McHenry County Blog

A major article stuffed with information about McHenry County law enforcement officials’ treatment of Latinos stopped for traffic offenses appears on The Chicago Reporter’s web site.

Written by Fernando Diaz, the article starts with the Crystal Lake arrest of 2003 Honduran immigrant Osman Maldonado by a McHenry County Sheriff’s deputy.

The cigarette run resulted in the deputy’s finding a fake green card after examining Diaz’ wallet.

That led to a felony arrest for possession of fraudulent documents for 25-year old employed father of two.

After thirty days in jail Diaz plead guilty to a misdemeanor. On that same day the sheriff’s department took him to immigration court. With an electronic ankle device, he now faces deportation.

The next mention of McHenry County is way down in the article and the Zane Seipler suite against Sheriff Keith Nygren is the focus. See

“Driving While Black” or “Profiling Caucasians?”

What Ex-Deputy Sheriff Zane Seipler Says the Department is Doing Wrong

Discrimination Suit against McHenry County Sheriff’s Department Makes Fox TV

According to the article, in his suit, Seipler, whose wife is Mexican, Seipler

“alleged that the office is targeting Latinos—proxy for undocumented immigrants, he said—for traffic stops.

“Seipler said things changed soon after the county began cooperating with the immigration agency in 2006 and started providing space for immigrant detainees at the McHenry County Jail—for $85 per detainee a day. Seipler said he began noticing the pattern that more Latinos drivers were being arrested. ‘The goal was to keep the immigration wing packed,’ he said.”

Seipler asked for an investigation and was eventually fired, the article says, for “violating rules and regulations.”

Seipler sued last November.

Nygren told the reporter that Seipler’s allegations, which were investigated multiple times, are completely false and offered these direct quotes:

“I’ve been sued a lot [during] 42 years, [but] this is the worst that I have ever seen leveled at anybody with no basis in fact.

“I’m not going to tell you we don’t have people with prejudices and bias, but if we had someone enforcing the law based upon their bias, we would take action. We would not tolerate it.”

What do the statistics show?

The Chicago Reporter dug out this information:

“Since 1996, law enforcement agencies in McHenry County have filed charges against about 3,000 individuals for driving without a license and, since 1999, filed more than 500 charges for those who were in possession of fraudulent documents, according to the Reporter’s analysis.

“But many of these charges have come from only a handful of communities. Five communities, including Harvard, Woodstock and Crystal Lake, racked up 70 percent of all charges.”

How big is the problem?

State Rep. Edward Acevedo estimated that there are 250,000 “undocumented” driving without licenses or insurance.

The article also tells of suburban communities seeking 287(g) authority to enforce immigration law.

McHenry County Blog wrote extensively of how Ohio’s Allen County Sheriff Daniel Beck enforces immigration laws with 287(g) authority. The articles can be found below:

Fighting Republican Courthouse Corruption,

Motivation for Getting Involved with the Fight Against Illegal Aliens

The Rule of Law

Enforcement Techniques, specifically, how 287(g) training is not necessary to get started,

Idendtity Theft Enforcement,

Other Crimes by Illegal Aliens,

Terrorism and Bondage, and

The Critics

What Daniel Beck Told the Minutemen at MCC – Part 9 – What Wouldn’t Fit Elsewhere, Including Retirement Plans

Other articles about the Minuteman meeting include

“Minutemen Are Back with Sheriff Dan Beck Seminar”

“Minuteman Meeting at MCC Peaceful; Protestors Missing in Action”

“Dissatisfaction Expressed with Sheriff Keith Nygren at MCC Minuteman Meeting”

“The Goals of Mexico”

“So Many Illegals, I Could Not Get a Job”

= = = = =
The top sheriff is McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren.

The picture next to the Sheriff Dan Beck articles is of Beck. The section of the McHenry County Jail shown is the floor rented by the U.S. Immigration Service.

This is the fifth installment of a series of articles about Allen County, Ohio, Sheriff Daniel Beck’s presentation to the Illinois Minuteman Project at McHenry County College on October 26, 2007.

Previous articles have reported on

Fighting Republican Courthouse Corruption,

Motivation for Getting Involved with the Fight Against Illegal Aliens

The Rule of Law and

Enforcement Techniques, specifically, how 287(g) training is not necessary to get started.

Today’s story expands on the enforcement theme, concentrating on identity theft.

Beck “decided to train them (his deputies) all in ID of illegal aliens.”

He praised the cooperation of an Ohio DMV employee and explained that the training took four hours for each employee.

“You hand me a driver’s license and I’m going to try to find out who you really are,” Beck said. “I need to know exactly who you are before I let you go, if you(‘ve) commit(ed) a crime.”

To make a more detailed presentation, Beck turned the podium over the Deputy Sheriff Bob Najmulski.

