-  Arizona Renews Push to Criminalize Immigrants

-  Dallas police ticketed 39 drivers in 3 years for not speaking English

-  U.S. readies plan to ID departing visitors

-  Border Arrests Decline Again

-  S.F. Sanctuary Policy: Feds Not Going to Look the Other Way

-  Authorities arrest man as part of crackdown on passport application fraud

-  Criminal deportations spike in Pacific Northwest

The Inter Press Service in Phoenix reports that Arizona could become the first state in the U.S. to criminalize the very presence of undocumented immigrants. Local politicians renewed a push to pass legislation that would make it a misdemeanor to trespass on state lands, allowing local police to arrest anyone illegally in the country.

The enforcement of immigration law is considered the purview of the federal government in the U.S., but Arizona has been at the forefront of efforts to grant local police the ability to detain and deport undocumented immigrants. [Editor’s note – Mississippi already has a law criminalizing being out of status, but it is not structured as a trespassing law].

Sheriff Joe Arpaio believes local police have the inherent authority to enforce federal immigration laws. Arpaio had one of the largest forces in the nation deputized to enforce immigration laws on the streets and in the jails under an agreement with DHS known as 287(g).

However, the new legislation may not succeed in the State Legislature. During the last two years, similar bills were vetoed by then governor Janet Napolitano, currently the secretary of Homeland Security. This year also saw the failure of some 27 bills aimed at clamping down on immigrants.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49034

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The Dallas Morning News reports that Dallas police wrongly ticketed at least 39 drivers for not speaking English over the last three years, Police Chief David Kunkle announced Friday, while promising to investigate all officers involved in the cases for dereliction of duty.

Pending cases will be dismissed, and those who paid the $204 fine for the charge, which does not exist in the city, will be reimbursed. The citations were issued in several different patrol divisions by at least six different officers. One of those officers was responsible for five of the citations, Kunkle said.

The case that led to the discovery of all the others occurred Oct. 2, when Ernestina Mondragon was stopped for making an illegal U-turn in the White Rock area. Mondragon was cited for three violations: disregarding a traffic control device, failure to present a driver's license and 'non-English speaking driver.'

In that case and perhaps the others, officials said, the officer was confused by a pull-down menu on his in-car computer that listed the charge as an option. But the law the computer referred to is a federal statute regarding commercial drivers that Kunkle said his department does not enforce.

Mondragon, a native Spanish speaker, challenged the charge in court and it was dropped, her daughter said. Dallas police said they will drop all charges against Mondragon, who speaks limited English and does have a Texas driver's license.

Kunkle said he expected the investigation to last at least a few weeks and could reach back several years.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DNcitationfolo_24met.ART.State.Edition2.4bc27b3.html

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The Washington Post is reporting that The Department of Homeland Security is finalizing a proposal to collect fingerprints or eye scans from all foreign travelers at U.S. airports as they leave the country, officials said, a costly screening program that airlines have opposed. The plan, which would take effect within two years, would collect fingerprints at airport security checkpoints, departure gates or terminal kiosks, allowing the government to track when roughly 35 million foreign visitors a year leave the country and who might be overstaying their visas, DHS officials said.

In a concession to industry, DHS said it probably will drop plans to require airlines to pay for the bulk of the program and is looking to cut costs, which could reach $1 billion to $2 billion over a decade, largely to be paid by taxpayers or foreign travelers. In addition, the program would not operate for now at land borders, where 80 percent of noncitizens enter and leave the country, because fingerprinting travelers there could cost billions more and significantly delay commerce.

DHS officials said they are working to hold down costs. Collecting fingerprints at security checkpoints would be cheaper than doing so at the departure gates, but checkpoints could be more prone to fraud by people who leave the airport instead of boarding their flights. But fingerprinting at departure gates would require more workers, DHS officials said. Supporters of the program say that, by collecting fingerprints and other data, officials can instantly check the identity of a foreign visitor leaving the country against security watch lists. It could also help target foreigners who have violated immigration laws. But critics point out that potential terrorists entering the country present a greater concern than those leaving.

Of the 200,000 to 400,000 travelers each year who immigration officials estimate

overstay their visas, US-VISIT identifies those deemed a higher priority for investigation based on their nationality, age, sex and other biographical factors.

The current system of tracking incoming visitors gave immigration officials leads last year on more than 14,000 who potentially presented a high risk, leading to 750 arrests, at a cost of $42 million.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/07/AR2009110703115.html

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The Wall Street Journal reports that according to newly released federal government data, the number of people caught illegally entering the U.S. dropped by more than 23% during the past year, continuing a longer trend. Some attribute the decline to the struggling U.S. economy and rising joblessness while others argue that increased enforcement has deterred illegal immigration.

Drug seizures along the border, meanwhile, rose over the same period, according to the government. Authorities say tougher enforcement has forced smugglers to try such methods as flying ultra-light aircraft over border fences.

