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ILLEGAL GAMBLING INVESTIGATION
BORDER WALL
$1.9M SEIZED DURING RAIDS Trump
wants control over lands Activists say it violates liberties, endangers environment By Ron Nixon NEW YORK TIME S
at one of the (gaming) locations … a factory where they manufactured, modified and built 8-liner machines. This is a complex business now where they are actually fabricating these 8-liners in Zapata,” Alaniz said. Other arrests may be possible as officials continue to review the “voluminous” amount of evidence recovered, he said. “As far as other people being involved, we’re look-
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is seeking new authority to acquire land near the Southern border with Mexico as part of its plan to quickly build immigration barriers, angering activists who said it would violate liberties and endanger the environment as a cost of fulfilling the president’s campaign promise. The proposed changes are outlined in a border security budget document that was prepared by an agency within the Department of Homeland Security. It was delivered to Congress last week in a funding request asking for $33 billion for border security over the next decade, including $18 billion for a nearly 1,000-mile wall on the Mexican border that President Donald Trump has made a top priority to combat illegal immigration. The department already has sweeping authority exempting it from a wide range of federal regulations that would otherwise limit its ability to build border fencing and access roads, or add sensors and cameras on land. It is unclear why the requested changes are needed, and a Customs and Border Security spokesman declined to discuss the proposal, “as a matter of policy.” The budget document said the proposal would “clarify and expand” the Homeland Security secretary’s authority to waive federal laws to quickly build border walls. It also is asking Congress for permission to no longer have to work with other federal agencies, such as the National Park Service, to use lands for security purposes. The document said the change in the department’s authority would allow a “more expedited acquisition” of land and “eliminate certain geography limitations.” The current system, the document said, “can hamper or delay border security activities.” Democrats have already cast doubt the budget proposal will be approved, describing it as unrealistic. Civil rights and environmental groups called the proposal outrageous, noting the department already has nearly unlimited authority to waive federal regulations governing land use. Among the laws that the Homeland Security secretary can waive are the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Eagle Protection Act. “They already have the broadest authority given to an agency by Congress and they want to expand it?” said Efrén C. Olivares, a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project in Alamo, Texas. The group has represented landowners opposed to a border wall. “This should set off all kinds of red flags.” Environmental groups said the border walls would not only militarize the Southern border and violate the civil liberties of communities
Cash continues on A3
Wall continues on A8
Courtesy photo / Webb and Zapata County District Attorney’s Office
Law enforcement is pictured at a maquinita business after they executed simultaneous raids on Jan. 5 in Laredo, Zapata and Falcon Heights. A news conference was held Wednesday to announce details of an ongoing investigation into illegal gambling.
$1.5M discovered in Zapata home of suspected head of criminal organization By César G. Rodriguez LA R ED O MORNI NG T IME S
The suspected head of an illegal gambling and money laundering operation had $1.5 million stashed in her home in Zapata, the Webb County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday. The Texas Department of Public Safety arrested the woman, Diana Hilda Guerra Villarreal, 69, on Tuesday. She was charged with money laundering, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She is the suspected head of the Villarreal criminal organization, District Attorney Isidro R. “Chilo” Alaniz said Wednesday during a news conference. Her daughter is Rebecca Lopez Villarreal. She was charged with gambling promotion, keeping a gambling place and engaging in organized criminal activity. Lopez was arrested after law enforcement executed a search warrant Friday at her home in the 3000 block of Robert Frost Drive. About $141,000 was seized from the home. Lopez’s husband is Joel Lopez,
head coach of the Alexander High School football team. In addiLópez tion to the Villarreal Robert Frost residence, law enforcement on Friday raided Guerra Villarreal’s home in Zapata. They also raided Villarreal three maquinitas in Laredo, two in Zapata and one in Falcon Heights. Alaniz said after the raids that the multiple gambling establishments belong to Guerra Villarreal and her family. Alaniz said Wednesday that authorities confiscated $1.9 million in connection with the raids. That includes the $1.5 million from Guerra Villarreal’s home. “This case has ... yielded one of the largest, if not the largest, cash seizure in Zapata,” he said. “These monies were derived, we suspect and allege, from the illegal gambling activities going on in the estab-
Courtesy photo / Webb and Zapata County District Attorney’s Office
The DA’s Office said Wednesday that $1.9 million was seized during the raids of two homes and six maquinitas businesses on Jan. 5.
lishments located in Zapata and in Laredo.” During the news conference, Alaniz showed photos taken during the raids. One showed PVC pipes filled with cash. “We believe (the pipes) were being used to transport currency from Laredo to Zapata,” Alaniz said. Law enforcement discovered something else as well. “What was very interesting about this case is that in Zapata, we located
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Stern ‘do not travel’ warnings issued By Mark Stevenson A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
MEXICO CITY — Five states in Mexico now have the sternest “do not travel” advisories under a revamped U.S. State Department system unveiled Wednesday, putting them on the same level as wartorn countries like Syria, Yemen and Somalia. The five states are Tamaulipas on the U.S.
border and Sinaloa, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero on the Pacific coast. All the states are hotspots of drug cartel activity, either hosting trafficking routes or extensive drugcrop cultivation. The State Department had previously discouraged travel to all or part of those states but the new warnings are sterner, placing them on a level 4 warning, the highest level
of potential danger. Mexico as a whole has a level 2 rating, meaning Americans should “exercise increased caution” because of concerns about crime. But an additional 11 Mexican states got a level 3 warning Wednesday, which urges people to “reconsider travel” there. Mexico has 31 states, half of which are now under level 3 or 4 warnings. Those states where
Americans are urged to reconsider travel include the State of Mexico - Mexico’s most populous state, which includes most suburbs of Mexico City and Jalisco, home to the city of Guadalajara, the Puerto Vallarta resorts and the lakeside expat community of Chapala and Ajijic. But the travel advisory said there are “no restrictions on U.S. Warnings continues on A3
Enric Marti / AP
Investigators marked spots where spent bullet casing fell in 2017 next to bodies lying on a road in the town of Navolato, Sinaloa, Mexico. Five states in Mexico received stern do not travel advisories.