Feds at odds with Victorville, CA over regional center

The San Bernardino Sun (CA) reports that USCIS has terminated Victorville, California’s status as a regional center, hampering its ability to solicit money from foreign investors for capital-improvement projects at Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA).  Under the federal foreign-investor visa program EB-5, foreign investors can put money into American infrastructure and capital-improvement projects that create jobs in exchange for green cards. 

Although a Dr. Pepper/Snapple bottling plant, a Plastipak factory, and a wastewater-treatment plant have opened at SCLA over the past two years, USCIS concluded that the required number of jobs was not generated by these projects.  The city is filing a motion to appeal the termination and demonstrate how upcoming projects like an electric generation plant and intermodal rail improvements will guarantee the proper number of jobs under the EB-5 program.

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_16612730?source=most_viewed

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California student released after intervention by Sen. Feinstein

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Steve ‘Shing Ma’ Li,’ a City College of San Francisco student who had been incarcerated for two months while awaiting deportation to Peru, was released from a detention center in Florence, AZ and allowed to return to San Francisco.  Li’s parents, who are currently awaiting deportation to China, moved to Peru from China in the 1980s when Li was only eleven.  Consequently, Li has little personal connection to the South American country.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced a private bill to stall the deportation process while the Senate has a chance to vote on the DREAM Act.  Li’s removal has been stayed for 75 days after the end of Congress.  Under the DREAM Act, Li and other undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before age fifteen and were attending college would be granted citizenship.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F11%2F19%2FBADO1GF17V.DTL

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ACLU accuses ICE of illegally detaining bus

The Associated Press reports that two U.S. citizens who were detained after their chartered bus was boarded by immigration agents at a Nebraska McDonald’s are accusing ICE of racial profiling and are planning a lawsuit.  The complaint, filed on behalf of Arquimides Bautista and Rosallba Artimas by the ACLU, said a Spanish-speaking ICE agent inferred that the passengers were illegally present immigrants based on their appearances, exhibiting ‘racial profiling and ethnic stereotyping at its very worst.’

The passengers were traveling from Denver to Omaha for an Amway convention when they were detained.  36 of the 42 passengers were identified as illegally present immigrants, including three with criminal records and one who had been previously deported.  Bautista and Artimas were in custody for two hours and their complaint alleges false arrest, false imprisonment, and battery. 

http://www.aurorasentinel.com/hp_recent_headlines/article_6d7ed46e-f199-11df-843a-001cc4c03286.html

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Incoming FL governor would back Arizona-like immigration enforcement

USA Today reports that Florida’s incoming Republican governor, Rick Scott, supports the concept popularized by Arizona’s SB 1070 of stopping individuals to determine their immigration status.  Speaking in Washington D.C., Scott said that asking about one’s citizenship should be viewed no differently than being stopped and asked to present an ID.