Six Haitian men have pled not guilty to charges of immigrant smuggling in connection with the recent dramatic landing of more than 200 Haitians in Miami.  Prosecutors say the men were driven by profit, while attorneys for the defendants argue there was no profit motive, and that they were simply attempting to make it to the US.

*********

The mother of Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the suspects in the recent Washington, D.C. area sniper attacks, has been ordered deported. Details about how Una James and her son arrived in the US are not clear, with conflicting reports claiming either entry as stowaways or the use of fraudulent documents. Some observers doubt James will fight her deportation, instead choosing to be home during her son’s trial.

*********

The city council of Douglas, Arizona this week passed a resolution condemning recent calls for vigilante actions to defend the border with Mexico. Douglas, which sits across the border from the Mexican town of Agua Prieta, has become a focal point for border issues because it has seen dramatic increases in the number of undocumented crossers as crackdowns occur in more urbanized border areas. Douglas Mayor Ray Borane criticized calls for vigilantism, observing that most of the people in the area are Hispanic, and wondering how self-appointed border agents would be able to tell whether a person is legally entitled to be in the US.

*********

President Bush this week signed an executive order outlining the responsibilities of various federal agencies in dealing with potential mass migration from the Caribbean. Under the order, the Justice Department will be responsible for screening migrants as well as their custody. Those migrants who are allowed to enter the US would be in the care of the State Department, and the Defense Department would be responsible for housing migrants not allowed to enter the US at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.

*********

Officials investigating the tragedy in which 11 Mexican nationals died after being locked in a railroad car and never released believe they know the identity of the smuggler responsible for helping them enter the US. Rogelio Hernandez is believed to have been a human smuggler for the past twenty years

*********

A long time Border Patrol agent was found guilty of immigrant smuggling this week. Steven Flores was arrested in June after attempting to enter the US at the San Ysidro port of entry with two undocumented immigrants in his car. Flores’ wife, who was with him at the time, confessed that she asked her husband to drive the immigrants to the US after being told she would be paid $500. Flores faces up to three years in prison.