 NEWS BYTES
Police and federal agents recently raided and shut down five massage parlors in Ann Arbor, Michigan, saying that they were fronts for prostitution. Most of the women who worked at the parlors were Asian immigrants. The raids followed a two-year investigation that began after police received a tip that women were being forced into prostitution. Eighteen women were arrested, one of whom was turned over to the INS. Officials believe that most of the women who worked at the parlors had been brought to the US and then forced into prostitution to pay off smuggling debts. As many as 50,000 women are brought into the US each year for such purposes. Often, in order to ensure the women’s continued servitude, they are moved from one work location to another to prevent them from forming any ties with the community.
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Trial began this week in the case of Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian national who was arrested after trying to enter the US from Canada with explosives in his car in December 1999. US intelligence authorities believe Ressam was part of the terrorist organization controlled by Osama bin Laden, who has been blamed for numerous terrorist incidents.
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Activists in New York are urging the state to provide health coverage to immigrants who are ineligible for federal heath care benefits. Since 1996, legal immigrants must reside in the US for five years before they are eligible for federal programs. Children are still eligible, but because their parents are not, many children go without coverage. Advocates say that denying immigrants access to primary care has cost New York millions of dollars by forcing them to wait until an emergency develops. Currently ten states have stepped in to provide coverage to immigrants.
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Wisconsin police have arrested a woman wanted on 25 counts of forgery in Kansas after she was stopped by police for driving while intoxicated. Kansas officials say Martha Archuleta conned more that ,000 from Mexican immigrants in 1998 and 1999 while working for an immigrant aid agency. After leaving Kansas, she moved to Illinois. She disappeared shortly before the Kansas charges were announced.
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Harold Giron, who ran for a spot in the Nevada state senate last year, recently pled guilty to charges to transporting undocumented immigrants. Along with Giron, his wife, who is a former member of the state Board of Education, and son were also charged. The charges against them, however, are expected to be dropped. The couple runs a shelter that provides services primarily to Hispanic immigrants. The charges against the Girons relate to a trip he arranged for 14 people to travel from Las Vegas to Seattle to obtain identification documents. Giron admitted he suspected that they were undocumented.
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With April 30 fast approaching, when section 245(i), which allows people in the US without authorization to apply for permanent residency, expires, marriages in Santa Ana, California are increasing. In February, the register’s office performed 44 marriages; through the middle of March, 339 marriages had been performed. To be eligible under section 245(i), the applicant generally must have a qualifying relative of job offer.
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