- Lee Peng Fei, the man who planned the unsuccessful attempt to smuggle hundred of Chinese immigrants into the United States on the Golden Venture ship has been sentenced to twenty years in prison. Ten passengers on the 1993 voyage died of hypothermia during the journey. More than 300 others were crammed in the hold of a ship which, according to the judge, lacked enough food and water, did not have adequate sanitary conditions and lacked enough lifeboats and life preservers.

- Five Mexican nationals illegally smuggled into the country were held hostage in San Diego after their arrival in the United States. The smugglers are alleged to have brought the five Mexicans to a home in inner city San Diego and held them hostage until family members could pay a ransom of $1200 each. One hostage was released to go to collect ransom money from relatives. When he was unable to raise the funds, he instead went to the police. Police officers posed as relatives with ransom money and were able to arrest the kidnappers.

- Immigration officials report that a number of Cuban and Haitian refugees successfully reached American shores on rafts over the last month. A raft with eight refugees landed on Miami Beach, Florida. Police caught two, but the other six escaped. Two dozen Haitian refugees landed on a beach in Boca Raton, Florida. The INS took the eighteen men and six women into custody.

- INS enforcement agents in Portland, Oregon have started using a new tactic to address illegal immigration. Rather than relying solely on raiding employment sites, the INS is now also instructing employers to fire illegal workers. The new effort in Portland has already led to the identification of 595 illegal workers at 50 hotels and restaurants in the Portland area. The INS is also conducting seminars to teach hotel and restaurant owners how to spot fraudulent work documents and comply with the immigration laws.

- The INS and the US Customs Service have announced a joint initiative to share responsibilities at border crossing points. To date, the INS and Customs Service operate independently at border points. INS officials inspect individuals for the right to enter and the Customs Service ensures that trade and controlled substance laws are met. Now, each agency will be able to offer manpower to the other when there is a shortage of available officials. Now Customs Officers will be able to handle immigration inspections and INS officers can assist in customs enforcement operations.

- 43 undocumented aliens traveling in a rented van were arrested in Colorado earlier this month just days after another van with 12 undocumented aliens on the same stretch of road was stopped.

- Two Korean nationals. Kim John Che and Jiang Yong Zhu were convicted earlier this month of alien smuggling after they attempted to bring over 23 Chinese nationals in a cargo ship. Passengers paid Che and Zhu up to $40,000 to come to the US. A number of the passengers applied for political asylum.

- INS border agents have begun stocking cold weather survival kits to help immigrants who are suffering from hypothermia. Several hundred kits will be available for border officers on the California-Mexico border. The kits contain thermal blankets, water canteens, ponchos and heat packs.

- Last month, immigration authorities recently arrested 39 undocumented workers at a mushroom packing factory in Pennsylvania. In September, the same company, M&J Mushrooms/Premiere Mushrooms, Inc., was raided and 11 workers were deported. The INS is also considering charging the owner of the plant with knowingly hiring illegal aliens.

- Police during a routine traffic stop found 24 undocumented Mexicans in the cargo space of a rented truck crossing from Mexico to New Mexico.

- A van stopped in New Jersey for having an illegal license plate was found to be carrying a dozen undocumented Mexicans. The twelve men in the van were on their way to work at a dry cleaners in Staten Island, New York. The owner of the dry cleaners is also being investigated for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

- Police arrested 12 undocumented aliens when the van they were traveling in was stopped for speeding in Virginia. At least three of the passengers were juveniles. Police turned the 12 over to the INS and they have been placed in deportation proceedings.

- Mexican and American officials are cooperating in an initiative to stop scams where immigration "consultants" fraudulently promise to help undocumented aliens in the US gain legal immigration status. The Justice Department successfully completed a prosecution of an immigration consultant in San Diego as part of the crackdown. Valerie Pena pleaded guilty to document fraud and impersonating a federal officer after she defrauded nearly one hundred immigrants. Justice Department officials are cooperating with state and local law enforcement authorities in the San Diego area to help immigrants who claim to have been defrauded. Fraud complaints can be made by calling Crime Stoppers at 619-235-TIPS.

