601 Charged in $2 Billion in Healthcare Fraud

Posted on June 28, 2018June 28, 2018 by Denise Simon

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

Thursday, June 28, 2018

National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against 601 Individuals Responsible for Over $2 Billion in Fraud Losses

Largest Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action in Department of Justice History Resulted in 76 Doctors Charged and 84 Opioid Cases Involving More Than 13 Million Illegal Dosages of Opioids

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex M. Azar III, announced today the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action involving 601 charged defendants across 58 federal districts, including 165 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving more than $2 billion in false billings. Of those charged, 162 defendants, including 76 doctors, were charged for their roles in prescribing and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics. Thirty state Medicaid Fraud Control Units also participated in today’s arrests. In addition, HHS announced today that from July 2017 to the present, it has excluded 2,700 individuals from participation in Medicare, Medicaid, and all other Federal health care programs, which includes 587 providers excluded for conduct related to opioid diversion and abuse.

Attorney General Sessions and Secretary Azar were joined in the announcement by Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Deputy Director David L. Bowdich of the FBI, Assistant Administrator John Martin of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Deputy Inspector General Gary Cantrell of the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), Deputy Chief Eric Hylton of IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Program Integrity Alec Alexander and Director Dermot F. O’Reilly of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS).

Today’s enforcement actions were led and coordinated by the Criminal Division, Fraud Section’s Health Care Fraud Unit in conjunction with its Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF) partners, a partnership between the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI and HHS-OIG. In addition, the operation includes the participation of the DEA, DCIS, IRS-CI, Department of Labor, other various federal law enforcement agencies, and State Medicaid Fraud Control Units.

The charges announced today aggressively target schemes billing Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE (a health insurance program for members and veterans of the armed forces and their families), and private insurance companies for medically unnecessary prescription drugs and compounded medications that often were never even purchased and/or distributed to beneficiaries. The charges also involve individuals contributing to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on medical professionals involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, a particular focus for the Department. According to the CDC, approximately 115 Americans die every day of an opioid-related overdose.

“Health care fraud is a betrayal of vulnerable patients, and often it is theft from the taxpayer,” said Attorney General Sessions. “In many cases, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists take advantage of people suffering from drug addiction in order to line their pockets. These are despicable crimes. That’s why this Department of Justice has taken historic new steps to go after fraudsters, including hiring more prosecutors and leveraging the power of data analytics. Today the Department of Justice is announcing the largest health care fraud enforcement action in American history. This is the most fraud, the most defendants, and the most doctors ever charged in a single operation—and we have evidence that our ongoing work has stopped or prevented billions of dollars’ worth of fraud. I want to thank our fabulous partners with the FBI, DEA, our Health Care Fraud task forces, HHS, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, Medicare, and especially the more than 1,000 federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers from across America who made this possible. By every measure we are more effective at finding and prosecuting medical fraud than ever.”

“Every dollar recovered in this year’s operation represents not just a taxpayer’s hard-earned money—it’s a dollar that can go toward providing healthcare for Americans in need,” said HHS Secretary Azar. “This year’s Takedown Day is a significant accomplishment for the American people, and every public servant involved should be proud of their work.”

According to court documents, the defendants allegedly participated in schemes to submit claims to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and private insurance companies for treatments that were medically unnecessary and often never provided. In many cases, patient recruiters, beneficiaries and other co-conspirators were allegedly paid cash kickbacks in return for supplying beneficiary information to providers, so that the providers could then submit fraudulent bills to Medicare. Collectively, the doctors, nurses, licensed medical professionals, health care company owners and others charged are accused of submitting a total of over $2 billion in fraudulent billings. The number of medical professionals charged is particularly significant, because virtually every health care fraud scheme requires a corrupt medical professional to be involved in order for Medicare or Medicaid to pay the fraudulent claims. Aggressively pursuing corrupt medical professionals not only has a deterrent effect on other medical professionals, but also ensures that their licenses can no longer be used to bilk the system.

“Healthcare fraud touches every corner of the United States and not only costs taxpayers money, but also can have deadly consequences,” said FBI Deputy Director Bowdich. “Through investigations across the country, we have seen medical professionals putting greed above their patients’ well-being and trusted doctors fanning the flames of the opioid crisis. I want to thank the agents, analysts and our law enforcement partners in every field office who work each and every day to stop these criminals and hold them accountable for their actions.”

