Dallas-Fort Worth Immigration Lawyer
Deportation and Detention
Immigrant Students Spared As Deportations Rise
Category: Deportation and Detention
A recent article in the Dallas Morning News discussed the relatively "hands-off" deportation policy regarding students who are in the country illegally, but only because their parents brought them here as young children. In other words, these students did not choose to break the law and enter the U.S. illegally of their own will. Here are excerpts from the article:
The Obama administration, while deporting a record number of immigrants convicted of crimes, is sparing one group of illegal immigrants from expulsion: students who came to the U.S. without papers when they were children.
The students who have been allowed to remain are among more than 700,000 illegal immigrants who would be eligible for legal status under the Dream Act, a bill before Congress specifically for high school graduates who came to the U.S. before they were 16.
Department of Homeland Security officials said they had made no formal change of policy to permit those students to stay. But they said they had other, more pressing deportation priorities.
"In a world of limited resources, our time is better spent on someone who is here unlawfully and is committing crimes in the neighborhood," John Morton, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an interview. "As opposed to someone who came to this country as a juvenile and spent the vast majority of their life here."
Still, Republicans say the authorities should pursue all immigrants who are here illegally.
The administration is debating how to handle immigration now that the chances for a broad overhaul that President Barack Obama supports have faded for this year.
An internal Homeland Security memorandum, released last month by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, set off a furor among his fellow Republicans because it showed immigration officials weighing steps they could take without congressional approval to give legal status to some illegal immigrants – including suspending deportations of students.
But a White House official said that the administration had decided against the moratorium, preferring to push for the student bill.
"Legislation does far more for Dream Act students than deferring deportations would, in that it puts them on a path to citizenship," said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal policy debate.
Instead of a general moratorium, immigration authorities appear to be acting case by case to hold up deportations of young immigrants.
The vast majority of students who are illegal immigrants have no criminal records, and they would have to keep it that way to qualify to become legal under the Dream Act. To meet its terms, immigrants must also have graduated from high school and lived in the U.S. for at least five years, and they must complete two years of college or military service.
Lawmakers from both parties say the student bill draws wider support than the broader overhaul – but still not enough to make it likely to pass before the election.
Many young immigrants were brought to the U.S. illegally as small children by their parents. Often they only learn of their illegal status years later, when they are old enough to apply for a driver's license or to attend college.
Common Sense Needed in Immigration Cases
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News has an excellent editorial today pointing out the inequities in our current immigration system, particularly deportation. Few people would object to the deportation of criminals or of those who knowingly came here illegally as adults and made no effort to work within the system. But the editorial mentions the plights of other immigrants who, through no real fault of their own, have been placed in terrible situations by seemingly arbitrary decisions by the federal government.
The editorial is important enough to be reprinted in full:
Justice isn't always blind when it comes to immigration enforcement. U.S. authorities exercise apparently wide latitude to impose the letter of the law or inject compassion, especially in cases of political expediency. Too often, simple common sense doesn't seem to factor into the equation. Three recent cases illustrate the point.
Olivera Snyder and her sister, Jelena Boldt, were born in the former Yugoslavia and brought here as children by their parents in 1985. They know little of their Serbian homeland. Both married Americans, and Olivera has three American children. Through one of the stranger twists in U.S. immigration enforcement, the Dallas-area sisters are bracing for deportation, despite having filed all the required paperwork and completed every step of the process.
Their immigrant mother won permission to stay. They have no criminal history. Someone in the bowels of Immigration and Customs Enforcement decided it was time to close their cases and move on. Their lawyer says he can't get an explanation and describes the case as "one of the most disturbing departures from rational thinking I have ever witnessed."
Eric Balderas is a Harvard student who grew up in the United States and has virtually no memory of his early childhood before his parents brought him to Texas from Mexico. He lost his passport and wound up in the sights of an ICE official as he boarded a flight from San Antonio to Boston. Now he faces deportation. Harvard dignitaries are trying to help, but the 19-year-old's future hangs in limbo until a July 6 deportation hearing.
Hervé Fonkou Takoulo is a Cameroonian facing deportation after losing an asylum bid. He and his American wife, Caroline Jamieson, are professionals in Manhattan. Jamieson wrote to President Barack Obama in a desperate attempt to stave off the deportation, and in apparent retaliation, two immigration agents went to the couple's house, mentioned the Obama letter and then took Takoulo away in handcuffs. An inquiry by The New York Times led to Takoulo's quick release.
