes, Harry? Even Bill Maher thinks the accusations are credible, and just last night they gained a mention in Jay Leno's monologue. It should be over for old Bob.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Senator says he tried to help donor but did no wrong
And he is the one behind the immigration push?
"Obama urges Congress to act quickly on immigration; Praises newest bipartisan effort to overhaul laws" by Mark Landler | New York Times, January 30, 2013
LAS VEGAS — His push for speedy action and his silence on proposals to defer the opportunity for legal residency until the borders are deemed secure provoked criticism from a Republican leader on the issue. The response suggests that reaching consensus on immigration law changes remain difficult despite a new bipartisan push since the November elections....
The president’s speech immediately exposed potential fault lines in the coming debate. He said, for example, that there must be a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants “from the outset,” a statement that would seem at odds with the assertion by some senators that citizenship must be tied to tighter border security.
Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who is seen as an influential party voice on an issue that cost Republicans in last year’s voting, said he is “concerned by the president’s unwillingness to accept significant enforcement triggers before current undocumented immigrants can apply for a green card.”
“Without such triggers in place,” he went on, “enforcement systems will never be implemented, and we will be back in just a few years dealing with millions of new undocumented people in our country.”
Although Obama did not say it in his speech, the White House is also proposing that the United States treat same-sex couples the same as other families, meaning that people would be able to use their relationship as a basis to obtain a visa — another element likely to be resisted by conservative Republicans....
But the flurry of activity underscores the powerful new momentum behind a system overhaul, after an election that dramatized the vulnerability of Republicans on the issue, with Obama piling up lopsided majorities over Mitt Romney among Hispanic voters....
--more--"
Also see: Immigration reform: Encouraging signs at last
"Senator pushed contract for friend" by Raymond Hernandez and Frances Robles | New York Times, February 01, 2013
NEW YORK — Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, a wealthy Florida eye surgeon, has always been happy to help out his friend, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
In ways you won't see in this article.
He rushed to the senator’s side when Menendez’s mother died, flew him around the country on his private jet, and delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit Menendez and the national Democratic Party.
Menendez, a Democrat, has also been helpful to Melgen, according to records and interviews, in ways that could bring the doctor a lucrative windfall.
Two years ago, Melgen, despite an apparent lack of experience in border security issues, bought an ownership interest in a company that had a long-dormant contract with the Dominican Republic for port security. Menendez, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that holds sway over the Dominican Republic, subsequently urged officials in the State and Commerce departments to press the Dominican government to revive that contract, at an estimated $500 million value.
This week, a team of agents from the FBI raided Melgen’s offices in West Palm Beach, removing 30 boxes of documents and other material, and the senator now finds himself defending his relationship with a major political benefactor just as he is on the verge of reaching the most prestigious post of his career: chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
An FBI spokesman declined to describe the focus of the agency’s inquiry, and one law enforcement official cautioned that there were many issues involving Melgen that could be under scrutiny.
On Wednesday, Melgen released a statement through his lawyer: ‘‘The government has not informed Dr. Melgen what its concerns are. However, we are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times.’’
Menendez, who was elected to a second full term in the Senate last year, declined to be interviewed. His office issued a statement, saying, in part, ‘‘Dr. Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Senator Menendez for many years.’’ An aide said in an interview that the senator had done nothing improper in advocating for Melgen’s business interests.
Aides to the senator also said, however, that Menendez had accepted two round-trip flights aboard Melgen’s jet for personal vacations in the Dominican Republic in 2010. He failed to report them as gifts or reimburse Melgen at the time, as required, and this month he sent the doctor a check to cover the cost of the flights.
What did he do while he was down there?
The friendship between the two men goes back to the 1990s, when Menendez, who began serving in the House of Representatives in 1993, began regularly visiting the Dominican Republic. They spent holidays together, often in the Dominican Republic, where Melgen has a home in Casa de Campo, a gated oceanfront resort where houses cost as much as $20 million and some of the country’s richest residents, like Oscar de la Renta, have homes.
Both enjoyed a good cigar and playing golf; Casa de Campo has several places to play, designed by the renowned course architect Pete Dye.
That's it? Smoked cigars and played golf?
Melgen, who friends say longed to be a power broker, and his wife began donating to Menendez’s campaigns in the late 1990s, and their contributions, and their friendship, grew over the years. By the 2009-10 election cycle, when Menendez took over the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Melgen became an important fundraiser for the effort. In May 2010, he flew the senator to the Dominican Republic and held a fundraiser at his home. He and his wife gave the committee $60,000 and helped raised more.
Later that summer, Melgen also flew Menendez to the Dominican Republic for the two short personal vacations, in August and September. Aides said it was simply because of sloppy paperwork that the senator did not repay Melgen at the time. After reports surfaced late last year on The Daily Caller website about his travels with Melgen, the senator sent Melgen’s company a check for $58,500.
That's a limp response (pun intended).
Also in 2010, Melgen moved to buy the ownership interest in ICSSI, a company that had been awarded a contract to provide extensive screening of cargo from ports in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican government was refusing to honor that contract, after Miguel Cocco, then the Dominican customs director, said the deal was an exorbitant giveaway to the company.
In a letter to the president’s legal adviser, Cocco said the deal was ‘‘against the interests of the Dominican government, due to its one-sided nature, exorbitant clauses, that it violates Dominican laws,’’ and that there had been a ‘‘lack of transparency, commercial ethics in the granting of the contract.
Aides acknowledged Wednesday that Menendez had spoken to State Department officials about the contract.
--more--"
Also see: Reid supports Menendez on ties to scrutinized doctor
And on the underaged prostitutes, Harry? Even Bill Maher thinks the accusations are credible, and just last night they gained a mention in Jay Leno's monologue. It should be over for old Bob.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: Senator says he tried to help donor but did no wrong
And he is the one behind the immigration push?
"Obama urges Congress to act quickly on immigration; Praises newest bipartisan effort to overhaul laws" by Mark Landler | New York Times, January 30, 2013
LAS VEGAS — His push for speedy action and his silence on proposals to defer the opportunity for legal residency until the borders are deemed secure provoked criticism from a Republican leader on the issue. The response suggests that reaching consensus on immigration law changes remain difficult despite a new bipartisan push since the November elections....
The president’s speech immediately exposed potential fault lines in the coming debate. He said, for example, that there must be a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants “from the outset,” a statement that would seem at odds with the assertion by some senators that citizenship must be tied to tighter border security.
Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who is seen as an influential party voice on an issue that cost Republicans in last year’s voting, said he is “concerned by the president’s unwillingness to accept significant enforcement triggers before current undocumented immigrants can apply for a green card.”
“Without such triggers in place,” he went on, “enforcement systems will never be implemented, and we will be back in just a few years dealing with millions of new undocumented people in our country.”
Although Obama did not say it in his speech, the White House is also proposing that the United States treat same-sex couples the same as other families, meaning that people would be able to use their relationship as a basis to obtain a visa — another element likely to be resisted by conservative Republicans....
But the flurry of activity underscores the powerful new momentum behind a system overhaul, after an election that dramatized the vulnerability of Republicans on the issue, with Obama piling up lopsided majorities over Mitt Romney among Hispanic voters....
--more--"
Also see: Immigration reform: Encouraging signs at last
