Category: Border Security

Attorney Attacks Elderly Vet at “Keeping Families Together” March (Video)

Benjamin Israel Siminou
Abuser of Elderly Veteran

A prominent personal injury attorney in San Diego, named Benjamin Israel Siminou, violently attacked an elderly, pro-American protester at the “Keeping Families Together” march on Saturday, June 30, 2018 at Waterfront Park near downtown San Diego. A initial complaint was filed against him for felony, strong-arm robbery. After it was learned that he was a prominent attorney, the charge was subsequently reduced to a misdemeanor and — after a quick trial — immediately expunged from his record, thanks to the City attorney’s office, Mara Elliot.

New Post – Attorney Charged

The pro-Trump counter-protester is a long-time, pro-immigration-law-enforcement activist and an Army veteran, known as “Gadget Dan”. Dan is 75 years old and has a life-threatening medical condition (cancer). He was a fireman before he retired. Breathing the toxic fumes of firefighting may have caused his current very serious medical problem. His entire life as a fireman, veteran and activist has been spent, often at great risk to his own life, in what he feels is service to all Americans, not just one political faction.

It is not known yet, if he has serious injuries. Apparently, some of those, who are so sensitive to treatment of children, seem to have no problem at all with violent physical abuse of the sick and elderly.

UPDATE: Dan Russel died on February 27, 2022 as a result of his soft tissue cancer. See Dan Russell Obituary. Dan told me that he thought his cancer might have been caused by the chemicals he inhaled as a firefighter.

Siminou worked with a leading legal firm, but separated about six months earlier, Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire, and now has his own office in Liberty Station, Siminou Appeals. Siminou is scheduled to receive a prestigious national award for one of his lawsuits in Denver next weekend from the Pound Civil Justice Institute. (Update: He is reportedly no longer scheduled to receive this award.)

At about 4:30 in this video, Siminou is seen shoving the protester down hard on the concrete sidewalk and then running away with the sign that he had just wrested away from Dan. Siminou was then tackled by several deputies. A second person, named “Julie” was arrested for vandalizing the sign. She was cited and released, also. About a dozen police and sheriff deputies witnessed the attack from close up.

The veteran was merely speaking out for immigration law enforcement in support of President Trump. He was not doing anything to provoke a violent attack. On the contrary, the far-Left, neo-Marxist and La Raza marchers heaped abuse and epithets on the veteran for about an hour before the attack.

His sign read, “Build the Wall, Enforce the Law” with two American flags mounted on it. As the veteran is led away in handcuffs for his own protection, the not-so-tolerant crowd boisterously cheers the attack and the effect it had of removing him from the scene, due to the threat of violence from the cheering crowd, itself.

The attack starts at about 4:30 in the video below.

Siminou received special treatment as an attorney and was released on his own recognizance. He did not have to spend any time in jail and did not have to pay a dime in bail. A regular citizen would have spent 4-5 days in jail on this holiday weekend. Siminou is scheduled to be arraigned on felony charges on July 9th, ironically the day after he is to be presented with a national award for his legal work. (Update: After complaints from concerned citizens, Siminou did not receive this award.)

In the end Siminou’s charges were reduced to a misdemeanor and transferred to the City Attorney’s office (Mara Elliot). Siminou only received a small fine and two days of public service. After his public service was finished his crime was expunged immediately to make it look like he never committed a crime.

Gadget Dan and his pro-Trump sign

The reason there are not more people, like Gadget Dan, coming out to counter-protest these so-called “save-the-children” events is the very justified fear of harassment, violence and abuse from the crowd. The feeling of collective moral superiority that many of the participants have allows them to rationalize that threats, offensive insults, name-calling and physical abuse of others are justified, even of our elderly veterans.

Zero Tolerance Prosecution of Illegal Border Crossers

“Children” were also detained by Obama.
A reliable source, who understands Border Patrol procedures and practices, says that “Zero Tolerance” is a great idea that has worked extremely well in the past where it was implemented. The earlier implementation was called “Operation Streamline”. However, he said that the rollout of Trump’s plan was terrible, without proper planning and preparation. It was not adequately explained to the public beforehand, which unfortunately gave the open-borders fanatics a huge opportunity to make propaganda against it. It is standard practice to separate American children from American parents, if necessary, when they commit a crime. Why should it be different for illegal aliens?

Operation Streamline – Wikipedia
Operation Streamline is a joint initiative of the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice in the United States, started in 2005, that adopts a “zero-tolerance” approach to unauthorized border-crossing by engaging in criminal prosecution of those engageing in it.

Trump’s executive order to keep families together will likely result in “catch and release” for those who cross the border with children. This will encourage use of children to cross, putting many more children at risk, not less. It is dangerous for children to make the trek to the border and to cross it illegally. The children may be obtained for the crossing by adults, who are not even related to them. So, who knows what could happen to them during the trip to the border or after the crossing has been made? Catch and release encourages the abuse of children for illegal border crossing. It encourages trafficking of children for illegal purposes.

There is a supreme court decree that limits the time that children may be detained in non-accredited facilities, called the Flores Consent Decree to not more than 20 days. Trump’s executive order can not overrule this Supreme Court ruling. So, if he orders children to be detained with their parents in a jail, the Border Patrol will have to obey the Supreme Court ruling and release the family after a few days. This is “catch and release” for those illegals caught in the possession of children, not matter how they get them.

It is my understanding that children can be detained for longer periods, if the facility is accredited by the appropriate government agency for that purpose. However, the Border Patrol probably does not have access to approved facilities for such large numbers of children.

In addition, many of these illegal border crossers are not children, but unaccompanied young adults. They have to be released, if they have been able to cross the border. In many places they can just walk or hop across the border.

The result is that the Border Patrol is just not allowed to enforce the immigration law under such circumstances due to government red tape. The Border Patrol was never intended to be a child-care center. Wall or not wall, illegal border crossing could be much reduced at little cost, if the Border Patrol were just allowed to do their job as originally intended!

Flores Consent Decree of 1997 [Full Text]

It is a crime to cross the border without inspection by customs. Those who cross illegally can be prosecuted under 8 USC §1325 and 8 USC §1326. First time offender can be prosecuted under 8 USC §1325 for a misdemeanor and multiple offenders can be prosecuted under 8 USC §1326 for a felony.

The illegal aliens are fingerprinted and the record is made in the system. The first time they are caught, crossing illegal, it is misdemeanor, but the second time it is a felony. This provides a huge deterrent to discourage illegals from trying to cross the border multiple times, as so many do.

This is the point of Sessions “Zero Tolerance” policy. If Trump would stick with this policy and make it work, it would be very effective. In the past the illegals caught on the border were not generally charged with a crime and therefore could try to cross multiple times at little, if any, legal risk.

The Border Patrols knows it works, because it has been done in the past when GWB and Obama were in office. Of course, few complained when Obama was doing it.

Unfortunately, it seems Trump has caved, at least partially, in the face of opposition from the open-border extremists.

Then and Now – by San Diego Border Patrol

THEN AND NOW – A video that shows how a border fence caused dramatic change in San Diego during the 1990’s. The Border was at one time in chaos. It was still not totally secure after the first fence was constructed, because the old barrier was far from perfect, but about 90% better. The reduction in crime and smuggling has improved the neighborhoods on both sides of the border. This video was produced by the local Customs and Border Protection sector command in San Diego.

NOTE: The decline in arrests of illegal crossers shown in the graph is only for San Diego, not for the entire border. Much of the illegal crossing moved to other parts of the border, where it was easier to cross. The entire border needs to be secured, not just certain parts of it.

To see more posts on the border fence, go to this link:
The Real Border Fence archive