“DEA is committed to ending the opioid crisis occurring in our communities and preventing prescription drug misuse,” said DEA Assistant Administrator Martin. “DEA will continue to work with our partners every day to protect our citizens while ensuring that patients have adequate access to these critical medications.”

“This year’s operations, focusing on opioid-related schemes, spotlight the far-reaching impact of health care fraud,” said HHS Deputy Inspector General Cantrell. “Such crimes threaten the vitally important Medicare and Medicaid programs and the beneficiaries they serve. Though we have made significant progress in our fight against health care fraud; our efforts are not complete. We will continue to work with our partners to protect the health and safety of millions of Americans.”

“It takes a special kind of person to prey on the sick and vulnerable as happened in many of these health care fraud schemes,” said Deputy Chief Hylton. “Medical professionals and others callously placed individuals and vital healthcare services in harm’s way simply because of greed. IRS-CI special agents continue to work side-by-side with other federal, state and local law enforcement officers to uncover these schemes and hold these criminals accountable for their actions.”

“CMS makes it a top priority to protect the health and safety of millions of beneficiaries who depend on vital federal healthcare programs,” said Alec Alexander, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Program Integrity. “CMS’ Center for Program Integrity collaborates closely with our law enforcement partners to safeguard precious taxpayer dollars. Under Administrator Seema Verma, we will continue to strengthen this partnership with law enforcement in order to ensure the integrity and sustainability of these essential programs that serve millions of Americans.”

“Heath care fraud wounds our service members and veterans alike, as they rely upon and rightfully expect uncompromised care through the Department of Defense’s TRICARE Program,” said DCIS Director O’Reilly. “Investigations that culminated in enforcement actions over the past several days underscore the steadfast commitment of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and our investigative partners to vigorously investigate fraud impacting TRICARE. We remain vigilant in our efforts to ensure the high standards of care our service members, military retirees, and their dependents deserve while safeguarding American taxpayer dollars.”

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operates in 10 locations nationwide. Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has charged over 3,700 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for over $14 billion.

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For the Strike Force locations, in the Southern District of Florida, 124 defendants were charged with offenses relating to their participation in various fraud schemes involving over $337 million in false billings for services including home health care and pharmacy fraud. In one case, an owner, medical director, and two employees of a sober living facility were charged with conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, substantive counts of health care fraud, and substantive counts of money laundering. The indictment alleges a scheme that illegally recruited patients, paid kickbacks, and defrauded health care benefit programs for widespread fraudulent urine testing. During the course of the fraudulent scheme, the facility submitted more than $106 million in claims for substance abuse treatment services.

In the Central District of California, 33 defendants were charged for their roles in schemes to defraud insurance programs out of more than $660 million. For example, one indictment in a compounding pharmacy fraud case alleges an attorney/marketer paid kickbacks and offered incentives such as prostitutes and expensive meals to two podiatrists in exchange for prescriptions written on pre-printed prescription pads, regardless of the medical need for the prescriptions. Once the prescriptions were filled, members of the conspiracy submitted approximately $250 million in fraudulent claims to federal, state, and private insurers for the compounded drugs.

In the Southern District of Texas, 48 individuals were charged in cases involving more than $291 million in alleged fraud. Among these defendants are a pharmacy chain owner, managing partner, and lead pharmacist charged with a drug and money laundering conspiracy. According to the indictment, the coconspirators used fraudulent prescriptions to fill bulk orders for over one million pills of hydrocodone and oxycodone, which the pharmacy, in turn, sold to drug couriers for millions of dollars. In the Northern District of Texas, a home health agency owner was arrested on a criminal complaint for a $2.6 million health care fraud scheme.

In the Eastern District of Michigan, 35 defendants face charges for their alleged roles in fraud, kickback, money laundering and drug diversion schemes involving approximately $197 million in false claims for services that were medically unnecessary or never rendered. In one case, a physician was charged in separate kickback conspiracies with two home health agency owners, which resulted in more than $12 million in fraudulent insurance billings.

In the Northern District of Illinois, 21 individuals were charged for various fraud schemes involving home health and dental services. These schemes involved allegedly over $54 million in fraudulent billing. One case alleges a home health fraud and kickback conspiracy, which resulted in more than $6.2 million paid by Medicare based on the fraudulent billings.

In the Eastern District of New York, 13 individuals were charged with participating in a variety of schemes including kickbacks, services not rendered, identity theft and money laundering involving over $38 million in fraudulent billings. For example, the owner of a Brooklyn ambulette company was charged in a $7 million conspiracy stemming from the alleged payment of kickbacks for the referral of patients, who subjected themselves to purported physical and occupational therapy and other services, and were transported by the ambulette company.

