Friday, October 27, 2006

INB 10/27/06: Bush Signs Border Bill; Raid in Missouri

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 9, No. 37 - October 27, 2006

1. Bush Signs Border Bill
2. Raid at Missouri Produce Company
3. "Return to Sender" Raids Spread

Immigration News Briefs is a supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com for info. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is archived at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.

*1. BUSH SIGNS BORDER BILL

On Oct. 26 at a White House ceremony, President George W. Bush signed a bill authorizing 700 miles of new fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile US-Mexico border in what was viewed as an effort to boost anti-immigrant Republican candidates just before the Nov. 7 elections. "We have a responsibility to enforce our laws," said Bush. "We have a responsibility to secure our borders. We take this responsibility serious." [AP 10/26/06]

The House of Representatives passed the Secure Fence Act on Sept. 14 by a vote of 283-138 [see INB 9/16/06]. [New York Times 10/27/06] The Senate approved it on Sept. 29 by a vote of 80-19. [Washington Post 9/30/06]

The law authorizes the construction of at least two layers of reinforced fencing around the border town of Tecate, California, and across nearly the entire length of Arizona's border with Mexico. Another expanse would cover much of the southern border of New Mexico, and in Texas the fencing would cover the border areas between Del Rio and Eagle Pass, and between Laredo and Brownsville. The entire fence is supposed to be completed by the end of 2008. The law also orders the Department of Homeland Security to install surveillance cameras along the Arizona border by May 30, 2007. The homeland security secretary is to achieve "operational control" of the US border within 18 months using unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, satellites, radar and cameras.

The bill includes no money for the fence, although a homeland security spending measure the president signed earlier in October included $1.2 billion toward the border project's cost, including access roads, vehicle barriers, lighting and high-tech equipment. The entire fence project is expected to cost some $6 billion.
T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing border agents, said Oct. 25 that Customs and Border Protection statistics for the year ending Sept. 30 show arrests at border crossings down 8% nationally, but up in the San Diego sector--the area of the border with the most fencing. [AP 10/26/06]

*2. RAID AT MISSOURI PRODUCE COMPANY

On Oct. 19 in Union, Missouri, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents executed criminal search warrants at Happy Apples and Lochirco Fruit & Produce and at two residences owned by the Happy Apples business owners. Agents arrested 33 immigrants in the raids; one is from Honduras, the rest are from Mexico. In an investigation sparked by a confidential lead, ICE determined that many Happy Apples employees were living and working in the US illegally, and many were residing in apartments owned by their employers. "Business owners and managers who knowingly employ or harbor illegal aliens are committing felonies, and may be criminally prosecuted," said Pete Baird, assistant special agent-in-charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Kansas City, which oversees the states of Missouri and Kansas.

Franklin County and Warren County Sheriff's Offices helped ICE with the operation. The Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General; Department of Labor; Department of State; and Defense Criminal Investigative Services are assisting ICE with the ongoing investigation. [ICE News Release 10/20/06]

*3. "RETURN TO SENDER" RAIDS SPREAD

ICE agents arrested 163 immigrants from 11 countries in Lee and Collier counties in southwest Florida during the week of Sept. 18. The raids were part of the national "Operation Return to Sender," targeting immigrants who have failed to comply with deportation orders, or who have criminal records making them eligible for deportation proceedings. [Miami Herald 9/26/06]

ICE agents arrested 111 immigrants between Oct. 12 and 18 throughout the state of New Jersey. Of the 111 people arrested, 65 were targeted because of outstanding removal orders; another 46 were only violating immigration rules. Only 34 of the 111 people arrested had prior criminal records. The 111 immigrants were from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Guatemala, Ecuador, Syria, India and Peru. [ICE News Release 10/19/06]

Between Oct. 16 and 19, ICE agents arrested 49 immigrants--including nine women and at least one minor--in "Return to Sender" raids in southwest Idaho. Agents arrested 22 people in Boise on Oct. 16, and 27 others over the subsequent three days in the towns of Nampa, Caldwell, Meridian and Eagle. All those arrested were from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador; 31 of them had been removed to Mexico as of Oct. 20. ICE officers in Denver planned the sweep, which was executed by officers based in Boise, Denver, Helena (Montana) and Salt Lake City, with help from local law enforcement agencies including the Boise Police Department, Nampa Police Department, Caldwell Police Department, Canyon County Sheriff's Office, and Ada County Sheriff's Office. [ICE News Release 10/20/06]

ICE agents arrested 16 immigrants from Albania, China, Czech Republic, Ghana, India, Mexico, Nigeria, and Poland in the Chicago metropolitan area between Oct. 16 and 19 under "Operation Return to Sender." Thirteen of the 16 had prior criminal records. ICE was assisted in the operation by the US Marshals Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force. [ICE News Release 10/20/06]

ICE agents arrested 44 immigrants from Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia and Pakistan in Austin, Texas, in mid-October as part of "Return to Sender." [News 8 Austin 10/16/06]

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Contributions toward Immigration News Briefs are gladly accepted: they should be made payable and sent to Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012. (Tax-deductible contributions of $50 or more may be made payable to the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and earmarked for "NSN".)

