The union representing INS employees in Los Angeles has sent a letter to the INS manager responsible for operations at the Los Angeles International Airport and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. According to the letter, G. Thomas Graber, who has worked for the INS for nearly 30 years and has been the port director in Los Angeles for five, has allowed discrimination, ethics violations and misappropriation of government funds to occur. The letter did not mention any specific incidents, and the union declined to elaborate, citing privacy concerns. An INS spokesperson says Graber has the full support of the agency.
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The Department of Defense recently announced that it was backing off a previously announced proposal that would have made noncitizens ineligible for many information technology jobs. Now, if the worker passes a background check and has a letter of approval from the division that seeks to employ him or her, the Defense Department will not object to the hire. The Department does try to encourage the hiring of US citizens for jobs involving sensitive information or technologies.
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About 50 members of a tribe in Vietnam arrived in the US this week. The group was the first of about 900 Montagnards to be granted refugee status in the US. They fled Vietnam for Cambodia last year, following a crackdown on the tribe, which is an ethnic minority and practices Christianity. The incident had created tensions between the US and Vietnam, with the Vietnamese government accusing the US of interfering in its internal affairs.
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Following up on a pledge to increase contacts between the two countries, the US this week cut the price Russian students pay to obtain a student visa. The price was cut from 5 to . About 12,000 Russians obtained student visas last year.
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Attorney General John Ashcroft pledged recently to investigate reports that New York City police had to release three undocumented immigrants because area INS agents refused to pick them up. According to the police, who’s comments were published in the New York Post, the INS said it “did not want to be bothered.”
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While dismissing a discrimination complaint from an INS agent, an administrative judge did write that he did find “persuasive evidence” of anti-Cuban and anti-Hispanic biases in the Miami INS office. According to the agent who filed the complaint, Ricardo Ramirez, the bias led to the excessive force used in the raid to sieze Elian Gonzalez from his American relatives. Earlier this year, a lawsuit Ramirez filed claiming that he was subjected to harassment for reporting the bias was dismissed. Another lawsuit is still pending and is scheduled for trial this September.
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FBI and INS agents recently arrested a truck driver they say is a spy for Cuba. Officials say that Juan Emilio Aboy, who entered the US in 1996 and became a permanent resident, was a law level member of a spy ring, 10 of who’s members were convicted last year. He does not face prosecution for spying, but will likely be deported.
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The INS was recently shook by news that someone broke into its offices in Tacoma, Washington and stole four stamps used to authorize entry to the US. One of the stamps stolen is used to indicate that a person is a permanent resident. Officials say that the stamps are equipped with a unique number identifying the officer authorized to use it, and that this precaution should prevent the use of the stamps to commit fraud.
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Three retired military officers from Venezuela are seeking asylum in the US, claiming that they face persecution because of their public calls for the resignation of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The three arrived in the US shortly after the aborted coup attempt in Venezuela during the middle of April.
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