In the Middle District of Florida, 21 individuals were charged with participating in a variety of schemes involving more than $21 million in fraudulent billings. In one case, a physician and clinic owner were charged with a conspiracy to defraud Medicare of more than $2.8 million for fraudulent home health billings.

In the Southern Louisiana Strike Force, operating in the Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana as well as the Southern District of Mississippi, 42 defendants were charged in connection with health care fraud, drug diversion, and money laundering schemes involving more than $16 million in fraudulent billings. One case alleges that three pharmacy owners and a nurse practitioner conspired to unlawfully dispense controlled substances and defraud TRICARE and private insurance companies out of $12 million.

In the Corporate Strike Force, five defendants were charged in the Middle District of Tennessee with a kickback conspiracy at a durable medical equipment company, which allegedly resulted in more than $1 million in kickbacks and over $2.5 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare.

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In addition to the Strike Force locations, today’s enforcement actions include cases and investigations brought by an additional 46 U.S. Attorney’s Offices, including the execution of search warrants in various investigations conducted by the Central and Northern Districts of California, Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Georgia, Western District of Kentucky, Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of North Carolina, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia, and Western District of Washington.

In the Northern and Southern Districts of Alabama, 15 defendants were charged for their roles in eight health care fraud schemes involving compounding pharmacy fraud and unlawful distribution of controlled substances.

In the Eastern District of California, four defendants were charged for their roles in two health care fraud schemes, one of which included forged prescriptions.

In the Southern District of California, seven defendants, including a physician, were charged for their roles in three health care fraud schemes and one scheme involving identity theft and services that were not rendered.

In the District of Colorado, a defendant was charged with health care fraud related to billings to Medicaid and Medicare.

In the District of Connecticut, three defendants, including two medical professionals, were charged for their roles in two schemes involving compounding drugs and unlawful distribution of Schedule II and IV controlled substances.

In the District of Delaware, a physician/owner of a pain management clinic was charged with unlawfully prescribing more than two million dosage units of Oxycodone products.

In the District of Columbia, a durable medical equipment company owner was charged with defrauding Medicaid of $9.8 million.

In the Northern District of Florida, four defendants were charged in a scheme to defraud TRICARE and other private insurance companies out of over $8 million for medically unnecessary compounded creams and pills.

In the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia, 12 defendants, including two physicians, were charged in nine health care fraud, drug diversion, or compounding pharmacy schemes involving over $13.5 million in fraudulent billings.

In the District of Idaho, three defendants, all of who are medical professionals, were charged for their roles in three separate fraud schemes involving controlled substances.

In the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois, seven defendants were charged in six separate schemes to defraud the Medicaid program.

In the Northern District of Indiana, eight defendants were charged in various health care fraud schemes to defraud both the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

In the Northern District of Iowa, two defendants – both medical professionals – were charged for their roles in two opioid-related schemes.

In the Districts of Kansas and the Northern and Western Districts of Oklahoma, 12 defendants, including four physicians, were charged in various unlawful distribution of controlled substances schemes. In the Western District of Oklahoma, one case marks the district’s first time charging unlawful distribution of controlled substances resulting in a death.

In the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, 12 defendants, including five medical professionals, were charged in various schemes involving health care fraud, unlawful distribution of controlled substances, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering. One case involved the operation of two false-front medical clinics.

In the Districts of Maine and Vermont, two defendants were charged for their roles in two schemes to defraud various government programs including Medicare, Medicaid, and ones run by the HHS’ Administration for Children and Families.

In the District of Nebraska, seven defendants, including one physician, were charged in five separate schemes to defraud Medicare, Medicaid, and various HHS programs.

In the District of Nevada, four defendants, including three medical professionals were charged with conspiracies to commit health care fraud and distribute controlled substances.

In the District of New Jersey, eight defendants, including a New York doctor, an anesthesiology technologist for a Philadelphia hospital, and the owner of a medical billing company, were charged for their roles in five schemes to defraud private insurance companies of over $16 million.

In the Southern District of New York, two defendants were charged in schemes involving health care fraud or drug diversion.

In the Middle District of North Carolina, two defendants were charged with a conspiracy to defraud Medicare out of over $4 million.

In the Southern District of Ohio, three defendants – all medical professionals – were charged for their roles in two health care fraud schemes, one of which involved illegal drug distribution and kickbacks.

