Immigration Today

117 Arrested In 5-day Florida Immigration Sweep

2009-02-05T09:11:00.000-08:00

MIAMI - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Wednesday that a five-day targeted fugitive enforcement operation last week in Miami, Broward, Palm Beach, Orlando and Tampa areas resulted in the arrest of 117 fugitive aliens and immigration violators.

During the operation, which concluded Friday, ICE officers arrested 89 immigration fugitives who ignored lawful orders of removal and 28 other immigration violators.

Of the 117 arrested, 30 had criminal histories that spanned from assault, battery, DUI, aggravated battery, trespassing, larceny, burglary, resisting arrest, soliciting prostitution, cocaine possession, marijuana possession, molestation and transporting narcotics.

Read full article MSNBC

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Activists keep heat on Obama over immigration

2009-01-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

PHOENIX (Reuters) - When U.S. President Barack Obama took office last week, a coalition of south Texas landowners wrote to his new administration urging an end to a wall-building program on the Mexico border.

The following day, hundreds of pro-immigration activists rallied in Washington calling on the new president to halt workplace enforcement raids and revive a thwarted bid to overhaul of U.S. immigration laws.

As Obama settles into the White House, he faces renewed pressure from pro-immigration activists to keep a pledge to support immigration reform, or at the least, roll back some of the get-tough immigration policies of his predecessor George W. Bush.

Read full article Reuters

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Immigration wanes as issue for U.S. Latinos: study

2009-01-19T09:42:00.000-08:00

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Fewer than one-in-three U.S. Hispanics rate immigration as a top priority for the administration of President-elect Barack Obama, a study released on Thursday showed.

Immigration reform, particularly what to do with some 12 million mostly Latino illegal immigrants living and working in the shadows, has been a highly divisive issue in the United States in recent years.

The nationwide survey by the Pew Hispanic Center said 31 percent of Latinos rated immigration as an "extremely important" issue for Obama, who takes over as the U.S. president on January 20.

Read full article Reuters

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US church and union leaders call for immigration reform

2009-01-10T07:03:00.000-08:00

RELIGIOUS AND trade union leaders have called on the US Congress and President-elect Barack Obama to pass a comprehensive immigration package this year, saying the American economy could not be restored without legalising undocumented immigrants.

“Immigration reform is a necessity in order to fix the American economy,” John Wilhelm, president of Unite Here’s hospitality division, said on Thursday during a national teleconference call on immigration reform. The New York-based group represents more than 450,000 workers around the US.

Mr Wilhelm said immigration legislation would help the recovery by eliminating exploitation, increasing wages and tax compliance and placing all workers on a level playing field

Read full article Irish Times.com

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Fewer illegal immigrants caught sneaking into U.S.

2008-12-29T13:52:00.000-08:00

EL PASO — The number of people caught trying to sneak into the USA from Mexico is at its lowest level since the mid-1970s, signs of tougher enforcement and a weaker U.S. economy, officials say.
The Border Patrol caught 705,000 people along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2008, which ended Sept. 30, according to new agency figures. That's nearly 2,000 a day and the lowest number since 1976, when 675,000 people were caught entering illegally between San Diego and southern Texas, the figures show.

BORDER: Tensions rise with U.S.-Mexican fence

The Border Patrol has long used the number of apprehensions as an indicator of how many people try to cross U.S. borders illegally. The latest figures show that recent steps — including building a fence, adding more Border Patrol agents and prosecuting more people caught sneaking across the border — are deterring illegal crossings, officials say. The weak U.S. economy also is discouraging migrants, officials and analysts say.

Read full article USA Today

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Mexico opens help line for migrants to Arizona

2008-12-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

PHOENIX (Reuters) – The Mexican government has opened a special call center in Arizona to provide a sympathetic ear for citizens caught up in crackdown on illegal immigration in the desert state.

Officials at the Mexican consulate in Tucson said they opened the center last week. It is available 24-hours-a-day to field complaints from Mexican nationals about their treatment in the border state, where as many as half a million illegal immigrants live and work in the shadows.

"We want to offer a human voice at the other end of the line, so they can feel protected and know that someone is here for them," Alejandro Ramos, head of the consulate's Department of Protection, told Reuters.

Feelings run high about illegal immigration in the United States, where an estimated 12 million undocumented workers and their children hide from authorities.

Read full article Yahoo News

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Houston jail tests immigration database

2008-10-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON — The Harris County Sheriff's Office is leading a test of an automated fingerprint check system that allows jailers to simultaneously review suspects' immigration and criminal histories, thereby helping to identify and remove non-U.S. citizens convicted of crimes.

