An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) press release announced that they have arrested 111 fugitives and illegal aliens in New Jersey .  The seven-day operation, dubbed Return to Sender, was implemented to target, locate and apprehend immigration fugitives.  Sixty-five of those arrested in the operation have outstanding warrants of removal.  Of the 111 people arrested, 34 have criminal records.  Those detained will have their removal pending an appearance in immigration court.  

During fiscal year 2006 ICE removed 185,431 aliens from the United States , an increase over the 168,906 individuals removed in fiscal year 2005.

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A Korean businessman who forced Korean immigrant women to work at his Dallas nightclub was sentenced on October 18 in federal court.  The man, Sung Bum Chang, was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and ordered to pay $37,000 restitution to the victims of his crime.

Chang, a Korean-American man, owned and operated the nightclub " Club Wa ."  He admitted that from December 2004 to April 26, 2005, he conspired with others to willfully hold club workers in a condition of forced labor at his nightclub.  He obtained the young women using a smuggling network that recruited them from South Korea with promises of good jobs in the United States .  Chang forced the victims to live in the upper floor of his home, where he restrained their freedom by video monitoring the inside of his home and having Club Wa employees stand guard.

On April 26, 2005, law enforcement executed search warrants on Chang’s residence and business.  Change was arrested and six undocumented Korean women were found in his residence.  Chang was released on bond and the undocumented women have either been returned to their homeland or remain in the United States seeking immigration status.

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The Department of State, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), recently announced the development of a card-format passport for international travel by U.S. citizens through land and sea ports of entry between the United States , Canada , Mexico , the Caribbean, and Bermuda .

The limited-use passport will be adjudicated  to the same standards as a traditional passport book.  The rule published recently by the State Department proposes a wallet-sized card that would cost $10 for children and $20 for adults, plus a $25 execution fee.

The passport card is the core element of the PASS (People Access Security Service) System announced by Secretaries Rice and Chertoff in January 2006, and will secure and expedited travel to and from the United States .