A judge in Rhode Island has thrown out a lawsuit filed by the ACLU that challenged the detention of 14 Guatemalan immigrants that were pulled over for a minor traffic stop. The 14 immigrants were pulled over in Richmond, R.I. on Interstate-95, but all turned out to be in the country illegally.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that a five-day targeted fugitive enforcement operation last week in Miami, Broward, Palm Beach, Orlando, and Tampa areas resulted in the arrest of 110 fugitive aliens and immigration violators.
Houston-based IFCO has agreed to pay $20.7 million in civil forfeitures and penalties over the next four years for employing an estimated 6,000 illegal aliens at IFCO plants. IFCO is the largest wooden pallet management services company in the United States.
A federal official with the job of overseeing immigration enforcement in three New England States was charged last week for hiring three illegal aliens to clean her Massachusetts home. Lorraine Henderson is the Boston area port director for the Department of Homeland Security and was caught counseling her housekeeper on how to evade deportation, but the housekeeper was bugged.
The office manager of a Sierra Vista drywall firm was sentenced to jail for her role in the hiring of undocumented workers in Arizona's first Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace raid.
A grand jury issued a 12-count indictment on Thursday alleging that managers at a Postville meat packing plant were intricately involved in efforts to hire undocumented workers. The indictment was unsealed on Friday.
Many readers are "convicting" me for my lack of strong conviction in my blog yesterday that said Pres-Elect Obama could have done worse in choosing Arizona Gov. Napolitano to head up Homeland Security. Read some of their comments here, and I'm sure more to come at the bottom of this blog. There is no question that Napolitano established herself as the enemy of most Arizonans who wanted vigorous enforcement against illegal immigration.
A survey conducted by the National Statistics and Geography Institute reveals that Mexican emigration has dropped 42 percent over the last two years. The study indicates that the economic downturn combined with increased enforcement has made the United States less appealing.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement teamed up with local officials in Kenosha, Wis. to arrest 11 illegal alien gang members from Mexico. "Operation Community Shield" is a national initiative where ICE officials work with local authorities targeting the threat posed by transnational street gangs.
The apparent choice of Arizona Gov. Napolitano to be Pres. Obama's head of Homeland Security is a very mixed signal. But Napolitano has witnessed how a mandatory workplace verification law in her state has performed like a charm with no significant disruption of the state's businesses. She should make her DHS job a lot easier by persuading Obama to endorse Rep. Shuler's (D-N.C.) SAVE Act which essentially would make the Arizona law a federal law.
A joint effort between state and federal officials has resulted in the deportation of violent sex offenders who were also identified as illegal aliens in Virginia. “Operation Cold Play” allowed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to place 171 convicted alien sex offenders into deportation proceedings.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that Federal contractors and subcontractors will be required to begin using E-Verify starting Jan. 15, 2009 to check their employees’ eligibility to work in the U.S. Companies awarded a contract thereafter will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days and begin using the employment verification system to verify that all new hires and current contract-related employees are work eligible.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform had Zogby international conduct a post-election poll and the results show that Americans are against an immigration plan that includes amnesty. The poll revealed that actual voters from the recent election favor tougher enforcement and that amnesty for illegal aliens would "further harm the interests of struggling American workers."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary Julie Myers has stepped down according to a statement released by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Her resignation is effective Nov. 15.
"Under Julie's leadership, ICE has undertaken exceptional law enforcement operations with unprecedented results. She has instituted and overseen several key law enforcement programs that have dramatically enhanced the department's efforts to curb illegal immigration and ensure strong enforcement of customs laws," Chertoff said in a written release.
Francesco Insolia, the former owner of a New Bedford Mass. manufacturing company, yesterday pled guilty to helping harbor and conceal illegal aliens by allowing the company to submit false Social Security numbers for employees under Federal government contracts. As part of the plea agreement, Insolia will serve a jail term of up to 18 months and pay a fine of $30,000. A worksite enforcement operation at the company last year resulted in the detention of over 361 illegal aliens.