In the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, 12 defendants were charged for their roles in three drug diversion schemes.

In the Western District of Pennsylvania, four defendants – all physicians – were charged in various health care fraud and drug diversion schemes. One scheme involved 32,000 dosage units of buprenorphine.

In the District of Rhode Island, one defendant was charged for participating in a theft and aggravated identity theft scheme.

In the District of South Carolina, three defendants were charged for their separate roles in a conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl.

In the District of South Dakota, two defendants were charged in separate cases, one of which involved a scheme to defraud the Indian Health Service.

In the Middle District of Tennessee, 10 defendants were charged in two separate schemes, including a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain oxycodone.

In the Eastern District of Texas, two defendants were charged for their role in health care fraud schemes to defraud the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

In the District of Utah, two defendants were charged in two cases, one of which involved a $31 million scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid.

In the Western District of Virginia, eight defendants were charged for their alleged roles in health care fraud schemes. One $45 million scheme to defraud Medicaid involved falsification of documents in patient files.

In the Eastern District of Washington, a dentist and another individual were indicted for distributing and conspiring to distribute hydrocodone and tramadol without a legitimate medical purpose.

In the Eastern District of Wisconsin, three defendants were charged in a scheme involving the unlawful distribution of controlled substances and aggravated identity theft.

In addition, in the states of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, and Washington, 97 defendants have been charged with defrauding the Medicaid program out of over $27 million. These cases were investigated by each state’s respective Medicaid Fraud Control Units. In addition, the Medicaid Fraud Control Units of the states of California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia participated in the investigation of many of the federal cases discussed above.

The cases announced today are being prosecuted and investigated by U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide, along with Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Southern District of Florida, Eastern District of Michigan, Eastern District of New York, Southern District of Texas, Central District of California, Eastern District of Louisiana, Northern District of Texas, Northern District of Illinois, Middle District of Louisiana, and the Middle District of Florida; and agents from the FBI, HHS-OIG, DEA, DCIS, IRS-CI, Department of Labor, other various federal law enforcement agencies, and state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.

A complaint, information, or indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Additional documents related to this announcement will shortly be available here:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/documents-and-resources-june-28-2018.

This operation also highlights the great work being done by the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. In the past fiscal year, the Department of Justice, including the Civil Division, has collectively won or negotiated over $2 billion in judgements and settlements related to matters alleging health care fraud.

Facts are Stubborn Things Regarding Immigrants

Posted on June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 by Denise Simon

So, a friend sent an article to me written by Victor David Hansen and published by National Review. It is about Mexico and this presidential candidate and the threat he has made to the United States. He encouraging a mass exodus of his own people to the United States. Why? Money. There is a protected $70 billion trade surplus for Mexico under NAFTA. Another item is, illegal immigrants and Mexican nationals remit $30 billion back to Mexico.

Hansen’s article is here for the full read and context.

So, doing just a few minutes of research, it seems countless left-leaning media operations are all stating that illegals are not only not eligible for entitlement programs while in the United States, they don’t get any Federal dollars. What?

In a 2013 study, meaning 5+ years ago, there were at the time 3.7 million unlawful immigrant households in the U.S. The financial burden was determined to be $54.5 billion at the time. Now, we can’t seem to get to a real true number of illegals in the United States. It ranges from 11 million to 20 million. But hey, we take in an estimate 500,000 each year….so 20 million appears to be a more accurate number.

That 2013 report also revealed: Unlawful immigration and amnesty for current unlawful immigrants can pose large fiscal costs for U.S. taxpayers. Government provides four types of benefits and services that are relevant to this issue:

Direct benefits.

These include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.
Means-tested welfare benefits. There are over 80 of these programs which, at a cost of nearly $900 billion per year, provide cash, food, housing, medical, and other services to roughly 100 million low-income Americans. Major programs include Medicaid, food stamps, the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, public housing, Supplemental Security Income, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Public education.

At a cost of $12,300 per pupil per year, these services are largely free or heavily subsidized for low-income parents.
Population-based services. Police, fire, highways, parks, and similar services, as the National Academy of Sciences determined in its study of the fiscal costs of immigration, generally have to expand as new immigrants enter a community; someone has to bear the cost of that expansion. Read that report here and then consider any updated statistics.

Further in 2017, illegals do receive benefits from the SNAP program. That summary is here.

