Dallas-Fort Worth Immigration Lawyer

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.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 10:22 AM | Permalink

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."

Continue reading "Immigration Raid Spurs Calls For Action Against E" »

Posted by Bob Kraft at 09:19 PM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 11:17 AM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 11:55 AM | Permalink

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

Posted by Bob Kraft at 11:25 AM | Permalink

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.

Posted by Bob Kraft at 04:51 PM | Permalink