BORDER NEWS
The hostage crisis at the St. Martin (Louisiana) Parish Jail last December involving several Cuban detainees cost the state over 0,000. Most of the money was spent on overtime salaries for over 150 state officers who were sent to the jail during the crisis. The state is investigating whether they can obtain reimbursement from the federal government. The state receives a day for housing federal INS detainees. ********* The Mexican consuls in Douglas and Nogales, Arizona have condemned the recent apprehension of several undocumented migrants by a private citizen. What they see as exceptional in this case is that the stop was not made on private property, but on a public highway. The private citizen, Roger Barnett, has been involved in 11 similar stops since April 1999. There has not yet been a decision as to whether Barnett will be prosecuted for his actions, but a prosecution would be supported by the Mexican diplomats. ********* INS agents in Memphis, TN arrested more than 180 people at a construction site for working without authorization. The building being constructed is the new international headquarters for Federal Express, which is what makes what would otherwise be just another raid at a construction site major news. Federal Express was not responsible for hiring the workers, as it had contracted with a construction firm to do the building. A federal grand jury is investigating a subcontractor that supplied labor for the project. ********* A man has been convicted in federal court of falsifying citizenship test results, and faces up to 30 months in prison. The conviction is part of a massive scheme conducted by 20 people who allegedly collected over 0,000 from about 4,400 immigrants in exchange for guarantees that they would pass the citizenship test. The charges are the first of their kind, and result from Department of Justice investigations into private testing centers. Twelve others have pled guilty, charges against four were dismissed, and one person remains a fugitive. 
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