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NEWS  BYTES
Almost four months after the raid that reunited him with his father, and nearly two months after his return to Cuba, Elian Gonzalez is again in the news.  This week the INS announced that it would hold an awards ceremony to honor the agents who participated in the raid.  The news was greeted with anger by the Cuban-American community in Miami which plans to hold protests against the ceremony.

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A few months ago a federal judge ruled that the INS must provide a bail hearing for Mazen Al-Najjar, who has been held for more than three years on secret evidence.  The hearing was scheduled for August 18.  Now government attorneys have filed a motion seeking to avoid the hearing, saying it will force them to either reveal the secret evidence, which they say must be kept secret for reasons of national security, or release someone they claim supports terrorism.  Al-Najjar, a college professor before he was detained, has been in the US for more than 20 years. 

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Two farmers in Colorado are under investigation for allegedly shooting three migrant workers.  Officials believe the two men shot the migrants for rental property owned by one of them.  The victims say the tenant of the property invited them there.  The farmers and the victims have been cooperating with the investigation.  The Sheriff’s Department has recommended that the two farmers be charged with attempted second-degree murder.

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Last weekend about 4000 farmworkers, religious, political and civil rights leaders marched in Washington State to support increased wages and better working conditions for agricultural laborers.  They also called for an amnesty for undocumented workers and for protection for union organizers from retaliation by employers.  According to workers who pick apples in Washington, they earn less now than they did three years ago.
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The INS has proposed closing three inland Border Patrol stations in the Southwest, one in San Marcos, California, one in Boulder City, Nevada, and one in Phoenix, Arizona.  The proposal has been met with stiff opposition by the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing Border Patrol agents.  They believe that the INS’s goal is to place all its enforcement resources directly on the border, but are worried because even with the large presence currently on the border, the Border Patrol cannot stop undocumented crossers.  Therefore, they want an enforcement presence within the US.  The closures would have to be approved by Congress.

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Last April five undocumented immigrants were seriously injured when the Border Patrol vehicle in which they were being transported wrecked after it blew a tire.  Each man was thrown from the vehicle, and one later died of his injuries.  None of the men was sitting in a seat, or wearing a seatbelt.  Three of the men have filed a claim demanding $1 million in damages.  The survivors of the man who died have filed a claim for $10 million.  Such claims are almost always denied by the government, and the filing of a lawsuit often follows.
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Representatives from the Culinary Union say that management at the Rio casino in Las Vegas is engaging in systematic intimidation and harassment of immigrant workers in an effort to prevent the union from organizing workers.  According to D. Taylor, staff director of the union, while they expect management to resist efforts to unionize, they are stunned that it is being done by targeting the most vulnerable workers.  The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against the Rio containing more than 170 separate incidents of unfair labor practices, more that 80 percent of which involve recent immigrants.  A hearing on the complaint will be held in October.
 
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