 NEWS BYTES
The trial of four people in the first prosecution under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2001 has been postponed until this summer. Noting the difficulty being experienced in finding potential witnesses, the judge issued a three-month delay of the trial that was to start this week. The case involves six Russian women who were brought to Alaska, allegedly to perform cultural folk dances. After their arrival, they were made to work as strippers at a nightclub. The defendants are charged with a variety of crimes, including visa fraud, kidnapping, forced labor, witness intimidation and transportation of minors across state lines for immoral purposes.
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Union officials with a local plumbing union have accused a plumbing contractor in Bingham Farms, Michigan of hiring undocumented immigrants. They also say that the developer of a new apartment complex where the immigrants were working has been importing Mexican workers, many of whom are undocumented. Representatives of the development say that there have been no undocumented workers on the construction project. They also say that accusing developers of hiring undocumented workers is often a tactic unions use to force employers to hire unionized workers.
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An ongoing series of INS raids in Atlanta has shifted its focus from undocumented immigrants to those who profit from smuggling by employing workers. So far more than 100 immigrants have been arrested, and eight people have been arrested for smuggling and employment violations. The immigrants are being interviewed in hopes that they can provide evidence against those who employed them.
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In Chicago last week Juanita Zamora was sentenced to four years in prison for arranging fraudulent marriages for immigration purposes. Five of her partners in the scheme were also sentenced, as were ten people who had participated in the fraudulent marriages. Most were sentenced to three years’ probation, although those involved in the phony marriages will face deportation proceedings in the next month or so. The INS is also investigating about 50 marriages to determine if there was fraud involved.
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Nine teachers from the Philippines will be teaching in Boston public schools during the next school year. Faced with a shortage of math and science teachers, the school system looked to the Philippines, where English is the predominant second language.
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Undocumented workers in New York’s Suffolk County continue to be a community flashpoint. This week the County Legislature debated the creation of a center for hiring day laborers, many of who are undocumented. Supporters of the bill say that providing a centralized location would eliminate many of the problems associated with hiring day laborers, including traffic and quality of life concerns. Opponents say that it would sanction the hiring of undocumented workers, something they call “treason.”
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A recent survey conducted by the Christian Science Monitor shows that immigration continues to be an issue on which there is no apparent consensus of public opinion. According to the survey, 44 percent of respondents oppose an amnesty program, and while 26 percent said they supported it, 30 percent said that they did not know enough about the issue to say. On a guest worker program with Mexico, 39 percent opposed creating one, 38 percent support one, and 23 percent said they were unsure. On the issue of opening the border with Mexico, there was widespread opposition – 65 percent said it was a bad idea, and only 16 percent said they would support such a move. Asked about whether current level of immigration should be decreased, 41 percent said yes, 33 percent said no, and 8 percent of respondents said current levels of immigration should be increased.
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The former principal of a junior high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was sentenced this week to 10 months in prison for making false statements to illegally obtain visas for Russian nationals. Martin Hoskins pled guilty last September to lying to help secure visas for 47 people. For this he received ,000. According to prosecutors, Hoskins said that the visa applicants were coming to the US to learn about educational systems, knowing that the applicants did not intend to engage in such study, and that they did not plan on returning to Russia after their visas expired. *********
This week Charles Oppenheim of the State Department announced that the employment-based second preference category numbers for India and China will likely become current soon, perhaps as early as May or June. Numbers in the third preference will advance more slowly, for China at a rate of about five months per month, and for India at about four months per month. Mr. Oppenheim did predict, however, that EB-3 numbers for all nationalities could become current later this year.
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