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January 31, 2007

Advocates Criticize Proposed Hike in Immigration Fees

Immigration advocates likened a Bush administration proposal to hike immigration and naturalization fees to a "second wall'' that could make it harder for many new arrivals to earn U.S citizenship.

Immigrants applying for citizenship or temporary work permits could pay almost twice as much as they do now under a proposal floated Wednesday by the administration, which says the increase would speed up processing. LESLEY CLARK and ALFONSO CHARDY for the San Jose Mercury News.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:28 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

New Prison Policies Could Save Millions

More drug and alcohol treatment and fewer new prison cells could save Texas $442 million over the next five years, a new study shows.

The study, presented Tuesday at a joint meeting of the House Corrections Committee and Senate Criminal Justice Committee, shows the state could avoid spending $377 million for construction of prisons for 5,000 more inmates.

The analysis also estimates the state could save another $65 million by reducing recidivism, diverting probationers into treatment and paroling nonviolent substance abusers sooner to halfway houses. POLLY ROSS HUGHES for the Houston Chronicle.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:23 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 30, 2007

Unfilled Tunnels a Weak Link at Border

Seven of the largest tunnels discovered under the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years have yet to be filled in, authorities said, raising concerns because smugglers have tried to reuse such passages before.

Among the unfilled tunnels, created to ferry people and drugs, is the longest one yet found — extending nearly half a mile from San Diego to Tijuana. Nearby, another sophisticated passageway once known as the Taj Mahal of tunnels has been sitting unfilled for 13 years, authorities say. RICHARD MAROSI for the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:18 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Subterranean Homesick Blues

Tunnels under the U.S.-Mexican border provide an opportunity for smugglers and a challenge for law enforcement.  RICHARD MAROSI writes for the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 06:37 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 29, 2007

Prisoners Resist Moving Out of State

In one of the more unusual marketing campaigns undertaken by state government, California prison officials are asking inmates to bid adieu to their cellmates and transfer to lockups elsewhere in the country.

The campaign reflects the desperation corrections officials face as they grapple with a ballooning prison population and no easy fix. Leaders say they will run out of room for new inmates by summer, and a federal judge has ordered the overcrowding eased by June. JENIFER WARREN for the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 11:18 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Fresh Potential on Immigration

With a new Democratic-controlled Congress and a president newly committed to bipartisan accomplishments, prospects for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws have never seemed brighter.

But reform efforts could still stumble over the stickiest issue: how to craft a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants that will win the support of lawmakers who draw the line at "amnesty." NICOLE GAOUETTE for the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 11:15 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Unions Split on Immigrant Workers

Union leaders are fundamentally divided over how to best tackle immigration reform as they wrestle with how to convert illegal immigrants from job threats to dues-paying members. The split reflects long-standing questions over the place of undocumented immigrants in the labor movement. KRISSAH WILLIAMS for The Washington Post.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 11:06 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

In Exchange for Records, Fewer Immigration Raids

Over the past seven months, Bush administration officials have quietly toured the country, trying to persuade businesses that rely heavily on immigrant labor to join a little-known program that would spare them from embarrassing federal raids if they voluntarily handed over their workers' documents so the government can scan them for fraudulent information. DARRYL FEARS and KRISSAH WILLIAMS for The Washington Post.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 11:03 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Migrants Stream Into South Mexico

Despite a recent crackdown on illegal immigration by Mexico's new president, Central American migrants still flock across its southern border hoping to make the journey to the United States. JAMES C. MCKINLEY for The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:54 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 26, 2007

Kids In Jail Need School Too

In Texas, ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) locks up families together - mom, dad and the kids.  But aren't the kids supposed to be in school?

