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Daily news updates from CIS
September 2, 2009
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1. GAO report criticizes Border Patrol operations (story, link)
2. FL Senator-select concerns amnesty advocates
3. Federal judge orders HI continue care for foreigners
4. Federal court to revisit infant deportation case
5. Mexican gov't supporting illegal laborers
6. SPLC report alleges rising animosity in NY county (story, link)
7. RI governor defends enforcement crackdown (story, link)
8. NJ Attn’y. Gen. urges cautious approach to local enforcement (story, link)
9. Illegal employed by NC DMV now accused of fraud
10. WA county to require contractor verification (story, link)
11. NC town hall to address immigration issues
12. Business groups appealing E-Verify ruling
13. CA forum promotes amnesty legislation
14. Houston pastor on hunger strike
15. Chicago activists press Census participation (link)
16. NY firm offers insurance for foreign burials
17. Border Patrol systems flag series of convicted illegals
18. Two illegals given life for Las Vegas bombing
19. NY county police probe alleged hate crime
20. FL couple to pay reparation to foreign nanny
21. Man facing expulsion after seven DUI convictions
22. AZ protestors escape conviction (link)
23. Illegal with large drug stash arrested in VA (link)
24. Raids target NY massage parlors (link)
-- Mark Krikorian]
1.
Report notes weaknesses in BP checkpoints
By James Gilbert
The Yuma Sun (AZ), September 1, 2009
The U.S. Border Patrol needs to better manage the checkpoints it operates on roads in the southwestern United States, including the one near Yuma, according to a federal oversight agency report released earlier this week.
The 147-page report, released Monday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in Washington, says while the checkpoints do help the agency seize drugs and apprehend illegal immigrants, the agency doesn’t adequately measure their effectiveness and the impact they have on surrounding areas where smugglers go to try and evade them.
As a result, U.S. Homeland Security officials say they’re moving to address recommendations contained in the oversight agency’s report on Border Patrol checkpoints, including a proposed permanent facility on Interstate 19 between Tucson and Nogales, Ariz.
'The report did point out areas where we can improve in both data collection and operational efficiency, and we are working diligently to implement those suggestions,' said Yuma Sector Border Patrol spokesman Ben Vik.
While Vik said the agency would not comment directly on the report's findings, he said that Border Patrol agrees with the suggested recommendations.
The GAO found that a lack of management oversight and unclear checkpoint data collection guidance resulted in the overstatement of checkpoint performance results in fiscal year 2007 and 2008 agency performance reports, as well as inconsistent data collection practices at checkpoints.
'The Border Patrol welcomes this independent study and through the GOA evaluation, the agency can improve its operation as to how it operates and conducts business,' Vik said.
The six recommendations listed in the report are:
* Customs and Border Protection (CBP) should establish internal controls for management oversight of the accuracy, consistency and completeness of checkpoint performance data.
* CBP should establish milestones for determining the feasibility of a checkpoint performance model that would allow the Border Patrol to compare apprehensions and seizures to the level of illegal activity passing through the checkpoint undetected.
* CBP should implement the quality of life measures that have already been identified by the Border Patrol to evaluate the impact that checkpoints have on local communities.
Implementing these measures would include identifying appropriate data sources available at the local, state or federal level, and developing guidance for how data should be collected and used in support of these measures.
* CBP should use the information generated from the quality of life measures in conjunction with other relevant factors to inform resource allocations and address identified impacts.
* CBP should require that current and expected traffic volumes be considered by the Border Patrol when determining the number of inspection lanes at new permanent checkpoints, that traffic studies be conducted and documented and that these requirements be explicitly documented in Border Patrol checkpoint design guidelines and standards.
* CBP should, in connection with planning for new or upgraded checkpoints, conduct a work force planning needs assessment for checkpoint staffing allocations to determine the resources needed to address anticipated levels of illegal activity around the checkpoint.
Vik said the Border Patrol has already developed several work groups comprised of subject matter experts from both headquarters and the field to take an objective look at the recommendations.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The GAO report is available online at:
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Border Patrol Checkpoints Need More Planning, Resources
By Mickey McCarter
HSToday, September 1, 2009
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2.
U.S. Senate seat: Did immigrants lose a vote in Florida?
By Victor Manuel Ramos
The Orlando Sentinel (FL), September 1, 2009
Senate appointee George LeMieux and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist - AP photo Immigration advocates are wondering if Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's pick for a temporary Senate seat will be as friendly to their cause as the outgoing Sen. Mel Martinez was.
