Daily news updates from CIS

October 9, 2009

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[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. Administration pulls 'no-match' rule
2. Senators want Census to inquire of status
3. Evangelical group testifies at Senate hearing
4. Border Patrol holds town hall meeting in SoCal
5. TX city mayoral candidates differ on jail screening
6. AZ sheriff to continue 287(g) program
7. TN city okays new 287(g) MOA
8. WA city mayoral candidates support sanctuary
9. NY mayor reiterates amnesty support
10. CA county board issues detention report
11. CA 'activist' accused of extortion
12. Evangelical group backs amnesty
13. NJ activists press for end to 287(g)
14. Activists protest detentions in CO
15. NE university to host immigration panel
16. CBP records 85 immigration violations (link)
17. Jailed rapper may face deportation on release (link)
18. Man arrested on immigration charges (link)
19. Attorney disbarred for immigration fraud (link)
20. Woman guilty in servitude case (link)

Subscribe to CIS e-mail services here: http://cis.org/immigrationnews.html

-- Mark Krikorian]


1.
Obama drops rule aimed at immigrants' bosses
By Bob Egelko
The San Francisco Chronicle, October 9, 2009
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/08/BAON1A3110.DTL

San Francisco -- The Obama administration has repealed a rule that would have threatened employers with prosecution unless they fired workers whose Social Security numbers did not match entries in a government database, ending a two-year battle in a San Francisco federal court.

Although the Department of Homeland Security formally withdrew the 'no-match' rule Wednesday, the administration is supporting another program enabling employers to check workers' names against electronic records that are supposed to screen out illegal immigrants.

That program, E-Verify, is voluntary for most employers but mandatory for the 170,000 companies holding federal contracts and for their subcontractors. This week, a House-Senate conference committee voted to extend E-Verify for three years.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is challenging the scope of the program in a Maryland federal court.

'E-Verify has many of the same problems as no-match,' said Chris Calabrese, legislative attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which took part in the San Francisco lawsuit. Although employers are not threatened with prosecution under the program, he said, thousands of workers are in danger of losing their jobs based on 'databases that are not terribly accurate.'

But the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which supports restrictions on immigration, said the government has found that E-Verify is accurate in 99.6 percent of cases. The group criticized the House-Senate conference committee for refusing to make the program permanent.

The three-year extension is 'further evidence of the Obama administration's and the congressional leadership's effort to raise a smokescreen while it dismantles all effective controls against illegal immigration,' the organization said.

President George W. Bush's administration proposed the no-match rule in 2007, saying it would add teeth to a 1986 law that prohibited businesses from knowingly employing illegal immigrants.

The rule would have given employees three months to clear up any differences between the Social Security numbers they gave to employers and the numbers in the Social Security Administration database. After that, an employer who failed to fire the worker would be subject to civil fines and criminal prosecution.

Immigrants' rights advocates, labor unions and the Chamber of Commerce challenged the regulation, saying database discrepancies often reflected clerical errors, name changes and confusion about foreign names.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco issued a nationwide injunction against the rule in October 2007, before it took effect. He said opponents had raised serious questions about whether the 1986 law authorized the no-match system, and that the government had failed to explain its reversal of a decade-old policy of merely notifying employers about discrepancies in Social Security records.

The Bush administration submitted a new explanation for the rule and asked Breyer to revive it, a request that was still pending when Bush left office in January.

Opponents applauded the Obama administration's decision to drop the rule.

'The no-match program was a flawed and ineffective enforcement tool that would have hurt U.S. citizens and other authorized workers,' said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO.

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2.
Republican Senators Want Census to Identify 'Illegal Aliens'
By Marcelo Ballve
The New American Media, October 8, 2009
http://blogs.newamericamedia.org/nam-round-table/1790/republican-senators-seek-to-bar-census-from-counting-illegal-aliens

Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, is demanding the 2010 Census ask about immigration status in order to “prevent states from counting” those who entered the country illegally.

Sen. Vitter announced today he had introduced an amendment to an appropriations bill that funds the Census Bureau and other government departments. If passed, Vitter’s amendment would require the U.S. Census to always ask about respondents’ citizenship and immigration status.

Writing at the conservative blog Big Government, Vitter said the amendment is “designed to help us identify illegal aliens, primarily to prevent states from counting them for the purposes of determining population levels, and other data associated with the Census.”

The inclusion of undocumented immigrants in Census data, Vitter says, has allowed some states to gain additional congressional seats at the expense of other states.

“I don’t believe that this is what our founding fathers had in mind when they laid out our current system of representation,” he writes in his blog post.

Utah Republican Sen. Bob Bennett has also backed Vitter’s proposal (he’s shown in a video at the end of this post making a floor speech on the issue), according to Talking Points Memo.

Other politicians, most notably Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, have also publicly criticized the decennial Census for including undocumented immigrants.

Unlike previous counts, which used forms of different lengths, the 2010 Census will rely on a “short form” questionnaire, which does not ask about immigration status.

The short forms are being mailed out in Spanish and several other languages to boost immigrants’ participation.

The Census Bureau has gone out of its way to assure immigrants, whatever their status, that its data is confidential, and a breach of privacy is met with stiff penalties stipulated by federal law.

It also has assured immigrant communities its data will not be shared with other federal agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.

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3.
Evangelicals call for immigration reform
The Associated Press, October 8, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/08/AR2009100803639.html?hpid=sec-religion

Washington (AP) -- An American evangelical Christian group is urging Congress to approve reforms to immigration laws in a resolution approved Thursday.

The National Association of Evangelicals' resolution, passed unanimously by the group's board of directors, recommends that immigration laws provide a path for the undocumented to eventually gain legal status, place a high priority on reuniting families and reduce backlogs of petitions in those areas.

'This resolution will be an important step forward in evangelical advocacy on behalf of immigrants, many of whom are members of evangelical churches across the United States,' said Galen Carey, the association's government affairs director.

The association's president, Leith Anderson, said the process for legal immigration to the U.S. is antiquated, bureaucratic and needs to change.

Anderson told members of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Citizenship on Thursday that Congress needs to provide those living illegally in the U.S. the means to rectify their situation.

The Washington-based National Association of Evangelicals has a 75-member board that represents 40 denominations and scores of Christian organizations. However, it does not include some of the best-known conservative Christian bodies, including the Southern Baptist Convention and Focus on the Family.

The group has taken stands in recent years that have run counter to Christian right views.

It endorsed an anti-torture statement in 2007 that renounced torture and 'cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees.' Other evangelical leaders have either resisted that view or remained silent on the issue.

The group has also argued that evangelicals have a biblical responsibility to the environment that includes combating global warming. More tradition-minded evangelical activists believe an environmental focus distracts attention from abortion and gay marriage, or they don't believe in global warming or that human activity causes it.

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4.
Patrol meeting in Murrieta
'We do these frequently throughout the region,' said Michael Fisher, chief of San Diego Border Patrol Sector. 'It gives people the opportunity to ask questions, and for us to clarify some of the things they may have heard.'
By Maggie Avants
The South West Riverside News Network, October 9, 2009
http://www.swrnn.com/southwest-riverside/2009-10-09/news/residents-voice-concerns-during-first-border-patrol-meeting-in-murrieta

Michael J. Fisher, chief of San Diego Border Patrol Sector, answers residents' questions at a Murrieta Border Patrol town hall meeting Thursday night.

The green and white marked cars driven by U.S. Border Patrol agents are a common sight for residents of Southwest Riverside County, especially with the proximity of the I-15 checkpoint just south of Temecula, and while many are aware of their presence, some may not be informed of the role Border Patrol plays in the area.

Border Patrol’s first town hall meeting held Thursday at the Theodore L. Newton, Jr. and George F. Azrak Border Patrol Station in Murrieta offered residents an opportunity to get in on the loop of patrol operations.

The goal is to educate the public and help dissuade any negative perceptions people may have of them, said officials at the meeting.

“We do these frequently throughout the region,” said Michael Fisher, chief of San Diego Border Patrol Sector. “It gives people the opportunity to ask questions, and for us to clarify some of the things they may have heard.”

Nearly100 residents came out to voice their concerns and get answers.

Questions raised included those about checkpoints, racial profiling, deportation and if recent improvements of fencing along the border have been successful.

According to Fisher, after the July execution of a border patrol agent in East County San Diego, a main focus has been on securing the area near the Campo checkpoint. The number of apprehensions six weeks before the execution was drastically higher than the six weeks following the execution and continues to decrease, he said, but only through the help of field officers from across the region.

The San Diego Sector encompasses eight stations from the border to Highway 91, and field officers can be sent anywhere within the region-affecting their capacity to man the nearby checkpoint safely.

“Even though it may not appear to be operating on the surface, it doesn’t mean it is unattended or not under surveillance,” Fisher said. “It is just not in our ability to effectively man it, for the travelers or our staff.”

Although the majority of attendees supported the efforts of local border patrol, others insinuated they are practicing racial profiling.

Jennaya Dunlap, an employee of Inland Empire-based Immigration Raids Hotline, said she came to the meeting to bring up concerns of border patrol abuses.

“We are seeing more and more that they are targeting Hispanic families,” Dunlap said, mentioning alleged incidents in Lake Elsinore where women with small children were surrounded by border patrol agents in the supermarket.

Fisher said any allegations of misconduct should be reported to border patrol, and that they have an affirmative duty to look into them. Once received, complaints are sent to an independent authority who conducts further investigation.

“We are the good guys, but are not the perfect guys,” Fisher said. “We treat everyone with respect, and if you see anything different, let us know.”

Of the 7,000 square miles the San Diego Border Patrol Sector oversees, the Murrieta station is responsible for 3,300 square miles of it. Headed by Commander Walter Davenport, the station employs 138 agents. In the 2008 fiscal year, there were 2,800 arrests made, 113 narcotic seizures and three major firearm seizures. A total of 24 cases were prosecuted and 10 major felony warrants were turned over to authorities.

The Murrieta station is located at 25762 Madison Ave. in Murrieta, in a state-of-the-art facility built in 2006. Previous to the new building, the station had been leasing space in the valley since 1924.

“This station is highly mobile,” Commander Davenport said. “Our coverage area starts at Camp Pendleton, goes east to El Centro and south to Escondido. Right now our agents are spending two to three hours a day in the car just to get to work, and then working long shifts.”

Davenport said the town hall meetings are used as a technique to try and reach out to the community, an effort Border Patrol officials will continue to make.

James Penny, field operations supervisor, said for a long time people felt border patrol had a negative impact.

“He [Davenport] wants to change that,” Penny said.

