BORDER AND DEPORTATION NEWS

As of September 30, 1999, the end of the 1999 fiscal year, the US has repatriated 2,465 Cubans apprehended at sea since 1995, when the US and Cuba reached a new agreement on what to do with people who attempted to get to the US from Cuba.  Before 1995, almost anyone who could get off the Cuban island was awarded asylum in the US.  Since then, if the person is apprehended before arriving on US land, they are returned to Cuba.  The US Border Patrol has apprehended 2,227 Cubans in Florida over the same time period.

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A Cuban trial court has sentenced one Cuban-American resident of the U.S. to life in prison and another to 30 years in prison for their role in a migrant smuggling attempt in which one person died.  The trial was the first time a new Cuban law calling for harsher punishment of smugglers was used.  The new law calls for life in prison in cases that involve violence, danger or death.  The court’s opinion was strongly critical of U.S. policy on Cuban migrants, which allows those who make it to U.S. soil to stay, but returns those apprehended at sea to Cuba.  Currently Cuba is holding about 40 people on charges of migrant smuggling, most of whom are Cuban-Americans.

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Two members of the Cuban band Sintesis ended their U.S. tour by seeking asylum at the office of Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinin (R-FL).

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Nine INS detainees were injured during a five-hour protest at the Mira Loma Detention Center near Los Angeles.  About 150 detainees were protesting the lengthy delays before their court hearings.  The injuries occurred when deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the detention center for the INS, ended the protest using sting balls, which are similar to rubber bullets, and pepper spray.

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The INS will be adding 52 new Border Patrol agents in central Colorado and opening a new office in Glenwood Springs in an effort to crackdown on the use of undocumented workers in Colorado’s tourism industry.  According to the District Director of the Denver office, Joe Greene, there are about 10,000 people working without authorization in area resorts.  

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A Dutch citizen was deported after pleading no contest to charges of interfering with a flight crew on a flight from London to Philadelphia.  According to the FBI, which arrested him as soon as the plane landed, he became disorderly 90 minutes into the flight after having four vodka cocktails and some of a fifth of vodka he had hidden in his carry-on baggage.  He then allegedly began shouting obscenities at other passengers, and smacked on the buttocks a flight attendant who refused to serve him another drink.

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A federal grand jury in Atlanta, Georgia has indicted six Chinese nationals on charges of immigrant smuggling, and authorities believe they may have been aided by a foreign government.  The indictments follow the August 12 discovery of 132 Chinese migrants in a secret compartment of a ship in the Savannah, Georgia harbor.

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A Mexican national has been acquitted on charges of murdering a US Border Patrol agent.  Manuel Gamez was convicted on four charges of smuggling marijuana.  Gamez faced the death penalty if he were convicted on the murder charge.  Two other men also face trial for the same murder, but neither of them will face the death penalty if convicted because Mexico extradited them to the US on condition that they not be executed if convicted.  Unlike the US, Mexico does not use the death penalty.  

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US Border Patrol officials are evaluating a new means of patrolling the US-Mexico border, an unmanned 19-foot long unmanned aircraft called GNAT.  The plane is mounted with numerous cameras that relay footage to agents who are stationed in a trailer.  When something suspicious is spotted, agents go in.  The system cost $1.3 million and is owned by the Air Force, which allows other government agencies to use it in efforts to stop smuggling across the border.

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Border Patrol officials rescued a woman who had just given birth about 40 miles north of the Mexican border in Arizona.  She had entered with her husband and five other people.  After the birth, her husband left to find help, and with the aid of helicopters, the woman and her child were found.  They were taken to the hospital for observation where both were pronounced to be in good condition.  

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A van carrying 25 undocumented migrants overturned in Arizona, leaving all but three of them injured.  The accident happened after one of the van’s tires blew out, and caused a chain reaction of accidents involving six other vehicles.  Only one person was hurt in this second accident.  Of the 22 injured people, seven were seriously injured, and three of these people face life-threatening situations.

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Following a six-month long disagreement, the FBI has relented and will again allow the INS to use its fingerprint database in screening entrants to the US at the John F. Kennedy and Newark International Airports.  The FBI stopped the arrangement last spring because of concerns that the INS was using the fingerprints to screen US citizens.

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The US Coast Guard is reporting another violent clash with Cuban migrants attempting to reach the coast of Florida.  The Coast Guard spotted a 15-foot wooden boat about 400 yards off the coast of Key Largo and approached it.  According to the Coast Guard report, two of the seven passengers tried to prevent the Coast Guard from disabling their boat by swinging machetes and a 12-inch knife.  They were subdued with pepper spray.  All of the Cubans were repatriated to Cuba.

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INS agents near Phoenix, Arizona discovered 92 undocumented immigrants hiding in a 700 square foot house.  Officials suspect the house was being used as a stopover point during the journey north, and to hold people who had not yet paid the fee for being smuggled into the US.  All of the people found appeared to be in good health.

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The leader of a group responsible for producing over 2 million fraudulent documents has pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and faces up to 45 years in prison.  When the INS discovered the operation, it made the largest ever seizure of false immigration documents, including 2 million blank green cards.  Ten co-defendants have also pled guilty, seven of whom have been sentenced to terms ranging from 10 months to 6 years. 

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Mexico has recently deported 257 undocumented Chinese migrants who arrived in Mexico during the late summer.  Most of the Chinese nationals were apprehended by Mexican authorities in Baja California, a popular smuggling route into the US.  Most of the Chinese said they had been smuggled to Mexico en route to New York City, where they would work off the debt they owed the smugglers, anywhere from $10,000 to $51,000.  What makes this deportation unusual is that it was paid for by the US.

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A federal judge has sentenced three brothers to prison for their role in their family’s immigrant smuggling ring, centered in Raymondville, Texas.  The ring was discovered when officials found 356 undocumented migrants huddled in shacks owned by the family.  Officials believe the ring operated for as long as 15 years.  The brothers received sentences from one to three years.  Yet to be sentenced are the mother, father, and a sister.

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A Pentecostal preacher in New Jersey has been indicted and arrested for allegedly running a scam involving immigrants.  According to federal officials, for a charge of anywhere between $500 and $10,000 the preacher would prepare statements and other documents and make the application for a special religious worker green card.  Most of the applicants were from Trinidad, and very few of them were Christians.  Of the 500 applications made, only 35 people had received a green card.  These 35 people may now be subject to removal.

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