HispanicTips » Immigration

61 illegal immigrants detained in South L.A., officials say

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:30:12 +0000

"Sixty-one illegal immigrants, including three toddlers, were discovered at a house in South Los Angeles early Wednesday by federal immigration agents serving a search warrant as part of an investigation into a human smuggling ring, authorities said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the single-family, two-story home in the 10000 block of South Normandie Avenue about 6:30 a.m. and found the Central and South American immigrants crowded into the house, with trash and rotting food piled 2 to 3 feet high in each room, agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. The immigrants told agents that they had been staying there since Friday."

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Feds grapple with backlog for citizenship - Arizona focus

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:14:50 +0000

"Immigration officials in Phoenix are churning out record numbers of new U.S. citizens, with as many as 2,000 to be sworn in this month alone.

The push is part of a national effort to chip away at a mountain of backlogged applications, including many thousands from immigrants who had hoped to vote in November. Despite the increase in naturalizations, however, critics say the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is not working fast enough, so many immigrants won't become citizens in time to vote.

"Instead of people being able to participate in democracy, they are being caught up in the red tape of bureaucracy," said Monica Sandschafer, head organizer of Arizona ACORN, a grass-roots organization that holds citizenship classes. "

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Missouri Senate OKs illegal immigration bill

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:11:58 +0000

"Senators have approved legislation adding penalties and restrictions on illegal immigrants and employers.

Senators passed the bill 27-7 today, but it has a provision House leaders don't like. It would allow employers who misclassify workers as "contractors" instead of "employees" to be fined up to $50,000."

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Did You Know? In Phoenix, 15,976 immigrants applied for citizenship during fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30, up 64 percent from 2006.

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:11:28 +0000

"In Phoenix, 15,976 immigrants applied for citizenship during fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30, up 64 percent from 2006."

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Immigrant workers in New Orleans start leaving

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:46:57 +0000

"The stops and starts of the post-Katrina rebuilding effort, often due to bureaucratic delays in funding, still provided plenty of work to rebuild homes and businesses. But reconstruction work has slowed as projects are completed or transition to phases requiring highly specialized skills.

"In the immediate aftermath, labor demand was huge and few workers were willing to accept the labor and residential conditions that prevailed in the city," said Elizabeth Fussell, a Washington State University professor who studied immigration after Katrina.

"Now there is less demand, and it is for workers with more skills and perhaps certification by the state. This translates to less demand for low-skill, undocumented workers.""

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Some illegal immigrants fear raids by federal agents - Suffolk County, New York

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:33:07 +0000

"On the streets of some Latino communities on Long Island yesterday, news of Suffolk County's bill targeting undocumented workers set off a wave of wild rumors that federal immigration agents were about to crack down on illegal immigrants.

Many people were misinterpreting Spanish-language news reports about the bill, believing it signaled a start to a round of raids, said Sister Margaret Smyth, head of the Catholic Church's Hispanic Apostolate on the North Fork."

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Human toll told in Postville - Iowa (with video)

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:26:59 +0000

"An Agriprocessors employee has returned to Postville after being detained by federal agents following the raid at the world's largest kosher meatpacking plant on Monday. But she fears her husband has been deported, leaving her and her two children behind.

The woman, fearing retribution, asked that her name not be used. She is wearing an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet so immigration officials can monitor her whereabouts. She was released for humanitarian reasons so she could care for her children, ages 9 and 12."

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Illegal Worker Describes Escape from Plant - Postville, Iowa

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:22:03 +0000

"St. Bridget Catholic Church is a place for many of Postville's Hispanic community to to catch their breath... to cry behind closed doors... and for illegal immigrants, like Eduardo Melendez, to hide from the law.

He says, in Spanish, "They grabbed us by the hair and said, 'Hurry. Walk.' Other workers were lying on the floor. Many were in handcuffs."

Somehow, Melendez and his cousin escaped ICE agents during the raid at Agriprocessors. But eight of their family members, including Melendez' brother, didn't make it out. He says the church is now his only option."

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Postville immigration raid sends shockwaves - Dubuque County Hispanics feel the impact - Iowa

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:12:11 +0000

"Hundreds of northeast Iowa Hispanics are living in fear they will be targeted in federal immigration raids, in the wake of the Postville raid Monday. Local volunteers are working to calm the confused and terrified family members left behind.

The anxiety is being felt across Dubuque County, where Hispanics reportedly are not showing up for work and are afraid to leave their homes.

"We're getting calls from people who are asking if it's safe to go to work. They panicked when they heard what happened in Postville and walked off their jobs to go see if their families were OK," said Terri Reynolds, immigration outreach coordinator for the Dubuque Archdiocese Catholic Charities."

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“It’s as if they had five kids, maybe 10 kids, die in their class because they’re not there anymore. That’s what it’s like…it’s like a natural disaster,” Walz said. - Postville principal still seeing impact of immigration raid

Tomas — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:54:13 +0000

""It's as if they had five kids, maybe 10 kids, die in their class because they're not there anymore. That's what it's like...it's like a "

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Careless Detention - Some Detainees Are Drugged For Deportation - Immigrants Sedated Without Medical Reason

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:44:12 +0000

"The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.