Menifee residents Clyde and Jackie Stuart said they support local border patrol efforts. They heard about the meeting, and wanted to come and be a part of it.

“This is good,” Temecula resident Patrice Lyons said. “I would like to see more questions and answers addressed.”

Read more: http://www.swrnn.com/southwest-riverside/2009-10-09/news/residents-voice-concerns-during-first-border-patrol-meeting-in-murrieta#ixzz0TSmltIPo

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5.
The Mayoral Race
Leading candidates differ on immigration screening
By Susan Carroll
The Houston Chronicle, October 8, 2009
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6659250.html

On the campaign trail, the four leading candidates for mayor have voiced some degree of support for immigration screening in the jails.

But there are nuances to that support. The candidates differ significantly on how the city should partner with the federal government, and on who should foot the bill.

This week, Mayor Bill White said negotiations were at a standstill with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to have the city participate in the controversial 287(g) program, which trains local law enforcement to help identify illegal immigrants in local jails. White said he now favors participating instead in Secure Communities, another ICE program, which uses fingerprint technology to check the immigration histories of all suspects booked into jail.

He plans to have Secure Communities running before his term is up, White said.

But the next mayor still could move ahead with 287(g) if he or she can reach agreement with ICE.

City Controller Annise Parker has voiced consistent support for the city's participation in both programs. She said the two are “not mutually exclusive,” noting that the Harris County Sheriff's Office takes part in both.

Parker said she would contribute city dollars to the program if necessary.

“I agree it would be great if we could say, ‘Oh yeah, we'll have 287(g), but we'll have this from column A and this from column B,'?” Parker said. “That's not how it works. You either work with the program or not.”

She added she did not believe police should ask people about their immigration status outside of the jails.

Roy Morales, the lone Republican among the four, said he supports the 287(g) program, but wants to allow detectives access to ICE data­bases, too, saying it could help in a range of cases, including those involving prostitution, gangs and drugs.

Morales was reluctant to say he would commit money to the program until he reviews the full city budget, calling funding the program a “federal responsibility.”

‘What works best'

Some of the leading candidates appeared to be keeping their options open.

Former city attorney Gene Locke told a Latino forum this summer that he would review 287(g) once in office. But on a conservative talk radio show recently, he called the program “essential.”

With the news of White stepping back from 287(g), Locke said he wants to consider his options if elected.

“I want the program to operate in the most effective and cost-efficient manner to accomplish the goal at hand, which is to be able to identify persons in our jails who have a criminal history and may have a propensity to commit more crimes,” he said. “And I'd have to look at both of those to see what works best, what costs the most and where you get the best bang for your buck.”

Locke said he supports immigration screening in the jails, but, like the other candidates, not on the city's streets. He said he would contribute city dollars to the programs, if necessary.

In a statement issued in reaction to White's decision regarding 287(g) this week, City Councilman Peter Brown appeared noncommittal on which program he favored: “Secure Communities and 287(g) are two paths to the same destination: checking the immigration status of detainees booked into the city jail. If there is a more efficient and cost-effective way … I will take it into consideration as mayor.”

Previously, Brown had said he would not commit city funds to the program.

Answers worry activists

Activists on opposing sides of the immigration issue said they are troubled by what they are hearing.

Curtis Collier, with the Spring-based U.S. Border Watch, said none of the four seem committed to the 287(g) program.

“I think a whole bunch of what they're doing right now is paying lip service to it,” Collier said.

“All of them have changed their positions as time passes,” Houston immigration advocate Cesar Espinosa said.

“Like with any other political campaign, people are going to promise a lot, and then in the end they are going to do what they feel is correct,” Espinosa said. “So, we're obviously keeping a watchful eye.”

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6.
Arizona Sheriff Vows to Enforce Immigration Law Whether ‘Feds’ Like It or Not
By Penny Starr
CNS News, October 9, 2009
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/55199

Calling himself “the poster boy” for those who support the enforcement of federal immigration laws, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he will continue to arrest individuals who are in the country illegally, even if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not renew the 287(g) agreement that the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Sheriff’s Office has operated under for the past two years.

“We’ve been doing it for two years and have been very successful, but I guess they don’t like to enforce illegal immigration laws,” Arpaio told CNSNews.com. “[It] doesn’t make any difference. I’m still going to continue my programs, regardless of what the feds like or don’t like.”

Under that agreement, authorized in the 287(g) section of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, more than 100 officers and deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office were trained and certified by ICE to enforce federal immigration laws in 2007.

Arpaio claims that ICE is renewing the part of the agreement that allows his personnel to check the immigration status of those booked into the county jail, but will not renew the portion that authorizes officers to make arrests based on immigration status.

“When we come across illegal aliens, we arrest them,” Arpaio said. “That’s the part they don’t like, and that’s the one they took away.”

But an ICE spokesman told CNSNews.com that the 90-day window for state and local law enforcement agencies to review and sign new “standardized” agreements is Oct. 14 and that no decision will be made on those agreements until each has been reviewed by John Morton, assistant secretary of ICE.

“As Sheriff Arpaio knows, no decisions have been made on his 287(g) agreement,” Vincent Picard told CNSNews.com. “ICE is committed to smart and effective immigration enforcement, and we will review all of the new 287(g )Agreements at the conclusion of the 90 days.”

According to ICE officials, its Office of Professional Responsibility is also conducting audits of law enforcement agencies, including one done in July on the Maricopa County agency, a copy of which was obtained by CNSNews.com.

ICE spokesman Richard Rocha told CNSNews.com that the agency doesn’t routinely release audits but that “several agencies have been audited” to date.

“It’s part of the general review process,” Rocha said. “It’s part of our office’s effort to make sure programs are working as effectively as possible and to identify any challenges that need to be addressed.”

Rocha was unable to say what agencies or exactly how many have been audited by his office.

Arpaio’s outspoken manner and the “crime suppression sweeps” his office has conducted in Maricopa County have been characterized by critics as racial profiling, and the Department of Justice launched an investigation into those charges earlier this year.

The ICE audit of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department (MCSD), however, is generally positive, including the following remarks included in the executive summary of the report:

-- “Since February of 2007, the MCSO 287(g) program has processed more than 15,000 illegal aliens, saving ICE considerable resources.”

-- “The communications and working relationship between the OI (Office of Investigations), DRO (Office of Detention and Removal Operations) and MCSD (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department) are excellent.”

The summary said that most of the officers operating under the 287(g) program were assigned to either the Human Smuggling Unit (HSU), the Community Action Team (CAT) or the jail operations unit. It said the HSU and the jail operations were not mentioned in the current Memorandum of Agreement or MOA.

“The CAT Unit is a catchall term used for all 287(g) deputies, mainly patrol officers, who are not assigned to the HSU or to the jail component,” the summary states. “The CAT 287(g) patrol deputies rarely use their authority; most CAT officers rely on the jail officers to determine if someone who has been arrested for state violations may be an illegal alien. If the LEA encounter does not result in an arrest on State charges, the CAT 287(g) officers normally release the individual without attempting to determine if the subject may be an illegal alien.”

Arpaio claims that more than 30,000 individuals have been identified as illegal aliens since his department signed on with ICE in 2007.

He also claims that even without the 287(g), federal law allows state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration laws if probable cause exists.

Kris Kobach, former counsel to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and a professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, told CNSNews.com that there is a federal statute that addresses immigration law and local law enforcement.

“Federal law does expressly authorize state and local police to make immigration arrests of previously deported felons who return to the United States and are in the country unlawfully,” Kobach said.

“That federal statute is found at 8 U.S.C. 1252c. In addition, as the U.S. Department of Justice officially recognized in 2002, state and local police possess the inherent authority to arrest illegal aliens and detain them briefly in order to transfer them to federal custody,” Kobach added.

“Those are two forms of arrest authority that Sheriff Arpaio possesses, apart from Section 287(g) authority,” Kobach said.

Arpaio said that the law usually isn’t enforced, but he would like to change that.

“You know what?” Arpaio said. “I’m going to start enforcing that law.”`

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7.
Nashville accepts immigration detention deal
If finalized, Metro would hold fewer immigrants in jail
By Janell Ross
The Tennessean (Nashville), October 9, 2009
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091009/NEWS03/910090344/2066/Nashville+accepts+immigration+detention+deal

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall spent much of the summer warning that his office might drop a federal immigration enforcement program because of changes that would have kept case details under wraps.

Now, Hall and a Metro attorney working with the sheriff's office say they have reached an agreement with federal officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over how to handle requests for information. That means the controversial immigration program known as 287(g) probably will continue in Nashville, though with limitations on the number of people who will be detained.

That scaled-back version of the program — originally passed under the Bush administration in an atmosphere highly charged over immigration — also would mean less revenue for the Metro General Fund going forward.

In June, the federal agency issued a directive calling for local law enforcement agencies participating in the 287(g) program to stop holding individuals arrested for all but the most serious crimes after they served time on state charges.

Before the policy change, Davidson County was reimbursed $61 for each day individuals were held in Nashville awaiting pickup by federal immigration authorities, often for a few days at a time.

The cost of housing an inmate in the Davidson County jail ranges from a low of $25 a day for inmates in a work release program to $100 a day for high-security inmates with health problems. The cost of housing most of the inmates detained on immigration matters falls somewhere in between, said Karla Weikal, a Davidson County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

Overall, Hall expects to see about 30 percent fewer inmates held in the jail on suspected immigration violations, leading to a corresponding decrease in the amount of reimbursements from ICE.

That drop in revenue — from $818,986 in fiscal year 2008-2009 to an estimated $573,290 this fiscal year — is one that Hall says was fully anticipated and doesn't change the fact that 287(g) has been an effective program that has reduced crime in Nashville.

'This program was never about money; it's not something on which we depend. So that's not a problem,' Hall said Thursday.

It's been a year of change for the 287(g) program.

In March, a U.S. General Accounting Office report said enforcement programs such as Nashville's, which screened all foreign-born individuals rather than those accused or convicted of serious crimes, led the 287(g) program to fall short of its goal.

A Tennessean investigation last year showed that of the roughly 3,000 people deported during the program's first year, about 81 percent were charged with misdemeanors. About half were caught during traffic stops.

Hall said that federal officials have repeatedly described the Nashville 287(g) program as a 'model' operation and have not requested additional changes to the way the Nashville program operates in the new contract. Federally trained Davidson County sheriff's deputies will continue screening all foreign-born individuals brought to the Davidson County jail. Hall had objected to sections of a proposed new agreement with ICE dealing with public access to information about details of individual cases.