“We have a birthday cake. 287(g) is just the icing on the cake,” Najmulski explained.

“Identity theft is probably one of the biggest crimes of illegal aliens. We work on tips, leads…

“We do not profile,” he stressed.

“We had a victim living in Texas. He (the perpetrator) assumed the identity…of a United States citizen who was $10,000 behind in his child support.”

Najmulski explained how the child support was being taken out of his pay, “but he couldn’t say anything.

“The truck driver thought it was cool, said, ‘Thanks,’ and we never heard from him (again).”

Najmulski told of an illegal alien having assumed the identity of a wanted sex offender.

“It wasn’t him.”

“Guess what, sir, you just bought a bad ID,” the man, who didn’t know “he was a wanted pervert,” was informed.

Najmulski talked about the results of being convicted of identity theft in Ohio:

”180 days.

“You wanted to be here.

“Welcome.

“Enjoy your stay.”

The “stay” is in a maximum-security jail rated from 210 prisoners. It is now housing about 270.

Beck explained a way he is able to leverage his being the jail for 18 jurisdictions in his fight against illegal aliens.

When people are booked, he explained, their documents are checked.

“If (there is) falsification of documents, (we) file another charge.”

“If I interrupt his life for 180 days, maybe he’ll tell his friends this isn’t a good place to stay,” Beck said.

Speaking of a guy out of Columbus who provided illegal identity papers and who was an illegal alien, Beck told of a traffic stop that was “kind of one of those Christmas presents in disguise.

“He was so bold (and brash) he had business cards with his phone number on it.”

Contact was made to buy false identities, but “all of his couriers were busy.”

He came himself.

“$700 for the documents. We now own his car. He’s back in max(imum security prison).”

Tomorrow’s article will cover other crimes committed by illegal aliens.

= = = = =
Standing next to Sheriff Daniel Beck at the podium is Deputy Bob Najmulski.

This is the fifth installment of a series of articles about Allen County, Ohio, Sheriff Daniel Beck’s presentation to the Illinois Minuteman Project at McHenry County College on October 26, 2007.

Previous articles have reported on

Fighting Republican Courthouse Corruption,

Motivation for Getting Involved with the Fight Against Illegal Aliens

The Rule of Law and

Enforcement Techniques, specifically, how 287(g) training is not necessary to get started.

Today’s story expands on the enforcement theme, concentrating on identity theft.

Beck “decided to train them (his deputies) all in ID of illegal aliens.”

He praised the cooperation of an Ohio DMV employee and explained that the training took four hours for each employee.

“You hand me a driver’s license and I’m going to try to find out who you really are,” Beck said. “I need to know exactly who you are before I let you go, if you(‘ve) commit(ed) a crime.”

To make a more detailed presentation, Beck turned the podium over the Deputy Sheriff Bob Najmulski.

“We have a birthday cake. 287(g) is just the icing on the cake,” Najmulski explained.

“Identity theft is probably one of the biggest crimes of illegal aliens. We work on tips, leads…

“We do not profile,” he stressed.

“We had a victim living in Texas. He (the perpetrator) assumed the identity…of a United States citizen who was $10,000 behind in his child support.”

Najmulski explained how the child support was being taken out of his pay, “but he couldn’t say anything.

“The truck driver thought it was cool, said, ‘Thanks,’ and we never heard from him (again).”

Najmulski told of an illegal alien having assumed the identity of a wanted sex offender.

“It wasn’t him.”

“Guess what, sir, you just bought a bad ID,” the man, who didn’t know “he was a wanted pervert,” was informed.

Najmulski talked about the results of being convicted of identity theft in Ohio:

”180 days.

“You wanted to be here.

“Welcome.

“Enjoy your stay.”

The “stay” is in a maximum-security jail rated from 210 prisoners. It is now housing about 270.

Beck explained a way he is able to leverage his being the jail for 18 jurisdictions in his fight against illegal aliens.

When people are booked, he explained, their documents are checked.

“If (there is) falsification of documents, (we) file another charge.”

“If I interrupt his life for 180 days, maybe he’ll tell his friends this isn’t a good place to stay,” Beck said.

Speaking of a guy out of Columbus who provided illegal identity papers and who was an illegal alien, Beck told of a traffic stop that was “kind of one of those Christmas presents in disguise.

“He was so bold (and brash) he had business cards with his phone number on it.”

Contact was made to buy false identities, but “all of his couriers were busy.”

He came himself.

“$700 for the documents. We now own his car. He’s back in max(imum security prison).”

Tomorrow’s article will cover other crimes committed by illegal aliens.

= = = = =
Standing next to Sheriff Daniel Beck at the podium is Deputy Bob Najmulski.

This is the fourth in a series of articles trying to give the fullest view possible of what Allen County, Ohio, Sheriff Daniel Beck said at his October 26, 2007, presentation to the Illinois Minuteman Project meeting at McHenry County College.