America's Voice issued a statement today asking if Crist appointee George LeMieux will be favorable to the kind of immigration reform that would allow for the legalization of millions of undocumented immigrants -- such as Sen. Martinez had championed.
That much is not clear, since Crist has made statements about supporting his party's outreach to the Hispanic community, but has stayed away from the controversial subject of immigration reform -- an issue that the next senator from Florida will most likely have to address in the coming year.
LeMieux is just filling a seat for which Crist is considered the top Republican contender. His Republican challenger, Marco Rubio, has expressed support for some form of legalization program. U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Democratic contender for the seat, has said he supports comprehensive immigration reform. And U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, the Democrat who holds the other Florida seat, supported legislation for reform in 2007 and favors the DREAM Act that would offer visas to young immigrants.
The statement from the group based in Washington, D.C. asked: 'Will the new Senator follow Martinez's example and push for comprehensive immigration reform, the policy supported by the vast majority of Latino voters and Americans overall? Or will he embrace a more strident viewpoint, and further marginalize the Party at this crucial moment? How will LeMieux's record in the Senate help or hurt the budding Crist candidacy, particularly as he does outreach to Latino and immigrant voters?'
It seems as if those immigration advocates see some cause for concern in the pick of LeMieux as they warned that Republicans in Florida could go the way of Republicans in California, isolating Hispanic voters if they adopt what could be perceived as anti-immigrant stances.
'All across America, the Republican Party's rhetoric and actions on immigration reform have sent Latino voters into the Democratic camp these past several years,' said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice. 'Martinez was right to point his Party toward a new direction, and all eyes are on Governor Crist and George LeMieux to see if they will follow through and embrace a more inclusive stance on issues of importance to this group issues like comprehensive immigration reform.'
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3.
Federal judge orders Hawaii to continue critical health services for Pacific migrants
By Mark Niesse
The Associated Press, September 1, 2009
Honolulu (AP) -- A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Hawaii's government must continue providing lifesaving dialysis and chemotherapy treatments to Pacific island migrants suffering from kidney disease and cancer.
U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright granted a temporary restraining order preventing the state from instituting a new, limited health insurance program intended to save $15 million. The new health program was scheduled to start Tuesday.
His decision came as a relief to migrants from Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands who argue the United States and the state weren't living up to a health obligation promised after U.S. nuclear weapons tests in Pacific islands a half-century ago.
The ruling keeps in place broad health coverage for dialysis, chemotherapy, prescription drugs and doctor visits.
'I'm very happy,' said Philip Anungar, a Marshall Islands migrant with diabetes who attended the court hearing. 'The judge's decision means we'll go back to what we had before.'
Migrants from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau are beneficiaries of the Compact of Free Association, a deal with the U.S. government providing financial assistance in exchange for defense rights.
'The ruling is a tremendous improvement over what the state was planning to do,' said the migrants' attorney, Paul Alston. 'They're going to get a lot more benefits.'
Hawaii government officials declined to comment following the hearing. Department of Human Services Director Lillian Koller will review the restraining order with state attorneys Wednesday, said a spokeswoman for the department.
The cash-strapped state, facing a steep budget deficit, wanted to switch about 7,000 legal migrants to the new health insurance program. About 100 of them receive dialysis treatments paid by the state.
The state announced Monday it had found $1.5 million in annual federal Medicaid funding that would continue dialysis coverage for two more years, but chemotherapy and many name-brand prescription drugs were not included.
Seabright prevented the new plan, called Basic Health Hawaii, from taking effect because its implementation may have violated due process rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.
Basic Health Hawaii was announced less than a month ago and without public hearings. Because many of the migrants don't speak English as their first language, they weren't able to understand how their coverage would change when they received notification letters or called an English-speaking automated phone help line.
'It appears the state made a unilateral decision to decrease benefits with little or no notice,' Seabright said.
Seabright didn't decide whether the new plan violated constitutional guarantees of equal rights for all legal U.S. residents.
A hearing on a more permanent injunction will be held Oct. 19.
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4.
Appeals court to rehear infant deportation case
By Christopher Sherman
The Associated Press, September 1, 2009
McAllen, TX (AP) -- A federal appeals court will rehear the case of a Texas woman who sued the government after the Border Patrol sent her 1-year-old daughter to Mexico with the baby's deported father.