Thousands of such cases never make it into the media spotlight, so there's no telling how many horror stories are out there. It shouldn't take a reporter's inquiry or an embarrassing news article to make immigration authorities recognize that theses are human beings whose lives face irrevocable destruction.
Yes, we want a predictable and consistent system of immigration laws that apply equally to all. But common sense also must come into play. These three cases underscore the real human hardship created by America's broken immigration system and overburdened immigration courts. Comprehensive immigration reform, with tough but fair measures to help people attain legal status in this country, is the best way to break this chain of tragedy.
The Waiver Process
Category: Deportation and Detention
Foreign nationals who have stayed in the United States after the expiration of their period of authorized stay or are present in the United States without being admitted or paroled are unlawfully present in the U.S.
If more than 180 days but less than a year of unlawful presence accrues, then the foreign national is inadmissible for three years (three year bar). Foreign nationals who are unlawfully present for one year or more are inadmissible for 10 years (10 year bar). If a foreign national has accrued unlawful presence in the United States, then they are deemed inadmissible and illegible to re-enter the U.S. for either the three year or 10 year bar from the date they leave the U.S.
There is a waiver available for the unlawful presence ground of inadmissibility. Essentially the waiver will waive the three and 10 year bar of inadmissibility. The waiver is only available to foreign nationals with a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident (LPR) spouse or parent. Children are not deemed qualifying relatives for the waiver. The first step in the waiver process is for the foreign national to attend an immigrant visa consular interview in their home country. Once the consular officer deems the foreign national is inadmissible and a waiver is available, the foreign national will then file the waiver (form I-601, with the applicable filing fee) and establish there is extreme hardship to the U.S. citizen or LPR spouse or parent if the foreign national were not allowed to return to the United States. The waiver request is discretionary and extreme hardship is only one factor the officer will consider.
Certain individuals do not accrue unlawful presence and are not subject to the three or 10 year bar. For instance, foreign nationals under 18 years of age do not accrue unlawful presence.
For more information on the waiver process, and extreme hardship, please call Kraft & Associates at 214-999-9999.
Obama Administration to Implement Bush Program Targeting Illegals
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Wall Street Journal reports, "The Obama administration said Wednesday it would implement a Bush-era program aimed at cracking down on federal contractors that hire illegal immigrants." The program will require employers to "check whether employees are entitled to work in the U.S. through the government's E-Verify system, which compares names and Social Security numbers with a government database." Illegal workers are then supposed to be fired. "The Obama administration also said Wednesday it would end a similar program that is unpopular with the business community: the so-called no-match program operated by the Social Security Administration."
From the American Association for Justice news release.
66 Arrested in North Texas Crackdown on Transnational Gangs
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News reports that 66 gang members have been arrested in a North Texas sweep. This effort is part of a continuing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement project targeting gangs that operate both in Texas and in other countries including Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Laos. Here are excerpts from the article:
The arrests were made with assistance from police agencies in Arlington, Dallas, Carrollton, Fort Worth, Irving, Lewisville and Plano. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also participated.
Among those arrested were six gang members from the Mara Salvatrucha 13, considered one of the most violent transnational gangs. Two members of that gang were arrested in Carrollton, one person in Irving, and the other three in Dallas or Fort Worth, said ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok.
One person, arrested in Fort Worth, was identified as a member of the Zetas, a gang linked to a Mexican narcotics cartel. Another 22 gangs were represented among those arrested, ICE said.
About a third of those arrested were U.S. citizens, ICE said. Fourteen of the 66 were deemed "gang associates."
More Texas County Sheriff's Offices Now Partner With ICE to Identify and Remove Criminal Aliens
Category: Deportation and Detention
Sheriff's offices in the South Texas counties of Hidalgo, Starr, Brooks, Jim Wells, and Kenedy have begun accessing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fingerprint databases to determine if arrested individuals are immigration offenders who may face removal.
Once each individual’s criminal process is completed, he or she will be taken into ICE custody. Secure Communities was launched in October 2008, and is currently in place in San Diego, California; Mesa, Arizona; Fairfax, Virginia; and Dallas, San Antonio, and Huntsville, Texas. All U.S. counties are expected to implement the system by 2012.
ICE asserts that the Secure Communities initiative will allow law enforcement officials to streamline a “time-consuming and spotty system of Border Patrol interviews in jails.”
More information may be found by visiting: www.ice.gov.
