The Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center recently sent a letter to the INS containing allegations that the medical needs of many female detainees are going unmet, and that conditions at the Sarasota County jail are generally inadequate.  The charges are being investigated by the local sheriff’s department. 

*********

Just weeks after creating an uproar by calling for the deportation of an undocumented high school student and his family, Colorado Republican Tom Tancredo is drawing more criticism for more outspoken remarks on immigration. Tancredo recently called on the INS to round up people waiting for identification cards at the Mexican consulate in Denver on the theory that the only people who need such cards are undocumented. INS spokespeople say that the agency cannot target groups of people for immigration checks without cause, and that doing so here would likely be found unconstitutional. 

*********

In South Carolina, nearly 30 women recently pled guilty to charges of marrying undocumented immigrants so they could obtain legal status in the US. The women received between $1,000 and $6,000 for participating in the sham marriages. They were among more than 100 women arrested recently on similar charges. 

*********

This week Ronald Bogardus was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud immigrants and the US government. Bogardus, a former contract employee of the State Department, and Samuel Kooritzky, an attorney were arrested last summer on charges of filing thousands of fraudulent labor certification applications. The scheme came to light when one of the employers being used received correspondence from the Labor Department and had no idea what it was about. Bogardus has also been ordered to make restitution of more than $4 million to the victims. Kooritzky is scheduled to go on trial in December. 

*********

Earlier this month the INS deported 11 Cambodian nationals who came to the US as refugees. One of the group was Kim Ho Ma, who sued the INS protesting indefinite detention and won. The Supreme Court said that it was unconstitutional for the INS to detain deportable immigrants when there was no evidence that they would be soon deported. In the case of Cambodians, deportations have been rare because of the lack of a repatriation agreement between the US and Cambodia. Earlier this year the two countries reached an agreement that has paved the way for deportations. 

*********

A federal grand jury in Maryland recently indicted a couple on charges of enslaving a Ghanaian woman they brought to the US through visa fraud. Also indicted was the wife’s mother, Grace Coleman, a high-ranking official in the government of Ghana. They allegedly forced Margaret Owusuwaah to work as a domestic servant without pay for 17 months. 

*********

Nine Indian women are suing Lakireddy Bali Reddy, seeking to recover financial damages for being smuggled into the US and forced to provide sex and cheap labor. Reddy and several family members were convicted of smuggling charges after two girls died in an apartment owned by Reddy. Reddy is currently serving eight years in prison.