'I think we need to be prepared to show the public whenever possible what the program is doing, who it is identifying and just how much crime it is preventing in this county,' Hall said. 'I think openness and honesty and access to information is always a good policy with only a few law-enforcement-related exceptions.'

Lawyer disputes claim

Elliott Ozment, a Nashville immigration attorney and one-time member of the sheriff's 287(g) community advisory board, who was removed by Hall, also has expressed concerns about closing information about the program from public review. Ozment fears that the inability to access public information could put detained individuals at risk and make it harder for families to track their whereabouts.

Ozment disagrees with Hall's assessment that the number of deportations has reduced crime in Nashville, because some of the people arrested were brought to the jail on charges such as fishing without a license or in many cases driving without a license.

'He wants more transparency so that he can continue to issue press releases about the accomplishments as he sees it of Nashville's 287(g) program,' Ozment said. 'I think this summer when it looked like (Hall) wasn't going to get the political glory or generate much revenue he thought he wanted out altogether.'

Hall says that his reasons for considering a withdrawal from the program were limited to the issue of public access to information.

Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced plans to change the way that illegal immigrants awaiting deportation are confined.

Instead of nonviolent, noncriminal immigrants being housed in local jails, individuals and families ordered deported by an immigration court or awaiting a court's decision on a special visa or asylum claim would be housed in former hotels, nursing homes and other sites.

The alternative sites are intended to cut the costs of detaining immigrants, which reached nearly $2 billion in 2008.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the division of the Department of Homeland Security that administers the 287(g) program, will submit to Congress in coming weeks a plan for using alternatives to detention. The agency says possible alternatives will cost only about $14 a day. The alternatives include electronic ankle bracelets for those released on their own recognizance.

Before the new 287(g) agreement can be finalized, the contract will have to be approved by the Metro Council and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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8.
McGinn and Mallahan tackle immigration issues at forum
By Kery Murakami
The Seattle Post Globe (WA), October 9, 2009
http://www.seattlepostglobe.org/2009/10/09/mcginn-and-mallahan-tackle-immigration-issues-at-forum

Despite the speeches and cast of candidates on the podium, the most significant moment during a candidates forum Thursday night on immigration may have occurred in the audience.

The two mayoral candidates and several City Council candidates at a forum sponsored by the civil rights group One America were asked to jot the names of two East African companies. The candidates held up boards, mostly saying Somalia and Ethiopia. Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan’s placard had four.

In the audience, more than 200 people – mostly, recent African immigrants – beamed. They applauded and laughed. It was perhaps an insignificant moment in the scheme of campaigns and one unlikely to make it on political blogs. But there was a sense in the smiles of appreciation that the candidates for political office could name their home countries.

Most arrived here from political oppression -- usually brutally so.

But at a theater in the Holly Park public housing development, they questioned the candidates. And the candidates rushed to say all the right things.

Would they support a Seattle policy in which police do not ask about citizenship status? All, including mayoral candidate Mike McGinn, said they would. Mallahan, who arrived an hour late saying he had another engagement, was not on hand to answer the question.

Though the event did not have the profile of the CityClub forum at the downtown library earlier this week – and no other reporters – came to cover it, incumbent City Councilman Nick Licata noted that 1 of every 16 Seattle residents were born outside the U.S.

The latest KING5/Survey USA poll found the mayoral campaign a dead heat. The immigrant vote may have made the difference for Greg Nickels eight years ago. Nickels strongly courted the immigrant vote – publishing campaign literature in several different languages. He won precincts with high immigrant populations and barely beat then-City Attorney Mark Sidran in a mayoral race that ended after weeks of recounts.

Despite the faux pas of leaving an empty seat on stage behind a nameplate bearing his name, Mallahan spoke passionately when he did arrive. Mallahan said race matters because of history, “Our history is one of colonization and domination…and it’s our job to change history.”

McGinn also spoke passionately saying race matters because the data dictates so. “There’s irrefutable and overt statistics that there are disparities in education, arrests, incarceration and joblessness. We have to take a hard look at why these disparities exist.”

As is usually the case at campaign forums, the format did not allow for a detailed discussion about race. The candidates were asked about WHEEL, the homeless organization that slept in front of Mayor Greg Nickels’ home and has been moving on to the front lawns of City Council members. (WHEEL on Thursday night slept in front of Councilman Richard McIver and Bruce Harrell’s homes). The group is protesting being denied $50,000 for bus vouchers to get to and from shelters.

McGinn said he didn’t think tent cities are a permanent solution and the city should work to provide job real homes. Mallahan said that if he were mayor, he’d speak to the King County Executive to allow the homeless to ride for free reasoning that if the homeless could not afford the pay, Metro wouldn’t be getting their fares any way.

McGinn said he’d work with mutual aid societies in ethnic communities to better be able to help other immigrants and work with the city on issues affecting recent immigrants. Mallahan noted he had been a community activist in Chicago and would support the work of community activists to advocate for immigrants.

The forum seemed in part aimed to educate a group of candidates, all of whom are white, as City Council contender David Bloom noted.

The candidates were asked questions like how many legally-eligible immigrants cannot get citizenship because of other barriers.

The answer was 150,000.

They were asked what percentage of students who speak limited English do not finish high school. About 38 percent drop out before the 12th grade.

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9.
NY Mayor Insists He Supports Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Carib World News, October 9, 2009
http://www.caribbeanworldnews.com/middle_top_news_detail.php?mid=2661

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is turning his focus on the millions of immigrant voters across New York City by insisting he supports immigration reform.

`Unfortunately, we can`t welcome more immigrants without help from Congress which has failed to fix a broken system that is keeping too many talented people out, forcing too many hard working people into the shadows, undermining wage and safety laws, and making border security virtually impossible,` he said Thursday, as he unveiled a four-point plan which he said will maximize the economic contributions of immigrants in the Big Apple.

Mayor Bloomberg, who is seeking an unprecedented and somewhat controversial third term in the post of mayor, also reiterated his call for comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, as well as support for the DREAM Act which would allow children of undocumented immigrants to become citizens in exchange for attending college or performing military service.

He added that immigrants are a major reason why many international companies today want to invest in New York because their employees want to live in a culturally diverse city.

Bloomberg is adding support to CARIBID2010 which is being pushed by CaribWorldNews and other community groups which are trying to bring awareness of the need to add a Caribbean American category to the Census forms.

`The Mayor is working to ensure that every single person living in New York is counted and is also very important that our communities receive the resources and services that we need and deservedly the only way that is going to happen is if our communities are counted and the only way that is going to happen is if we work with Caribbean-based leaders, Caribbean-based non-profit organizations to ensure that their services are culturally competent,` said a Bloomberg spokesperson.

In his 2005 re-election victory Mayor Bloomberg did best among blacks in middle-class neighbourhoods generally and among Caribbean voters and edged his Democratic rival, Fernando Ferrer in several largely Caribbean districts in central Brooklyn.

Public opinion polls continue to show Bloomberg leading his rival Democratic Mayoral candidate, Bill Thompson in November`s election. Bloomberg has already spent over $65 million of his own money on his re-election bid compared to a meagre $4 million by his challenger. The mayor`s spending is a new record for any election race in the city but is a small fraction - about 0.7 percent - of his estimated net worth of $16 billion.

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10.
Report: Changes urged for LA immigration detention
The Associated Press, October 9, 2009
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13516548

Los Angeles (AP) - An immigration detention facility run by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department should let detainees have physical contact with their relatives and better access to mental health services, a report said Thursday.

Merrick Bobb, special counsel to the Los Angeles County board of supervisors, argued in the report that the Mira Loma Detention Center should be run less like a jail since nearly a quarter of the people held there have no serious criminal background.

Bobb also said some might argue that detainees who volunteer for work at the 1,300-man facility should be paid, noting they currently receive extra visiting time, special food, additional showers and larger TVs with VCRs in their barracks in exchange for their labor.

The report comes two days after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano unveiled a proposal to use former hotels, nursing homes and other sites to hold immigrants who are not criminals as part of a broader overhaul of the country's immigration detention system.

The government's goal is to confine illegal immigrants awaiting deportation according to the risk they may pose.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to comment on Bobb's report but noted the agency has planned broad changes in the detention system nationwide.

The report also comes as ICE considers building a 2,200-bed immigration detention facility in the greater Los Angeles area. It is unclear whether such a facility could affect Mira Loma, which is run by the sheriff's department for ICE.

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County sheriff's department, said the department would review Bobb's suggestions.

The report also raised questions regarding a proposal by ICE to revamp its agreement under which sheriff's department personnel check the immigration status of inmates. The report said the proposed changes would shift more of the burden of processing deportation papers to sheriff's personnel, putting a strain on jail staff.

Los Angeles County has had an agreement with ICE since 2005 to carry out immigration checks in the jails.

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11.
Company: Activist tried to force it to retain illegal workers
Nativo Lopez is accused in lawsuit of trying to force frozen foods company to retain undocumented workers.
By Salvador Hernandez
The Orange County Register, October 8, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/company-employees-lopez-2598891-overhill-farms

An immigrant-rights activist, who faces felony charges of voter fraud, is also involved in a second legal battle – fighting a lawsuit that claims he and others attempted to force a frozen foods company to retain dozens of undocumented employees.

Nativo Lopez, national director of Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana and a polarizing figure in Orange County politics, is one of seven defendants named in a lawsuit filed by Overhill Farms, a frozen foods manufacturer based in Vernon. Overhill Farms alleges it was the victim of defamation and extortion after the company let go of more than 250 employees who allegedly provided invalid Social Security numbers to the company.

In a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court, the company alleges Lopez and the other defendants 'have been using a variety of unlawful, extortionate tactics to force the Company to displace workers who have established their right to work in the United States, with employees who have been unable or unwilling to obtain lawful authorization to work in the United States.'

The company also accuses Lopez and the six other defendants of defaming the company by making statements and distributing leaflets calling the company racist.

Attorneys representing Lopez and former employees of Overhill Farms are asking the court to dismiss the case, stating in court filings that employees are merely exercising their right of speech. They call the lawsuit 'an attempt by a large corporation to silence a small group of former employees and their advocate.' The defendants also allege that some employees were let go because they participated in public protests, and not because of discrepancies in their Social Security numbers.

For Nativo Lopez, it's a second front in his current legal battles.

On June 24, Lopez surrendered to authorities in Los Angeles after he was charged with fraudulent document filing, perjury and fraudulent voting.

Prosecutors allege that in January 2008, Lopez registered to vote in Boyle Heights, where he has an office with Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana, even though he continued to live in Orange County, where he was previously registered.

Lopez faces up to three years and eight months in prison in that case, in which he pleaded not guilty and called the charges bogus.