Immigrants Can Appeal Deportation If Bad Lawyer Work Is To Blame
Category: Deportation and Detention
As reported in the Dallas Morning News, a rule limiting access to lawyers for immigrants facing deportation has been tossed out by the Obama administration. Here are excerpts from the article:
The rule was issued in the waning days of the Bush administration, angering immigrants' rights groups that immediately sought to persuade the incoming Democratic administration to discard it.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder did just that, saying he is vacating the order issued by predecessor Michael Mukasey that said that immigrants facing deportation do not have an automatic right to an effective lawyer.
Mukasey had issued a 33-page decision in January saying the Constitution does not entitle someone facing deportation to have a case reopened based upon shoddy work by a lawyer. Mukasey also said, however, that Justice Department officials have the discretion to reopen such cases if they choose.
Texas Prison System First in Nation to Partner With ICE to Identify and Remove Criminal Aliens
Category: Deportation and Detention
Until now, new inmates booked into the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison system had their fingerprints checked only for criminal history information. But now, each new inmate booked into the Huntsville, Texas, intake site will now also have his or her fingerprints checked by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) biometric system for any immigration record.
The TDCJ prison system is the first in the United States to partner with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in this new program, called Secure Communities. This comprehensive program is intended to streamline the process by which ICE determines if the screened inmate is a criminal alien, subject to automatic removal after the inmate completes his or her prison term. Highest priority is given to inmate aliens who have been convicted of crimes such as rape, robbery, murder, kidnapping, and major drug offenses.
Eventually all 24 intake sites in Texas will have the same capability to screen inmates’ immigration history. ICE currently partners with 50 counties and law enforcement agencies across the nation in the Secure Communities program, and looks to expand the program to all law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.
More information about ICE's Secure Communities effort is available at www.ice.gov. Additional information about TDCJ’s partnership with ICE may be found at: http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0905/090519huntsville.htm.
Migrant-Smuggling Bust Leads To 27 Arrests Around Dallas
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News reported that 27 people were arrested in the Dallas area on charges of migrant-smuggling. The Federal government has accused these people of bringing 500 to 1,000 illegal immigrants a month into the United States. The U.S. Attorney's office said these arrests were the result of a two-year investigation.
Six Counties in Texas Join "Secure Communities" Program
Category: Deportation and Detention
On January 22, 2009, we posted a blog message discussing the Secure Communities program administered by U.S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement (ICE) that facilitates the process for ICE to determine if an individual in local custody is a potentially deportable criminal alien. When an individual is detained, as part of the booking process their fingerprints are taken. With the Secure Communities program, the fingerprints are simultaneously checked for criminal and immigration records.
Now, six southwest Texas counties have joined the Secure Communities program to identify criminal aliens in the counties’ jail systems and process them for deportation. The six southwest Texas counties are Zavala County, Uvalde County, Maverick County, Val Verde County, Kinney County, and Real County. Additional information on the Secure Communities program is available at http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0902/090202sanantonio.htm.
Target of Immigrant Raids Shifted from Criminals to Non-Criminals
Category: Deportation and Detention
An article in the New York Times today reveals that a federal program originally intended to find and deport illegal aliens with criminal records has been altered to focus on easier targets - aliens with no criminal records and no deportation orders outstanding. Here are excerpts from the article:
The raids on homes around the country were billed as carefully planned hunts for dangerous immigrant fugitives, and given catchy names like Operation Return to Sender.
And they garnered bigger increases in money and staff from Congress than any other program run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, even as complaints grew that teams of armed agents were entering homes indiscriminately.
But in fact, beginning in 2006, the program was no longer what was being advertised. Federal immigration officials had repeatedly told Congress that among more than half a million immigrants with outstanding deportation orders, they would concentrate on rounding up the most threatening — criminals and terrorism suspects.
Instead, newly available documents show, the agency changed the rules, and the program increasingly went after easier targets. A vast majority of those arrested had no criminal record, and many had no deportation orders against them, either.
Peter L. Markowitz, who teaches immigration law at Cardozo and directs its immigration legal clinic, said the memos obtained in its lawsuit reflected the Bush administration’s effort to appear tough on immigration enforcement during the unsuccessful push to pass comprehensive immigration legislation in 2006, and amid rising anger over illegal immigration.
“It looks like what happened here is that the law enforcement strName
New Program Notifies ICE of Criminal and Immigration History
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have developed a new program that enhances identification and removal of criminal aliens. The program, known as Secure Communities, is administered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and provides ICE and other local agencies immigration history information on an individual who is booked into jail. During the booking process, the arrestees’ fingerprints are taken, and checked for criminal history and now also for immigration records maintained by DHS. If the person’s fingerprints match those of a person in the DHS fingerprint system, ICE will be notified and take the appropriate enforcement action.
