Border and Enforcement News

CBS 11 News of Dallas, TX, reports that a coalition of human rights supporters stood outside Dallas City Council Chambers to protest undocumented immigrant children being detained in jail cells.  According to estimates by the U.S. government, over 400 adults and children are being held on immigration violations at a federal detention center in neighboring Taylor, Texas.

U.S. immigration enforcement authorities call the centers ‘residential facilities’ for families set for deportation. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials describe the facility as a “humane alternative to maintain the unity of alien families.”  A statement issued by ICE officials says that the facility keeps families together, while enforcing immigration laws.

Protesters see it differently: “This facility is a blight on America,” said Domingo Garcia of the local LULAC, “and it needs to be shut down.

*****

According to the Associated Press, U.S. Border Patrol officials are investigating an agent-involved shooting at the Mexican border, near El Paso.  Doug Mosier, spokesman for the Border patrol, said an agent fired at least one shot at a group of would-be immigrants last week during a confrontation in downtown El Paso.

Mosier said the agent, who was not identified, responded to the area about 8 p.m. on Feb. 13, and fired at least one shot after some of the immigrant began throwing rocks at him, narrowly missing the agent’s head.

*****

The Seattle Times reports that U.S. immigration officials arrested 51 immigrants at two UPS warehouses in Washington State, where authorities believe they were illegally employed.  The workers, from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, were being held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma while their immigration cases are reviewed and processed.

The workers were discovered after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents audited the employment records of UPS Supply Chain Solutions, a UPS subsidiary that operates the warehouses, and of Spherion, a temporary employment agency that helped staff the facilities.

Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.