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BORDER AND DEPORTATION NEWS
Operation Safeguard '99, the INS Border Patrol's latest in a series of buildups along the U.S.-Mexico border, began January 21. The INS will post 90 more agents at the Nogales, Arizona office, new roads in the border area, install portable lights along the border and along common migrant routes, and hire three new pilots, allowing for 24 hour helicopter surveillance. One of the goals of the new border policy is to force migrant crossings to areas outside border cities in order to more easily spot migrants. Critics point out that the policy makes the migrants vulnerable to bandits in Mexico who attack right as the migrants are about to cross. Also, as seen last summer, if the migrants are not found by the Border Patrol, exposure to harsh desert conditions can cause death. The buildup coincides with the yearly increase in the number of migrants returning to the U.S. after spending the holidays in Mexico. 
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The FBI is investigating the death of an illegal immigrant while being transported to prison following an arrest for illegal entry. After a court hearing in Tucson, Arizona, Rene Velasquez-Fuentes was being taken to a jail in Florence, Arizona run by Corrections Corporation of America. Velasquez had been in a fight with other inmates while being kept in the courthouse jail in Tucson, but did not appear seriously injured. The FBI has declined to comment on the case. Florence police Lt. Jerry Williams said he was aware that Velasquez had been combative and had to be subdued, but had no information on the type of restraint used.
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Two men have been arrested in Long Beach, California on suspicion of running a prostitution ring with illegal immigrants, one of whom was a 14 year-old girl. The men face prostitution-related charges as well as federal charges of alien smuggling. The women involved are currently being held as witnesses and will probably be deported.
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Two Cuban men have escaped from detention at the Krome Detention Center in Miami, taking advantage of construction around the perimeter of the facility to sneak out a fence and into the swamps of the Florida Everglades in broad daylight. Both men are Mariel Cubans, and have served time in prison as the result of felony convictions. Because the 1996 immigration law requires them to be deported, and the U.S. has no deportation agreement with Cuba, they faced a potential life sentence in detention. So far the search for the men has turned up only their uniforms.
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Six Cuban detainees who had been in custody at Krome Detention Center and then released to a local jail in an effort to diffuse tensions at Krome, had to be returned because they were not given adequate medical care at the jails where they were sent. Two of the men said that they were not given any medical treatment once they arrived at the jail. Officials at Krome say a doctor had cleared each of the detainees for the transfer, and officials at the jail say they were not denied any needed medical care.
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A Chinese man who fled to the U.S. with his wife to avoid China's forced sterilization policy has finally been released from detention after four years in custody. Bi Meng Zheng was the subject of a campaign by the human rights group Amnesty International against the practice of keeping some immigrants in detention for indefinite amounts of time. Unlike most long-term detainees, Zheng had no criminal record other than his illegal entry into the U.S. His asylum application was denied because he failed to appear for a hearing, and he was later arrested. China refused to accept him, so he remained in detention. Now that he is free, he hopes to be reunited with his wife, who is currently in Switzerland, and his daughter, who is still in China.
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The Border Patrol arrested 162 illegal immigrants in San Diego, California on February 5, 1999. All of the people arrested had been smuggled across the border and were living in a single house in deplorable conditions. Most of the immigrants were returned to Mexico, and authorities are investigating who owns the house and for how long it has been used to house illegal immigrants.
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Four separate attempts to illegally enter the U.S. in New Mexico on one day resulted in the capture of nearly 80 Mexican nationals. They were found after the Border Patrol stopped the van in which they were being transported. While there was no smuggler with them, Tony Duran, one of the Border Patrol agents who made the stop, thinks they were all smuggled into the country by the same operation. Most of the illegal immigrants said they had paid a smuggler 0 to work in tomato fields.
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Three men from Mexico have been returned there to face charges of murder, in three unrelated cases. The men were arrested in California after fleeing arrest warrants in Mexico. Two of the men were deported for being illegally in the U.S., and the other was extradited based on a treaty between the U.S. and Mexico. 
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Almost 150 illegal immigrants from Cuba and Haiti were found in South Florida in one week during January. The high numbers continued into February, with over 90 people landing in Florida over the first weekend in the month. According to federal officials, the jump in immigration is due to the increasing organization and financial resources of smugglers, the good weather, poor economies at home, the Cuban Coast Guard's apparent indifference to those attempting to leave. Also a factor, according to Dan Geoghegan, spokesman for the Border Patrol, are Cuban nationals living in Florida who hire smugglers to bring their families to Florida from Cuba.
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A man in Santa Cruz County, Arizona is suspected of firing shots at a group of about 30 migrants who were crossing his property 15 miles north of the border. One of the migrants was shot in the arm and was flown to a hospital in Tucson for treatment. Agents in the area say local property owners often react with violence to trespassers.
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Police in Silt, Colorado apprehended 15 illegal immigrants, but had to let them go after the INS failed to pick them up. Silt police officials said that when they called the INS about the aliens, the Service was very uncooperative, only making excuses about why they could do nothing about the immigrants.
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There were almost 170 separate landing of illegal immigrants in South Florida during the last two weeks of January. Six were Cuban men who landed on the shores of Pompano Beach. They landed after two weeks on the water, failing to reach their destination of Key Biscayne because of strong currents. When they landed in the early morning, local residents, aroused by the commotion, called local law enforcement officials, who in turn called the Border Patrol. 
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Eleven refugees from Cuba who landed on South Beach in Miami were met by both the Border Patrol, who noticed their boat before it landed, and by Emilio Estefan, husband of international music star Gloria Estefan, who had been jogging on the beach. He got coffee for the refugees, and others on the beach gave them money. 
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Border Patrol officials in Arizona stopped 105 illegal immigrants about eight miles north of the border. The group was apparently about to be loaded into the covered bed of a pickup truck. According to the Border Patrol it is not unusual for this many illegal immigrants to be transported in a single vehicle.
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Four Chinese women were saved from almost certain death when a customs inspector on the Canadian border saw them hidden in the chassis of a refrigerated truck. The women, who were being smuggled into the U.S., were wedged into the chassis of the truck. Emergency crews worked for 30 minutes to get them out. They have been deported to Canada.
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Eleven stowaways were found in a cargo container on a ship in the Port of Long Beach, in Los Angeles. The men, believed to be from Hong Kong, were taken into custody and are expected to be deported to their home country unless they can show they merit asylum. 
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A riot in an INS detention facility in San Diego, California resulted in injuries to two detainees and one guard. The riots were between Hispanic and Asian detainees and involved about 40 people. The facility is privately owned by Corrections Corporation of America, one of the leaders in the growing prison industry.
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One of the survivors of a failed attempt to sneak into Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic told the frightening story of their time at sea. Skarlet Brano said that after setting off for Puerto Rico, the motor on their boat failed, leaving them adrift for 10 days. Fourteen people died on the journey and all of the survivors suffered from dehydration and second degree burns from sun exposure.
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INS Commissioner Doris Meissner has announced the deployment of over 1,600 new employees, of which over 1,000 are Border Patrol agents. Texas will receive 185 new agents, Arizona 395, California 83, New Mexico 15, and 22 new agents are being assigned to the U.S.-Canada border.
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A raid on a food packaging facility in Clayton County, Georgia led to the detention of 33 suspected illegal immigrants. Officials believe the immigrants were hired to work there by a local temporary employment service, Interim Personnel, and investigations of that business are ongoing.