More information is available at www.ice.gov.
Noncitizens Have No Right to Counsel in Deportation Cases, Mukasey Finds
Category: Deportation and Detention
From the Journal of the American Bar Assocition:
Days before a new presidential regime will be in place at the White House, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey issued a written opinion (PDF) yesterday finding that noncitizens have no constitutional right to counsel in deportation proceedings.
The attorney general's opinion, which reverses a 15-year precedent established by Matter of Lozada, is also expected to make it more difficult for aliens who retain private attorneys to seek relief for ineffective assistance of counsel, reports the Blog of Legal Times.
The ruling was greeted with dismay by immigrants rights groups, which intend to seek relief in Congress, according to the BLT. But, in the meantime, federal courts are likely to defer to the attorney general's opinion as far as ineffective assistance claims in immigration cases are concerned, Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, tells the law blog.
The opinion, which must be followed by the nation’s immigration courts and Board of Immigration Appeals, gives them discretion to reopen cases when major counsel error prejudices a case.
Immigration Officials Curb Sedation OName
Category: Deportation and Detention
Here's a bit of good news from Immigration and Customs Enforcement - ICE is reducing the number of deportees they sedate, and is using less-powerful drugs when they do sedate people. Here are excerpts from an article in the Dallas Morning News: Federal immigration officials, over the past year, have dramatically curtailed the controversial practice of sedating deportees with powerful anti-psychotic medication. The move followed court challenges and a public outcry over the practice, which often involved the use of Haldol, a drug used to treat schizophrenia. Over the past six years, through October, federal immigration personnel sedated 384 deportees, an average of 64 a year, the government disclosed. Of those cases, 356 involved the use of Haldol. Though the agency has dramatically reduced its use of Haldol to sedate deportees, the practice remains controversial. Haldol is used to treat schizophrenia and such psychotic symptoms as hallucinations, delusions and hostility. Medical authorities say the use of Haldol carries potential complications. The drug can trigger such adverse reactions as muscular spasms and a condition known as neuroleptic malignant syndrome that can result in a coma and even death if left untreated.
Editorial: Releasing Criminal Immigrants
Category: Deportation and Detention
An editorial in today's Dallas Morning News decries the decision by Harris County to release illegal immigrants who have been charged with felonies. This editorial is hard to argue with. Regardless of your position on immigration reform, surely no one believes our country is better off because we're releasing serious criminals because of paperwork delays. Here is the editorial:
Local authorities around the country are taking the lead to tackle illegal immigration because our leaders in Washington have failed to devise a workable enforcement system. Federal deficiencies are so severe that public safety is being compromised, as a Houston Chronicle report showed this week. Regardless of where you stand on comprehensive immigration reform, it's hard not to be outraged by the failures the Chronicle exposed in Harris County's jail system. Hundreds of illegal immigrant inmates charged with felony crimes – murder, rape, drug dealing and child molestation – were set free because Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities didn't complete the paperwork to hold them for deportation. ICE, part of the Homeland Security Department, failed to process detention orders for roughly 2,600 jail inmates who admitted they were illegal immigrants. In 177 cases, inmates committed additional crimes after being released. Hundreds had three or more prior convictions. ICE officials say they're doing their best with limited resources, but we've heard that excuse before. A year ago, ICE officials were forced to temporarily curtail the Criminal Alien Program in Irving because their staff and facilities couldn't cope with the number of illegal immigrants Irving police were detaining. Dallas County announced last week that it would participate in a new federal database project that is even more comprehensive than Irving's. With growing participation by local governments, the pressure on ICE is going to grow. But ICE says it would take years and up to $1 billion to bring a new screening system up to speed and ensure the most serious offenders are deported – not released. The heated debate in Washington over comprehensive immigration reform no doubt will resume after the incoming Obama administration addresses other pressing issues such as the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ridding our cities of these most undesirable immigrants deserves top priority attention, too. Failing that, the Department of Homeland Security should consider a name change, because the criminals it is releasing onto our streets have no justification to be in this "homeland." And when they roam free, the notion of security for Americans becomes laughable.
