 NEWS BYTES
According to a recent meeting between the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the INS Immigrant Services Division, the implementation of premium processing of I-140’s, which was to begin this week, has been delayed. Currently, it is not known when the Service will implement this program.
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The Mexican consul general in Houston has issued a warning to undocumented workers at local airports, telling them to quit their jobs before the INS raids the airport and arrests them. While there has been no announcement that Operation Tarmac, the INS investigation into airport workers, will be coming to Houston, the consul believes it is only a matter of time. He says he has information that the INS has already begun the audit process of employee records.
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This week the Russian government announced that a former army officer who was granted asylum in the US won asylum by presenting a fabricated story. The officer, Andrei Samorodov, claimed to have served in Chechnya, presenting a story in which he was ordered to commit atrocities against the civilian population and threatened with retaliation for reporting them. According to the Russian government, Samorodov never served in Chechnya. The government says it will release records this week backing up its claims. Samorodov was granted asylum in May 2000.
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The INS in Florida has arrested and detained two former military officers accused of participating in mass murder in Honduras and Haiti. Juan Evangelista Lopez Grijalba was a colonel in a Honduran battalion trained by the CIA, which is accused of killing nearly 200 political enemies. The Honduran government issued a warrant for his arrest in 1996, and in 1998 he legally entered the US. He was later granted temporary protected status. INS officials revoked that status following a two-year investigation, and Grijalba now faces deportation. Herbert Valmond, a lieutenant colonel in Haiti, was accused by the Haitian government of killing 25 peasants in 1994. He gained permanent residence through a marriage to a US citizen. He also faces deportation.
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Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sponsored an amendment to the bill to eliminate the INS that calls for an evaluation of the effectiveness of border patrol checkpoints, saying that they provide little enforcement and cause significant traffic problems. Now, a number of papers in California are reporting that Issa was pulled over by a Border Patrol agent late last year for speeding through a construction zone, and that this influenced his decision to introduce the bill. A spokesperson for Issa, while not denying the incident, says that the release of the report is a “politically motivated attack.” The Border Patrol does not have authority to enforce speeding laws, but can pull speeders over in the name of public safety.
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A San Francisco area couple has managed to avoid prison time for their involvement in a scheme to smuggle undocumented immigrants from India for forced sex and labor. Javaprakash Lakireddy was sentenced to one year in a halfway house, from which he will be allowed to continue running his businesses. His wife, Annapurna Lakireddy, was sentenced to spend six months in home detention, with electronic monitoring. The two are the bother and sister-in-law of Lakireddy Bali Reddy, who was convicted last summer of masterminding the smuggling scheme. The scheme came to light after one girl smuggled by Reddy died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Both Lakireddy’s pled guilty to a single charge of immigration fraud. Two more people are due to be tried on related charges, and they have indicated that they are willing to consider a plea bargain.
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The FBI is investigating illegal sales of visas at the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez. The investigation began in 1999 when federal agents arrested a number of known drug smugglers carrying visas issued by the consulate. Last month, one employee of the consulate was convicted of bribery and of receiving gratuities in exchange for performing her official duties. Officials say that Aracelia Betancis accepted money in exchange for speeding up the process of issuing visas. They believe that more than 500 people obtained visas in this way. Betancis faces up to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced next month.
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INS detainees at the Piedmont Regional Jail in Virginia recently told a reporter that they have been physically and sexually abused while in detention. A number of detainees reported being beaten by guards and being denied medical care. Female detainees reported being forced to strip in view of a video camera, and being confined to their beds for a week. One female detainee claimed that a guard sexually assaulted her and two others. She was transferred to another facility, and the guard was fired. According to the woman’s attorney, prosecutors are investigating the allegation. About 100 INS detainees are held at the facility, where they are kept with the general criminal population.
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Some Cuban nationals who were being held at the US Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba have been granted refugee status in Australia and Nicaragua, officials said this week. Many of them had been held at the base for more than three years. Despite showing that they would likely be eligible for asylum in the US, because they had been apprehended in waters off Cuba, they could not apply. Under a policy created by the Clinton administration, US diplomats worked to secure them refuge in other countries. | 