About a week after Lopez surrendered to authorities, Overhill Farms filed its lawsuit against Lopez and six former employees of the company.

'Overhill Farms brings this action to redress an unlawful campaign to coerce the Company into employing hundreds of illegal aliens,' the lawsuit states.

The case stems from an audit conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, which found that 260 workers had provided invalid or fraudulent Social Security numbers. According to its complaint, Overhill Farms in April notified those employees of the discrepancies and gave them 30 days to provide accurate information. On May 31, the company fired those employees who either admitted to providing false information or failed to respond.

In court documents the defendants claim the company could have given employees additional time to provide verifiable information and that they did not have be fired.

'If we had continued to employ them we would have been criminally liable,' said Alexander Auerbach, spokesman for the company and a member of its board of directors. '(Lopez) is trying to force the company to do something which is illegal.'

Lopez directed questions to attorneys representing him in the case.

In an affidavit filed in court, one of the defendants, Bohemia Y. Augustina Saquilau said she contacted the employees' union, United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 770, who told her they were not going to be involved. She and 25 other employees formed a committee (Consejo Obrero de Overhill Farms) to address the issues and reach out to other organizations.

Overhill Farms alleges that Lopez inserted himself in the middle of the conflict, between the company and the contracted union, in an effort to pull influence away from Local 770 and into another union where he held more sway, according to the complaint.

Carol A. Sobel, an attorney representing the defendants, said even if that was the case, employees had a right to look to another organization if the union was not addressing its needs.

'I think it's kind of a smear campaign,' Sobel said. 'There's nothing in this case that can save Overhill Farms'

Sobel said she believes the lawsuit is an effort on behalf of the company to silence protests that have occurred in front of the company in Vernon and in front of Panda Express restaurants, which contracts with the company.

'(Employees) were told they don't want employees like that,' Sobel said.

Auerbach, spokesman for Overhill, said one of the defendants was let go after he was spotted participating in a protest with a sign that called the company racist.

'It's illegal for a company to be racist and discriminate,' Auerbach said.

The employee was let go because, with the sign, he was alleging the company was committing an illegal act, Auerbach said.

'That is not allowed under our labor agreement,' he said.

Auerbach said the company has not lost any contracts since the protests began, but it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees dealing with the unverified Social Security numbers.

A hearing on the motion to dismiss the case is scheduled for Oct. 30.

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12.
Evangelicals pushing immigration overhaul
The Baltimore Sun, October 9, 2009
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/faith/2009/10/evangelicals_pushing_immigrati.html

The National Association of Evangelicals is urging Congress to approve reforms to immigration laws, the Associated Press is reporting.

The NAE, seen as representing younger and more politically moderate faith leaders, ignited a controversy within the Evangelical community a couple of years back when its chief lobbyist said it would endorse a statement calling for action on climate change.

Now the group, which represents 40 Christian denominations, passed a resolution Thursday recommending changes to the law that would help undocumented immigrants eventually gain legal status.

The resolution was passed unanimously by the group's board of directors, which called on lawmakers to place a high priority on reuniting families. Association president Leith Anderson said the process for legal immigration to the U.S. is antiquated, bureaucratic and needs to change.

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13.
New Jersey pro-immigration leaders call for a halt to 287g on the steps of town hall
By Jamie Duffy
The Morristown Green (NJ), October 8, 2009
http://www.nj.com/morristown/jamieduffy/index.ssf/2009/10/new_jerwsey_pro-immigration_le.html

Morristown and the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office based in Freehold were two of 11 U.S. municipalities chosen last July to participate in the program. It has become a lightning rod of controversy in Morristown since it was introduced in February 2007 by Mayor Donald Cresitello, who will finish his term at the end of this year.

It cannot be implemented until the PBA signs off on it. Charles “Shai” Goldstein of the Newark-based New Jersey Immigration Policy Network said he and the others attending the conference expected some more news on whether the program will be implemented for either Morristown or the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office toward the end of October.

Cresitello, who was not at the press conference, has continued to press for the measure, but has repeatedly said it would not be used to round-up undocumented workers.

The two candidates running for mayor this November - Democrat Tim Dougherty and Republican Jimmy Gervasio - have both said they oppose the measure, but were not present at the event.

A host of local officials have called for its abolition. Esperanza Porras-Field, an officer with the Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce, said 287(g) would have a negative impact on the local economy and result in families being separated due to deportation. There would also be real estate vacancies and a loss of business and jobs. There are an estimated 35 Hispanic businesses in Morristown, according to MCHACC figures.

Because of the threat of 287(g) and the perceived attitude of the police, Latinos “are fearful to drive through Morristown,” she said.

Diana Mejia, co-founder of the Wind of the Spirit, a local immigrant rights group formed in 2000, has insisted that Latinos are intimidated and fearful of reporting crime, dividing the community. “It’s not necessary. We need to look to the future and work together.”

Pastor Osvaldo Jimenez who leads a Spanish speaking congregation at First Baptist on Washington Street and has worked as a volunteer chaplain at the Morris County jail since 1991 said that police cooperation with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has led to a “persecution of the Hispanics and Latinos in the community” where those committing a small crime find themselves whisked off for deportation. “It is racial profiling,” he said.

Deportations have increased in New Jersey since 2001, according to figures supplied from the ICE office in Newark: In 2001, 1,880 people were deported; 2002, 2,466; 2003, 3,342; 2004, 3,003; 2005, 3,111; 2006, 3,127; 2007 3,389; 2008, 4,463. As of the end of July, 2009, there were 4,103 deportations, nearly as many as the whole of last year.

Goldstein’s group; the American Friends Service Committee, also in Newark and represented by Amy Gottlieb, director of the immigrant rights program; and the ACLU, represented by racial justice attorney Nadia Seeratan, said there have been many criticisms of the detention system in which immigrants sometimes languish in bad conditions while awaiting trial and/or deportation.

The greatest criticism has been heaped on Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County that borders Mexico. It was announced two days ago that Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security which oversees ICE operations, has limited Arpaio’s powers.

“Joe Arpaio, the Bull Conner of America, his wings have been clipped,” said Goldstein. “He’s pulling out of the program.”

But allowing more municipalities to join the program is the wrong step, he said. “You can’t put a fire out and light one in New Jersey. Public policy has got to be consistent.”

Goldstein, Gottlieb, Wind of the Spirit and others will be traveling to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to blanket the New Jersey delegation and ask for immigration reform, including the abolition of 287(g).

Gottlieb said it is her understanding, however, that President Obama, Napolitano and the Congress will not be able to concentrate on immigration reform “until health care is through.'

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14.
Coloradans say Obama immigrant detention reform falls short
Costly for-profit detention facilities expand despite warnings they're not well-suited for the job
By Katie Redding
The Colorado Independent, October 9, 2009
http://coloradoindependent.com/39570/coloradans-say-obama-immigrant-detention-reform-falls-short

Aurora — As they have once a month for six months now, a crowd of about 50 people stood outside the GEO Group’s Aurora Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center Monday night, in a cold rain, to protest its expansion. The center will nearly quadruple in size this year.

This immigrant detention center in Aurora is currently expanding from 400 to 1,500 beds. (Katie Redding)

This immigrant detention center in Aurora is currently expanding from 400 to 1,500 beds. (Photo by Katie Redding/The Colorado Independent)

The protest coincided with the Obama administration’s release Tuesday afternoon of an internal report criticizing the nation’s immigrant detention system. It’s a comprehensive report that details the failures of a rapidly growing detention system that borrows from the criminal justice system and leans on private security firms to deal with a largely nonviolent, noncriminal population. But some Coloradans say the plans for reform don’t go far enough.

Aurora center doing booming business

The detention center in Aurora is tucked inconspicuously into a suburban warehouse district off Peoria Street just down the street from U-STOR Self Storage and Tires for Less. The center’s signs bear the ICE acronym and the euphemistic words “processing center.” Most nearby residents don’t even know this is an immigrant detention center, said Jennifer Piper, Interfaith Organizing Director for Immigrant Rights at the American Friends Service Committee, which sponsored the vigil. She knows. She’s knocked on their doors.

The protesters, however, are tuned into developments at the center. They note that it’s in the process of nearly quadrupling in size — expanding from 400 to 1500 beds.

Piper pointed out that 66 percent of detainees have been charged with no crimes. Locking up immigrants like criminals costs taxpayers a fortune and does unnecessary damage to families and communities.

“Imagine that one day you are home with your family, and the next day your kids return from school to find that you’ve been placed for an indefinite period in a detention facility with limited visitation rights,” wrote U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, a Democrat representing the 2nd Congressional District, at Huffington Post’s Denver local site.

In a July edition of CNN’s Freshman Year, Polis visited the Aurora facility, noting sarcastically: “This is where we take, like, perfectly innocent people and we take them away from their families. At taxpayer expense.”

“The implication for immigrants in Colorado — both documented and undocumented — is pretty huge when we think of the far-reaching implications of tripling beds,” Piper said. “It will be pretty devastating.”

GEO, the for-profit company who owns the detention center, is the latest incarnation of the security corporation Wackenhut, which has drawn major charges of neglect and abuse for a decade. GEO receives more than $133 a day per prisoner held at the Aurora facility. The company, which runs prisons in the U.S. and internationally and was tangentially implicated in the recent “Lord of the Flies” abuses at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, was nominated one of Forbes’s Best 400 Big Companies in America (pdf) in 2008, for registering a 22 percent return over a five-year period.

Federal report critical of system

As the protesters gathered Monday night, the Obama administration prepared to release a comprehensive and critical report of the nation’s immigrant detention program, written last month by Dora B. Schriro, who previously oversaw the ICE’s proposed overhaul of the program.

The report, released Tuesday afternoon, describes the nation’s detention program as a costly and unwieldy system of individually run centers, operating with inadequate government oversight and numerous inconsistencies.

Among the problems, according to the report, is that the system is designed for criminals, despite the fact that the majority of detainees have each only incurred a civil immigration violation.

“As a matter of law, Immigration Detention is unlike Criminal Detention,” states the report. “Yet Immigration Detention and Criminal Incarceration detainees tend to be seen by the public as comparable, and both confined populations are typically managed in similar ways … With only a few exceptions, the facilities that ICE uses to detain aliens were built, and operate, as jails and prisons to confine pre-trial and sentenced felons.”

The report also notes that detention centers tend to control prisoners according to correctional standards, which are far more restricting and expensive than necessary to manage most detainees.

The report went on to criticize detainee’s access to exercise facilities, medical care, legal counsel, religious worship and family visits. Schriro noted that attorneys have reported problems contacting their clients by mail and accessing them in the facility. Attorneys also have complained about their clients being transferred to locations prohibitively far away, with no notice.

