According
to a recent survey of immigrants in the
US
,
despite increased tensions and difficulties, immigrants would still rather be in
the
US
than their home country. The survey was conducted by Public Agenda, a
nonpartisan organization in
New
York City
,
which contacted 1,002 immigrants from various nationalities and asked how their
lives had been affected by the September 11th terrorist attacks. Only nine
percent of respondents said that they faced increased discrimination. Despite
the INS’ bad reputation, 57 percent of those surveyed said the agency did a
good, if slow job.
*********
An immigrant from the
Czech
Republic
was sentenced this week to 27 months in prison for employing dozens of
undocumented immigrants in his janitorial service. Officials say that Lubomir
Chocholak was part of a massive immigration fraud ring that covered almost the
entire east coast of the
US
.
At least seven others have been convicted in connection with the ring, and the
investigation is still ongoing.
*********
Nearly 300 immigrants who thought that they were permanent residents have
learned that their green cards are fraudulent and that they were victims of a
scheme involving immigration consultants and a corrupt INS supervisor. Many of
those defrauded are professionals who came to the
US
legally, but now face deportation. The INS supervisor, Leland Dwayne Sustaire,
avoided jail time by testifying against the consultants who provided him with
bribes – totaling at least $500,000 – in 1999. The four brokers who were
convicted are all out of prison now, but for their victims, the story is just
beginning as the government attempts to locate them all for deportation. The
government claims that the immigrants knew that they were aware they were
participating in fraud, even though one of the consultants convicted said they
did not know.
*********
Reza Baluchi is an Iranian bicyclist traveled more than 46,000 miles across six
continents on a tour for world peace until he ran into Border Patrol agents in
Arizona
two months ago. Since then, he has been in INS detention while officials try to
figure out what to do with him. It is unclear when Baluchi’s travels began,
but it was certainly before the terrorist attacks in September 2001. He carries
with him photographs of himself at various places around the world, including
Africa
,
Europe
and
South
America
.
He says he planned to finish his journey in
Canada
,
but that the terrorist attacks prompted him to change his plans, seeking to
arrive in
New
York City
on the one-year anniversary of the attacks. He applied for a
US
visa at the consulate in
Monterrey
,
Mexico
,
but because he is Iranian, processing took months. While waiting, he cycled
around
Sonora
,
and, on one occasion, got lost and ended up crossing the border. Baluchi has
applied for asylum in the
US
,
claiming that he is not Muslim and that he has been persecuted for violating
fasting laws during Ramadan.
*********
A former clerk at the
Washington
,
DC
,
Department of Motor Vehicles has been charged with participating in a scheme to
sell hundreds of fraudulent driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Gwendolynn Dean, who is free on bond, resigned her job last year after the
scheme was revealed. None of the roughly 900 people who obtained the fraudulent
licenses are believed to have any connection to terrorism, but officials are
disturbed that the scheme was able to continue until June 2002.
*********
An analysis of deportation records by the Atlanta Journal Constitution shows
that the number of people deported to Muslim countries increased significantly
from October 2001 to September 2002, growing faster than deportations to any
other countries. During 2002, the number of people deported to
Algeria
,
Egypt
,
Jordan
,
Lebanon
,
Morocco
,
Pakistan
,
Saudi
Arabia
,
Tunisia
,
and
Yemen
rose from 655 to 1,627. At the same time, the total number of deportations fell
by 18 percent, with deportations to
Mexico
falling by 24 percent.
*********
A federal court judge recently made permanent her temporary order preventing
deportations to
Somalia
.
The judge imposed the order while a lawsuit challenging the legality of
deportations to
Somalia
is pending. In the lawsuit, those facing deportation and their advocates argue
that
Somalia
,
which plunged into civil war in 1991, does not have an official government and
therefore cannot agree to accept deportees. The INS argues that because Somali
law does not require a person to have entry documents, there is no need to
obtain formal government permission for the deportations.
*********
A former Sun Microsystems employee has filed a lawsuit against the computer
company, claiming that the company fired her, along with more than 2,500 other
employees, so that they could hire foreign workers on H-1B visas. According to
the lawsuit, the company did so because it believed that foreign workers would
work longer for less pay, and were easier to control.
*********
A
New
Jersey
appellate court this week ruled that a lower court judge was in error when she
allowed prosecutors to close bail hearings for a man believed to have sold
fraudulent driver’s licenses to two of the September 11th
hijackers. After the hearing, from which even the defendant, Mohamed el-Atriss
and his attorneys were excluded, the judge doubled bail to $500,000. According
to the appellate court, there was no evidence that the federal government
believed the case involved matters of national security, and ordered the judge
to hold an open bail hearing by the end of the month.
