According to a press release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), document fraud is on the rise.  According to ICE, with the potential to extort large sums of money from a desperate clientele, millions of dollars are being made by individuals who can create fraudulent documents.  The increase of available, sophisticated technology has compounded the problem and increased the number of people who can enter into the illegal trade.  Because of the security threat that document fraud poses to the U.S., efforts to combat the growing problem have increased.  In the September 11^th attacks, at least seven of the hijackers were able to obtain government issued identification by offering falsified documents.

ICE has created a new program for combating document fraud based on an existing task force in the D.C. area.  The new “Document and Benefit Fraud Task Forces” will be opened in ten major cities across the US in order to crack down on major counterfeiting operations.  The task force brings together a number of agencies in order to open a broader field of expertise.  By pooling specialized knowledge in the different areas of document and benefit fraud, ICE hopes to facilitate the capture and prosecution of a growing criminal trade.  Along with a number of federal agencies in the new task force, both local and state law enforcement agencies will be utilized to locate and capture counterfeiters.  In any cases like 9/11 where terrorist links are found, investigations will be turned over to Joint Terrorism Task Forces.

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A pub operator in Depew, Bridget Campbell, 37, has admitted to arranging the smuggling of at least thirty undocumented Irish aliens from Ontario into Buffalo, according to Newsday. Campbell faces sentencing in the U.S District Court on June 9. The undocumented immigrants were charged a fee in exchange for being shuttled into the U.S., and coached as to what questions border inspectors might ask them. Campbell used actual pub workers or customers to transport the undocumented immigrants across the border.

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According to the Associated Press, Border Patrol agents rescued twenty Mexican undocumented immigrants after they activated a rescue beacon twenty miles south of Tacna. Agents from the Wellton Station responded to a distress signal and encountered the immigrants in three dispersed groups. Twelve of the immigrants were still in the desert when rescued.

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According to The Associated Press, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has given Indonesian citizen, Yose Rizal, another chance at asylum. Rizal, 37, claimed that due to Christian beliefs he had been harassed and discriminated against by Muslims. His church back in Jakarta was also one of many to have been burned. Previously, Rizal’s claim of religious persecution was rejected when he could not correctly answer questions such as who wrote Ten Commandments or where Jesus was crucified. The appeals court decided that Rizal could be persecuted for his religious affiliation without having a detailed faith.