Dallas County Jail Will Now Check Prisoners' Immigration Status
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News reports that the Dallas County jail has become one of the first in the nation to use a new federal database to identify illegal immigrants during the book-in process. Here are excerpts from the article:
Normally, when prisoners are booked into jails, their fingerprints are run through a national database to check their criminal history. Under the new initiative, fingerprints also will be automatically run through a similar database to check the person's immigration status.
If the computer shows a prisoner is in the country illegally, he or she will be referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which will determine whether to place an immigration hold on the person. The same applies to non-U.S. citizens who have been convicted of certain crimes while in the country legally.
After the person's criminal charges are resolved through probation or prison time, they will be referred to ICE for deportation.
Dallas Immigration Officials Say Illegal Immigrant Arrests Up 21% In 2008
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News reports today that arrests of illegal immigrants in North Texas increased 21 percent in the last fiscal year. Here are excerpts from the article:
More than 16,300 people were repatriated to their native countries, compared with 13,500 the previous fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency within the Department of Homeland Security. For the nation, removals of illegal immigrants has doubled since 2004. For the last two years, the federal government has stepped up its use of criminal law, rather than administrative law, in prosecuting immigrant workers in the U.S. illegally. It is unclear what measures the incoming presidential administration of Barack Obama will take, and when. But Mr. Obama has been critical of raids that divide families, has urged tougher enforcement of employers who hire illegal immigrants, and has spoken favorably of a legalization program with certain qualifications.
Bush Administration Wants To Renew Crackdown On Employers Of Illegal Immigrants
Category: Deportation and Detention
Yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that the Bush administration will renew its efforts to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal immigrants. This effort is currently stalled by a federal judge's ban.
The administration wants to begin mailing notices to almost 150,000 employers, forcing the employers to match their employees against a federal database of Social Security numbers.
The proposal is drawing fire from all sides. Both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are opposed to this move. The problem is that it will cost employers much time and money in the middle of an economic crisis, and will probably lead to the loss of thousands of jobs, partly due to inevitable errors in the government database. Higher unemployment is exactly what our country does not need right now.
Supreme Court To Hear Immigrant's Appeal In Identity Theft Case
Category: Deportation and Detention
Today's Washington Post reports on an ID theft case that the U.S. Supreme Court is going to consider. The question is whether prosecutors in immigration cases have to prove that defendants in aggravated identity-theft cases knew they were victimizing real people. Here are excerpts:
The justices will hear the appeal of Ignacio Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican illegal immigrant who used false identification to get a job at a steel plant. He was convicted of aggravated identity theft, a charge created in 2004 that carries a mandatory two-year prison term. It is increasingly being used against those picked up in federal raids on work sites that employ illegal immigrants.
Flores-Figueroa argued that the government failed to prove that he knew the fraudulent documents belonged to a real person as opposed to being fabricated. Lower courts in the case, accepting the Justice Department's position, ruled that the government did not have to prove that.
Overall, three appellate courts have rendered decisions backing the government; three have ruled otherwise. The Supreme Court is expected to resolve the dispute.
A loss for the government, experts said, would devastate its ability to use aggravated identity-theft charges against illegal immigrants because most of them do not know whether their fake IDs belong to someone else.
ICE Press Release Regarding Mississippi Raid
Category: Deportation and Detention
Here is the official ICE press release regarding the immigration raid in Laurel, Mississippi this week:
595 arrested in ICE and Department of Justice joint immigration enforcement action initiated at Mississippi transformer manufacturing facility
Approximately 106 identified with humanitarian issues, eight charged criminally
LAUREL, Miss.- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents executed a federal criminal search warrant yesterday at Howard Industries, Inc., an electric transformer manufacturing facility, for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, as well as a civil search warrant for individuals illegally in the United States.
The announcement was made by ICE Special Agent in Charge of the Office of Investigations in New Orleans, Michael A. Holt, and Stan Harris, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi.
As a result of yesterday's enforcement action, approximately 595 illegal aliens were arrested by ICE special agents. Of those, approximately 106 were identified as being eligible for an alternative to detention based on humanitarian reasons. These individuals will still be required to appear before a federal immigration judge who will ultimately determine whether or not they will be deported.
Eight criminal cases have been accepted for prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi. The criminal cases are focused on charges of aggravated identity theft. The other cases are being handled via administrative law procedures at the Department of Homeland Security.
"Yesterday's enforcement action is part of ICE's ongoing nationwide effort to shut down the employment magnet fueling illegal immigration," said Holt. "We are committed to strengthening the integrity of our nation's immigration system."
