17 Men Reportedly Heard Chanting, Firing Off Shots In Apple Valley Detained, Released

Listen to Military Veteran Talk Radio Facebook.com/SmythRadio

losangeles.cbslocal.com

APPLE VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — Federal and local law enforcement authorities Tuesday are investigating after 17 men were detained for reportedly firing off hundreds of rounds in a remote part of Apple Valley.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies and an FBI agent were among the units that detained the men – reportedly all of Middle Eastern descent – who were camping out in the Deep Creek Hot Springs area Sunday morning, authorities said.

Feds & local law enforcement investigating after 17 men, reportedly Middle Eastern, fired 100s of rounds in Apple Valley. @KNX1070

— Margaret Carrero (@KNXmargaret)March 29, 2016

A 911 caller reported hearing over 100 shots fired and seeing five to seven men wearing turbans and shooting “assault rifles, handguns, and shotguns,” according to a Sheriff’s Department statement.

A county sheriff’s helicopter located the men walking near a creek with backpacks “and other items”, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Officials say the men were cooperative as they were detained and searched.

Several handguns, a rifle, and a shotgun were found at the scene, but a records check found all the weapons were registered with the exception of the rifle, which reportedly didn’t have a serial number because it was purchased in parts, an FBI spokesperson told The Times.

Police scanner traffic posted online by the Victor Valley News Group described “a large group of subjects wearing turbans and chanting” at the scene.

“They were up all night chanting ‘Allah akbar’-type stuff,” an unidentified officer is heard saying on the audio recording.

None of the hikers interviewed by Sheriff’s investigators say they witnessed any shots being fired, according to Sheriff’s officials.

A photo of the arrests was posted by the Victor Valley News Group but were not immediately confirmed by authorities.

All 17 men were eventually released because Sheriff’s investigators say they had no outstanding warrants or criminal histories.

“There was no evidence found that a crime had been committed by any of the subjects who were detained and they were released,” a Sheriff’s spokesperson said.

The FBI may conduct further interviews with the men to determine if any crimes were committed, The Times reported.

COMMENTS

Cruz pushed for doubling of immigrants, including Muslims, to 1.67M PER YEAR

Listen to Military Veteran Talk Radio iHeart.SmythRadio.com

www.washingtonexaminer.com

Plans pushed by GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz under the immigration reform debate in 2013 would have jumped the number of immigrants, including those from Muslim nations, by doubling green card caps and boosting temporary worker visas five-fold.

Under the Cruz plan, yearly legal immigration would have gone from 740,000 to 1,675,000.

Well before Donald Trump drew a line on Muslim immigrants following a wave of terror attacks, highlighted by Tuesday's deadly blasts in Belgium, Cruz's suggested changes to the so-called Gang of Eight legislation would have also created a family green card category and lifted the per-country caps on immigrants.

A lifting of those caps would have opened the doors to more Muslim immigrants from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other nations known for harboring terrorists.

Secrets recently reported that the administration has approved more immigrants from Muslim nations over the next five years than the entire population of Washington, D.C.

Figures from the Department of Homeland Security show that the president has already issued 680,000 green cards to immigrants from Muslim nations over the past five years. Unless Congress changes his policy, that number will be repeated in the next five years.

Under the Cruz amendments, shown in full below, the yearly cap on green cards would have increased from 675,000 to 1.35 million, not including refugees and asylees.

A second amendment would have boosted the H-1B visa cap for high-tech workers from 65,000 to 325,000.

The legislation never passed and Cruz has been critical of Obama's open borders. He has since called for a halt to increases in legal immigration and offered a bill to tighten restrictions on H-1B visas.

On Tuesday, he hit Trump for suggesting that the U.S. reconsider how much it spends overseas and he lashed out against Islamic terrorism.

"Radical Islam is at war with us. For over seven years we have had a president who refuses to acknowledge this reality. And the truth is, we can never hope to defeat this evil so long as we refuse to even name it," Cruz said. "That ends on January 20, 2017, when I am sworn in as president. We will name our enemy — radical Islamic terrorism. And we will defeat it."

Two Cruz immigration amendments from his Senate webpage:

Cruz 1324: Green Card (LPR) reform to modernize, streamline and expand legal immigration

This amendment would streamline and simplify our legal immigration system by consolidating segmented visas, creating real and transparent caps, eliminating the diversity visa lottery, and treating all immigrants equally by eliminating the per-country caps.

Provisions of his amendment include:

Doubling the overall worldwide green card caps from 675,000 visas per year to 1.35 million per year (not including refugees and asylees):

Employment-based green cards: Consolidates the 5 existing employment-based visas into a single high-skilled employment-based visa.

Family-based green cards: Creates a single family-based visa category that treats all immigrant families equally by redefining "immediate relatives" as "spouses, minor children, and parents of citizens or LPRs."

Treating immigrants from all countries equally by eliminating the diversity visa program and the per-country visa caps: Currently, immigrants of identical skill may experience drastically different wait times and burdens based merely on their country of origin. Not only is this inequitable, it hurts our ability to attract the best and brightest.

Reducing bureaucracy: Creates a user-friendly online portal where visa applicants can apply and obtain updates on their application.

Cruz 1325: Increase high-skilled temporary worker visas (H-1B visas) five-fold

This amendment would improve our nation's legal immigration system by increasing the H-1B cap from 65,000 to 325,000. It would also help America retain the people it educates by authorizing dual-intent student visas and address the need for high-skilled labor by creating a block grant to promote domestic high-skilled workers.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted atpbedard@washingtonexaminer.com

COMMENTS