Thursday, August 8, 2002

Associated Press INS detains two illegals Rogers County, Oklahoma Federal immigration authorities today detained the two alleged illegal aliens who had remained in the Rogers County jail after their five companions were freed on bail. -- The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service had declined to pick up the Hispanic men for deportation but reversed course late Tuesday, asking Rogers County authorities to hold them. -- INS agents picked Moreno Delgadillo, 18, and Antonio Marco, 24, up from the jail in Claremore Thursday morning, said jail administrator's assistant Darrell Hughes.

WorldNetDaily.com Don't arrest terrorists, INS tells airport agents In another example of the federal bureaucracy getting in the way of fighting terrorism, Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport ­ the nation's third-busiest ­ have been told by their superiors not to arrest terrorist suspects, even though they carry guns and have arrest authority, reveals an internal INS memo, a copy of which was obtained by WorldNetDaily.com. -- More shocking, the memo follows a national policy set by INS headquarters here and maintained even after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Letters to the Editor

Chicago Tribune (Free Registration) (Published) Illegal workers Haydee Pavia writes: I want to thank Dennis Byrne for expressing my very thoughts about what is being done to our immigration laws. It all boils down to greed. Businesses want illegal immigrants to exploit, politicians want them for future votes and even religious charity organizations use them to get more tax money for their charities. The immigration laws are still there. [Also see letters from Craig Nelsen | Linda Evans | James Seidman ]

Washington Post Chinese rant over visas Beijing - She emerged in tears, denied the visa that, she said, would enable her to attend the University of Utah this fall. But when Cai Qi walked out of the U.S. Embassy, she encountered something quite unusual for China ­ a protest, one denouncing the very problem she was facing. -- Calling the U.S. government unfair and uninformed about China, students turned down for U.S. visas staged a rare, peaceful protest outside the embassy on Thursday, demanding changes in how such applications are handled.

WYFF News Thurmond will try to stop deportation U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond's office said that he will introduce legislation that would prevent a Wofford College student and his mother from being deported to India. -- Hitesh Tolani, 20, is a rising junior at Wofford College and has not lived in India since he was a toddler. -- His mother, Jaya Tolani, has been ordered to leave the country with Hitesh. -- the Tolanis are not eligible to apply for legal residency because the family came to the U.S. on a tourist visa and never left.

L.A Times (Free Registration)  2 agents charged with beating up illegal Two Border Patrol agents faced charges Wednesday for allegedly beating an undocumented immigrant inside a holding cell in San Diego County--the first such criminal case in Southern California in approximately three years, according to the U.S. attorney's office. -- Robert V. Curtin and John R. Wallace pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in San Diego to charges that they assaulted Erik Mendoza-Rubio of Mexico after he was arrested last summer. -- A federal grand jury indicted the two agents Friday on charges of violating Mendoza's civil rights and abusing their official powers.

Orange Co. Register (Published) Reconquista rants, "We were here first..." One Raul A. Jaramillo opines: I'm sorry you didn't pay attention in school, Robert E. Blake ["Another slanted article,'' Letters, Aug. 6]. Or that you have forgotten we were here first. You and your ancestors are the interlopers, you and yours broke our laws, stole our lands, killed our people for that yellow rock and gave us your civilized sickness you brought with you.

Washington Post States Move To Halt Fraud In Licensing Of Drivers In one state after another, long-neglected motor vehicle departments are being retrofitted -- incrementally and inconsistently -- for front-line responsibility in protecting the homeland in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. -- Spurred by national alarm at the ease with which more than half of the Sept. 11 hijackers had obtained fraudulent driver's licenses in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere, state governments from Florida to California are moving to crack down on driver's license fraud and demanding more extensive documentation of identity before issuing licenses. But each state is pursuing its own path, with varying success.

Charlotte Observer Illegals charged with killing boss Construction crew members have been charged with kidnapping and killing their supervisor when they weren't paid in full on time, authorities said Wednesday. -- The men left their boss, Clemente Jardinez Martinez, of Charlotte, stripped of all identification on a gravel road in Caldwell County on July 29, sparking a mystery that led investigators from Rock Hill to Virginia to Boone, authorities said.

Monterey Herald Man busted for cheating illegals A man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly swindling recent immigrants out of thousands of dollars by falsely promising them work, housing and documentation. -- Jose Raucho Martinez was booked on suspicion of six counts of grand theft, three counts of theft, violation of probation and an outstanding misdemeanor warrant. Investigators said they have identified seven victims so far and believe there are more.

Omaha World-Herald  Iowa jail will house more illegals The Hardin County jail will house more undocumented immigrants under an agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to make it a centralized detention center, authorities said. -- Detainees from northeast Iowa will be held in the jail until space becomes available at a larger facility in Hastings, Neb. -- Earlier this summer, the 186-bed Hastings Correctional Center - a one-time state prison - became a holding center for the Nebraska-Iowa INS district. [Message board]

Associated Press Judge lets illegal sue employer A federal judge has ruled that an undocumented worker who sued his boss for unpaid wages can seek damages from the employer, who allegedly reported him to immigration officials. -- U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said barring such claims "would provide a perverse economic incentive to employers to seek out and knowingly hire illegal workers." -- Tuesday's ruling allows Macan Singh to sue Charanjit Jutla, his former employer and uncle, for emotional distress and punitive damages.

Associated Press Mexicans meddle in cop-killer case Jorge Castañeda called the U.S. Secretary of State and contacted the governor of Texas, asking them to cancel the planned Aug. 14 execution of Mexican citizen Javier Suarez. -- Suarez was sentenced to die for the murder of an undercover drug agent in 1988. -- In a statement released Wednesday, Castaneda's office said the foreign minister talked with Powell by telephone to "convey Mexico's worry about the grave violations committed in" the Suarez case. It also said Castañeda contacted Perry to "ask for clemency.

Washington Times Drugs seen tied to border incursion Rep. Tom Tancredo, who spent three days this week touring parts of the U.S.-Mexico border, said yesterday he is convinced Mexican soldiers who cross the border and have shot at American officials are tied to drug smugglers. -- "The amount of drug trafficking is becoming so intense, and that is always what's connected to these incursions," said Mr. Tancredo, Colorado Republican and the point man for immigration reform efforts in Congress, in a telephone interview after touring the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation in Arizona and the area near Calexico in California.

TheNewsMexico.com  Experts say there are alternatives... Washington - Although they called an immigration accord between Mexico and the United States unlikely, analysts this week said there are potential policy alternatives, including enforcement, education and economic development. -- President Vicente Fox and U.S. President George W. Bush are expected to discuss immigration when they meet Aug. 26 in Crawford, Texas. With that conversation in mind, experts said the U.S. must address Mexican immigration as part of its anti-terrorism strategy.

Orange Co. Register TB cases on the rise The rate of new tuberculosis cases in Orange County rose by 11.5% in 2001, mirroring a statewide increase in the contagious disease. And estimates this year show the problem isn't improving, health officials said. -- Immigrants are especially hard-hit by disease, which had declined for nearly a decade. -- The problem is greatest among Hispanic and Asian residents in California. Of Orange County's 278 cases last year, Hispanics accounted for 106 and Asians for 144, according to a state report.