Harris noted that the eight cases being criminally prosecuted are for separate identity theft charges. "Identity theft is a growing problem in the United States, and the Department of Justice has prioritized bringing perpetrators of these crimes to justice and protecting the interests of innocent victims."
All of those arrested were interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed by ICE agents and processed for removal from the United States. Approximately 475 were transported to an ICE facility in Jena, Louisiana where they will await the outcome of their case. The eight individuals facing criminal charges are in the custody of the U.S. Marshal's Service.
Everyone encountered was medically screened and interviewed by a Public Health Service officer to determine if they had any medical, caregiver, or other humanitarian concerns. As a result of this screening, ICE identified individuals eligible for humanitarian release and nine unaccompanied juveniles who are all 17-years-old. The juveniles, which included one female and eight males, were transferred into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
Those arrested yesterday represent numerous countries including: Germany, Peru, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras and Brazil.
ICE contacted local Consular officials, community groups and others to ensure they have accurate information regarding the operation.
ICE has established a local telephone number for family members to find out more information about the detention status of those arrested. Family members may call: 1-866-341-3858.
The investigation into this case continues.
ICE Detains Nearly 600 In Mississippi Plant Raid
Category: Deportation and Detention
MSNBC has a good article about the huge immigration raid in Mississippi. I hope the detainees are treated better this time than were those in Iowa. Here are excerpts from the article:
The largest single-workplace immigration raid in U.S. history has caused panic among Hispanic families in this small southern Mississippi town, where federal agents rounded up nearly 600 plant workers suspected of being in the country illegally.
One worker caught in Monday's sweep at the Howard Industries transformer plant said fellow workers applauded as immigrants were taken into custody. Federal officials said a tip from a union member prompted them to start investigating several years ago.
About 100 of those detained were released for humanitarian reasons, many of them mothers who were fitted with electronic monitoring bracelets and allowed to go home to their children, officials said.
Another 475 workers were transferred to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Jena, La. Nine who were under 18 were transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The superintendent of the county school district said about half of the district's approximately 160 Hispanic students were absent Tuesday.
Those detained were from Brazil, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, and Peru, said Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman.
The Mississippi raid is one of several nationwide in recent years.
On May 12, federal immigration officials swept into Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant, in Iowa. Nearly 400 workers were detained and dozens of fraudulent permanent resident alien cards were seized from the plant's human resources department, according to court records. In December 2006, 1,297 were arrested at Swift meatpacking plants in Nebraska and five other states.
More Than 160 Arrested In Houston Immigration Raid
Category: Deportation and Detention
An immigration raid in Houston yesterday netted more than 160 immigrants, many of whom will be deported. Here are details in excerpts from a story in the Dallas Morning News:
More than 160 suspected illegal immigrants working in a hot, cluttered rag factory were detained Wednesday in one of the largest immigration raids in Houston in nearly two years.
The detainees are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
About 60 may qualify for temporary release, if they have so-called humanitarian issues, such as health needs, or are sole caregivers to children.
About 70 percent of those detained were female – eight of whom were pregnant – and two minors were released to members of their family.
Immigration Raid Spurs Calls For Action Against E
Category: Employment-Based Immigration
The Houston Chronicle ran a thought-provoking article today titled Immigration raid spurs calls for action against employers. The point of the article is that if the government was serious about workplace enforcement, they would arrest officers and management, not just workers. In the recent Iowa raid, more than ⅓ of the employees were arrested and labeled as illegal immigrants. As the article quotes a New York congressman, "Is it not reasonable to assume that if over a third of the work force employed at this plant violated labor law in one form or another that management has to have some complicity in those violations?"
So will we continue to put on a show of hassling workers while we allow management to skate free? Or will we get serious about enforcement by sending some corporate officers to prison? Or, would it be smarter to just sit down and come up with a comprehensive immigration reform package that both political parties could agree to pass? Here are excerpts from the article:
After the biggest immigration raid in U.S. history, hundreds of workers have been sentenced but not one company official as yet faces any charges — something critics say is typical of a federal government that is tough on employees but easy on owners.
Worker advocates and lawmakers say the fact that nearly 400 workers were arrested in the May 12 raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville — or more than one-third of the total number of employees — proves that company officials must have known they were hiring illegal immigrants.
"Until we enforce our immigration laws equally against both employers and employees who break the law, we will continue to have a problem with immigration," said U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, an Iowa Democrat whose district borders Postville.