Saturday, October 21, 2006

INB 10/21/06: Deport Flight to Pakistan; Buffalo NY Farm Raided

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 9, No. 36 - October 21, 2006

1. Deport Flight Sends 76 to Pakistan
2. NY: Buffalo Area Farm Raided
3. AZ: Raid at Yuma Construction Site
4. Lawsuit Challenges Detention
5. IL: Local Ordinance Postponed

Immigration News Briefs is a supplement to Weekly News Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499; weeklynewsupdate@gmail.com. INB is also distributed free via email; contact immigrationnewsbriefs@gmail.com for info. You may reprint or distribute items from INB, but please credit us and tell people how to subscribe. Immigration News Briefs is archived at http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com.

*1. DEPORT FLIGHT SENDS 76 TO PAKISTAN

On Oct. 11, a chartered Boeing 757 jet arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, from New Jersey carrying 76 deportees, including two women. Some had served criminal sentences in the US, but most were deported for having violated immigration rules. The flight was accompanied by 18 US Marshals and immigration officials. The deportees were handcuffed throughout the entire trip, from the time they left US detention centers until an hour after the plane landed in Islamabad. During the flight, one of the women deportees fainted and had to be revived with first aid, including oxygen. Upon arrival, the deportees were detained for about three hours while officials from Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) recorded their statements and took fingerprints. The FIA also confiscated the deportees' passports, and threatened to fine them if the passports were found to be false. [DAWN (Pakistan) 10/12/06; Daily Times (Pakistan) 10/12/06]

*2. NY: BUFFALO AREA FARM RAIDED

On Oct. 4, special agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 28 Mexican immigrants working for Torrey Farms in Barker, New York, 40 miles east of Buffalo. The workers were living in a building owned by Torrey Farms. All 28 were placed in ICE custody and scheduled for removal hearings before an immigration judge. An ICE investigation found the workers had used false social security numbers to get their jobs. [ICE News Release 10/4/06]

*3. AZ: RAID AT YUMA CONSTRUCTION SITE

On Oct. 10, about 50 agents from ICE and the Border Patrol, with backup from local police and a helicopter, raided the construction site for a new high school in Yuma, Arizona. The agents detained seven workers for questioning and served search warrants on the offices of a site contractor. All those detained were employed by contractors working on the $50 million Gila Ridge High School. Five of the seven workers gave up
their right to appear before a judge and agreed to be repatriated, said ICE spokesperson Russell Ahr. The other two will face deportation hearings. Their nationalities were not given. [AP 10/12/06]

*4. LAWSUIT CHALLENGES DETENTION

In a class-action lawsuit filed on Sept. 25, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project and the Stanford Law School Immigrants' Rights Clinic charged that ICE routinely holds immigrants longer than six months in defiance of the Supreme Court's June 2001 ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis. "These people have been kept away from their families, their communities and their lives for years--without even a hearing to determine if their prolonged detention is justified," said ACLU staff attorney Ahilan Arulanantham.

Two of the six plaintiffs named in the suit were released after the suit was filed. On Oct. 6, the ACLU asked US District Judge Terry Hatter to order the immediate release under supervision of the remaining four named plaintiffs, or grant them bond hearings. Arulanantham says immigration officials purposely avoid defending their policy in court, releasing only detainees whose attorneys file challenges. In order to force the issue to a hearing and prevent ICE from simply releasing the named petitioners and moving to dismiss the case as moot, the ACLU included as additional
plaintiffs any unknown detainees in the same circumstances.

ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice said the Zadvydas ruling does not apply to immigrants who are fighting deportation. The agency is required to detain immigrants convicted of certain felonies or considered to be flight risks or threats to public safety or national security, Kice said.

Arulanantham said Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion in the Zadvydas case applies to a much broader group of immigrants. Arulanantham said that in any case two of his clients, Ebrahim Mussa and John Rasheed, were no longer fighting deportation; judges barred their removal because they might be tortured in their homelands, but the government is prolonging the legal battle with appeals. As for the mandatory detention of convicted immigrants, Arulanantham said Mussa and Rudolph Stepanian
were convicted of crimes but have been released; only one of the four remaining plaintiffs has any prior convictions.

Niels Frenzen, director of the University of Southern California (USC) Law Immigration Clinic, said he believed the Supreme Court "was probably looking at people whose appeals were completed" in its Zadvydas ruling. But if the immigration agency "is cutting people loose just because the case is filed," perhaps government lawyers have concluded the ruling does apply to these immigrants, he added. [Los Angeles Times 10/10/06; Washington Post 10/10/06 from AP; ACLU Southern California News Release 10/9/06]

*5. IL: LOCAL ORDINANCE POSTPONED

On Oct. 3, the Village Board of Carpentersville, Illinois, postponed discussion of a proposed anti-immigrant ordinance after nearly 3,000 people showed up to oppose it. On the advice of the village attorney, the Board deferred a meeting on the measure until a larger location is found. The proposed ordinance would deny a business permit to any employer found to have knowingly hired undocumented workers; fine landlords $1,000 if they rented apartments to undocumented immigrants; and make English the official language for village documents, forms and signs.

A similar ordinance in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was approved by local officials but challenged in court by the ACLU. Under court orders, Hazleton halted plans to implement the ordinance and is considering a different one, according to the ACLU. [Chicago Tribune 10/4/06]

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Contributions toward Immigration News Briefs are gladly accepted: they should be made payable and sent to Nicaragua Solidarity Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012. (Tax-deductible contributions of $50 or more may be made payable to the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and earmarked for "NSN".)