BORDER NEWS
Roughly
200 migrants were apprehended by Mexican military forces after an overnight
standoff in which the people sought to enter the US.
The planned entry point was through a ranch on the New Mexico border, but
the owners of the ranch notified the US Border Patrol, who in turn notified
Mexican authorities. Part of the
reason for the notification was the fact that the migrants had spent more than a
day in the desert without water and in the heat, dehydration becomes a serious
problem. None of those apprehended
were Mexican nationals, and they are thought to be from various Central American
countries.
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The US Coast Guard detained several dozen undocumented Chinese immigrants in
waters near the US Virgin Islands. Because
of limited resources in the US Virgin Islands, the State Department approached
both the British Virgin Islands and the Dutch island of St. Maarten to process
some of the immigrants. The four
crewmembers of the boat carrying the migrants will face immigrant smuggling
charges. So far this year, the
Coast Guard has arrested 600 Chinese migrants near the US Virgin Islands.
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The INS has suspended a rule that would have required Chinese airline passengers
going to Canada to have a US transit visa if their flight stopped in Alaska.
Officials in Alaska had protested the rule, which was created earlier
this year, ending the longstanding exemption from the transit visa requirement
for Chinese nationals traveling between China and Canada.
They were concerned that airlines would begin moving flights away from
Alaska as a result of the new rule, a move that could have cost the state
millions in revenue and jobs.
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Courts in southwestern border states are continuing to bear the brunt of
stricter border enforcement. While
a few new courts have been established in the past years, resources are still so
limited that one federal judge, Royal Fergeson, who hears cases in the Western
District of Texas, says that “It’s a miracle that somebody’s
constitutional rights aren’t obliterated in the process.”
Since 1995, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on increased
border enforcement, leading to dramatic increases in the number of cases the
federal courts must deal with. In
1994 the number of cases filed in border courts was 6,460. In 1999, the number was 14,517.
In addition to rising case loads, another factor impacting the border is
that a number of judgeships are vacant because of hold-ups in the confirmation
process during the Clinton administration.
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Iowa state troopers last week stopped three vans carrying a total of 44
undocumented immigrants. Each van
was stopped for erratic driving. Officials
believe that improving weather conditions have led to the number of
apprehensions. Despite the recent
stops, the number of arrests has declined this fiscal year, down from 395 at
this point last year to 271.
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An 18-month investigation into immigrant smuggling has resulted in charges
against 21 people. The
investigation, called Operation Night Rider, focused on a ring with bases in
Mexico, Houston and San Antonio. Officials
ran a safe house to be used by the smugglers, who would hold the immigrants
until they paid the entire smuggling fee. All
21 of those charged have reportedly pled guilty.
The ring is believed to have brought as many as 300 people a month into
the US.
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The Coast Guard this week spent two days searching for a Cuban migrant who
jumped off a Coast Guard vessel in an effort to make it to the US.
He, along with 23 other Cubans, was being returned after having been
apprehended in the Florida Straits. Officials
realized the man had jumped after conducting a headcount when the vessel docked
in Cuba to unload the migrants.
SISKIND'S IMMIGRATION BULLETIN