In an effort to stop fraud, U.S. embassy officials will begin using new biometric visas to record fingerprints from almost everyone applying for a visa to travel to that country.  They will allow security background checks on an applicant in seconds, and will include a fingerprint and photograph.

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The U.S. Coast Guard sent home 361 Haitians found on a 54-foot boat last week that was en route to the Bahamas.  348 of the migrants were adults.  They were picked up near Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas as Tropical Storm Odette was heading east.

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Undercover U.S. Border Patrol agents busted a smuggling ring run by a federal inmate at a Florence prison last week by arresting four of its members.  Ringleader Reynaldo Garcia Vera, already serving two years for an alien-smuggling conviction, is now facing new charges of conspiracy to smuggle aliens. 

The group allegedly used rented cargo vans and trucks to move illegal immigrants into the United States via the Arizona border and is believed to have smuggled about 500 people into the country illegally.

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“Operation Predator”, the nationwide effort to apprehend immigrants involved in child abuse and pornography caught 14 foreign sex offenders in metro Phoenix.  ICE said eight of the suspects had prior records.  The sex offenders came from Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Vietnam.  One of the men has already been removed from the US; the rest will be placed in removal proceedings.

Since “Operation Predator” began in July, over 1,500 foreign child predators and sex offenders have been arrested throughout the US.  There have been 46 arrests made in Phoenix.  “Operation Predator” has a 24-hour hotline for information on sex offenders at 1-866-DHS-2ICE.