With the Supreme Court decision today on the travel conditions regarding a handful of countries and presidential authority, it speaks to properly investigating and vetting those who come into our country. For those that flow across the border, we simply cant do that. Once here, our system is designed for those illegals to not be responsible or accountable for their illegal and fugitive actions or their status.

Just the mere fact they are in the United States is an entitlement in and of itself. They receive protections real citizens never receive. There is the matter of reduced or free college tuition, like that offered in Illinois.

The highest welfare use rates for immigrants are in New York (30 percent), California (28 percent), Massachusetts (25 percent), and Texas (25 percent).

Immigrants are eleven percent of our population, but they are 20 percent of the poor population. Unless our immigration policies are reevaluated and changed accordingly, welfare usage and subsequent costs will remain high.

Instead of addressing the problem, some in Congress have suggested measures that would make it even worse, such as proposals to increase immigrants’ eligibility for benefits. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that making legal immigrants eligible for Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) would cost an estimated $2.24 billion over ten years. More here.

There has been no real factoring on the cost to DHS and the taxpayer for ICE ad CBP. Then there is detention, the judicial process, deportation, ATF, DEA, education, and, and and…

Have you considered how many we are housing in jails and prisons? Have you considered the job you have where you may not be promoted as you don’t speak Spanish or perhaps not getting hired at all?

So, while Victor David Hansen has the summary very right, there are many more piece parts to the debate. Lastly, imagine the foreign aid given to countries that are exporting their human capital, criminals and entitlement seekers so money can be sent back.

Military Bases are Destination for Migrant Insurgency

Posted on June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 by Denise Simon

The United Sates is not dealing with this issue and frankly is not even managing it. When a Mexican presidential candidate calls for a mass exodus TO the United States, we know the mission to flood the United States is a well known doctrine in Mexico.

Oh and by the way, in case you missed former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, make sure you tell the pro-immigrant activists that Johnson admitted the Obama administration also detained children without parents or guardians, citing it was necessary at the time. He further admitted he expanded it even though it was controversial.

So, let’s dump on the military bases to deal with the volume shall we? Sigh Does that mean that all weapons and or live fire training and exercises will have to stop to keep from making the migrants fearful?

Camp Pendleton California Marine Base. | Places I've been ...

San Diego County could become a destination for tens of thousands of unauthorized immigrants to be housed indefinitely by the U.S. Government, under the zero-tolerance policy implemented by President Donald Trump.

According to a report published Friday afternoon by Time magazine, military leaders are drawing up plans to create a tent city at Camp Pendleton to detain as many as 47,000 illegal immigrants from Central America and other locations over the coming months.

The facility at Camp Pendleton would be one of multiple temporary detention centers designated to house immigrants making their way into the United States.

According to an internal memo obtained by Time magazine, the U.S. Navy has been directed to establish “temporary and austere” encampments on military installations in Alabama, Arizona, and California that each could host tens of thousands of detainees.

The document, prepared by an assistant secretary for approval by Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, suggests construction could begin at one site within 60 days. The structures would be designed to last for six months to one year, Time magazine reported.

The memo has not yet been approved by Spencer or Secretary of Defense James Mattis, the report said.

The plans detailed in the internal document match the executive order Trump signed earlier this week in response to growing political pressure to halt the separation of parents and children crossing the southern border illegally.

The order does not end the Trump administration zero-tolerance program that aims to prosecute all illegal border crossings. Rather, it calls for families to be housed together in detention facilities instead of separated while parents go through both the criminal court system for illegal entry and then immigration proceedings after that.

The order says immigration courts should prioritize detained-family cases, but it will still likely take longer than the 20 days the government is currently allowed to hold children in detention, even if they are held with their families.

Officials at Camp Pendleton said they know nothing about a temporary immigrant-housing project.

“Camp Pendleton is unaware of any plan to house detainees on our base at this time,” Capt Luke Weaver said in a statement. “Contact DoD Office of the Secretary of Defense public affairs for information on this subject.”

The Time magazine report quoted a U.S. Navy spokesman saying it would be inappropriate to discuss internal deliberative planning documents.

The detainment plan estimates the Navy would spend more than $230 million to build and run a single facility serving 25,000 people for a six-month term.

According to a Government Accountability Office report published in April, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office requested $3.6 billion in 2018 funding to pay for immigrant housing — $1 billion more than the amount of funds requested the prior year.

The GAO report recommended several recommendations aimed at improving ICE’s cost estimates and making sure the budget documents are accurate.

