South Florida's three Cuban-American members of Congress, Republican U.S. Reps. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, Mario Díaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, pressed the Bush administration Monday to allow foreign nationals from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Haiti to remain in the United States by means of renewing their “temporary protected status”, known as TPS, while their countries rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Mitch, one of the worst hurricanes in recent memory to strike Central America. More than 300,000 are at risk of losing TPS and being deported. They also asked President Bush to make Haitian nationals eligible for TPS for the first time, too. They cited recent ''undemocratic actions'' of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and argued that he has created conditions that make it ''extremely dangerous for Haitians to return to their country at this time.''

TPS, a temporary work-residency program, created by Congress, grants citizens of designated countries plagued by armed conflict, natural disasters or other emergencies, the right to live and work in the United States for certain periods of time. That status is usually reviewed every 18 months, and is often extended depending on instability in the home countries. The Bush administration has reportedly been considering dropping TPS and perhaps rolling it into a guest-worker initiative now being considered by Congress.

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According to FBI officials, Pablo Rosario, 31, a Border Patrol agent for five years, allegedly molested three immigrant women and then released them without processing them. He has been indicted on charges of civil rights violations and making false statements and suspended without pay. He faces up to five years in prison on each of the four counts of charges and up to $250,000 in fines. The indictment alleges Rosario detained and sexually molested a mother and her 15-year-old daughter crossing the border from Mexico in March 2004.

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According to The Chicago Tribune, Ozzie Guillen, former major-league player, coach, and now manager of the World Series champion White Sox along with his wife, Ibis, and 19-year-old son Oney passed their citizenship tests last Friday and were sworn in by Judge Marvin Aspen at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office. When asked how he felt, Ozzie said “This is my dream. Do you know how many people die every week trying to be an American? It's not an easy thing to do.”

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The Department of State has announced significant policy changes regarding  J-1 flight training programs. Currently, eight organizations facilitate the entry into the United States of some 350 foreign nationals yearly for the purpose of flight training. The USA Patriot Act of 2001 mandated that the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Education, and the Attorney General, all take cognizance of and undertake certain actions regarding flight training programs. The Department of State has determined that it does not have the expertise and resources to fully monitor flight training programs and insure their compliance with the national security concerns expressed in the Patriot Act.

Consequently, as a matter of policy, the Department of State will no longer  designate any new J visa flight training programs, nor will it permit currently-designated flight training programs to expand their programs, pending a determination as to which Federal agency ultimately will be tasked with the administering and monitoring of such programs. Redesignation of programs will continue as required by existing regulations. This policy is effective January 24, 2006.

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The Department Of State also announced Scaling back J-1 agricultural training programs. In 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the Department's management of the J visa Summer Work Travel and Trainee programs to ensure that only authorized activities are carried out under the programs and to identify potential risks of the programs. The GAO Report found that there was a potential that the trainee programs could be misused as employment programs and that trainees could be exploited by employers or other third parties. Agricultural training programs were found to be particularly problematic because of the potential for fraud.

The GAO report also cited cases where certain employers referred to their program participants as employees, rather than trainees. In one case cited, four trainees were placed with dairy farms that had an agreement with the program sponsor, but only one of the four farms participating in the program had a structured training plan. There were concerns that these programs were merely utilizing trainees for cheap labor and whether the trainees were simply receiving enough training to perform their work. The Department has consulted with the Department of Labor and the Department of Agriculture in order to develop ways to better monitor agricultural training programs and to determine whether such agriculture training programs are subject to and in compliance with existing statutes such as the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act. Pending the Department's resolution of these outstanding issues, the Department of State will not designate any new J visa agricultural training programs, nor permit currently-designated agricultural training programs to expand.

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According to a press release from Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), upon President Bush’s signing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA-H.R. 972), ICE reaffirmed its law enforcement commitment to identify victims of human trafficking and bring perpetrators of this crime to justice.  The number of ICE investigations against traffickers increased by more than 400 percent in the first six months of FY 2005, compared to the total number of cases in FY 2004.

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Daphiney Caganap, former head of the INS anti-corruption unit and the San Ysidro, California border, was sentenced to three years of probation after admitting she lied to an FBI agent who was investigating a smuggling ring. She first lied to the investigator about having dinner with a border inspector who was actively involved with a Mexican smuggling incident but then she later confessed.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, Caganap had accepted money and items from the smuggler. Because she offered a guilty plea, her charges for 36 years were dropped. She has also agreed to pay a fine and no longer works as head of customs in the Detroit airport.  The border inspector, Michael Taylor, the inspector, plead guilty to smuggling marijuana and immigrants and will face 4 ½ years of prison.

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According to Reuters, A U.S. coalition of business, labor unions and religious groups launched a campaign on Thursday to defeat a bill backed by Republicans that would turn about 11 million undocumented immigrants into felons.  The coalition of 24 organizations, including the US Chamber of Commerce and various labor unions, denounced the bill passed by the House of Representatives last month and called on the Senate to enact legislation to include a guest worker program and a process for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status.

The Senate is expected to take up immigration next month and is expected to produce a bill that differs with the House version and include some form of guest worker program.  The two versions would then have to be reconciled though negotiations.