Such raids are designed to get headlines and make it appear that the federal government is cracking down on illegal immigration, said Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigration reform group America's Voice. But he says even those who think enforcement is the answer can't seriously believe the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. can be arrested and deported.
"Even if you wanted to pursue an imbalanced enforcement-first strategy, the only thoughtful way to do it would be to go after employers, make examples of them and try to scare other employers into compliance," he said. "They're not doing that."
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Immigration Agents Arrest Nearly 300 At Pilgrim's Pride Plants
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News reports today that immigration agents raided several companies across the country, and arrested quite a few people for identity theft. Especially hard-hit was a Pilgrim's Pride plant in East Texas. Here are excerpts from the story:
Federal immigration officials on Wednesday arrested more than 280 workers employed at Pilgrim's Pride poultry plants in five states, including Texas, on suspicion of committing identity theft. The crackdown is part of a widening criminal investigation involving workers at the world's largest poultry processor.
"This case is a good example of our efforts to prosecute identity theft that harms credit and the good name of U.S. citizens," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary for the U.S. Homeland Security Department, in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.
"We have cooperated fully with the government," said Ray Atkinson, a Pilgrim's Pride spokesman, at corporate headquarters in Pittsburg, Texas.
Pilgrim's Pride also participates in a federal government program to voluntarily check Social Security numbers against workers' names in two government databases, Mr. Atkinson said. The program is known as E-Verify. It has been criticized as error-prone and because it can't detect workers who are using authentic Social Security numbers connected to a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident.
"Unfortunately, it does not detect ID theft situations," Mr. Atkinson said of E-Verify.
Identity fraud is a felony under federal law, and a growing problem as federal immigration efforts have intensified and workers in the U.S. illegally have looked for ways to avoid detection. Some U.S. citizens, and legal residents, rent or share their Social Security numbers, making detection even more arduous.
In Houston, Dallas and Washington, D.C., advocates for those detained denounced the law enforcement round-ups. Douglas Rivlin of the National Immigration Forum noted the U.S. arrival on Tuesday of Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI and the pontiff's message to President Bush on immigration.
"At the same moment that Pope Benedict XVI was admonishing President Bush that the U.S. must treat immigrants with dignity and humanity, the Bush administration was rounding up immigrant workers in raids in at least five states across the country," Mr. Rivlin said in a prepared statement. "What a black eye for the president and for the United States."
Pilgrim's Pride officials have been activists for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration laws. An attempt at such reform failed last year in Congress. It would have provided a path to citizenship for some of the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants, a guest worker program and toughened enforcement against employers.
Some Immigrants Picked Up In ICE Raid Sent Back To Mexico
Category: Deportation and Detention
This is a follow-up on the last post about the immigration raid on security guards in Dallas. According to the Dallas Morning News:
Twenty-nine of 49 people picked up in a weekend Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweep targeting illegal immigrants who were working as state-licensed security guards have been sent back to Mexico, officials said Monday.
The U.S. attorney's office is evaluating what charges to pursue against the others still being held at the Bedford Jail, which ICE contracts to use as a short-term detention facility.
Those returned to Mexico were offered a "voluntary return" because none of them would have faced prosecution for criminal charges, ICE Dallas spokesman Carl Rusnok said. "Voluntary return is offered to noncriminal aliens or low-level criminal aliens" – such as for violations that usually result in a ticket, he said.
Immigration Agents Arrest 49 During Raids Of Dallas Night Clubs
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Dallas Morning News reports today that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided more than two dozen mostly Latino night clubs, restaurants, pool halls and other businesses Saturday night, arresting 49 undocumented immigrants employed as security guards. Here are excerpts from the story:
All of those arrested work for two local security companies, which authorities declined to identify Sunday.
At 11 p.m. Saturday, teams made up of local, state and federal officers simultaneously hit 26 businesses in the Love Field area, northwest Dallas, Old East Dallas and Lakewood. No injuries were reported.
Authorities recovered four pistols. Federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from possessing firearms.
Those arrested also face charges of being in the country illegally.
Five of the suspects face charges of document tampering in order to get licensed as a security officer and to carry a firearm, Ms. Bradfield said. That is a third-degree felony, and the punishment range is two to 10 years.
"Hopefully, this operation will help us send a message that we will not tolerate the falsification of documents for undocumented aliens under the guise of providing security," said Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins in a statement Sunday.
Four of those arrested were from El Salvador, and the others were Mexican, authorities said.
In addition to ICE and the district attorney's office, the following agencies also participated Saturday night: the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Dallas Police Department; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission; and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas.
