5. Border and Enforcement News:

Number of Deportation Cases Drops by Nearly a Third, Report Says

The Los Angeles Times reports that the number of deportation cases filed by federal immigration officials dropped by nearly a third in the first three months of the fiscal year, according to a report by the Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).  The drop recorded in the last three months of 2011 may reflect the Obama administration’s plan to focus its deportation efforts by weighing a variety of discretionary factors, according to the report.  Experts say it is too soon to say if deportations overall will decline. 

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/24/local/la-me-deportation-drop-20120224

NBC Los Angeles reports that ICE responded to the recent report on the drop in deportation cases saying the report’s numbers were inaccurate because it failed to consider immigrants who are deported without a trial.  “When removing individuals who have been convicted of a crime and who have no lawful immigration status… ICE is not required to file charging documents in immigration court asserting criminal grounds of removal,” ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said.  Sue Long, co-director of TRAC, disputed the claims of inaccuracy, asserting that any problems with the data stem from ICE not releasing their immigration court data.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/ICE-Calls-New-Illegal-Immigration-Report-deportation-Inaccurate-140379183.html

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Iowa House Panel OKs E-Verify Bill

The Associated Press reports that the Iowa House Judiciary Committee approved a bill on a 13-8 vote that requires businesses to screen potential employees through the federal E-Verify program.  The bill also creates a complaint process in which county attorneys or the state attorney general would investigate allegations of businesses employing illegally present immigrants and impose harsh penalties on offenders.  The vote advanced the bill to the House floor for further consideration. 

Vanessa Marcano, a community organizer for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, an advocacy group supporting immigrants rights, said she believed E-Verify was “glitchy” and that the new processes could create a “climate of fear and hostility” for legal immigrants.  The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Julian Garrett (R) argued that businesses and workers are harmed by the current situation, in which employing illegally present workers is illegal but enforcement is lax.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120222/NEWS/302220044/1001/

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Missouri City Council Approves E-Verify Ordinance

The Associated Press reports that the Springfield, MO City Council reluctantly certified a voter-approved ordinance requiring employers to use E-Verify, a federal program to check their employees’ immigration status.  After the council certified the ordinance requiring Springfield businesses to use the E-verify program to check their employees’ status or be fined, City Manager Greg Burris said he is praying the city is sued so it doesn’t have to enforce it.  The ordinance was drafted by the Ozarks Minutemen and approved by voters Feb. 7.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/02/22/springfield-city-council-oks-immigration-ordinance/

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Border Patrol Completes More than 6 Miles of New Border Fence in Arizona

ABC15.com (AZ) reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has completed the construction of more than six miles of border fence near the city of Douglas, Arizona with fencing that is significantly more difficult to break through, according to a news release from the agency.  The construction, which began in early October of last year, is part of the Border Patrol’s ongoing effort to strengthen the border fence by replacing fencing built in the 1990s with an 18-foot bollard-style fence on both sides of the Douglas Port of Entry.

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_central_southern_az/other/border-patrol-completes-more-than-6-miles-of-new-fence

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Feds Seek Compromise on Cook County Immigration Ordinance

The Chicago Tribune reports that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton issued a letter to Cook County (IL) Board President Toni Preckwinkle as part of an effort to get county officials to reconsider their refusal to cooperate with federal detention requests.  Director Morton has harshly criticized a Cook County ordinance that orders the sheriff’s office to ignore ICE detainers and release illegally present immigrants who have been jailed on other charges after they’ve posted bail. 

In the letter, Morton offered to pay any additional expenses of holding inmates until they can be picked up for deportation proceedings. Preckwinkle’s office issued a statement saying that she hopes to meet with Morton and others to discuss the ordinance.  County officials have said the ordinance is partly related to the costs of keeping suspected illegally present immigrants locked up but also because of concerns about infringing on the rights of the detainees. 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-02-29/news/ct-met-cook-county-immigration-ordinance-0229-20120229_1_illegal-immigrants-ice-detainers-immigration-enforcement-agency

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U.S.: Honduras Prison Fire Victim Wrongly Deported

The Associated Press reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a statement admitting that Nelson Avila-Lopez, a 20 year old Honduran citizen living in Los Angeles, was mistakenly deported in October.  In September Avila-Lopez was detained and slated for deportation, but his lawyer argued his client would face danger from gang members if he had to go back to Honduras and a stay was automatically granted so his case could be reviewed.  Despite the stay, Avila-Lopez was deported and after being jailed in Honduras on suspicion of gang affiliation, he died tragically in the Comayagua prison blaze.  ICE said in the statement that deportation was probably the result of a breakdown in communication between the agency and the immigration court.  The Department of Justice, however, said that it sent ICE the court documents in a timely manner.

http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-03/news/31119887_1_immigration-court-prison-fire-kpcc

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DHS Finalizing Plan for Exit System

The Associated Press reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is finalizing its plan for a biometric data system to track when immigrants leave the United States and will present it to Congress within “weeks,” a department official told a House Homeland Security subcommittee.  An exit system to track who is leaving the country and when has been sought for years but DHS officials have previously said it would be too costly.

Some estimates suggest that as many as half of the country’s estimated 11 million illegally present immigrants came to the country legally and overstayed their visas.  As a result, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency responsible for deporting illegally present immigrants, has sought more efficient ways to track overstays and identify the ones that pose a threat to national security or public safety.  John Cohen, the DHS’s deputy counter terrorism coordinator, said improvements in how data from immigrants is collected and stored has made it easier for law enforcement to identify visa overstays and determine if they pose a threat to national security or public safety. 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-03-06/homeland-security-tracking/53384544/1

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