U.S. border apprehensions dropped to 556,041 in fiscal year 2009 -- which ended Sept. 30 -- compared with 723,825 in the 2008 fiscal year. Border apprehensions have fallen nearly 67% decline since fiscal year 2000, when the border patrol made 1,675,438 arrests.

The Obama administration will use evidence of tougher border enforcement as part of its strategy to win support for a congressional overhaul of the U.S. immigration system next year. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently gave a speech about the administration's plans at the Center for American Progress, a Democrat-affiliated think tank in Washington, where she emphasized the successes in border enforcement over the last few years. DHS is emphasizing the following accomplishments:

-         The U.S. has nearly doubled the number of border-patrol agents in the past five years and uses a combination of patrols, fences, electronic sensors and pilotless drone aircraft.

-         There are now more than 20,000 border agents, compared with about 11,000 in 2004.

-         The agency has built fences and vehicle barriers along large swaths of the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

-         Funding for the border-patrol agency jumped to more than $10.9 billion last year from about $6 billion in fiscal-year 2004.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125781594948540097.html

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The New York Times reports that the U.S. Attorney for the northern district of California, Joseph P. Russoniello, warned in a letter to the San Francisco city attorney that the federal government, which constitutionally retains the exclusive power to set immigration policy, “cannot, as a general matter, promise not to prosecute for violations of federal law.” This came in response to a plan by the city to establish a policy of sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

The ordinance changes city officials’ obligations to report juveniles to immigration authorities if those juveniles get caught up in the criminal justice system. Previously, young people were reported when they were arrested for felony crimes. Under the new ordinance, city authorities are supposed to report the juveniles only in case of a conviction.

“I don’t think it’s enforceable,” said Mr. Russoniello of the new bill. He added, “If there’s any attempt by the city to prevent people to provide information to I.C.E.”—the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency —“those persons face the possibility of prosecution.” In Mr. Russoniello’s interpretation, a city worker abiding by the ordinance— or preventing another worker from turning in a juvenile offender —would effectively be “harboring” an illegal immigrant, a federal crime punishable by fines and up to five years in prison. Mr. Russoniello dashed the hopes of City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who had sought assurance that city employees will not be prosecuted.

But Mr. Russoniello’s office did not give that assurance. “That’s a dangerous precedent and we don’t ever make that kind of commitment,” Mr. Russoniello said.

This sets up a likely legal clash between local and federal governments, in addition to  the clash between the board and the mayor, who said he will not abide by the new ordinance.

The strategy in this matter might have broader implications as well. A number of states have approved anti-immigrant legislation over the past few years that would seemingly be in jeopardy if the Administration asserts its exclusive governance of immigration matters.

http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/sf-sanctuary-policy-no-federal-carve-out/

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Daily News in Los Angeles, reports that a Mexican national living in Whittier was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border in an ongoing federal crackdown on passport application fraud, which has netted 11 other arrests over the past three weeks.

Alma Huerta, 40, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Oct. 21 on charges of using a false identity to obtain a passport in 2000 and using that document in an attempt to open a bank account, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A total of 20 defendants have been charged with making false statements in relation to passport applications. Authorities are searching for eight fugitives, prosecutors said. The sweep stems from findings by the Diplomatic Security Service's Los Angeles office that saw a 30 percent increase from 2007 to 2008 in passport fraud cases, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13757322

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The Associated Press is reporting that deportations of illegally present immigrants with criminal records from Alaska, Oregon, and Washington this past year spiked nearly 40 percent, while overall removals dropped for the first time in five years, according to new data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The data, for a one year period, shows that 10,793 people were deported from the Pacific Northwest, a drop of 117 compared to the previous year. This marks the first time in the last five years that deportations from the Northwest have dropped.

Deportations had increased from more than 4,000 in 2005 to nearly 11,000 in 2008.

But removals of illegally present immigrants with criminal records went from more than 3,100 to nearly 4,500 between 2008 and 2009 - a jump of 39.7 percent. Since 2005, criminal removals have more than doubled. The data 'illustrates pretty vividly the priority we're placing on the removal of criminal aliens,' ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said. 'We believe it's the best way to enhance public safety.' Dankers said moving resources resulted in a slight decrease in deportations of immigrants with no criminal records, but she said that ICE cannot ignore that section of the illegal immigrant community.

ICE has moved its resources to focus on immigrants with criminal records. Crimes under which a person may be deported can range between a misdemeanor and a felony. ICE has various programs that feed its criminal removals, including the 'Criminal Alien Program,' in which agents comb jails for people who are not in the country legally. Another program - 'Secure Communities' - uses computerized analysis to help local law enforcement determine a person's background. ICE is also heavily involved in anti-gang initiatives around the region.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010312382_apwadeportationsnw2ndldwritethru.html

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