"Unsteady gait. Fell onto tarmac," says a medical note on the deportation of a 38-year-old woman to Costa Rica in late spring 2005. Another detainee was "dragged down the aisle in handcuffs, semi-comatose," according to an airline crew member's written account. Repeatedly, documents describe immigration guards "taking down" a reluctant deportee to be tranquilized before heading to an airport."

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Prosecutors want hefty fine against saddle maker over illegal immigrants - Oklahoma

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:29:25 +0000

"Federal prosecutors want a Sulphur saddle maker fined $100,000 for hiring illegal immigrants.

Billy Cook Harness and Saddle Incorporated pleaded guilty last year to a charge of providing false Social Security information."

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Missouri lawmakers continue immigration debate

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:27:43 +0000

"Senators continued discussing a broad immigration bill after midnight Wednesday that includes a provision, which the measure's sponsor says could kill the legislation.

But they stopped short of a vote because a slew of amendments tacked onto the bill added a price tag to the bill, which must be reviewed by a Senate committee before the immigration legislation can be voted on."

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Feds combing jails for illegal immigrants - (4,453 legal and illegal immigrants have been placed into removal proceedings in Washington State since June 2007)

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:27:16 +0000

"A little-noticed program to remove criminal immigrants from the U.S. has local immigration officials boasting about big results as they comb jails, juvenile centers and courts across Washington state in search of deportable inmates.

Since their big push began last June, immigration officials have placed 4,453 legal and illegal immigrants from throughout the state into removal proceedings. Last year, criminals represented about one-third of all immigrants who were expelled from the Northwest region and the U.S."

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Learning the Language: An Immigration Raid and a Subpoena in Postville, Iowa

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:07:59 +0000

"The Des Moines Register broke a story yesterday about how, prior to a raid by federal immigration authorities on a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, on Monday, the Postville Community School District was given a subpoena to turn over detailed information about students to the Iowa Division of Labor Services. The subpoena included a mandate to provide the names of students working at two apartment buildings that had been owned by a Postville school guidance counselor and sold to the CEO of Agriprocessors Inc., the same company that owns the plant that was raided this week.

I was curious if there was a connection between the subpoena and the immigration raid. In other words, did any information provided by school district officials, when they complied with the subpoena, get into the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents? "

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Temporary worker program blocked by Congressional Hispanic Caucus

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:01:27 +0000

"The all-Democratic Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which includes 17 Latino members of Congress, has dug in its heels in an effort to bring relief to undocumented workers and their families who are currently being subjected to immigration raids. But in return, it is becoming the target of heavy pressure from the hotel, resort, seafood and other industries.

Last fall, the leadership of the Caucus developed a strategy to create leverage for progress on immigration reform. Concluding that the full package of “comprehensive immigration reform” was not achievable until the Democrats increased their congressional majority and replaced Bush in the White House, the Caucus decided to narrow its focus to measures that would undo the harm being done everyday by the immigration raids and other enforcement procedures ordered by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. So the Caucus tentatively adopted a proposal from grassroots immigrants’ rights activists to provide provisional, renewable five-year visas for most undocumented immigrants now living and working in the United States."

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio cut out of state funding - Arizona

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:57:30 +0000

"An executive order signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano has prompted state police to cancel a $1.6 million agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and, instead, use the money to create a fugitive task force.

The move effectively stripped two squads of Sheriff's Office deputies from a statewide multiagency team designed to go after crimes dealing with human smuggling. It also took away Arpaio's ability to tap some of the squad members to supplement immigration sweeps at the state's expense.

In response, Sheriff Joe Arpaio accused the governor of orchestrating with others to pull the money from his department as political payback. House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, meanwhile, called for an audit of the Department of Public Safety.

"

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What’s Next for Postville? - (update: near 400 arrested - town may dry up)- Iowa - (you should read the comments below the original article)

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:32:23 +0000

"Postville was already a small town of 2,300 before the raid. Now city officials say many people are fleeing in fear, not to mention the near 400 plant workers detained.

More than a third of the workers at the city's largest business are gone. Without those workers many fear Agriprocessors will shut down. If that happens, the mayor says 95% of the shops here will dry up. Petrona Garcia's convenience store is the only Hispanic business in town with customers the day after the raid.

"All the shops are closed. Not one is open. No one even comes to them," said Petrona Garcia, business owner."

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Immigration raid notebook - Iowa - (looks like ICE did use the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo for the Postville raid)

Tomas — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:21:47 +0000

"Interpreters hoping to help immigration lawyers arrived at the National Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo around 9:15 this morning, but when they had not gained access to the site an hour later, most left.

Four interpreters requested by the lawyers to arrive were told by security officers guarding the entrance to go to the other side of the site to meet with security there. Those officers told them to go back to the first entrance and wait across the street.

“They told us we’re not cleared,” said Mario Basurto, 26, a program coordinator at El Centro Latinoamerica in Waterloo. "

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Human smuggler who caused deaths of 10 immigrants in Arizona crash gets life in prison

Tomas — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:20:17 +0000

"A human smuggler who caused the death of 10 illegal immigrants when he crashed a sport utility vehicle while fleeing from U.S. Border Patrol agents has been sentenced to life in federal prison.

Adan Pineda Doval, 22, a Mexican citizen, was convicted by a Phoenix jury in October of 10 counts of transporting illegal immigrants causing death and two lesser charges.

A federal judge handed down the sentence Thursday, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office in Phoenix."

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