US Border Patrol hit two numeric milestones in 2008, announcing that by year’s end, it had finished constructing 500 miles of fencing along the US Mexico border, as well as detained over 700,000 undocumented immigrants, The Associated Press reports.   

The border fencing is just 170 miles shy of its completion.  The Bush administration expects to have at least 600 miles complete by Jan. 20, when Barack Obama is sworn in as president, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said.  About 160 miles have been built since August, after increased criticism was levied against the fence’s construction. 

Congress has set aside $2.7 billion for the fence since authorizing its construction in 2005, but there is no estimate on how much the entire construction and continued maintenance will cost.  In September, Customs and Border Protection commissioner Ralph Basham told Congress his agency needed an additional $400 million to complete the project, citing higher costs for fuel, steel, and labor.  Congress approved the $400 million and the Bush administration contends that it now has enough money to finish the fence.   

Of the other notable ’08 figure, most—approximately 661,766—detainees were Mexicans, many who had crossed their country’s 2000 mile land border with the southern United States, according to Border Patrol’s Office of International Affairs.  The rest—62,059—were citizens of other countries, a majority from Central America, including almost 20,000 from Honduras, 16,300 from Guatemala, and over 12,000 from El Salvador.  A total of 386 detainees died, down from 398 the previous US fiscal year. 

Hispanic leaders have urged president-elect Obama to issue a moratorium on immigration raids and deportations after the US Congress failed to pass the most recent version of sweeping immigration legislation in 2007.  The proposed legislation would have given legal status to the estimate 12 million undocumented immigrants residing in the US. 

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Beginning on January 9, the federal government has expanded their DNA sampling collection to include anyone arrested on federal charges and immigrants detained by the ICE, DHS, or US Border Patrol.  Under the previous collection plan, DNA was collected exclusively from people convicted of crimes.  The Washington Times reports that most of the new samples would be collected from any immigrant who currently enters the country without authorization, but immigrants either awaiting authorized entry into the US or detained at sea by Coast Guard would not be subjected to sampling. 

The Justice Department instituted the policy with the approval of Congress in a December 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.  “We know from past experience that collecting DNA at arrest or deportation will prevent rapes and murders that would otherwise be committed,” said Sen. Jon Kyl [R-AZ], sponsor of the legislation. 

The American Civil Liberties Union has criticized the expansion, arguing that the policy unfairly punished people who might never be convicted of crimes.  They cite that most immigrant arrestees are later found not guilty and have their cases dismissed.  The ACLU says the government could also use immigrant DNA beyond its intended scope, analyzing samples for ancestry and medical diagnoses, both of which are supposed to be protected under the Fourth Amendment.  Law enforcement agencies sometimes use their database matches to track down family members whose DNA is similar to crime-scene genetic material in the hope they will name the suspect, the ACLU claims.  

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 A Houston-based company was ordered to pay a $21 million settlement to avoid criminal prosecution for hiring undocumented immigrants, The Houston Chronicle reports.  The settlement, brought against IFCO Systems North America, the largest pallet manufacturing company in the US, is the largest fine ever issued to a company who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants.  Prosecutors who handled the case against IFCO said it “severely punishes” the company, which was caught with over 1,100 undocumented immigrants on its payroll in spring 2006.

The settlement sends a “powerful message that ICE will investigate and bring justice to companies which hire illegal workers,” said John P. Torres, a top ICE official.   

The government began investigating IFCO following a tip from ICE in February 2005 that undocumented immigrants at an IFCO plant in Albany were ripping up their W-2 forms.  On April 19, 2006, ICE agents arrested 1,187 undocumented immigrants at over 40 IFCO locations nationwide.  The federal government’s analysis of payroll information IFCO submitted to the IRS and the Social Security Administration suggest that from 2003 through April 2006, as many as 6,000 undocumented immigrants were employed at IFCO plants, according to prosecutors. 

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A former US Border Patrol agent was sentenced in federal court this month to serve more than seven years in prison for his role in a cocaine smuggling conspiracy.  According to The Monitor of Texas.  Reynaldo Zuniga, 34 of Harlingen, Tex., pleaded guilty in September to using his official vehicle to drive drug traffickers past areas where they were most likely to be caught.  Zuniga told investigators he accepted $1,200 to make the drive between the banks of the Rio Grande and a Hidalgo Whataburger at least five times before his June 6 arrest, according to court documents.  Zuniga, the fifth Border patrol agent to face criminal charges in 2008, resigned his position soon after his arrest.  In addition to a prison term of seven years and three months, US District Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa imposed a three-year supervised release sentence on the former agent. 

Two Mexican nationals indicted with Zuniga were also sentenced concurrently with Zuniga’s sentence.  Jose Luis Arteaga, A Reynosa smuggler caught on hidden camera accepting a ride from Zuniga, was sentenced to three years and 10 months in federal prison.  Luis Alfredo Cruz, who picked up Arteaga from the Whataburger where Zuniga left him, received a prison term of one year and six months. 

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The Miami Herald reports that last week, ICE officers arrested 110 immigration fugitives and violators during a five-day sweep last week in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and the Orlando and Tampa areas. 

Officers arrested 81 fugitives who went into hiding after being ordered to leave the country and 29 other immigration violators. The operation netted 47 arrests in Miami-Dade, 30 in Broward, 15 in Palm Beach, 11 in Tampa and seven in Orlando. 

Of those arrested, authorities said, 24 had criminal records that included aggravated assault, battery, drug possession, trespassing, disorderly conduct, resisting an officer with violence, sexual battery, Social Security fraud, burglary, carrying a concealed firearm, larceny, grand theft and lewd and lascivious assault on a child.   

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A resolution may be near for a lawsuit filed in a Tucson federal court in May in which two US Border Patrol agents claimed the agency illegally retaliated against them for whistle-blowing.  According to The Sierra Vista Herald of Arizona, Juan Curbelo and William Leafstone Jr. claimed officials unlawfully suspended them because they publicly disclosed the practice of “shotgunning” traffic, or stopping vehicles without reasonable suspicion.   

Attorneys for the defendants, Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar and Tuscon Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Gilbert, have requested that the February 2 hearing be dismissed under the premise that the US District Court does not have jurisdiction over the matter.  The plaintiffs’ attorneys responded to the motion to dismiss that the US District Court has jurisdiction to hear claims of constitutional violations.