News Bytes

South Korea President Roh Moo-hyun is expected press President Bush to ease obstacles facing nationals of his country who seek visas to enter the US when the leaders meet next week in Washington. Korean business leaders are particularly concerned with a proposal to eliminate the personal appearance waiver program around the world. Right now, nearly 2/3 of Koreans have their interviews waived for visitor visas to the US. Koreans worry that if the personal appearance waiver is eliminated the consulate will be overwhelmed and long waits for visas - possibly months-long - will result. Business leaders would instead like to see South Koreans granted Visa Waiver Program status so that they can enter the US without having to get a visa.

Korea's entry into the Visa Waiver program is unlikely, however, according to the US Ambassador to that country. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard told the Korean Times this week "There are somewhere close to two million Koreans and Korean-Americans in the US and it is a draw for Koreans wanting to go there and stay with family and work there. For that reason, it continues to be that the refusal rate will probably make Korea's entry into the visa waiver program difficult."

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The US Embassy in Ireland is warning Irish nationals that they are anticipating a serious shortfall in meeting the demand for processing Summer Work/Travel applicants for this year. The Embassy is blaming the problem on sponsors submitting applications late, additional US government visa processing requirements legislated in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and early flight departures to the US. The Embassy says these factors will result in a high percentage of an estimated 10,000 students hoping to travel to the US this summer not getting visas in a timely manner.

According to a message posted on the Embassy's web site, "The J-1 Summer Work/Travel program continues to be of great mutual interest and benefit to the U.S. and Ireland and we regret the inconvenience and disappointment that this projected shortfall will cause. Our best advice to students is to submit their applications to their program sponsors as quickly as possible and to ensure that their photos and supporting documentation are correct and their visa application forms are complete."

Employers who rely on Irish summer workers, particularly those at vacation resorts around the US, are expressing deep concern about the expected absence of the students. Senator Edward Kennedy has contacted the Department of State to try to ensure the Embassy has adequate staff to handle the demand. Kennedy told the Boston Globe this week, "I'm hopeful that we can rectify the processing problems in the program this year, so that it can continue to be a positive example of a well-run, efficient program.

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A Utah company may move its operation to Mexico following a raid by immigration agents that resulted in the deportation of 70% of its workforce. Jose Silva, an attorney for Champion Safe, said the company is financially devastated because it is having a hard time finding a work force.

"It's been quite a difficult task, just because of the lack of good workers in the area," Silva said.

Nina Pruneda-Muniz, a BICE spokeswoman, said the employer "knowingly violated immigration law by hiring these people." Officials question the company's motives and intentions, asking if Americans really are unwilling to fill the jobs or if the employers are simply unwilling to pay a good wage.

According to Silva, Champion Safe had documents for all of its workers and, by law, had no obligation to verify those documents.

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In a memo by the Executive Associate Commissioner of the Office of Field Operations at the INS, Johnny Williams wrote to regional directors that a waiver of the photograph requirements for I-90 applicants could not be issued only on the basis of religious faith in the absence of other special circumstances. Previous regulations permitted a waiver only in cases of confinement due to advanced age or physical infirmity, but the Alien Documentation, Identification and Telecommunication System (ADIT) manual states that "religious/ethnic reasons" as well as "physical disfigurement" may be acceptable reasons to waive the requirement. The memo states that, although waivers have been granted for religious grounds on occasion as included in the ADIT manual, waivers should no longer be issued except where specifically provided by the regulations, "in light of national security concerns arising from the events of September 11."

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The Department of Defense announced Friday that it had released 13 detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after determining that they "no longer posed a threat to U.S. security."

A DOD news release stated that "transfer or release of detainees can be based on many factors, including law enforcement, intelligence, medical considerations, as well as whether the individual would pose a threat to the United States. At the time of their detention, these enemy combatants posed a threat to U.S. security."

Citing "security considerations" officials said no further details could be released.

An Associated Press story published earlier this week suggested that the release could have been the result of a complaint by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who pressed the Pentagon to move faster in determining the fate of the prisoners, some of whom have been held a year and a half without charges and without access to lawyers. Senior Defense Department officials denied the theory.

The Guardian reported that 11 of the freed prisoners arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday, but 30 more Afghan detainees had been flown into the camp, bringing the current total of inmates to 680. Last month human rights groups called for the release of teenagers being held in Guantanamo. The Guardian quoted US officials as saying some or all of the teenagers would be freed.

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The Bush administration has re-initiated Clinton-era efforts to hunt and deport foreign human-rights abusers living in the United States.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, administration officials say they have decided to form a special unit dedicated to the hunt, and they are also drafting legislation to make a broader array of crimes deportable and to strengthen the government's hand in related immigration-court proceedings.

The legislation, which is almost identical to a bill proposed by the Clinton administration in 2000, would expand the list of deportable offenses to include homicide, rape, torture, kidnapping, mutilation, prolonged or arbitrary detention, enslavement, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization and recruitment of youths for armed conflict. It also would make it easier for the government to invoke all grounds on the deportable-offense list in immigration court.

Under the existing Immigration and Nationality Act, only those who lie to get into the U.S., or are found guilty of genocide, severe violations of religious freedom or Nazi persecutions, are subject to criminal prosecution and deportation.

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Illinois is poised to join four other states in extending in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants attending state colleges and universities. This week the State Senate passed the legislation on a 56-1 vote. The bill has already passed the House, and Governor Rod Blagojevich has said he would sign it. Only New York, California, Utah and Texas have similar laws, but 14 other states are considering the issue.

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Senior  Bush Administration officials say immigration and customs agents at the nation's airports have been authorized to detain arriving passengers who show symptoms of the SARS disease. The Department of Homeland Security has also provided masks and gloves to thousands of its airport inspectors as part of the effort to prevent the spread of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. Inspectors have been told in training sessions that they should give attention to the health of passengers arriving from 51 Asian cities, where the SARS outbreak has been most severe.

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The University of California Berkeley has barred foreign students living in SARS-affected regions in Asia from attending summer sessions at the campus. The restriction applies to students from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl said. More than 400 students will be prevented from taking classes this summer.

Berkeley's health officer, Poki Namkung, was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle as saying, "it's a terrible thing to deny a student an opportunity for an education, yet given the situation in China, which is out of control, we felt our primary responsibility was to protect the community."