Schriro pointed out that many detainees’ only access to exercise is an outdoor “run.” She noted that many of the facilities are located far from prisoners’ families, and that phone calls from the centers are prohibitively expensive. She argued that the intake process does not allow centers to reliably identify health or mental health issues — and that detainees with mental illness are often placed in segregation cells originally designed to punish prisoners. She also contended that religious requests — for texts or diets, or to keep one’s hair cut a certain way, for example — are not always honored.

The report blames the system’s failings, in part, on a rapid expansion of the immigration detention system. In 1995, it notes, the United States had fewer than 7,500 beds for detainees. Today, it has more than 30,000. The immigration detention program is currently the largest detention system in the nation, supervising 378,528 aliens in 2008 — and on track to hit the same numbers in 2009.

Detention systems are different than prison or incarceration systems, the report notes, in that detention is by definition temporary, a system ideally centered more on processing individuals for release than on holding them.

Critics suggest alternatives

Critics of the nation’s immigration detention program often point out that many successful alternatives exist.

“Systems that include reporting and electronic monitoring have been found to yield an appearance rate before immigration courts of well over 90 percent, wrote Polis in his Huffington Post column. “They are effective and significantly cheaper, with some programs costing as little as $12 per day compared to the $99 per day in the average detention center.”

Schriro’s report notes the detention alternatives, and it advocates for the development of a rubric to more uniformly assign alternatives. But it doesn’t go as far as suggesting the expansion of alternative programs in lieu of detention. In fact, in an interview this week with The New York Times, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, promised to build more detention centers — two from scratch, and others in converted nursing homes and hotels.

And for that reason, Piper says her Quaker nonprofit still isn’t satisfied.

“Why detain ‘nonthreatening’ people at all? Why not use community options?” she wrote in an email.

Polis also pushed for alternatives. In a statement on the floor Tuesday, he said he was “encouraged” by Napolitano’s commitment to reforming the immigration detention center.

But then he pushed for alternatives to the detention system, particularly for “special populations” such as parents with minor children, the ill and injured, women, non-violent asylum-seekers and members of vulnerable populations

“I hope to see meaningful changes being made at ICE,” he concluded, pointedly, “beginning with the forthcoming announcement of an expansive, nationwide Alternatives to Detention program.”

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15.
Omaha event to delve into immigration, policy
The Associated Press, October 9, 2009
http://www.action3news.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285833

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A panel discussion of immigration and policy is set for next week at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Four UNO faculty members will lead Thursday's discussion titled 'Latin America and Immigration in the Obama Era.'

The university's Office of Latino/Latin American Studies organized the event, which is part of the ongoing 'Charla' series. 'Charla' is a Spanish term for conversation or chat.

UNO history professor Maria Arbelaez says the Americas are more connected than ever. She says she hopes the event will engage the audience in discussion about President Obama's policy toward Latin America and related topics.

Anyone can attend the free event.

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16.
CBP officers apprehend 27 fugitives this week
KDBC News, October 9, 2009

EL PASO, Texas -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers working at ports of entry in El Paso, West Texas and New Mexico apprehended 27 wanted people this week. CBP officers also seized drugs, identified immigrations violations, and intercepted prohibited agricultural products during the previous seven days.
. . .
CBP officers recorded 85 immigration violations this week including 24 intended immigrants. In these cases, individuals will use a legally issued border-crossing card (laser visa) to live or work in the U.S., which is not authorized. They also lose their documents and are generally returned to Mexico. CBP officers stopped 36 imposters because of thorough document exams. Imposters generally will use a legitimate entry document assigned to another person and present it as their own. Violators generally lose their documents, can be prosecuted and go to jail and/or are returned to Mexico. Area CBP officers also identified 25 people who made false claims to U.S. citizenship, attempted to enter with counterfeit or altered documents, and those who entered without inspection.
. . .
http://www.kdbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=11289051

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17.
Shyne Remains In Custody Due To Immigration Status
Rapper was to be release from prison Tuesday, but a rep says officials may deport him to Belize.
By Jayson Rodriguez
MTV.com, October 9, 2009

It looks like Shyne's homecoming is on hold for the moment.

The former Bad Boy rapper (born Jamal Barrow) was scheduled to be released from prison Tuesday (October 6) after serving more than nine years of a 10-year sentence in connection with the 2001 Club New York shooting involving Diddy and Jennifer Lopez.

But his release is now under review, as representatives for the rapper revealed to MTV News that the Brooklyn MC is being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at an unspecified facility in Western New York State. Officials are determining whether or not to deport the rapper, who was born in Belize, a rep explained.

'Shyne is currently in federal custody while his future immigration status is determined,' the rep said in a message to MTV News. Shyne attorney Oscar Michelen emphasized to MTV News on Tuesday afternoon that Shyne has not been released, contrary to media reports.
. . .
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1623220/20091006/shyne.jhtml

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18.
Driver arrested in Biltmore Forest, Ahmad Niamul Ijad, wanted on immigration charge
By Jordan Schrader
The Ashville Citizen Times, October 9, 2009

Biltmore Forest — A driver pulled over Thursday was arrested when a town officer realized he was wanted by federal immigration authorities.

Ahmad Niamul Ijad had a fake drivers license from another state, Chief Eric Tinsley said.

'It looked like he was living in his car. I don’t think he had been in town very long,' Tinsley said.

Around 3 a.m., Officer John Driver spotted the car, a Toyota Camry with Mississippi plates, stopping for about 30 seconds in front of a green light at Hendersonville and Busbee roads and then weaving as it drove off, Tinsley said.

'The stop was initiated because of the way he was driving. He thought it was a drunk driver,' he said. But the man wasn't drunk. He was 'using an iPod GPS and a TomTom GPS trying to find a location,' Tinsley said.
. . .
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091009/NEWS01/91009043

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19.
Attorney Disbarred for Immigration Fraud
Courthouse News Service, October 9, 2009

A New York appellate division disbarred attorney Patrick G. Tzeuton after he was convicted of immigration fraud in Maryland.

The appeals court took the action against Tzeuton after a Maryland jury convicted him of seven counts of knowingly presenting false asylum applications, one count of obstruction of an official proceeding and one count of conspiracy to commit immigration fraud.
. . .
http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/10/09/Attorney_Disbarred_for_Immigration_Fraud.htm

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20.
Walnut Creek woman found guilty in servitude case
By Robert Salonga
The Contra Costa Times, October 9, 2009

Walnut Creek — A federal jury this week convicted a Walnut Creek woman of smuggling Peruvian nanny into the United States and forcing her work as a live-in nanny and domestic servant for two years, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today.

The conviction ended the first human trafficking trial prosecuted by the U.S. Dept. of Justice's Northern District of California.

Mabelle de la Rosa Dann, 46, was found guilty of forced labor, unlawful use of documents in furtherance of servitude, harboring an illegal alien for private financial gain, conspiracy to commit visa fraud and visa fraud.
. . .
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_13525967

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International News

Support the Center for Immigration Studies by donating on line here: http://cis.org/donate

ATTN Federal employees: The Center's Combined Federal Campaign number is 10298.

[For CISNEWS subscribers --

1. Canada: Gov’t says no plans to reinstate visa requirement for Hungarians
2. Canada: Roaming Romanians arrested after theft complaints
3. U.K: Raid on food processing plant nets ten illegal workers
4. U.K: Rules relaxed to allow asylum seekers to remain (story, link)
5. U.K: French town councilor charged with smuggling migrants
6. Ireland: S. African woman alleges discrimination in bid for asylum
7. Germany: Banker’s remarks stir debate on racial tolerance, immigration
8. Turkey: Normalization of ties may ease conditions for Armenian illegals
9. Malaysia: Police dismantle international vice ring (story, link)
10. Australia: Country becoming a mecca for asylum-seekers (story, link)
11. Australia: Gov’t establishes new immigration advisory council
12. Australia: Black market labour agent network exposed
13. N.Z.: Party touts stance on immigration in run-up to 2011 election
14. N.Z.: Chinese ex-pats to protest Uighur activist’s vist

Subscribe to CIS e-mail services here: http://cis.org/immigrationnews.html

-- Mark Krikorian]

1.
Canada Denies Visa Plans For Hungary Despite Surge in Asylum Claims
The Earth Times, October 9, 2009
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/289403,canada-denies-visa-plans-for-hungary-despite-surge-in-asylum-claims.html

Budapest - Canada currently has no intention of reinstating the visa requirement for Hungarians, the Canadian government said Thursday evening, while acknowledging a surge in the number of asylum claims. 'Canada has no plans to reimpose a visa requirement at this time,' said spokeswoman for the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration office Kelli Fraser.

This comes in the wake of a surge in the number of asylum claims made by Hungarians flying into Canada.

In the first half of this year, 750 Hungarians claimed refugee status in Canada, with the number increasing month by month.

'Canada is aware of an increase in refugee claims from Hungary and is monitoring the situation closely,' Fraser told the German Press Agency dpa.

In July Canada revoked visa-free travel for the Czech Republic and Mexico in the wake of a flood of what were seen as largely bogus asylum claims.

Thousands of Czech Roma had flown to Canada citing persecution at home and seeking refugee status,

As of the end of June there were 940 claims pending from Hungarian citizens, Charles Hawkins, senior communications advisor for the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada told the German Press Agency dpa.

No claimants have been granted refugee status this year, but 22 of 288 claims made in 2008 were successful.

This despite Hungary being a European Union member state and, in theory, an improbable source of refugees fleeing persecution.

Hungarian Roma, also known as gypsies, are among the most deprived social groups in Hungary, often living in de facto segregation on the edge of rural towns and villages.

'The IRB does not have statistics on case types and cannot discuss the basis for acceptance of refugee claims,' Hawkins said.

Canada's minister for immigration Jason Kelley discussed the rising number of asylum claims with Hungarian officials while on an official visit in June.

The Hungarian foreign ministry said on Thursday that it was not aware of any Canadian plans to withdraw visa exemption.

However, it urged Hungarian citizens to be fully aware of the 'conditions for legal travel, residence and work' in Canada.

'Countries are aware that if they do not satisfy the conditions of a visa-exemption, a visa may be imposed,' Fraser said.

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2.
Roaming Romanians arrested
Group accused of stealing from convenience stores
By Brian Medel
The Chronicle Herald (Nova Scotia), October 9, 2009
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1146716.html

Yarmouth - A vanload of Romanians was pulled over by RCMP officers in Yarmouth just before suppertime Wednesday after police got a tip that Eastern Europeans were roaming the province and stealing money and goods from convenience stores.