The new program links the FBI's database with the Department of Homeland Security's database, known as IDENT (the Automated Biometric Identification System), officials said Monday. All inmates will be run against the database.

The Sheriff's Office was selected to lead the pilot program in part because Houston has "one of the largest criminal alien populations in the United States," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Gregory Palmore, the Houston Chronicle reported in its online edition Monday.

Palmore said the process is automated and any "hits" for non-citizens will be referred to ICE's Law Enforcement Support Center for more investigation, officials said.

It is not the first time the jail was selected to participate in an immigration-pilot program.

Read full article Chron.com

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DHS Announces Final Rule on Secure Flight Program

2008-10-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced the issuance of the Secure Flight Final Rule, which shifts pre-departure watch list matching responsibilities from individual aircraft operators to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and carries out a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. By bringing watch list matching responsibilities in-house, TSA can better remedy possible misidentifications when a traveler's name is similar to one found on a watch list.

"Secure Flight is a critical tool that will further improve aviation security and fix the major customer service issue of watch list misidentifications, a frustratingly common occurrence for travelers under the existing airline-based system," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "We know that threats to our aviation system persist, and Secure Flight will help us better protect the traveling public while creating a more consistent passenger prescreening process, ultimately reducing the number of misidentification issues."

Read full article VisaPro

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Justices May Take Immigration Cases

2008-10-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

As hundreds of immigration agents raided a kosher meatpacking plant in rural Iowa in May, prosecutors summoned defense lawyers to the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids.

Their message was blunt: The illegal immigrants arrested must plead guilty to lesser counts or face indictment on charges of aggravated identity theft and possible mandatory two-year prison terms.

"It was a hammer over everyone's head," said Dan Vondra, a lawyer who represented several of the 302 immigrants who quickly took the deal. "For these people, two years in federal prison was unbearable."

Read full article Washington Post

Phoenix Arizona Personal Injury Attorneys and Lawyers

Arpaio raids Mesa City Hall; mayor outraged

2008-10-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

Sheriff Joe Arpaio traded angry words and accusations with Mesa officials Thursday after 60 deputies and posse members armed with search warrants stormed City Hall and the public library in the middle of the night in a hunt for illegal workers.

"I believe the safety of our citizens was gravely compromised" when Maricopa County sheriff's deputies in "battle gear" swept into city buildings about 2 a.m. while cleaning crews were at work, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith told reporters. "I believe we had set the scene where bad things could have happened."

Arpaio defended his tactics, claiming the raid came only after a former city employee called the sheriff's illegal-immigration hotline to report that a cleaning company under contract with the city was hiring illegal immigrants.

Read full article AZ Central

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Government study finds H-1B visa fraud

2008-10-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

San Francisco - A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services [USCIS] study, H-1B Benefit Fraud & Compliance Assessment?? published in September but just coming to light this month, found a 27 percent rate of fraud in the H-1B visa program.

The study, conducted by The Office of Fraud Detection and National Security [FDNS], drew 246 cases in a random sampling of the 96,827 "approved, denied or pending I-129 petitions" for employment of a non-immigrant worker filed between October 1, 2005 and March 31, 2006. Employers hiring IT professionals under the H-1B visa program must fill out an I-129 petition as well as an LCA [Labor Condition Application].??

Read full article Info World/Yahoo News

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Candidates agree on immigration, but ads don't show it

2008-10-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

A Hot Topic!!

By DAVE MONTGOMERY
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- For all their differences, Barack Obama and John McCain have often shared common ground on one volatile issue: immigration.

McCain was the architect of legislation to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants, a concept Obama also has embraced.

However, the two presidential candidates have made immigration the centerpiece of hard-hitting Spanish-language radio and TV ads, with each candidate presenting himself to Hispanics as the true champion of comprehensive immigration reform.

Read full article Miami Herald

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Families of workers arrested in immigration raid get help

2008-10-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) -- Greenville-area residents and groups are working to help the families of more than 300 suspected illegal immigrants arrested in a raid at a poultry processing plant last week.

The Greenville News reported Sunday that the Alliance for Collaboration with the Hispanic Community and local residents have met to identify lawyers, counselors, educators and interpreters to help the families. They also are trying to raise money and find people to care for the children of the jailed workers.

Some 330 workers were arrested in a raid at the Columbia Farms plant in Greenville County. In addition, the U.S. Labor Department said the plant is under federal investigation for possible child labor violations following the arrests of suspected illegal immigrants, including six juveniles.

Read full article BlueRidgeNow.com

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Immigration agents nab 300 in factory swoop

2008-10-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sweeps continue across the nation... is this a real solution??

