BORDER AND DEPORTATION NEWS

The high-speed chase by the California Highway Patrol of a van carrying 29 undocumented migrants resulted in a crash that killed one man and injured at least 15 others. Beginning when police noticed the van driving erratically, the chase lasted about 30 minutes, and reached speeds of over 80 miles an hour. It ended when the van crossed a spike strip the police had laid across the road and crashed. All but two of the occupants were apprehended.

A Douglas, Arizona woman and her son have filed a $ 17.5 million dollar lawsuit against the INS, alleging the Border Patrol improperly raided their home and illegally detained them. The incident occurred in March, when agents raided a neighboring business. The suit seeks damages for mental distress caused by armed Border Patrol agents.

Border Patrol agents rescued three men who became lost in the desert in southern New Mexico. Apparently one of the men had a cellular phone, with which he called family in Mexico after the group ran out of food and water. Relatives in Albuquerque were then called, and they then notified state police.

Three immigrants living in Hawaii are facing deportation for illegally voting, and another three are under investigation. The investigation was prompted by complaints of Linda Lingle, who was the Republican candidate for Governor in last year’s election. A recount of the election was conducted, and state officials are convinced there is no widespread fraud. Illegally voting was not a deportable offense until 1996.

A Houston, Texas business owner, Sonny Egwuatu, has been arrested and charged with selling Social Security cards. The charges are the result of an undercover investigation in which an agent from the Houston Police Department posed as an employee of the Social Security Administration and offered to sell the cards to Egwuatu for $ 300 each. Over the course of the month-long investigation, $ 8000 was paid for Social Security cards that weren’t valid.

A two-year undercover INS and FBI operation, known as Operation Snake Pit, has led to the discovery of a 15-year smuggling ring operating out of Raymondville, Texas. The ring came to the attention of authorities in January 1997 when over 350 migrants were found in an area apartment complex. Twelve guilty pleas were entered by the seven people involved in the smuggling ring.

Federal authorities have arrested a Los Angeles woman and charged her with impersonating an INS official and grand theft. She is accused of charging people $ 4500 in exchange for citizenship papers. She is suspected of having conned countless applicants out of over million.

In New York, a man has been convicted of passing himself off as an immigration attorney. He has no license to practice law, and is thought to never have been to law school. He must serve at least 10 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. Apparently part of his scheme was to take money from people and let the US government deport them, knowing they would not be allowed back into the country to testify against him.

The leader of an immigrant smuggling ring has been sentenced to ten years in prison after being convicted on charges of money laundering. Authorities say the ring was in operation for over 10 years and smuggled over 7000 people, mostly Indian nationals, into the US. The ring is estimated to have made over $ 150 million dollars.

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