Here's a roundup of some of the latest INS enforcement activities around the country:

- Three Cuban men are in deportation proceedings in Florida in connection with their commandeering of a plane to enter the US. The INS argued the three men hijacked the plane by threatening the pilot, but the immigrants' lawyer pointed out that a jury found the men not guilty of hijacking. He also claimed his clients' lives would be threatened if they returned to Cuba.

- INS agents arrested 60 undocumented workers in Southern Mississippi in October. The workers were working on casino-related construction projects in the Biloxi, Mississippi area.

- Thirteen Cubans were detained by INS officials after their boat came ashore in the Florida Keys. One of the passengers is said to have died on the way.

- A Border Patrol agent was killed in a plane crash in Northwest Washington. The veteran Walter P. Schoott, 53, had more than 20 years experience as a Marine fighter pilot.

- A Thai woman in Los Angeles has been charged with four counts of involuntary servitude and four counts of harboring illegal aliens. The woman was accused of bringing in Thai workers to work in her home and in her restaurants and preventing them from contacting anyone outside. She is also alleged to have held their passports, screened their mail, barred them from attending religious services and issued physical threats.

- A Mexican man has been indicted for allegedly attempting to run over two Border Patrol agents with his car last September. Alejandro Mora has been charged with 11 counts of alien smuggling and re-entering the US after being deported. He was not charged with assaulting a federal officer, something for which the Border Patrol pushed. Mora was shot in the chest during the incident and is recovering. He has pleaded innocent to the charges.

- The INS has detained more than 80 workers in the La Hacienda chain of restaurants. The chain's eight restaurants are located in Charleston, South Carolina and surrounding communities. All eight restaurants remain closed following the deportations. Sixty-three people have been deported and three managers are facing criminal charges.

- California resident Noel Rowe was sentenced last month to 30 months in federal prison for selling false immigration documents to illegal aliens. Rowe pleased guilty to trafficking in counterfeit immigration documents. He will also pay a fine of $151,164. Federal authorities believe Rowe is hiding up to $2 million, but Rowe disputes that charge. Rowe actually advertised his services on television in California, claiming he could fix anyone's immigration problems. Rowe collected the passports of his customers and stamped them with a fraudulent INS permanent residency stamp.

- Human rights activists held a demonstration in Tijuana last month to protest Mexican and US government policies they say contributed to the recent deaths of hundreds of migrants who died crossing the border into the US. According to the Mexican government, more than 200 people have died this year alone, mostly from the heat. That compares with 85 deaths in 1997. The activists put much of the blame on the INS' crackdown on the border around the major urban areas in Texas and San Diego. Migrants have taken more dangerous treks to the US through sparsely populated areas.

- Two Florida men are being questioned by INS officials in connection with the smuggling of 30 Cubans into the US. The Cubans were found on Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys and the two men were discovered on a boat in nearby Marathon. The two men's boat is being tested for fingerprints to see if they match any of the 30 detained Cubans.

- A Ukrainian national has been indicted for helping dozens of immigrants from the former Soviet Union file fraudulent asylum applications claiming the individuals were Jews fleeing persecution. The applicants have been in the US since before the breakup of the Soviet Union. Victor Voinenko allegedly earned $13,000 for preparing the asylum petitions. Authorities claim that none of the applicants are Jewish and none of the persecution claims are true.

- The US has deported 59 convicted criminals to the Dominican Republic. The Dominican government says it will free the prisoners, some of who served time in US prisons for murder and rape, because none of them have committed crimes in the Dominican Republic. None of the deportees completed their sentences in the US.

- Two brothers have pleaded guilty in Miami in an alien smuggling operation that resulted in the deaths of three Cuban nationals. Nicandro and Abel Morejon charged 14 Cubans $1500 each to transport them from the Bahamas to Miami. The boat used to transport the refugees capsized off the Florida coast in March and three of the passengers, including a four year old girl, drown. The men are facing sentences of up to 70 years in jail. Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty in the case. Alien smuggling that results in death can be punished by death.