Following in the footsteps of Prince William County, Va., all persons arrested for violations of local or State law by the Manassas Police Department will have their immigration status checked beginning on Dec. 1. Officers also will be allowed to investigate the status of persons who are "lawfully detained" for local or State violations if they have "probable cause."
The former manager of a Postville Agriprocessors plant Sholom Rubashkin was arrested by federal immigration agents on Thursday morning. Rubashkin is the son of the company's owner and faces charges of conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain, aiding and abetting document fraud and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.
Earlier this week, police in Cape Girardeau, Mo. arrested 12 people believed to be illegal aliens. The arrests make 51 people since July detained by Cape Girardeau police in an effort to help Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Two Immigration and Customs Enforcement teams arrested 19 near Bloomington, Minn. after a three-day initiative. Those arrested were a combination of illegal aliens and illegals that absconded after being ordered to leave the country.
ICE arrested 384 fugitive aliens and immigration violators in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware during an enforcement operation that ran from October 14-26. Criminal histories of the arrestees included convictions for sexual assault, assault, burglary, robbery, bail jumping, criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon, DUI, DWI, resisting arrest, and trademark counterfeiting.
At a news conference held last week to detail his agency’s recent achievements, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff discussed how the economy, along with increased enforcement, are reducing the number of inbound illegal aliens and increasing departures home. He cited certain “metrics,” such as fewer illegal-alien apprehensions at the borders, and pointed to illegal-alien population studies as evidence of a reversing migratory trend.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is sharing part of its $1 million award with the Naugatuck Police Department. In April 2007, Jose and Diana Calhelha were sentenced after being convicted for their roles in harboring illegal aliens at their 10 Dunkin Donuts' franchises. The Naugatuck Police Department assisted the ICE with the case.
The Supreme Court accepted a case on Monday that could have a large impact on the government's enforcement of illegal aliens. The case will review whether or not prosecutors have to prove that defendants knowingly victimized real persons in identity theft cases.
With an increase in deportations of more than 50 percent over the last two years, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement team is ramping up its airline service. The ICE deported more than 76,000 illegal aliens during the fiscal year that ended September 30 on 10 aircraft - twice the fleet from a year ago.
One week has passed since ICE raided a Columbia Farms poultry plant in Greenville, S.C. and arrested 331 illegal aliens, but the agency’s investigations into illicit activity continue unabated. The focus of the ten-month investigation is now on finding out who allowed illegal aliens to be hired at the plant.
Anti-enforcement entities are crowing about estimates that the raid on the Postville, Iowa meatpacking plant cost more than $6 million thus far to deal with only 389 suspected illegal aliens. And that does sound like a lot of money. But my rough calculations suggest that if all 389 are deported, taxpayers are likely to save nearly $8 million in the first year alone.
ICE arrested a former worker in the Pilgrim’s Pride human resources department last week on charges of identification document fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to an ICE news release. The indictment against Hope Anguiano alleges that she and a co-defendant, Lucio Ramirez, conspired to provide identification documents to illegal aliens who did not have proper identification when applying for a job at the Pilgrim’s Pride Mount Pleasant, Texas facility.
ICE agents arrested 58 fugitive aliens and 41 immigration violators during a week-long operation in Dallas, Denton and Lewisville Texas, the Associated Press reports. 22 of the 99 had previous criminal convictions. The arrestees included people from Costa Rica, Egypt, El Salvador, Mexico, Nepal and Nicaragua.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement launched a raid Tuesday morning at the Columbia Farms poultry processing plant in Greenville, S.C. More than 300 workers were arrested on immigration charges.
A six-day operation by ICE’s N.J. regional office netted the arrests of 60 fugitive aliens and 16 other immigration violators. 24 of the fugitives had criminal records while seven of the other illegal aliens had criminal histories.
The fugitive arrestees included:
A Cuban male who was convicted of a felony for possession of a controlled dangerous substance on school property;
A Honduran female who was arrested for aggravated and simple assault;
A South Korean female who was arrested for promoting prostitution; and
ICE officers arrested 43 fugitive aliens (13 with criminal records) and an additional 35 immigration violators (13 with criminal histories) during a week-long operation in Pennsylvania and Delaware, according to an ICE news release. The Georgetown Police Department in Delaware and the Ross Police Department in Pennsylvania assisted in the operation.