Businesses raided
1. Az De Oro Night Club, 3320 Samuel Blvd., Dallas
2. Far West Night Club, 7331 Gaston Ave., Dallas
3. Ojeda's Restaurant, 4617 Maple Ave., Dallas
4. El Penasco, 4601 Maple Ave., Dallas
5. Izalco Bar, 4605 Maple Ave., Dallas
6. Palacio, 4430 Maple Ave., Dallas
7. Metropolis, 8416 Denton Dr., Dallas
8. El Pulpo Restaurant, 2829 W. Northwest Hwy., Suite 330, Dallas
9. Los Compass Deli and Club, 2829 W. Northwest Hwy., Suite 216, Dallas
10. Taqueria Lupita's, Webb Chapel Ext., Dallas
11. Terry's Supermarket, 3025 Webb Chapel Ext., Dallas
12. Extravaganza Restaurant and Bar, 2905 Webb Chapel Ext., Dallas
13. Billares Puebla, 2900 Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas
14. Guerrero Bar, 2900 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 220, Dallas
15. Exclusiva, 2900 Walnut Hill Ln., Suite 200, Dallas
16. La Frontera, 9744 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
17. La Pachanga, 9745 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
18. Los Corrales Restaurant and Bar, 10229 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
19. El Diamante, 4915 Singleton Blvd., Dallas
20. Club de Cache, 9100 N. Central Exp., Suite 300, Dallas
21. Oficina Billares, 10830 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
22. Viva Cafe and Billiards, 2829 W. Northwest Hwy., Suite 330, Dallas
23. Dallas Gentleman's Club, 2117 W. Northwest Hwy., Dallas
24. 039 Club, 1820 W. Mockingbird Ln., Dallas
25. Orienta Night Club II, 8120 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas
26. La Tormenta, 9834 Brockbank Dr., Dallas
California Car Washes Use Illegal Immigrant Labor Without Paying Their Workers
Category: Deportation and Detention
The Los Angeles Times recently ran an interesting story about the abuse of unauthorized immigrants working in car washes in Southern California. Essentially, the immigrants work for tips only, allowing the employers to avoid paying wages or taxes of any type. Fear of deportation keeps the car wash workers from complaining. It's just one more way that mistreatment of illegal aliens allows Americans to pay lower prices for goods and services. Here are excerpts from the story:
A team of state inspectors strode into the Blue Wave Car Wash in West Los Angeles, past latte-sipping customers in electric massage chairs and into the gritty carwash tunnel.
"¿Cuánto gana usted?" the inspectors asked worker after worker, about 20 of them, most Latino immigrants. How much do you make? Each carwashero responded that he earned minimum wage or more -- just as the owner of the Blue Wave, one of the region's busiest carwashes, had told the inspectors.
Looking over payroll records, however, the regulators became suspicious. Employees who said they were full time were listed as working just 10 or 15 hours a week.
Inspector Martha Mendoza ushered Juan Cruz Santiago, a small man with salt-and-pepper hair, away from the others. During gentle questioning under a ficus tree, he admitted that most days, he and his 66-year-old father worked for tips only. So did nearly half the other employees, he said. It had been that way for at least six years.
"It's bad," the 41-year-old Oaxacan immigrant whispered to Mendoza, his eyes darting nervously toward his boss' office. "Other carwashes are the same, no?"
Many are. A Times investigation has found that hand carwashes, automotive beauty shops patronized by tens of thousands of Southern California motorists every day, often brazenly violate basic labor and immigration laws, with little risk of penalty.
Half or more of carwash owners flout the minimum-wage law, estimated David Dorame, the longtime lead investigator for low-wage industries at California's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
"Tips only" is a requirement for some new workers until owners are satisfied that they can properly dry a car, laborers said. Their take is typically $10 to $30 a day.
Desperate for a toehold in the region's underground economy, many in the largely undocumented workforce are loath to complain for fear of being fired, physically threatened or deported.
Pedro Guzman, an undocumented Honduran immigrant, said a manager at a Hollywood carwash was able to keep employees washing at a furious pace -- 350 to 700 cars a day -- with two words in ungrammatical Spanish: "Quiere casa?" "Want to go home?"
Immigration authorities have done little to discourage the steady flow of undocumented workers into carwash jobs, affording owners an endless supply of cheap, eager and easily exploited laborers.
Despite the national debate over illegal immigration and a recent crackdown on some employers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they have not raided a single California carwash in at least four years.