Homeland Security assistant chief to return dinosaur eggs
1:00 AM
Posted: Tuesday, May 06, 2008
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- A senior U.S. Homeland Security official is in Argentina to discuss money laundering, human trafficking -- and dinosaur eggs.
Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Monday that she plans to hand over to Argentina's government a cache of more than 8,100 pounds (3,675 kilograms) of fossils seized two years ago by ICE agents at a gem and mineral show in Tucson, Arizona.
The fossils -- including an unspecified number of dinosaur eggs, shell fragments, petrified pine cones and fossilized prehistoric crabs -- had been illegally removed from Argentina and offered for sale in the United States, according to an ICE statement.
"We think these historical artifacts rightly belong to the people of Argentina, so I'm very proud to be able to formally hand them back," Myers said. She called the fossils "pieces of a country's history that people are trying to put up for sale."
Experts believe the fossils date from an era between 180 million and 250 million years ago, the agency noted.
Details of a midweek, handover ceremony were still being worked out, with plans to fly the fossils to Argentina shortly, Myers' office said.
Myers then plans to visit Uruguay and Brazil, to discuss money laundering and efforts to crack down on networks that traffic women and children for prostitution rings and forced labor.
A special immigration unit created to track alleged human rights violators from foreign nations is continuing to aggressively pursue individuals who seek refuge in the U.S., Myers said.
U.S. immigration officials last October escorted a former Argentine army officer, Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro, on a flight from the U.S. to his homeland, where he was wanted for alleged abuses during the country's 1976-83 military dictatorship.
"Our goal is to make sure the United States is not a safe haven for human rights violators," Myers said.
Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Monday that she plans to hand over to Argentina's government a cache of more than 8,100 pounds (3,675 kilograms) of fossils seized two years ago by ICE agents at a gem and mineral show in Tucson, Arizona.
The fossils -- including an unspecified number of dinosaur eggs, shell fragments, petrified pine cones and fossilized prehistoric crabs -- had been illegally removed from Argentina and offered for sale in the United States, according to an ICE statement.
"We think these historical artifacts rightly belong to the people of Argentina, so I'm very proud to be able to formally hand them back," Myers said. She called the fossils "pieces of a country's history that people are trying to put up for sale."
Experts believe the fossils date from an era between 180 million and 250 million years ago, the agency noted.
Details of a midweek, handover ceremony were still being worked out, with plans to fly the fossils to Argentina shortly, Myers' office said.
Myers then plans to visit Uruguay and Brazil, to discuss money laundering and efforts to crack down on networks that traffic women and children for prostitution rings and forced labor.
A special immigration unit created to track alleged human rights violators from foreign nations is continuing to aggressively pursue individuals who seek refuge in the U.S., Myers said.
U.S. immigration officials last October escorted a former Argentine army officer, Ernesto Guillermo Barreiro, on a flight from the U.S. to his homeland, where he was wanted for alleged abuses during the country's 1976-83 military dictatorship.
"Our goal is to make sure the United States is not a safe haven for human rights violators," Myers said.
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