 NEWS BYTES
Last week we reported that just prior to our publishing deadline, we learned that nationals of El Salvador were to be granted Temporary Protected Status in the wake of the devastating earthquake that rocked the country on January 13. In fact, they have not been granted TPS, only a temporary deferment of deportation. Advocates are, however, lobbying the new administration to grant TPS. We apologize for the error.
*********
Mariano Faget, the INS officer convicted of releasing classified material, was to be sentenced last week. However, following the testimony of an Immigration Judge and immigration advocates, his sentencing has been delayed for at least three months. The sentencing judge felt he needed more time to decide whether Faget’s actions damaged US security. This decision could mean a vast difference in the sentence imposed. If Faget is found to be a risk, he could be sentenced to 10 to 12 years. If not, the sentence would be 10 to 24 months.
*********
President Bush has announced that his first foreign trip will be to Mexico, where he will meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox. According to sources within the new administration, Bush will make Latin America a bigger focus than it has been in previous years. One proposal he favors is the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas, which would essentially expand the North American Free Trade Agreement to all of Central and South America. Among the issues that Fox wants to be discussed are the fight on drug trafficking and immigration.
*********
The Department of Justice is investigating the death of a French immigrant in the Clark County (Las Vegas, Nevada) jail. Philippe Le Menn died on January 4. He was the 24th inmate to die of suicide or “natural causes” since the Justice Department began investigating the jail in 1997. According to Le Menn’s cousin, he died of head injuries received in a beating by prison guards. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, a videotape shows that Le Menn was beaten and repeatedly sprayed with pepper spray.
*********
Police in Orange County, California, arrested two men on charges of smuggling 30 undocumented immigrants into the US and holding them hostage until their families paid a ransom. Seven other people were arrested on charges that they guarded the immigrants to prevent their escape during their two-week period of captivity.
*********
For ten years, students at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles have been participating in a day-long program designed to help them understand the experience of immigrants who are not proficient in English. Designed by teacher James Berger, the program lets students experience everything from attempting to enter the US to trying to get a driver’s license in a language they do not understand.
*********
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), of which the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Immigration Courts are part, recently announced that it will begin a six-month pilot project to increase pro bono representation of detained immigrants appearing before the Board. The project will focus on bringing together lawyers from various advocacy groups, including Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights (CAIR) Coalition, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF), with those needing representation. The new program is important because immigrants in removal proceedings are not provided with publicly funded legal assistance. Most immigrants, especially those in detention, who appear before the Board do not have legal representation.
*********
Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) has asked the federal government to open an investigation into working conditions at the Port of Oakland, CA. Her request was prompted by allegations that a Chinese company is engaged in persistent violations of labor laws, including paying workers who are installing four large cranes only 57 cents an hour. The workers, who came to the US from China last fall, should be paid the prevailing wage, which is .83 an hour. Rep. Lee’s request for an investigation comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed against the company by the Iron Workers District Council. Lee has asked the INS to investigate whether there are any visa violations. The workers are in the US on B-1 visas, which allow them to perform limited work in areas where US workers lack the necessary knowledge of the equipment. According to Lee, there is evidence that the workers are doing other jobs that do not require specialized knowledge.
*********
A Guyanese man recently pled guilty to attempting to bribe a US Embassy official to help someone else obtain a visa. Hargobin Mortley has been held in the US since last April. The US Embassy official involved, Thomas P. Carroll, was charged with conspiracy to sell visas and was arrested last March.
*********
A truck carrying 19 undocumented immigrants crashed in Colorado last week, killing one and seriously injuring another. Police believe that the driver fell asleep at the wheel because it was a single car crash and there were no indications that he had slammed on the brakes to avoid going off the road. The surviving passengers are now in INS custody.
*********
The president of the National Council of La Raza, the largest Hispanic advocacy group in the US, has criticized President Bush for appointing only one Hispanic to his Cabinet. Another criticism was that this Hispanic, Mel Martinez, who will be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is a Cuban-American, a segment that makes up only four percent of the national Hispanic population. According to the administration, other Hispanics are likely to be named to undersecretary positions.
*********
A jury in Los Angeles recently found a man guilty of two counts of involuntary servitude, as well as one count each of conspiracy and harboring an undocumented immigrant. Nur Alamin and his wife Rabiya Akhter, who are natives of Bangladesh, smuggled a young woman into the US from India in 1995. Since 1995, the smuggled woman was forced to work long hours for no pay and was beaten and threatened whenever she attempted to escape. Alamin will be sentenced in April, and faces up to 45 years in prison. Alamin had previously pled guilty to a conspiracy charge.
*********
Jimmy Johnson, a Liberian national who spent more than six years in detention after arriving in the US, was finally released this week. Johnson came to the US in September 1994 and told immigration inspectors that he was using a fraudulent passport and wanted to apply for asylum. He was detained on the spot, and was in INS custody until this week. Detention of asylum seekers who arrive with no documents or with fraudulent documents is routine, but few are held for as long asJohnson, whose detention was called “abusive” by Amnesty International. Johnson was denied asylum and the INS tried to deport him to Liberia, but the country refused to accept him. He was eventually granted relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture after the Board of Immigration Appeals found that he would likely be tortured if returned to Liberia.
*********
An INS officer was recently arrested for soliciting a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl over the Internet. Brandon J. Clifford was charged with corruption of a minor and indecent assault, and is being held on 0,000 bail. Clifford, who is 27, told the girl that he was 17. After the girl saw a picture of him, she became suspicious and told her father, who reported it to police. The police then assumed the girl’s identity and made arrangements to meet with Clifford, who was arrested on his way to the meeting.
**********
School officials in Tucson, Arizona are beginning to implement Proposition 203, passed last November, which ended most bilingual education in the state. Officials do not yet know how many of the 14,000 students currently in bilingual education programs in the city will be affected. To continue in a bilingual education program, the student must obtain a waiver. To qualify for the waiver, the student must meet three conditions: they must be over 10, must already know English, and their parent must convince the school that there is a special reason to keep the student in a bilingual education program. School officials will then decide whether to grant the waiver. Students currently in bilingual programs who do not get a waiver will be placed in an English immersion program.
*********
Two of the 18 people indicted last year during the investigation of an alleged cigarette smuggling ring were sentenced for violating immigration laws. They were sentenced to six months in prison and two years on supervised release. Federal investigators claim the North Carolina-based ring was raising money for terrorist groups
*********
Five Iraqi nationals who came to the US following the Gulf War are now free to leave Lancaster County, Nebraska, where they have been required to live and stay for the past 18 months. Upon their arrival, the government claimed they were security risks and jailed them. James Woolsey, a former director of the CIA, represented them in their fight against the INS. It was through his efforts that they were released from prison in 1999. Because of the structure of this arrangement, they are not allowed to seek asylum through normal channels, but must apply directly to the Attorney General. Late last year, Woolsey filed asylum applications on behalf of the men, and says he will file again after the new Attorney General is named.
|