The arrestees included:
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the Miami-area have arrested 116 immigration fugitives and immigration violators in a five-day targeted enforcement operation.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement recently conducted a month-long California immigration sweep which resulted in more than 1,100 arrests. Most of those arrested were specifically targeted because of outstanding deportation orders or criminal convictions.
(PLUS, WHY DID THE HISPANIC CAUCUS & THE IMMIGRATION REFORM CAUCUS COMBINE TO DEFEAT THE BAIL-OUT?) The Bank Bail-Out Crisis should teach us two very important things relevant to the immigration debate: (1) Not all economic growth is good (that is, it doesn't necessarily serve the public good). (2) It's a whole lot less painful to act when a problem is festering than after it becomes a full-blown crisis. To avert immigration crisis in the future, this was the year to pass the SAVE Act (Rep. Shuler's H.R. 4088) and finally start our immigration mess on the road to recovery. Extreme partisan politics kept it from coming to the floor for a vote where it most surely would have passed overwhelmingly.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in cooperation with local police, arrested 63 fugitive aliens and other immigration violators in Oklahoma City and in six surrounding towns last week, an ICE news release announced. A number of those arrested had criminal convictions that included voluntary manslaughter, possessing and distributing controlled substances, grand larceny, extortion, assault, burglary, larceny and drunken driving.
Kris Kobach, arguably the nation’s premiere legal advisor for state and local government immigration reduction efforts, has published a definitive article in the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal that lays out areas in which state and local governments can constitutionally act in the immigration areas without being preempted by Federal law.
Seven companies previously found to have knowingly hired illegal aliens are being considered for debarment from federal contracting, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release. Although ICE has not previously used the debarment option, it is now seen as a potentially useful tool for protecting law-abiding businesses from unfair competition.
Senate Majority Leader Reid has two honorable choices: (1) Bring Sen. Menendez's backroom filibuster to the Senate floor for a vote. If he does this, there easily will be the 60 votes necessary to stop Menendez and allow a vote to pass H.R. 6633 (a clean E-Verify reauthorization). (2) Avoid a vote altogether by talking to Menendez privately, persuading him that what he is doing is threatening the reputation of the Democratic Party just before elections and get him to withdraw his "hold" on H.R. 6633.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made raids in the San Francisco area and in Chicago. Both raids resulted in the arrest of 21 suspected illegal aliens.
An immigration attorney and restaurateur from Hartford, Conn. was sentenced this week to one year in Federal prison for knowingly falsifying and filing paperwork for a woman in Poland to begin the citizenship process without her knowledge or consent, the Hartford Courant reports. Jose del Castillo had pled guilty earlier this year to one count of federal document fraud after having been indicted in late 2006 on 23 counts of falsely filing immigration forms with state and Federal officials.
The ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program was initiated in 2007 to help businesses reduce unauthorized employment by illegal aliens and the related use of fraudulent identity documents. This week, 26 additional companies joined IMAGE as full members, plus 10 companies and one association signed on as associate members, an ICE press release reports.
Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-LA)
Hundreds of local residents are queuing up to work at the Howard Industries plant that was raided two weeks ago in Laurel, Mississippi. Additionally, the plant may be forced to close for one year if it is found to have knowingly hired illegal aliens.
An ICE sting operation at LAX airport last week caught a long-term airport employee in the process of helping 15 illegal aliens, including two with criminal records who had previously been deported, skirt customs and immigration checks. ICE officials said they didn't know how long the alleged smuggling had been going on, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The president and three managers of the Shipley Do-Nut Flour and Supply Company were charged last week with various immigration violations, including knowingly hiring illegal aliens and felonious conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens. The charges against the Houston-based company arose from a criminal investigation ICE initiated early this year that resulted in the administrative arrests of 27 illegal aliens in April.