'There were seven adults, five female and two male between 19 ... and 50 years old,' said Sgt. Michel LaCroix of the Yarmouth RCMP.

'They also had a little six-month-old baby with them.'

Police have interrogated some of the suspects. Not all members of the group speak English, said Sgt. LaCroix.

Luckily, an RCMP officer in Meteghan who speaks Romanian was able to help with the interviews.

Windsor RCMP are handling the investigation and travelled to Yarmouth on Thursday.

The adults were arrested. The baby is said to be in the care of child welfare workers.

The group is accused of stealing from Nova Scotia businesses from Oct. 5 to 7, said Sgt. LaCroix.

The group is alleged to have targeted small shops like convenience stores. They are alleged to have swarmed attendants who were working alone, distracting them and stealing what they could.

'They were working their way down towards Yarmouth, I guess,' said Sgt. LaCroix.

On Wednesday afternoon, cash was taken from a Shelburne business.

A good description was given of the people involved and the vehicle they were in, Sgt. LaCroix said.

A vehicle matching the description and full of Romanians was spotted in the north end of Yarmouth on Main Street.

Officers pulled over a late-model, brown GM minivan with Quebec licence plates.

Police seized cash they believe was stolen.

'The van also has been seized,' said Sgt. LaCroix.

Immigration officials are working with the Romanians, but Sgt. LaCroix said he is not sure of each adult’s immigration status.

'They’re not Canadian citizens,' he said.

He said the adults are Romanians and are not in Canada illegally.

He said the adults were charged late Thursday in connection with thefts of money and goods from six locations in Lakeland, Windsor, Kennetcook, Truro, Chester and Shelburne.

Sgt. LaCroix said the adults were expected to spend the night in jail and appear in a yet-to-be-determined provincial court today.

The group has connections in other provinces, but Sgt. LaCroix was unsure if they were wanted for crimes in other parts of Canada.

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3.
Ten Arrested in Immigration Raid at Veg Packers
Oxford Mail, October 9, 2009
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4673037.Ten_arrested_in_immigration_raid_at_veg_packers/

Ten workers were arrested when immigration officials raided a Bicester food factory.

The UK Border Agency and two police officers arrived at Just Prepared, in Bainton Close, off Charbridge Way, at 10.30am yesterday.

Documents for about 30 staff were inspected and those of anyone believed to be working illegally were checked against Home Office records.

Ten men, aged between 24 and 48, were arrested and taken to their homes – which were searched for travel documents, such as passports and visas.

The company, which produces salad and vegetable packs, was last night issued with a notice of potential liability, which means it could be fined up to £10,000 for each illegal worker.

Chief Immigration Officer Alex Legg said: “We’re planning a number of operations and have been working on this for a month, after receiving information.”

Immigration officers stressed that the firm had records for all its staff, although it said some may have used fake documents to get work. They said five of the men held had come from India, four from Sri Lanka and one from Pakistan.

Three are believed to have outstayed their visas, one was working in breach of a student visa and another was a failed asylum seeker. Five of the group were thought to have entered the country illegally.

Barry Spencer, owner of Just Prepared, declined to comment.

Officers had been watching the site ahead of the raid and applied to Bicester Magistrates’ Court for a warrant.

Mr Legg, said: “We have seen, in some instances, false documents used and in other instances the identification provided did not match what the Home Office had on record.”

Pc Ben Henley, of Thames Valley Police, said: “We were there to execute the warrant, to stop any breach of the peace and support officers from UK Borders.”

All 10 men were still in custody last night, while officials checked whether they were entitled to work in the UK.

If proper travel documents are found, some could be deported within 72 hours. If not, they may be sent to an immigration detention centre while further checks are carried out.

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4.
Labour Relaxes The Rules to Let 40,000 Asylum Seekers Stay
By Nick McDermott
Daily Mail, October 9, 2009
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219170/40-000-asylum-seekers-given-permission-stay-UK-new-rules.html

The Government has 'quietly' relaxed immigration rules to help clear a backlog of asylum claims, it emerged last night.

Ministers have changed Home Office guidelines in a move which could see 40,000 previously ineligible foreigners being given indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Three years ago, Labour promised to have dealt with the growing backlog of 450,000 asylum cases clogging up the system by 2011.

But officials realised it would be virtually impossible to send many of them back as they were from countries with poor human rights records such as Zimbabwe, Somalia, Iran and China.

So in a bid to massage the official figures, ministers have changed the rules making it easier for them to stay in Britain, thus drastically reducing the backlog.

Previously officials could only grant indefinite leave to remain when a claimant had already lived in Britain for 10 to 12 years, but now they can apply after just six.

This means around 40,000 identified cases can be taken off the backlog immediately - by being granted permission to stay in Britain.

The move allows them to work legally in the country, and eventually become full citizens.

A leaked memo written by a senior official at the UK Border Agency (Ukba) suggested the change because there would be 'difficulties' in deporting them to their home countries.

It was sent to Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, and Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, who signed it off.

Head of immigration at Ukba, Matthew Coats, called in the memo for a six-year reduction in the time a claimant had to live in Britain before immigration officials could grant indefinite leave to remain, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said it showed the rules were being relaxed for 'political expediency'.

But immigration minister Phil Woolas said the guidance was merely 'updated' to avoid drawn-out court cases.

The Home Office confirmed the changes to immigration rule 395C were made in August.
Mr Huhne said: 'The Government is prepared to quietly relax the rules in the interests of political expediency.'

Mr Woolas said he was 'confident' the backlog would be cleared by 2011.

He stressed: 'There is no amnesty. Our guidelines were updated to provide case workers with a simple framework to judge cases, and to avoid long drawn out court battles.

'No lawbreaker will be allowed to say, and each case is still decided on its individual merits.'

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Immigration Rules Relaxed to Allow Tens of Thousands to Stay, Secret Memo
By Tom Whitehead
Telegraph, October 9, 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6274662/Immigration-rules-relaxed-to-allow-tens-of-thousands-to-stay-secret-memo.html

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5.
French Councilor Held For Smuggling Migrants
Taiwan News, October 9, 2009
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1078297&lang=eng_news

Britain's immigration authority has charged a French town councilor and her son with smuggling migrants into Britain.

The U.K. Border Agency said Friday that 51-year old Christiane Chocat and 20-year-old Benjamin Chocat were charged with facilitating unlawful entry into a European country.

Christiane Chocat is a town councilor in Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux, a region outside Paris.

They were charged after British police discovered 16 Vietnamese nationals hidden in a van packed with shrimp noodles that disembarked from a ferry Thursday in Portsmouth, on England's south coast.

The ferry sailed from Cherbourg in northern France. The Vietnamese were returned to France.

The Chocats are to appear in Portsmouth Magistrates Court on Saturday.

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6.
Another S. African Cites Crime to Claim Residence Abroad
By Michael Hamlyn
Times Live, October 9, 2009
http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/local/article144748.ece

Dianne Jefferson (22), who moved to Ireland to live with her father when she was 14, was turned down for a resident's visa even though she was married to an Irishman. She appealed to the Dublin High Court for permission to stay in the country, stating in her affidavit: 'I say and believe that as a white South African there is a real possibility of criminal racial discrimination against me and I fear for my well-being and ultimately my life if I am returned.'

The judge granted her an injunction stopping immigration authorities from deporting her, and she has now been given a five-year residency visa.

But the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in Pretoria on Friday that the government rejects the reasons she gave.

'This is untrue and inaccurate to suggest that crime is racially motivated and that a particular section of the South African society is more likely to be exposed to crime than any other,' the department said. 'The South African government has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to provide safety and security to all South Africans, black and white, and not only to a select section of its population.'

The department went on: 'The applicant's unsubstantiated claims and suggestions are nothing but an attempt to tarnish the integrity of all South Africans, black and white, and to damage the country's reputation.

'While South Africa faces many developmental challenges, insinuations that crime is racially based are inaccurate.'

In August, Brandon Huntley, 31, a South African living in Canada, was granted refugee status after claiming he had been attacked because of his race. In his application, Huntley, who grew up in Mowbray in Cape Town, claimed that he was persecuted as a white man in South Africa.

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7.
German Race Row Reveals Splits Over Integration
By Dave Graham
Reuters, October 9, 2009
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE59817S20091009?sp=true

A central banker's attack on Turks and Arabs living in Germany has attracted a flood of popular support and sparked warnings that racial tolerance is on the wane, exposing a deep rift in the country over integration.

The comments by Thilo Sarrazin, a board member of the Bundesbank, have been criticised by his employer, won praise from neo-Nazis, and inspired thousands of Germans to take a public stand on the issue.

In an interview published last week in culture magazine Lettre International, Sarrazin called for a crackdown on immigration, arguing that too many Muslims were sponging off Germany.

'I don't need to accept anyone who lives off the state, rejects this country ... and is always producing little girls with headscarves. This is true of 70 percent of the Turkish and 90 percent of the Arab population of Berlin,' Sarrazin said.

'The Turks are conquering Germany just like Kosovars once did Kosovo -- through a higher birth rate.'

He added: 'The path we're on means that the share of the intellectual elite (in society) is continually falling for demographic reasons.'

Berlin state prosecutors said on Thursday a charge had been filed against Sarrazin which included the accusation he was inciting racial hatred. A spokesman said prosecutors were assessing the charge, but refused to say who had filed it.

Meanwhile, public debate is raging, with the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) backing Sarrazin and urging the government to appoint him the country's commissioner on foreigners. About 3 million people in Germany are of Turkish origin and some 280,000 of Arab extraction, out of a population of 82 million.

An online poll by the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger daily showed a third of respondents supported Sarrazin. A further 43 percent found his words 'exaggerated in some cases but that he was right about many things.' Another survey in daily Die Welt showed that over two-thirds felt criticism of Sarrazin was unjustified.

Ferit Temur, 40, a German-Turkish biologist from Berlin, said the remarks by Sarrazin -- who later offered a qualified apology -- were the most discriminatory he had ever heard.

'I wouldn't even expect to hear it from neo-Nazis,' he said. 'All this does is play people off against one another, it does nothing to promote integration. And to stigmatise women like that is completely ludicrous: it's an attack on the future.'

'DUBIOUS THEORIES'

Government research suggests Sarrazin's comments do not offer a representative picture of the situation in Europe's largest economy, which is relying increasingly on immigrants because of its ageing population and low birth rate.

A 2009 study by the Interior Ministry on Muslims in Germany found integration 'was more positive than often assumed.' It said 70 percent of Muslim women never wore headscarves. Second-generation immigrants were even less likely to do so.

