Police Chiefs Concerned Arizona Immigration Law Will Strain Resources

By Justine Rellosa - Talk Radio News Service

Following a meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder, police chiefs from several Western states held a press conference to discuss concerns regarding Arizona's controversial immigration law.

"Mandating that we now determine citizenship or immigration status ... will severely strain our resources," Tuscon Chief of Police Roberto Villasenor said. "We doubt the federal government can even handle the numbers of people that we will bring to them now for verification on immigration status."

The Arizona legislation grants law enforcement officials the authority to question individuals suspected of being in the country illegally, a provision that the police chiefs warned could make people less likely to turn the police for assistance.

"Laws like this will actually increase crime, not decrease crime ... they break down the trust that we have been building for decades," Los Angeles Chief of Police Charlie Beck emphasized.

Villasenor stressed that the Arizona law could also be dangerous for the police, since it will force officers to be put in confrontational situations.

Holder Highlights New Times Square Arrests, Defends Trying Terrorists In Federal Courts

By Justine Rellosa-Talk Radio News Service

Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee Thursday that the Department of Justice had issued search warrants earlier in the day that ultimately led to the apprehension of several individuals identified during the investigation of the Times Square bombing attempt.

Holder raised the fact to highlight the effectiveness of confronting terrorists within the U.S. justice system.

“The concern I have is that people want to take away from us the ability to bring cases in the federal courts,” Holder said. “You take away from us an extremely valuable tool; you actually weaken this country; you weaken our ability to fight this war against those that would do this nation harm.”

The Attorney General added that he is making a conscious effort to keep his Department from becoming ensnared in politics.

“I will not allow this department of Justice to be politicized,” said Holder. “I want the American people to know that, right or wrong, the decisions that I make are based on the facts and on the law and have no basis in politics.”

Holder: GITMO On Track To Close, Detainees Could Transfer To Illinois

By Benny Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that a new facility must be opened in order to hold detainees currently occupying the Guantánamo Bay detention facility before the Obama administration can shut it down.

“It is still the intention of this administration to close the facility at Guantánamo,” Holder said. “It serves as a recruiting tool for those who have sworn to harm this nation [and] we will close GITMO as quickly as we can, as soon as we can.”

Holder said that the Department of Justice is continuing to eye a $145 million maximum security prison that remains unopened in Thomson, Illinois as a possible replacement. The prospective site currently belongs to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The Illinois maximum security facility will hold the 240 detainees currently held in Cuba, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants in the 9/11 terror trial if found guilty.

Holder touched upon Mohammed's trial, which was initially proposed to be held in a New York civilian court but is now under consideration again after New York officials raised questions concerning security issues.

“The administration is in the process of reviewing the decision as to where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants should actually be tried,” Holder said. “New York is not off the table, though we have to take into consideration the concerns that have been raised by officials and the community.”

Holder told the committee that he expects a decision regarding the trial to be made in the coming weeks.

“As I’ve said from the outset, this is a close call. It should be clear to everyone by now that there are many legal, national security and practical factors to be considered here. As a consequence, there are many perspectives on what the most appropriate and effective forum is.”

A Tiger Woods Lesson For America

Once a year, Talkers Magazine and Liz Claiborne, the well-known fashion house, team up to produce a radio row on the issue of domestic violence. This year was the fifth year and, as always, talk-radio hosts from all political stripes participated. Unlike other years, the Tiger Woods scandal was the undercurrent of much of the discussion. Did she or didn't she? That was the main question that radio audiences were asking. The shocker was that, yes, women can commit domestic violence.

The facts are well known at this point. Somehow there was an argument at the Tiger Woods home in a gated community in Florida. Tiger Woods was outside of his car and looked quite bruised. His car windows had been smashed with a golf club. After this happened he made a few appointments to talk to the police and then failed to keep them. Radio listeners wondered whether Tiger Woods canceled the appointments to protect his wife. Florida is a no-tolerance state, and there most likely would have been a 24-hour cooling off period in jail for the alleged perpetrator of the domestic abuse. In this case, it would have been his wife. Obviously, whatever their fight might have been about, a mistress or an affair, Tiger Woods did not want his wife taken to jail for even 24 hours. So far there have been no arrests and only a statement by Tiger Woods about needing his privacy.

Privacy is another concern. Does Tiger Woods deserve his privacy? The first argument is that this publicity causes pain for his children. That is completely true, and no child wants to go to school having their classmates gossiping about their parents' dalliances and fights. The other argument is that we are all human and deserve our privacy. It is amazing to me that many of the people taking this point of view are the same folks who had no trouble with Bill and Hillary Clinton's marital problems making the headlines. Very few people thought of what Chelsea Clinton had to endure at school and with her friends.

Then there are those who believe that when someone such as Tiger Woods makes his living off the public trust (most of his money comes from endorsements) that he needs to behave as role model. That view says that affairs with other women do not sync with being a role model. It is at this point, says that contingency, that privacy is not yours and that the gain you get from being a celebrity wipes out total privacy.

Affairs do not justify domestic violence, and the question remains that if this were not Tiger Woods, would his wife be cited for what happened to him? Most likely, if the facts are what they seem, she would have spent 24 hours somewhere in a Florida jail. It is this part of the drama, not just the affair that has captured the attention of many Americans.

In an interview I did with Attorney General Eric Holder this week, he stated a startling statistic, which is, that one in four children are exposed to some form of family violence in their lifetime. Holder went on to say that this can cause many difficulties including learning problems. He also stated that there are a known half million victims of non-fatal abuse of adults by intimate partners and that 2,000 women and men are killed by intimate partners yearly. Considering the costs to society in law enforcement and children's overall adjustment, this kind of family violence should be recognized as a public health problem and not just something to deal with after the fact. Programs such as "Start Strong," which encourage healthy dating and real discussions about teen dating and Liz Claiborne's " Love Is Not Abuse" and "Time to Talk Day," have raised awareness of this huge problem.

It is not going to go away. What happened in the Tiger Woods' family proves that domestic violence is a problem that invades every income category and that no family is immune from it. Did Tiger Woods act on his sexual urges and not use his head? The answer is clearly yes but it does not give his wife permission to act out her rage with violence. Unbridled rage and anger in a family setting is something many of us have seen up close and personal, and it needs to stop. Only a combination of prevention, education and tough law enforcement with no exceptions for celebrities will make the difference.

- Ellen

Attorney General Eric Holder Discusses The Heavy Toll Of Intimate Partner Violence

Attorney General Eric Holder tells TRNS that last year over half a million non-fatal violent victimizations were committed against women by intimate partners and that an additional 2,000 women and men were killed by intimate partners. Holder refers to these numbers as "just shocking." (0:26)