PHOENIX (Reuters) - U.S. immigration agents arrested about 300 workers at a South Carolina poultry plant on Tuesday, the latest in a series of workplace raids targeting illegal immigrants and employers across the United States.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said federal agents arrested the workers at the Columbia Farms poultry processing plant in Greenville.

The nationalities of those arrested were not immediately clear.

The swoop followed a 10-month criminal investigation that had already resulted in charges against 11 supervisors and one human resources manager, ICE said in a statement.

Read full article Reuters

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Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test

2008-10-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

A Little late...but it started at the beginning of this month...

In the interest of creating a more standardized, fair, and meaningful naturalization process, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently completed a multi-year redesign of the naturalization test. The revised test, with an emphasis on the fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, will help encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify with the basic values we all share as Americans.

Read full article USCIS Web site

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Phoenix sheriff adored, reviled on immigration

2008-10-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

Arpio, making news in San Francisco... Hero or Bad guy??

Joe Arpaio, a cherished figure in the anti-immigrant movement, is running for a fifth term as the Maricopa County sheriff. But a referendum on his contentious approach to law enforcement - and the growing challenges to it - is already under way in the public arena.

Arpaio has raised more than $500,000, and he is mobbed by well-wishers at campaign events, at which he signs autographs and poses for photographs. A poll in August showed him with a comfortable lead over his challenger.

"It's exciting, taking on an issue that's really worldwide," said Arpaio, 76, whose deputies, often in the glare of television cameras, have been instructed to pick up illegal immigrants across the county, the nation's fourth-largest and among the fastest-growing.

Read full article San Francisco Chronicle

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Thomas: 19% of county's felons are illegal immigrants

2008-10-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

Maricopa County Statistics!!!....

County Attorney Andrew Thomas on Thursday released a study indicating that illegal immigrants comprised nearly 19 percent of those sentenced for felonies in Maricopa County in 2007, even though illegal immigrants only make up an estimated 9 percent of the county's population.

The numbers, which were generated by the County Attorney's Office, reinforce popular beliefs about illegal immigration and crime but contradict the findings of some sociologists and journalists.

The Republic reported earlier this year, for example, that only 10 percent of bookings into Maricopa County jails in the last six months of 2007 were subject to holds by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. That percentage was based on numbers provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office - numbers that the office later tried to refute.

Read full article az central

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Illegal immigration declines as U.S. economy falters

2008-10-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

Even Immigration is impacted by our bad economy...

WASHINGTON - Illegal immigration, which has sparked political and social turmoil in communities across the nation, is on the wane, according to an independent report released Thursday.

The number of illegal immigrants entering the United States has slowed significantly the past few years, falling below the number of those entering the country legally, according to the report by the Pew Hispanic Center, a Washington think tank.

Read full article Yahoo News

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California immigration raids result in 1,157 arrests

2008-09-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

And the raids continue through out the US, this time is about California....

Authorities said today that federal immigration agents arrested more than 1,150 people in the largest collective sweep by specialized enforcement teams in California, reports Francisco Vara-Orta

The sweep targeted those who ignored deportation orders or returned to the United States illegally after being deported, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

The raids, which ended Saturday, produced 436 arrests in the San Francisco area, 420 in the Los Angeles area and 301 in the San Diego area.

Of the 1,157 illegal immigrants arrested statewide, 595 had outstanding deportation orders and 346 had prior criminal convictions, Kice said. Those arrested come from 34 countries.

Read full article Los Angeles Times

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New ad revives call for immigration reform

2008-09-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

We Need a SOLUTION!!!!! we need a SOLUTION!!!

09-26) 16:49 PDT LAS VEGAS, (AP) --

A pro-immigration group has launched a new televison ad campaign intended to revive discussion of immigration reform in some swing states key to the presidential race.

Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together, a nonprofit that describes itself as nonpartisan, launched the campaign Thursday with a 60-second spot urging for a call to finish the work of immigration reform.

The ad claims that border security has improved and deportation of illegal immigrants has increased since the heated 2006 reform debate in Congress.

Read full article San Francisco Chronicle

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18-Month Extension of Temporary Protected Status for Nationals of Nicaragua

2008-09-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to nationals of Nicaragua through July 5, 2010. The extension will make those who have already been granted TPS eligible to reregister and maintain their status for an additional 18 months. There are approximately 3,500 nationals of Nicaragua (and people having no nationality who last habitually resided in Nicaragua) who are eligible for reregistration. TPS does not apply to Nicaraguan nationals who entered the United States after Dec. 30, 1998.