You bet, according to a letter sent to local school officials by attorneys for the Texas Civil Rights Project.  JUAN CASTILLO has the story for the Austin American-Statesman.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 09:40 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Colo. Anti-Immigrant Effort In The Red

"Colorado's new law banning state spending on illegal immigrants has cost more than $2 million to enforce - and has saved the state nothing." MARK P. COUCH in the Denver Post.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 08:57 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Follow The Money

Immigrant smuggling is big business, and it takes cash.  Law enforcement officials are trying to block the international flow of that cash by seizing millions of dollars of Western Union money transfers in Arizona, a tactic dubbed "either brilliant or illegal."  JOHN POMFRET in the Washington Post.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 07:41 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Panel Says CA State Prisons in Tailspin

Three decades of tough-on-crime lawmaking has sent California's prison system into a "tailspin," creating the most pressing crisis facing the state, the government's own watchdog panel declared Thursday.
In a blistering 84-page report, the nonpartisan Little Hoover Commission linked the problems plaguing the correctional system to political cowardice among governors and lawmakers fearful of being labeled soft on crime. JENIFER WARREN in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 12:23 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

Colleges Regroup After Voters Ban Race Preferences

With Michigan's new ban on affirmative action going into effect, and similar ballot initiatives looming in other states, many public universities are scrambling to find race-blind ways to attract more blacks and Hispanics. TAMAR LEWIN for The New York Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 12:19 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 25, 2007

Christmas at Woodfin Suites

"When Woodfin Suites fired its immigrant workers, was it obeying the law or dodging a living-wage ordinance?" DAVID BACON in the East Bay Express.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 01:54 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 24, 2007

ACLU Joins Suit Over Conditions at Detention Facility

Immigration detainees at an Otay Mesa facility live in overcrowded and unsafe conditions that threaten their overall health and are unconstitutional, the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego alleged in court documents filed Wednesday. DAN MORAN in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:30 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

700 Jailed in Immigration Sweep

As part of a weeklong sweep, U.S. immigration authorities arrested more than 700 foreign-born inmates and immigration violators throughout Southern California, and immediately deported half of them, officials said Tuesday.  ADRIAN URIBARRI in the Los Angeles Times.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:17 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Dallas Suburb Amends Its Ban on Renting to Illegal Immigrants

The City Council of a Dallas suburb has revised its proposed ban on renting apartments to illegal immigrants to allow landlords to rent to families with mixed citizenship or residency status.

But the proposal in the suburb, Farmers Branch, is being challenged in court and requires the approval of voters in May before it takes effect.  GRETEL KOVACH in THE NEW YORK TIMES

Posted by Amanda Becker at 10:05 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 23, 2007

Senators Slam Admin on Swift Raids

The Bush administration is taking heat for harm caused to a Colorado-based company during last month's largest-ever immigration raid, which netted almost 1,300 arrests of workers in six states. JENNIFER TALHELM for the AP.

Posted by Amanda Becker at 05:07 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

Your Passport, Please

"Beginning today, citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda are now required to present a passport to enter the United States when arriving by air from any part of the Western Hemisphere." So says DHS.

GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO of the Associated Press has the story.  She quotes John Golden, of Columbus, Georgia, who declared, "I’d rather be going through a security check, than possibly being blown out of the air because of lack of security measures," as he headed for Cancun.

But the experts tell us that photo IDs, whether passports or driver licenses, merely give us an "illusion of security." 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 08:57 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 15, 2007

The Economics of Freedom

Elnor and Jefferson Calimlim were successful doctors, living in a 6-bedroom, 8,600 square foot, $1.2 million dollar mansion in Wisconsin, with their three children.

And an undocumented maid hidden in the basement for 19 years.

The Calimlims were eventually brought to justice and sentenced to four years in prison for harboring and involuntary servitude; their oldest son, Jefferson Jr., was also convicted of harboring.  Financial restitution to the maid might be set as high as $700,000.

But the case reveals much more than the crime itself.  In this excellent portrait in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, VIKKI ORTIZ paints the complicated socio-economic relationship between America's rich and the third world's poor.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 07:47 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 13, 2007

Stimson Stubs Gitmo Toe; Baton Passed to Gonzales

On Thursday, January 11, 2007 43-year-old Charles D. "Cully" Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for (Guantánamo) detainee affairs, gave an interview on WFED AM 1050, a commercial radio station in the D.C. area.  On air he opined that major law firms doing pro bono work defending Gitmo detainees should cause the firms' corporate clients to rethink their representation.  Robert L. Pollock, a member of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, sang the same tune in Friday's WSJ.  NEIL A. LEWIS ran the story in the New York Times.