The ICE budget for 2019 proposes a nearly 33 percent increase in the average daily count for unauthorized immigrants, from about 38,000 in 2017 to more than 51,000 this year.

Advocates who work with San Diego immigrant communities were stunned by the Time magazine report.

Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee San Diego office, said he had been hearing rumblings about new detention centers but never expected Camp Pendleton to be selected.

“I think it’s a mistake to suggest that housing families in austere temporary Navy bases is a solution to the humanitarian needs of people seeking asylum,” he said Friday. “The possibility that families will be held indefinitely is a clear violation of human rights standards.”

Elizabeth Lopez, an immigration attorney with the Southern California Immigration Project, worried about what this might mean for court hearings and what services the detention facilities would have.

“First off, I doubt the government is going to transport them to court, so they will have to build video conference rooms to be able to have hearings,” she said. “Secondly, it is going to be a nightmare to allow the attorneys on to Pendleton to visit our clients.”

Lopez also said she was concerned about the level of medical care migrants would receive while being detained.

Immigration attorney Ginger Jacobs said, “I am also concerned about the extremely high expense of these camps. It looks like it would take approximately $500 million to house people at Camp Pendleton for only a six month time period. That is an enormous waste of government resources. It would be far less expensive to allow the asylum-seekers to live in their own communities with GPS monitor ankle bracelets on, so ICE can keep track of their whereabouts.”

Peter K. Nunez, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California and board chair of a conservative think tank, said he favors erecting as many different detention spaces in as many different places as needed in order to enforce the law.

“There was a time back in the Clinton administration when they started using military facilities to detain people, so it’s not a new idea,” he said. “They have to be treated humanely, but that doesn’t mean they have to be put up in a five-star hotel.

“If they can create temporary detention facilities at Camp Pendleton or any other military base that are adequate to the housing needs, then certainly we can do that,” he said.

According to the Time report, a similar tent city would be established at the former Naval Weapons Station Concord, east of San Francisco. It too would be constructed to hold as many as 47,000 people.

Other facilities that are expected to house 25,000 immigrants would be established at abandoned airfields outside Mobile, Alabama. The memo also proposes studying the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. as a possible site for an additional immigrant detention center.

The arrival and housing of tens of thousands of immigrants at Camp Pendleton would not be a first for the military base that buffers between San Diego and the Greater Los Angeles area.

In April 1975, after the fall of Saigon, the first of 50,000 or more refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos began arriving at Camp Pendleton for processing before they were resettled to other parts of Southern California and beyond.

The temporary quarters closed by November of the same year.

Introducing Southwest Key Programs, Housing Illegals

Posted on June 22, 2018June 22, 2018 by Denise Simon

Primer:

Texas-based Southwest Key Programs has taken in roughly $1 billion in federal contracts since the Obama administration, and is expected to receive about $500 million this year to house and provide services for immigrant children, according to reports.

And Southwest officials receive significant compensation for their efforts. WQAD reported tax filings show Juan Sanchez, the group’s founder and CEO, received nearly $1.5 million in 2016 – nearly twice the previous year’s salary, of $786,822. His wife, Jennifer, vice president of Southwest Key, received about $280,000 in 2015 in total compensation, WQAD reported.

Three Flee Tucsonâs Southwest Key Unaccompanied Alien ... photo

But let’s go back to 2015 shall we?

There was this Department of Justice slush fund, you may remember. When big banks were found guilty of mortgage fraud like Citigroup or Bank of America, no one went to jail. They just paid fines. Well, those fines were quite substantial, as much as a total of $36 billion. So, there were actually a few slush funds of a quasi nature. You see, some banks rather than go through Treasury or to the Justice Department’s slush fund, they are told to pay some radical/activist groups directly, specifically designated by the Justice Department. The Justice Department’s division is known as The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), which coordinated and managed all of this. Oh, and for each dollar they did pay, they got credit for two dollars. How does that accounting work?

So, far left even Marxist organizations such as La Raza, National Urban League and Southwest Key Programs were just some of the beneficiaries. More here.

Then came other law enforcement operations also kicking in dollars and then a training program was created.

The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), a national nonprofit organization that promotes just and equitable social systems for individuals, families, and communities through research, public policy, and practice, developed the Immigrant Parents and Law Enforcement Promoting Community Safety Project curriculum

with the support of key partners.

NCCD would like to thank its law enforcement and community partners in Austin, Texas, and Oakland, California: La Clinica de la Raza, Southwest Key Programs, the Oakland Police Department, the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, the Austin Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, and the Travis County Constables. NCCD’s partners played a crucial role in the development and piloting of the curriculum.

