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BORDER NEWS
Stories of immigrants dying from exposure and heat exhaustion during summer months are sadly too commonplace.  However, recently in South Texas three immigrants faced quite different hazards.  One man died jumping from the vehicle he was in as it approached a Border Patrol checkpoint.  A woman was attacked by a swarm of deadly African killer bees, and a third suffered extensive burns when his gasoline soaked clothes caught fire.  Officials believe he came in contact with the gas while riding in the trunk of a car.  
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Thirty Chinese immigrants were apprehended in Port St. Lucie, Florida.  All were men, and appeared to be in good health.  According to officials, they are from the Fujian province, where the 58 immigrants found dead in a truck at Dover, England last week were from.  The men are being kept at the Krome Detention Center in Miami. 
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This week the US returned 60 Haitians deported because of criminal convictions to Haiti, over the protests of the Haitian government that it is not able to deal with so many arrivals.  The Haitian government is financially unable to follow up with the new arrivals, who often are left to fend for themselves, often turning to crime.  Officials are also concerned that many of those deported left Haiti as children and have no family or contacts in the country. 
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An undercover sting operation led by the Drug Enforcement Agency and the New York State Police has resulted in the arrests of 105 people in six states.  Undercover officers posing as corrupt INS officers would offer to sell green cards to drug dealers for almost $20,000.  Most of those charged were Colombian nationals.  Authorities also seized $350,000 in cash, $7.2 million in heroin and $4 million in cocaine.  They are still looking for 54 other suspects. 
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 Immigration officials in northern Alabama have wrapped up a month-long program in which 26 immigrants were arrested.  Four agents were assigned to the area to assist local police, who have complained that there is not enough of an INS presence in the area.  Twelve of those arrested were caught at one time, when agents stopped a vehicle carrying them to Georgia.  Four were arrested as they went to report to their probation officers.  
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Patrick Flores, an archbishop in Texas, was held hostage for nine hours by a man from El Salvador who demanded assistance with his immigration status.  Until the end of the drama, officials believed the man had a hand grenade, when they discovered that it had no power and could not be detonated.  The man, Nelson Antonio Escolero, was deported last December, despite his marriage to a US citizen and his three US citizen children.  He has now been charged with aggravated kidnapping and is being held on $2 million bond.
 
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Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.