Sarrazin, 64, a member of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), spent most of the decade as finance minister of Berlin and has courted controversy in the past with outspoken comments. But never before had he focussed so overtly on race.

A number of leading newspapers have defended him, arguing that the divisive nature of some remarks did not invalidate the banker's other musings on social and economic integration.

Papers and blogs have been inundated with comment on Sarrazin, whose remarks followed threats to Germany from al Qaeda and the election of a new government that is expected to be less supportive of Turkey's hopes to join the European Union.

An online reader of Bild daily who identified himself as 'Jochen33' was one of hundreds to hail Sarrazin on its website.
'The man's completely right: if you look around some parts of Berlin or Cologne it feels like you're in the Orient. Most of these people reject our state, but not state support,' he said.

Johnny Haeusler, a writer on Berlin blog Spreeblick, told Reuters Sarrazin's defenders confused facts about immigrants with 'dubious theories' and encouraged openly racist comments.

'I have the impression that views far to the right of the political centre are more readily tolerated than they were in the 1970s and 1980s -- to the extent that they may even have become established in the centre,' he said.

Some SPD members have called for Sarrazin to be ejected from the party, while the Bundesbank has suggested he should resign.

Sebastian Edathy, head of the home affairs committee of the Bundestag lower house of parliament and an SPD member, said Sarrazin had to go, comparing his views with Nazi thinking.

'It would be even more of a problem if we let it pass and went back to business as usual,' he said. 'That would only give people even more encouragement to say these things. This is ultimately National Socialist ideology we're talking about.'

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8.
Illegal Armenians hope to emerge from shadows with Turkey deal
In a major breakthrough, Turkey and Armenia announced in August a deal to establish diplomatic ties for the first time and open their border, sealed since 1993.
By Nicolas Cheviron
Agence France- Presse, October 8, 2009

Istanbul -- Suzan, like many Armenians living clandestinely in Istanbul, came for the money. But the better life is also one of constant fear as an illegal alien living amongst the 'enemy'.

The 51-year-old Suzan's decision has proved quite profitable. As a teacher to children of other illegal Armenian immigrants, she multiplied her monthly wages by seven -- from 50 dollars to 350 dollars (34 to 240 euros).

But she also worries every day about getting caught by Turkish police.

In a basement serving as a makeshift school, she talked about the unease of thousands of Armenians like herself. Forced to leave their impoverished country to earn a living, they have settled in Turkey's biggest city, facing up to their historical fear of Turks and braving an illegal existence.

'My relatives who stayed in Armenia do not know Turkey. They have difficulty accepting what I do here and that adds to my sadness,' she said.

Suzan is hoping all that may change soon with a rare chance of peace between the neighbours and foes, at odds over claims of a 1915-1917 Turkish genocide against Armenians.

Then she and others could emerge from the shadows and work freely in Turkey. Suzan said she could have an even 'better life' and, maybe, set up a 'small business' between the two countries.

In a major breakthrough, Turkey and Yerevan announced in August a deal to establish diplomatic ties for the first time and open their border, sealed since 1993.

The two countries are expected to ink the deal on Saturday in Switzerland before submitting it to their respective parliaments for ratification.

If the process succeeds, it would change the picture for the illegal Armenians already in Istanbul as well as the five to six busloads coming in every week from Yerevan after a gruelling 35-hour journey via Georgia.

They enter Turkey on a one-month tourist visa, but many are looking to set up a new life here.

Their existence is no secret for Turkish authorities: in April, President Abdullah Gul said there were more than 70,000 Armenian citizens working in Turkey.

And in May, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said about 40,000 of these were illegal and said his government was not sending them back out of humanitarian concerns.

One of those illegal Armenians tolerated by authorities is Sveta who arrived in Istanbul, a bustling metropolis of more than 12 million, seven years ago.

Armed with a huge smile that shows several golden teeth, the 55-year-old recalled how at first she dreaded the idea of living among Turks, only to discover that her fears were groundless.

'After I arrived, I started working in a shoe factory. I was the only woman among 40 men and the only Armenian among 40 Turks,' she said. 'But, in fact, they always treated me like a big sister. They never said anything bad to me.'

Sveta lives with her two daughters, son-in-law and two grandchildren in a two-room flat with no heating and her visa expired long ago.

Despite the hardships, she does not regret her choice.

'Coming to Turkey is not expensive at all and there are no problems here... The police never ask any questions,' she said, compared to Moscow, the main destination for Armenian immigrants, where life is expensive and the police relentless.

Fabio Salomoni, an Italian sociologist at Istanbul's Koc University who has published research on immigration from the Caucasus to Turkey, estimated the number of illegal Armenian immigrants in Istanbul at 20,000. He said most were women of over 40 employed as nannies or cleaning ladies as there is greater demand for them.

While most Turkish women in such jobs go home at the end of the workday, Armenian women often live with their employer and are available 24 hours a day, the academic said. And since they are in the country illegally, they tend to work for less money than Turkish women.

According to the Salomoni, the presence of a centuries-old local Armenian community in Istanbul, numbering around 70,000, plays a role in the flow of Armenian citizens to the city.

'The existence of the community and the fact that the city is full of concrete Armenian symbols reinforce the immigrants' feeling of security: they feel a bit at home,' he said.

Despite hopes for peace, loyalty runs deep. Teacher Suzan, for one, stressed that she would never make concessions on the World War I massacres of Armenians under Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, which Yerevan says constituted a genocide.

'This is not possible, this is our history and we will not be able to forget it,' she added.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

In 1993, Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in a show of solidarity with close ally Azerbaijan over the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, dealing a serious blow to the impoverished former Soviet republic.

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9.
Cops Smash International Sex Trade Ring
The Star (Malaysia), October 9, 2009
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/10/9/nation/4871665&sec=nation

An international vice syndicate that lures Malaysian women into the worldwide sex trade was smashed with the arrests of two members.

The women, who were duped by promises of lucrative jobs abroad, were instead sold as sex workers in countries like Australia and several European nations.

The couple, a 44-year-old man and his 55-year-old live-in partner, was nabbed at their home in Pandan Perdana, here, at 1am yesterday.

Following the arrests, eight local women and another from China, in their 20s, were rescued by a police team from the Bukit Aman secret societies, gambling and vice division that raided the house.

The women were believed to be the syndicate’s latest victims.

Federal CID deputy director I (Intelligence and Operations) Deputy Comm Datuk Hadi Ho Abdullah said the syndicate was a major player in the international sex trade with an extensive networking system.

DCP Hadi said the victims, who were mostly in their teens and early 20s, were promised high-paying jobs in countries of their choice.

“Initial investigations revealed that the duo, who have been operating for at least a year, made a profit of more than RM1mil thus far.

“It produces forged visas, passports and other relevant documents for the victims,” he said at a press conference at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, here, yesterday,

DCP Hadi said police have yet to ascertain the number of Malaysian women who were duped and ended up as sex workers abroad but believed the figure could be in the hundreds.

DCP Hadi said police also did not rule out the possibility of the syndicate working with personnel from the Immigration Department or other relevant government departments.

He advised the public not to be fooled by individuals promising them suspiciously lucrative jobs abroad.

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Police Bust Human Trafficking Ring
By Marhalim Abas
Malay Mail, October 9, 2009
http://www.mmail.com.my/content/15328-police-bust-human-trafficking-ring

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10.
Passage of Last Resort
By Paige Taylor and Debbie Guest
The Australian, October 10, 2009
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26189478-5013871,00.html

All that Mustafa Ali Sahil had to offer Australian immigration authorities when he was plucked from the Timor Sea on June 23 this year was his story. The 19-year-old was with 49 other asylum-seekers from Afghanistan and Iran.

They spent two days under the watch of the Australian navy before being helped from their small fishing boat on to a Customs vessel near Ashmore Reef and taken to Christmas Island's Immigration Detention Centre. There, specialist interviewers asked Sahil standard questions such as 'Why did you come here?' and he poured out his past.

Within three months Sahil was handed the letter all asylum-seekers hope for. It read: 'Dear Mr Sahil, I am pleased to advise you have been granted a subclass 866 (protection) visa and this decision comes into effect on September 16, 2009.'

As an Afghan, Sahil is in the majority of the 645 asylum-seekers processed on Christmas Island to be granted permanent protection in Australia since a surge that began in September last year. The next biggest group among successful asylum-seekers from the past year are Sri Lankans and most of these have been Tamils.

In all, 1755 hopefuls have been delivered to the Australian territory of Christmas Island for processing since the Rudd government was elected. They included Iraqis, Palestinians, Burmese, Somalis, Kuwaitis and Vietnamese. The total does not include the 52 asylum-seekers and three crew intercepted off Ashmore Reef yesterday morning; they were still en route to the island last night.

Nor does it include the 42 survivors from the boat explosion in April that killed five Afghan men; those survivors never went to Christmas Island and are in detention in Perth and Brisbane because of their special medical needs.

From the outset, it was clear to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship that Sahil's claim for protection had merit. He is a Hazara who fled Afghanistan for Pakistan with his father 10 years ago after family members disappeared while trying to pass through a Taliban-controlled valley. He was eight then and recalls the blasted-out scene of devastation that told him his relatives were dead.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees' advice about the dangers facing Hazaras such as Sahil is not open to interpretation.

In July, the refugee agency published eligibility guidelines for assessing the international protection needs of asylum-seekers from Afghanistan and advised the 'general security situation in Afghanistan deteriorated significantly in 2008 resulting in a larger number of civilian deaths'.

The advice refers to the millions of Afghans displaced like Sahil and his father, and notes that some states have sought to return Afghan asylum-seekers to Iran and Pakistan on the basis that protection had been afforded, sometimes for long periods. But the advice stresses 'unless in possession of valid entry visas such Afghans will, however, be denied re-entry, restoration of residency rights and be subject to forced return to Afghanistan'.

And while the dangers facing Tamils in Sri Lanka in recent years is widely understood, the path to a visa is not so smooth for Sri Lankan Sinhalese, such as the fishermen who have come to be known by the DIC as 'the Shark Bay12'.

Unlike most other asylum-seekers, the group did not come by boat from Indonesia. They came from Columbo under their own steam to the Australian mainland and finished with a daring swim through shark-infested waters off Western Australia's Coral Coast last November.

By reaching the Australian shoreline at Shark Bay, they were legally classified as mainland arrivals and, although sent to the excised migration zone of Christmas Island for processing, had rights of appeal in the Australian court system not available to other detainees. But it has not helped them. They were quickly rejected by the DIC, which believed they were poor fishermen looking for a better life.