NCCD would also like to thank the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for funding the development of the Immigrant Parents and Law Enforcement Promoting Community Safety Project. The BJA, a component of the US Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), disseminates state-of-the-art knowledge and practices across US

justice systems and provides grants at the national, state, local, and tribal level

s to fund the implementation of these crime-fighting strategies. BJA provides

proven leadership and services in grant administration and criminal justice policy development to make our nation’s communities safer. This project was supported by Grant No. 2010-DB-BX-K064 awarded by the BJA. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not represent the official position or policies of the US

Department of Justice. You can read that trainers guide here in full.

Even The Boston Globe is attempting to tell the truth about Southwest Key Program. Hello CNN?

WASHINGTON — The outrage generated by President Trump’s forced separations of immigrant children from their parents at the Mexican border would seem to leave little room for middle ground. Advocates including Latino groups, Catholic bishops, the United Nations, and members of Congress are condemning the practice as inhumane.

But one major Latino charity is trying to occupy a gray area in the midst of the firestorm, with limited success at escaping controversy: Texas-based Southwest Key Programs Inc., a pillar of the Hispanic nonprofit world with deep respect across the country.

It now finds itself accused of complicity in Trump’s separations policy, raising broader questions about how much moral responsibility is borne by the thousands of people who are working to carry out that policy, even when the job includes taking care of the children themselves.

The $240 million-a-year Southwest Key organization has big contracts with the government to house immigrant minors in its two dozen low-security shelters in Texas, Arizona, and California, a population that in recent weeks has exploded with infants and children removed from their parents.

The Associated Press reported Friday that 2,000 children have been removed from their parents since April. Southwest Key estimates it has roughly 500 of those children in its facilities. It also is the only Hispanic-run organization with federal Department of Health and Human Services contracts to house the children en masse.

That has thrust Southwest Key into the middle of a burning human rights controversy and into what its chief executive described in an interview as a “dilemma.’’ A spokesman for the group said it has been deluged with angry calls and e-mails, including one person who called Southwest Key “the nonprofit wing of the Nazi party.”

There’s even been an internal debate within Southwest Key’s board of directors.

“It’s inhumane to me,” said Rosa Santis, the treasurer of the board for Southwest Key, which is based in Austin. “I think it’s horrible that they’re really separating kids from their parents.”

Now Southwest is risking that reputation as it participates in the Trump crackdown.

“This is raising issues about whether you are complicit at some level in a process and a procedure that has moral questions,” said Robert Carey, who oversaw Southwest Key’s contracts when he was the director of the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement from 2015 to 2017 during the Obama administration. “They are, in some way, part of a system that is not serving children and not protecting children. . . . It is immoral to tear children out of the arms of their parents.”

On the other hand, said Carey, who is now a fellow at the Open Society Foundations, “By being there, are they preventing further harm?” Read the full story here from the Boston Globe.

How about a couple of sample other states? Like Illinois? Check out how that is being funded.

Beyond the normal Catholic charities that have made a full business out of all of this, not to be overlooked is the Islamic Society, say in Tampa. They want a piece of the action.

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Members of Tampa Bay area religious communities have offered to host the 2,300 children who have been separated from their parents by President Trump’s border policy.

The Islamic Society of Tampa Bay and other religious leaders made the announcement about their humanitarian program at a news conference on Friday.

The leaders said that so far, there are more than 100 families in the Tampa Bay area who would like to host the migrant children until they are reunited with their parents.

“It will be very much like the foster care system per say.. without the financial help from the government. this will be competely self funded,” said Ahmen Bedier who is president of United Voices of America.

The families have offered to host the children at no cost. The program would also pay for the children’s transportation to the Tampa Bay area.

The faith leaders say they have received more than $1 million in pledges to pay for the children’s transportation.

“Our ultimate goal is to protect the children,” said Bedier.

He said the faith communities do not want to play the blame game when it comes to the crisis involving migrant children who have been separated from their parents.

“How did we get here? It doesn’t matter,” he said.

Bedier said he hopes the U.S. government will respond to the offer.

“We hope that the government responds well to our offer and takes us up on it.”

Nyla Hazrajee is one of the people stepping forward to host. She said, she would want someone to do the same for her child.

“This is not supposed to happen and it’s our job to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” she said.

He also said that local families who are interested in hosting migrant children can learn more by calling the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay at (813) 628-0007.