- Police in Providence, Rhode Island have shut down a brothel with illegal alien prostitutes from Southeastern Asian countries. The women worked in slave-like conditions, according to police. Eighteen hour work days were normal and the only pay they received were tips from customers.

- Authorities in Mineola, New York, have arrested a man on charges of grand larceny and defrauding three immigrant families of thousands of dollars. Manuel Herrera told the families he was an immigration attorney and would file their papers with the INS. Herrera, who is not an attorney, took the money given him to pay off credit card bills and traffic tickets, and failed to file any papers with the INS. He faces up to four years in prison on each count.

- Two Florida men have been arrested on charges of smuggling illegal Cuban immigrants into the US after their speedboat, in which they were carrying at least 20 people capsized 22 miles off the coast of Miami. At least 8 bodies have been found and as many as 14 of the immigrants are feared drowned. This would make the accident one of the worst in the long history of illegal Cuban immigration to the US and the deadliest smuggling incident to occur in Florida waters.

- INS agents searching for undocumented workers at the Fullmer Cattle Company in California found more than they expected. Along with the 32 undocumented migrant workers found on the farm, officials also found two live pipe bombs. The bomb squad of the San Bernadino Police Force was called in and the weapons were disposed of without injury.

- Police in Chile have shut down an immigrant smuggling operation responsible for sending 400 Cubans to Miami during the past year. The leader of the ring, Renato Powell, was a Chilean in the tourism industry. He contacted Cubans living in south Florida who wanted to help their families flee Cuba. He would arrange for Chilean tourist visas to be issued to the people in Cuba, who would then fly to Chile. After obtaining false documents in Chile, they would then board a flight to Miami along with members of the operation. Before arriving in Miami, the smugglers would deboard the plane, taking the false documents. When the Cubans arrived in Miami without papers, they would seek political asylum. The airline, which has not been identified, has been fined $3000 for each illegal immigrant it flew to Miami.

- 114 illegal immigrants were found in a home in Phoenix, Arizona. The discovery was the result of an anonymous call to the INS, asking them to check on the welfare of a man who did not have the money to pay a smuggler and was in danger. When authorities arrived, they found over 100 immigrants packed into two houses. INS officials say they believe the houses were holding areas while plans for traveling to other locations in the US were made, but they also suspect that at least one person was being held against his will.

- The Coast Guard repatriated 11 Cubans after picking them up from their boat in the Florida Strait. So far in 1998 the Coast Guard has picked up 513 immigrants from the Dominican Republic, 890 from Cuba, and 1,206 from Haiti.

- Overcrowding at a New York City detention facility sparked riots in November. When 80 detainees being kept in a holding cell meant for 40 were told they would have to sleep on the floor because 20 more inmates were arriving that night, tensions began to rise. Officials told the inmates their concerns would be addressed, but that for the night they would have to sleep on the floor. The contents of a garbage can were set on fire, and when officials moved to separate the inmates, two officers were injured. Five of the detainees have been arrested.

- Five Mexican citizens in Washington, D.C. have been arrested and charged with the production and distribution of fraudulent "green cards." Officials seized over 22,000 fraudulent documents with a street value of over $3.3 million. The arrests follow an eight-month investigation prompted by complaints that fake green cards and Social Security cards were being sold for $200 each. Each of the five men arrested was in the US illegally and faces fines of over $250,000, imprisonment for 10 to 15 years, and deportation.

- Following a visit from consular officials, eight men in detention facilities in Miami stopped their hunger strike. Two others have continued. The men, all from Central America, were protesting their inability to return home to aid in recovery from Hurricane Mitch. Over 3,000 illegal immigrants have been released from jails in the US to return home, but those with felony convictions are still being detained. This is at the request of the governments of Central America, who fear the returning immigrants may prove a burden on relief and recovery efforts.