NEWS BYTES

Maria Chica, a former INS employee in Los Angeles, pled guilty this week to charges of accepting bribes and selling stolen green cards.  Chica had worked for the INS for 22 years.  During her plea agreement, she said she was motivated in part because other INS employees had sexually harassed her. 

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The State Department announced this week that it was changing its practice of allowing visa applicants in Saudi Arabia to apply through travel agencies.  Despite the State Department’s protestations that only consular officers made decisions on whether to issue visas, criticism from Congress was so strong the Department announced that all visa applicants must apply directly at the consulate, and that all applicants will be interview. 

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Responding to a request from Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, will look into the financial impact on hospitals of treating undocumented immigrants. 

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The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the state of Minnesota, claiming that new restrictions on driver’s licenses for non-citizens are “fundamentally unfair.”  Under the new rules, first time license applicants must present two forms of identification, and for nonimmigrants, the license is dated to expire on the same day as the end of their authorized stay.

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