The Refugee Review Tribunal, to which they were entitled to apply because of their special status as mainland arrivals, affimed this. Most of the men then lodged an appeal for ministerial intervention but the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Evans, declined to get involved.

Last Sunday, two of the men became the first failed asylum-seekers to be forcibly returned under the Rudd government. Seven others had already agreed to leave voluntarily and three more remain in detention in Perth and Christmas Island, lodging last-ditch legal appeals in an attempt to be granted visas.

When they first arrived in detention, some of the men told immigration officials they had made their perilous 33-day boat journey for economic reasons. Others mentioned political problems and only one is believed to have said his life would be in danger if forced home. Significantly, the men gave differing accounts of their story during interviews. Their credibility became an issue.

By December, one of the men agreed to go home and another relented in January. But the remaining 10 refused to leave and some sought the help of Melbourne-based lawyer Noeline Perera after their families in Sri Lanka contacted Perera's mother, who lives in the same Sri Lankan region as some of the men.

Perera says they left their homeland for economic and political reasons. 'The fighting was really serious and there had been a lot of bloodshed, a lot of violence preventing these men being fishermen in the last few years,' Perera says. Most of the men were also involved in grassroots political activities, including with opposition party, the United National Party, she says.

It has been established that one of the men, Sarath Tennakoon, was in the Sri Lankan air force. He says the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) discovered he was in the intelligence unit in 2002 and wants to kill him. But his letter of discharge from the air force does not outline the duties he claims to have fulfilled and Australian authorities do not believe his explanation that the letter was written that way to protect him.

He has told Inquirer from inside Perth Detention Centre that he did not come to Australia for economic reasons. 'I have money, I have a house and a farm in Sri Lanka,' he says.

Tennakoon was in the detention centre as his appeals were heard and described feeling like a 'frog in a well'. But five of his fellow travellers were granted community detention on the island and were able to attend church daily (they are devout Catholics), play badminton and swim at Flying Fish Cove. Those men say that since their journey, their lives have been put at risk because the owner of the boat in which they sailed to Australia wants revenge.

According to the men, their sailing skills allowed them to travel at a discounted rate, on the condition they collected 50 passengers. The men waited at sea for two days for the other passengers but, fearing they were about to be nabbed by the Sri Lankan navy, sailed without them.

The boat owner, who Perera claims is a wealthy Sri Lankan people-smuggler, was left without the windfall of 50 paying passengers and without his boat. One of the two men the Australian government forced home last Sunday, Indika Mendis, has been detained and charged with people-smuggling and Perera says he was beaten and sent to Negombo prison in Colombo. On Wednesday a temporary injunction against the deportation of another member of the Shark Bay 12, Roshan Fernando, was granted by the High Court.

Perera says the men did not talk about their political problems during their initial interviews because they did not trust immigration officials and thought they would have to detail their claims only to a lawyer.

Perera also questions whether deporting the men was a political decision, given the opposition's claims that the Rudd government's softened immigration policy has contributed to the influx. 'The removal of these men coincides with an ad campaign in Sri Lanka (warning about the dangers of travelling by boat to Australia). You wonder whether it was a genuine consideration of these men's claims by the minister's office. It sounds to me like a political decision, that this was always going to be the end result.'

But Evans is adamant. 'Australia does not return asylum-seekers to their country of origin without fully assessing any claim for protection,' he says. 'Nor does Australia return people found not to be refugees where this would contravene Australia's obligations under other international human rights instruments.'

For Sahil, who is three weeks into his new life in Perth, there is daily sadness that his father is still in danger. But his father, who sought out a people-smuggler in Pakistan to get his only son out of the country, is happy.

Sahil is grateful for his new life and plans to become a lawyer but says he felt uneasy crossing borders during his journey by plane, car and boat. 'I was entering someone's house without asking,' he says.

He shares an austere unit in Perth's southeast with three other refugees, and will soon begin a combined year 11 and year 12 course that he hopes will lead to university. He is looking for a job. Sahil says he wants to be understood, and he hopes Australians will realise that he did not arrive without a visa as a first resort. 'For me, there was no other way,' he says.

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Arrest of Lankans shows process compromised: Aussie opposition
The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), October 10, 2009
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=64201

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11.
Australia Establishes New Immigration Advisory Council
By Li Xianzhi
Xinhuanet, October 10, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/09/content_12198878.htm

Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Evans, announced the establishment of the Council for Immigration Services and Status Resolution on Friday.

The council will provide independent advice on the implementation of measures associated with the government's immigration policy initiatives, including New Directions in Detention and the national rollout of the Community Status Resolution Service.

'The government's focus is on resolving the immigration status of people quickly and fairly while ensuring they are treated humanely and with dignity and respect,' Evans said.

'The council will provide independent advice on policies, services and programs to achieve timely, fair and effective resolution of immigration status for people seeking asylum or other migration outcomes in Australia.'

The council, which succeeds the Immigration Detention Advisory Group (IDAG), will meet for the first time on Oct. 21 to identify priority issues to be addressed over the next two years.

The IDAG provided valuable advice on the adequacy of detention services, accommodation and facilities at immigration detention centers around Australia.

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12.
Worker Scam Exposed
By Andrew Rule
The Age, October 10, 2009
http://www.theage.com.au/national/worker-scam-exposed-20091009-gqt3.html

An underground network of labour agents is procuring illegal workers in Asia and India to supply Australia's growing blackmarket for contract labour.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has confirmed that investigators have pinpointed foreign agents who collude with ''gang master'' labour contractors and corrupt migration agents in Australia to evade tough new migration laws.

''These people exploit often vulnerable individuals in a criminal manner,'' Immigration spokesman Sandi Logan told The Age.

He said authorities took ''this very seriously'' but were powerless to prevent ''offshore agents'' preying on gullible or desperate people in their own countries - notably India and China.

Agents in China levy spotters' fees to procure workers for labour hire contractors who then bribe migration agents to prepare bogus refugee claims or otherwise misuse the Migration Act to delay the workers' deportation.

The department has exposed the rort as part of a push against illicit labour contractors, who have infiltrated the fruit and vegetable growing industry, mainly in Victoria.

One big labour contractor alleged to run a private army of illegal workers in several states has been under investigation for a year and will soon face federal charges, including systematic identity fraud. A conviction would ''strengthen our hand and be a strong warning to others,'' Mr Logan said.

The department's decision to reveal its hand could be seen as a way to defuse growing criticism that it is using the beefed-up 2007 legislation to detain illegal workers - but not those who exploit them.

An Age investigation indicates that fruit growers and market gardeners suspected of conniving with contractors to use illegal workers have not been prosecuted following raids that have snared hundreds of illegal migrants in Victoria.

Under the new laws introduced in late 2007, penalties jumped from negligible levels to a maximum of $13,000 or two years' jail for individuals, with companies facing $66,000 fines per illegal worker.

But farm and horticultural groups concede they know of no Victorian producers or contractors being fined, let alone jailed.

Government sources confirm that immigration officers ''tend not to prosecute'' first-time offenders, a loophole that could allow suspect contractors to resort to ''sub-contractors'' as fronts to stay in business.

Australian Workers Union Victorian secretary Cesar Melham said it was right that illegal workers were raided but it was time the Government got ''fair dinkum about prosecuting labour hire contractors and farmers''.

He had no doubt that big producers knew ''exactly what's going on'' but were hiding behind bogus contract arrangements under which some contractors paid workers below award wages.

''It's like slavery, some of it,'' he said. ''The penalties … are not enforced.''

Of a total 11, 428 people located in 2008-09 who had overstayed their visa or were in breach of visa conditions, 990 were working illegally, with most (294) of these in Victoria.

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13.
NZ First in 2011 Bid to Save Country
The New Zealand Herald, October 9, 2009
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10602235

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is back with all guns blazing today in a speech slamming immigration, foreign ownership and the Government.

Saying NZ First would be fighting the 2011 election to save the country, Mr Peters returned with relish to his old themes of immigration and foreign investment.

The comments were made in speech notes for delivery to the Kawerau and Districts Grey Power meeting this afternoon.

New Zealand had suffered a 'tsunami' of immigrants, he said, and large scale immigration could not be justified when 140,000 people were out of work.

He said the country was being taken for a sucker and immigrants were not needed in many occupations. Some immigrants were using New Zealand as a 'transit camp' before moving to Australia.

The burden of immigrants on welfare and pensions was bemoaned.

'These people are feasting on your pension pie ... the pension pie you and other Kiwis paid for.'

Other topics included the perils of foreign ownership and the importance of agriculture to the economy.

Mr Peters said New Zealand needed to be wary of foreigners buying agricultural assets and 'hovering' around Fonterra.

The kiwifruit industry was 'being stalked by jackals'.

He frequently referred to Finance Minister Bill English as Mr Double Dipton - referring to a housing allowance Mr English used to get for living in Wellington when his electorate is Dipton.

In last year's general election Mr Peters failed to regain his Tauranga seat and NZ First did not reach the 5 per cent threshold of party votes to get back into Parliament.

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14.
Activist to Face Chinese Protests
By Lincoln Tan
The New Zealand Herald, October 10, 2009
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10602379

Auckland-based Chinese are planning protests against the visit to the city next week of Uighur rights activist Rebiya Kadeer.

Calls for demonstrations at the venues where Ms Kadeer will be holding public meetings are being posted online at the local Chinese forum website skykiwi.com, according to Dorathy Li, its chief editor.

'New Zealand will not let Osama bin Laden in because it is afraid of America. Why do they let a terrorist like Kadeer in when they know it will hurt and offend the Chinese people,' said a student who spoke to the Weekend Herald in Mandarin.

The caller, who identified himself only as Willie, said about 20 students would stage a demonstration at Auckland Airport on Monday morning, when Ms Kadeer is expected to arrive.

China has put pressure on Australia and Taiwan not to grant her a visa.

As a result, Taiwan has banned her, but NZ Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman this week issued a visa for Ms Kadeer to come here.

The University of Auckland, where she was due to speak, cancelled the venue booking, citing security concerns - a move that has upset its students' association.

'Universities have a clear role in New Zealand to act as the critic and conscience of society, and it comes at certain costs,' said association president Darcy Peacock.

'It is absolutely disgraceful that the University of Auckland is unwilling to provide the necessary security to support Ms Kadeer.

'The sorry state of tertiary education funding in New Zealand means that the university relies heavily on the export education market in countries such as China.'

Green MP Keith Locke, who will be hosting Ms Kadeer during her New Zealand tour, said he had also been informed that protests were being discussed and organised on local Chinese websites.

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