Topics so far have been
Fighting Republican Courthouse Corruption

Motivation for Getting Involved with the Fight Against Illegal Aliens and

The Rule of Law

Today’s article concentrates on enforcement techniques.

Sheriff Beck reported deporting about 100 people through ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

He said they don’t use 287(g) (which “cross-designates local officers to enforce immigration law as authorized through section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” according to the ICE website.)

It was the Waukegan City Council’s request of ICE for such training for two of its officers that caused all the brouhaha there.

The police there sought that authority so it could deport illegal aliens who broke criminal law—exactly what Sheriff Beck’s deputies do without having had that training course and the authority it confers upon a local police department.

He met with Brian Moskowitz, the Regional Special Agent in Charge for Ohio and Michigan.

They talked about the 287(g) training process, which Moskowitz said would take three years.

“We couldn’t wait that long.”

Beck said he had not asked for 287(g) training because “they told us it would take three years.” He wondered how Waukegan was going to obtain it within two years.

Beck later also complained about the five weeks the 287(g) training program would take.

“It’s extremely difficult to lose two or three officers for five weeks,” he explained.

He said his effort resulted from partnering with local ICE officials.

His department fills out the paperwork and even transports the aliens to his regional counterpart of the ICE detention center on the fourth floor of the McHenry County Jail. That’s to make it easy for the understaffed ICE regional office. (There are only 45 ICE employees in Ohio.)

“ICE won’t pick up illegals up until they are arrested and convicted,” Beck explained.

“We’ve tried to make the job easy for ICE. We transport them and fill out the paperwork (on their forms).”

Even so, “If you look at out numbers, I don’t think we’re doing very much,” Beck said.

“The rest are just doing nothing.”

Later, Beck said, “Sometimes it becomes psychological warfare,” pointing out, “Over the last year and a half about 100-150 illegal families have moved out of our county.

“We found a way to do it without 287(g),” he continued.

Tomorrow’s article deals with identity theft by illegal aliens.

= = = = =
The detention facility pod shown is on the fourth floor of the McHenry County Jail. There are not prisoners seen because it was shift change time when this photograph was taken during a Saturday summer tour arranged for Chinese young political leaders by McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren. That’s a story I must write some time when things are slow. You’ll never guess what they found most intriguing in McHenry County.

This is the fourth in a series of articles trying to give the fullest view possible of what Allen County, Ohio, Sheriff Daniel Beck said at his October 26, 2007, presentation to the Illinois Minuteman Project meeting at McHenry County College.

Topics so far have been
Fighting Republican Courthouse Corruption

Motivation for Getting Involved with the Fight Against Illegal Aliens and

The Rule of Law

Today’s article concentrates on enforcement techniques.

Sheriff Beck reported deporting about 100 people through ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

He said they don’t use 287(g) (which “cross-designates local officers to enforce immigration law as authorized through section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” according to the ICE website.)

It was the Waukegan City Council’s request of ICE for such training for two of its officers that caused all the brouhaha there.

The police there sought that authority so it could deport illegal aliens who broke criminal law—exactly what Sheriff Beck’s deputies do without having had that training course and the authority it confers upon a local police department.

He met with Brian Moskowitz, the Regional Special Agent in Charge for Ohio and Michigan.

They talked about the 287(g) training process, which Moskowitz said would take three years.

“We couldn’t wait that long.”

Beck said he had not asked for 287(g) training because “they told us it would take three years.” He wondered how Waukegan was going to obtain it within two years.

Beck later also complained about the five weeks the 287(g) training program would take.

“It’s extremely difficult to lose two or three officers for five weeks,” he explained.

He said his effort resulted from partnering with local ICE officials.

His department fills out the paperwork and even transports the aliens to his regional counterpart of the ICE detention center on the fourth floor of the McHenry County Jail. That’s to make it easy for the understaffed ICE regional office. (There are only 45 ICE employees in Ohio.)

“ICE won’t pick up illegals up until they are arrested and convicted,” Beck explained.

“We’ve tried to make the job easy for ICE. We transport them and fill out the paperwork (on their forms).”

Even so, “If you look at out numbers, I don’t think we’re doing very much,” Beck said.

“The rest are just doing nothing.”

Later, Beck said, “Sometimes it becomes psychological warfare,” pointing out, “Over the last year and a half about 100-150 illegal families have moved out of our county.

“We found a way to do it without 287(g),” he continued.

Tomorrow’s article deals with identity theft by illegal aliens.

= = = = =
The detention facility pod shown is on the fourth floor of the McHenry County Jail. There are not prisoners seen because it was shift change time when this photograph was taken during a Saturday summer tour arranged for Chinese young political leaders by McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren. That’s a story I must write some time when things are slow. You’ll never guess what they found most intriguing in McHenry County.