 NEWS BYTES
The Bush Administration has asked the Justice Department to examine its budget and identify areas in which up to billion in cuts could be made. The reductions, which would begin with fiscal year 2002 (October 2001), come just at the time when the expenses of some Justice Department agencies, such as the Bureau of Prisons and the INS, are skyrocketing. According to INS officials, they cannot cut the agency’s budget, in large part because of the continually increasing numbers of INS detainees, which means other programs will suffer. During the Clinton Administration, the Justice Department budget doubled from .1 billion to .3 billion.
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Police in Santa Ana, California recently arrested four people believed to be involved in a fraudulent document ring. According to the police the four, one of whom is a juvenile, were running a “highly sophisticated” operation that manufactured birth certificates, social security cards, drivers’ licenses and green cards. They were selling the documents on the street at prices ranging from to . During the arrest, more than 1,800 fraudulent documents were found, with an estimated street value of 2,000, along with camera equipment and laminating machines.
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Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, an immigrant rights group, this week issued a challenge to the Anaheim, California, city government. The group demanded that the city police discontinue their practice of cooperating with the INS to pursuing undocumented immigrants within 30 days, or the group will begin organizing mass demonstrations at city council meetings.
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Mary Anne Gehris became a national figure after the INS tried to deport the immigrant, who had lived in the US since she was a toddler, because of a conviction stemming from a fight with another woman over a man. Her story was cited as an example of an agency that was out of control. Now she no longer has to worry about being deported because on February 9th, she became a US citizen.
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A former Marine has admitted to charges of witness tampering in the beating of an undocumented immigrant. The incident occurred in 1994, and involved five Marines from Camp Pendleton in California. The Marine who admitted to the charges, Christopher Frederick Byrne, was not one of those involved in the beating. All of those involved in the beating have been convicted. Byrne was sentenced to one year on probation and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.
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In an effort to combat the rumors that have been flying since the recent passage of the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act (LIFE Act, the Mexican consulate in Houston is distributing 100,000 fliers warning people against being taken in by people who promise to fix all their immigration problems. The consulate has received a number of complaints from people who have been defrauded.
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