The extension of TPS for Nicaragua is effective Jan. 6, 2009 and will remain in effect through July 5, 2010. Nicaraguan nationals (and people having no nationality who last habitually resided in Nicaragua) who have been granted TPS must reregister for the 18-month extension during the 60-day reregistration period beginning on the date the notice is published in the Federal Register. Nicaraguan TPS beneficiaries are strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible following the start of the 60-day reregistration period. Applications from Nicaraguan TPS beneficiaries will not be accepted prior to the opening of the reregistration period.

Read full article USCIS

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Chamber supports immigration reform

2008-09-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Arizona Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed the state's employer sanctions law, threw its support Wednesday behind a new media campaign on national immigration reform.

At the chamber's Phoenix headquarters, a panel of political and business leaders called on Congress to pass immigration legislation that would focus on security and allow immigrants to work in the U.S. They also unveiled a new 60-second TV ad that will begin airing in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver and Las Vegas.

Read full article AZ Central

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Green Card Lottery 2010 Begins in October 8, 2008

2008-09-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

Some good news for all that qualify, the day is near!!!

The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 provides for a class of immigrants known as "diversity immigrants". Section 203(c) of the INA provides a maximum of up to 55,000 Diversity Visas (DV) each fiscal year to be made available to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

The annual DV program makes diversity immigrant visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses selectees for diversity visas. The visas, however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the period of the past five years. Within each region, no one country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

Read full article US Immigration Newspaper .com

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Immigration boom slows as US economy falters

2008-09-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON: The wave of immigrants entering the United States slowed dramatically last year as the economy faltered and the government stepped up enforcement of immigration laws.

The U.S. nation added about a half million immigrants in 2007, down from more than 1.8 million the year before, according to estimates being released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.

"The U.S. is still a beacon for many people who want to come here for all kinds of reasons," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the numbers. "But what this shows is that the economy plays a big part in it."

Read full article International Herald Tribune

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Ike aftermath lays bare U.S. immigration paradox

2008-09-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

There is no question that they are useful at some point, but once these so called "illegals" help out clean the disaster areas, they will be again a burden to society.... we need a solution soon!!!

HOUSTON (Reuters) – The men gather early on street corners here in storm-battered Houston, ready for the jobs they know will come their way, sweeping up broken glass and clearing downed trees and debris from city streets.

They speak mostly Spanish, while looking warily at strangers. And these undocumented, also called illegal, immigrants worry that instead of a job and a day's wages, they might instead find themselves arrested and deported.

Indeed, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, which left a trail of destruction across southeast Texas, America's ongoing debate over U.S. immigration policy is again aflame.

Read full article Yahoo News

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Ex-immigration official pleads to corruption

2008-09-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

DETROIT - A former federal official accused of accepting bribes to free illegal immigrants has pleaded guilty to corruption charges in Detroit.

Fifty-five-year-old Roy M. Bailey of Romulus pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to defraud the United States and failing to report a felony.

Bailey faces up to 37 months in prison and a $75,000 fine under a plea agreement. Sentencing is set for Nov. 21.

Read full article Chicago Tribune

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Groups sue Farmers Branch over immigration law

2008-09-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

It's rediculous how cities try to interpret and make federal laws as they pleased .....

DALLAS — Latino advocates and a civil liberties group have filed a federal lawsuit against a Dallas suburb whose officials are trying to drive out illegal immigrants.
The suit by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project is the latest facing Farmers Branch. It was filed Friday in Dallas.

MALDEF and the ACLU contend a plan to ask house and apartment renters to obtain a license from Farmers Branch is unconstitutional.

Read full article Yahoo News

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IMMIGRATION: KEY ISSUE TO BATTLEGROUND STATES?

2008-09-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

The main subject that the majority of the voters are intersted on finding a solution with the next president ....

FLORIDA, FL - Immigration has the potential to be a key issue in obtaining crucial votes from battleground states such as Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico in the 2008 Presidential election. Analysts say that Hispanics hold the key to winning these crucial states; as such, both the McCain and Obama campaigns are running Spanish-language advertisements in these areas to target Hispanic voters. There has historically been a strong Republican voting record among some Hispanic groups, but polls indicate that Obama is currently favored among US Hispanic voters.

Read full article US Immigration Newsletter Sep 08

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ICE to conduct audit of Arpaio's office

2008-09-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

by Daniel González - Sept. 11, 2008 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

Federal investigators will conduct an audit later this month of an 18-month-old agreement that gives the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office authority to enforce federal immigration laws.

The audit comes amid allegations that the Sheriff's Office is violating the agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement by targeting day laborers instead of violent criminals and trampling on the civil rights of Latinos.

Read full article AZ Central

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