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U.S. Takes Steps on Venezuela and President Maduro

Posted on May 22, 2018May 22, 2018 by Denise Simon

Primer: Venezuela’s diplomatically isolated president got a show of support from his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan and Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona on Thursday ahead of a weekend election widely decried as unfair.

The United States, the European Union and major Latin American countries have criticized Sunday’s vote in which leftist President Nicolas Maduro is likely to win re-election to a six-year term. More here.

Venezuelan presidential elections for April 22 — MercoPress photo

Hundreds protest against ‘fixed’ election in Venezuela: (Reuters) – Several hundred Venezuelan opposition demonstrators blocked traffic in a march to the Organization of American States (OAS) headquarters in Caracas on Wednesday to protest this weekend’s presidential vote, which they say is rigged.

Related reading: Black Market for Food and Medicine

Actually, this is a gesture and for the most part meaningless, because China has first right of ownership and refusal of Venezuela’s oil, however:

President Donald Trump stepped up economic pressure on Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro with an order prohibiting purchases of debts owed to the government, including to the state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela.

The executive order, which covers all transactions on any debts owed to the Venezuelan government or state-owned enterprises including accounts receivable, was posted on the Treasury Department website Monday afternoon.

Trump administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the order was intended to restrict the Maduro regime’s ability to liquidate its assets and close off avenues for corruption.

The prohibition on purchases of debts owed to Venezuela specifically includes accounts receivable. One administration official said the action was intended to choke off funding the Maduro regime has been raising by selling off money owed in future to the government and state-owned enterprises in exchange for immediate payment cash.

In response, Maduro expelled U.S. diplomats.

CARACAS (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday ordered the expulsion of the top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela in retaliation for a new round of sanctions over Venezuela’s widely-condemned election.

The United States was among a string of countries that did not recognize Sunday’s vote.

The 55-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez won re-election easily, but critics said the vote was riddled with irregularities, from the barring of two popular opposition rivals to the offering of a government “prize” to voters.

President Donald Trump responded with an executive order limiting Venezuela’s ability to sell state assets, heightening pressure on the cash-strapped government.

A press officer for the U.S. embassy in Caracas said she had no immediate comment in response to Maduro’s statements.

Earlier on Tuesday, Venezuela’s foreign ministry called the sanctions “a crime against humanity.” Maduro’s socialist administration, which has long said a U.S.-led “economic war” is to blame for a deep crisis in the OPEC nation, said the new sanctions violated international law.

“Venezuela once again condemns the systematic campaign of aggression and hostility by the U.S. regime to punish the Venezuelan people for exercising their right to vote,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “These arbitrary and unilateral measures constitute a crime against humanity.”

Venezuela’s opposition has accused the Maduro government of behaving immorally and trying to hide shortcomings and corruption behind bombastic rhetoric. The mainstream opposition coalition boycotted Sunday’s vote, calling it a sham aimed at legitimizing Maduro’s rule despite his low popularity.

Among widespread international condemnation of the vote, the European Union said in a statement on Tuesday that the elections did not comply with “minimum international standards for a credible process” and repeated that it would consider the “adoption of appropriate measures.”

The latest U.S. sanctions appeared to target in part Citgo[PDVSAC.UL], a U.S.-based oil refiner owned by Venezuela state oil company PDVSA [PDVSA.UL]. More obstacles to PDVSA’s ability to sell oil abroad could restrict already-dwindling foreign exchange earnings, worsening the economic crisis and pressuring Maduro.

While it only applies to U.S. citizens and residents, a U.S. official told reporters on Monday that the Trump administration has also tried to convince China and Russia to stop issuing new credit to Venezuela. The two have provided billions of dollars in funding for Venezuela in recent years.

But they appeared unlikely to heed the U.S. warnings. Beijing said on Tuesday it believed the United States and Venezuela should resolve their differences via talks, while Moscow said it would not comply with the sanctions.

Accusing U.S. charge d’affaires Todd Robinson of being involved in “a military conspiracy,” Maduro ordered him and another senior diplomat, Brian Naranjo, to leave within 48 hours.

He gave no details of the accusations, but said the U.S. Embassy had been meddling in military, economic and political issues, and vowed to present evidence to the nation shortly.

“Neither with conspiracies nor with sanctions will you hold Venezuela back,” Maduro said, at an event in downtown Caracas at the headquarters of the election board, which is run by government loyalists. Full story here.