Reaction was fast and furious, triggering "an instant torrent of anger from lawyers, legal ethics specialists and bar association officials, who said Friday that [Stimson's] comments were repellent and displayed an ignorance of the duties of lawyers to represent people in legal trouble."  The president of the ABA said Stimson's message was "deeply offensive to members of the legal profession, and we hope to all Americans."

Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) wrote to President Bush, cc Sec. Def. Gates and Atty. Gen. Gonzales, asking Bush to "disavow Mr. Stimson's statements and take the appropriate action against this official."

No public reaction yet from Stimson, but on Saturday the Pentagon told AP's JOHN HEILPRIN that Stimson's views "do not represent the views of the Department of Defense or the thinking of its leadership."

Update: DAVID KURTZ reports that Stimson, Pollock, a DoD lawyer, a Marine Corps press flack and reporters from WFED AM 1050 were all together on a one-day round-trip junket from D.C. to Gitmo and back.

And the feedback continues: New York State Bar President Mark H. Alcott writes that Stimson's comments "constitute an impermissible effort on the part of a senior representative of one of the litigants (the United States government) to manipulate the outcome of these cases by seeking to deprive the detainees of vigorous counsel. By these statements and actions, Secretary Stimson has demonstrated that he is not fit for office. We commend the Justice Department and the Defense Department for disavowing Secretary Stimson, and we call upon the President to take appropriate action."  And over 100 law school deans have signed a statement calling on the government to repudiate Stimson's remarks.

CODA: Stimson apologizes.  But still under-reported, under-investigated: who cooked up the whole thing in the first place?  And as JOSH WHITE reports, the "blame the lawyers" baton now passes to the hand of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is upset with the slow pace of Gitmo litigation.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 06:48 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 11, 2007

Down By The River

Fabens, Texas, is a small town a few miles southeast of the El Paso - Ciudad Juárez borderplex.  The center of town is about three miles from the Rio Grande.

In February 2005, just west of Fabens, Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean shot and wounded a drug smuggler.  On that all agree.

Beyond that, it's another border Rashomon.  Ramos and Compean were charged with assault and other crimes in federal court.  The case went to jury trial, and both men testified.  They were convicted and sentenced to over ten years in federal prison.

The case is on appeal, but Ramos and Compean are scheduled to begin serving their sentences soon.

A handful of House members, led by Ted Poe (R-TX) are asking Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to allow Ramos and Compean to remain free on bond during the appeal.  Ramos has spoken to the press.

For his part, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton is unapologetic: "The simple truth of this case is that Agents Compean and Ramos shot 15 times at an unarmed man who was running away from them and posed no threat. They lied about what happened, covered up the shooting, conspired to destroy the evidence and then proceeded to write up and file a false report. Agent Compean and Ramos were not railroaded by some over-zealous prosecutor, they were unanimously found guilty by a jury in a United States Federal District Court after a trial that lasted more than two and a half weeks. The two agents were represented by experienced and aggressive trial attorneys, both of whom vigorously challenged the Government’s evidence through cross examination. Both agents told their stories from the witness stand and had full opportunities to explain their version of events and to offer their own evidence. The jury heard everything including the defendant’s claims of self defense. The problem for Mr. Compean and Mr. Ramos is that the jury did not believe their stories because they were not true."

Blogospheric backlash led Mr. Sutton to amplify his comments, here.

The truth, if it's out there, is down by the river.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 08:15 AM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 08, 2007

Battling Deportation Often a Solitary Journey

"In immigration courts, there are judges and prosecutors, evidence and witnesses. The consequences can be great: banishment, separation from family, perhaps persecution at home. But unlike in criminal courts, the government does not provide free lawyers for the poor. And in what court officials deem a great concern, a growing number of people in immigration court have no legal counsel: Of more than 314,000 people whose cases ran their course in fiscal 2005, two-thirds went through on their own, or pro se."

KARIN BRULLIARD in the Washington Post. 

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 03:21 PM | | TrackBacks (0)

January 07, 2007

NAFTA and migration

Much has been written about NAFTA's unintended boost to illegal immigration to the United States.  In Sunday's Washington Post, front page, PETER S. GOODMAN and SARAH COHEN add important new details.

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 06:57 AM | | TrackBacks (0)