Monica Castro did not see her daughter, a U.S. citizen identified in court records only as R.M.G., for three years after the girl was sent to Ciudad Juarez in 2003 along with her father, Omar Gallardo, an illegal immigrant. They were reunited in 2006.
Castro's case has been plodding through the federal court system for more than three years.
She sued for damages in 2006, but in early 2007 the U.S. District Court in Corpus Christi dismissed the case on the grounds that it did not have jurisdiction because Border Patrol agents acted within their discretion.
Castro appealed, and earlier this year a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered in a split decision that the case be returned to district court. The government then asked the appeals court to reconsider and to have the entire court — 16 or 17 judges — hear the case.
On Friday, the court granted the government's request for an 'en banc' rehearing and scheduled a new round of oral arguments for January. It's undetermined how many judges there will be in January.
According to information on the appeals court's Web site, for the 12 months ending June 30, 2007, the 5th Circuit received 160 requests for en banc rehearings and granted only four.
Castro's lawyers believe they have a strong case that will persuade the expanded panel to send the case back to the district court.
'Border Patrol had no authority to unreasonably detain the U.S. citizen child and make the decision of who should keep the child,' Javier Maldonado, one of Castro's lawyers, said Tuesday. Acting outside its authority means the agency is not shielded by an argument that the decision was discretionary, Castro's lawyers have argued.
The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment.
In late November 2003, Castro moved out of a trailer she shared with Gallardo near Lubbock after a fight. Gallardo wouldn't give up the child. Two days after Castro left — and after the sheriff's department, police and state Child Protective Services refused to intervene because there was no allegation that the girl was abused — she reported Gallardo to the Border Patrol.
Gallardo was detained, but Border Patrol agents, after checking with CPS officials, decided that because Castro's daughter was with Gallardo when he was detained they had no reason to favor Castro's parental rights over his.
Castro was unable to get a judge to intervene before Gallardo and their daughter were taken to El Paso and released across the Rio Grande to Juarez.
Three years later, Gallardo agreed to return the girl after he was detained for illegally re-entering the U.S.
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5.
Immigrant workers get help from Sacramento's Mexican Consulate
The Sacramento Bee, September 1, 2009
Sacramento's Mexican Consulate served up a smorgasbord of services to hundreds of Mexican immigrants Monday.
The immigrants, most of whom came for Mexican passports and consular identification cards, got advice on how to ensure they get paid and treated fairly on the job.
The consulate – one of the nation's busiest, serving 800,000 immigrants from Modesto to the Oregon border – is hosting the first-ever Labor Rights Week.
State and federal labor officials joined immigrant rights advocates and union representatives to address work- related injuries, sexual harassment, salary issues and working conditions.
The services are being offered this week at Mexican consulates across the United States as part of a binational campaign, endorsed by Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, to protect Mexican workers regardless of their legal status. Sacramento's Mexican Consulate, at Eighth and J streets, is offering services from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Friday.
Francisco Melara and Michael Connolly of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said immigrants shouldn't be afraid to speak up for their right to fair wages and safe conditions.
Adam Paulin, a strawberry picker from Weed, stopped by the California Rural Legal Assistance table to get information for family and friends. 'We have nothing like this where I live,' he said.
Blanca Banuelos of CRLA said she also spoke to a construction worker who had been laid off. 'He said, 'I was there for 20 years, what can I do?' We're seeing a lot of people getting fired.'
Undocumented workers can't get unemployment insurance, but if they are injured on the job they can qualify for disability or worker's compensation insurance, Banuelos said.
Etna Borrero of the California Department of Industrial Relations told the crowd that many people don't want to report an accident. 'People think, 'I don't want to come forward at all, because they'll just throw me out,'' she said.
A report to be released today by the National Council of La Raza found that Latino workers in the United States are more likely than other ethnic groups to suffer workplace injuries and fatalities.
In 2007, according to the report, the Latino workplace fatality rate was more than 21 percent higher than the rate for white workers and almost 18 percent higher than for black workers. Latinos accounted for more than 40 percent of the 141 construction fatalities nationwide in 2007, more than 43 percent of the 54 farm deaths and more than 36 percent of the 29 roofing deaths.
Consul General Carlos Gonz�lez-Guti�rrez noted California is home to 4.5 million Mexican-born immigrants, about half of them undocumented.
'All workers have rights, regardless of the type of activity, nationality or immigration status,' he said. 'It is crucial to protect their labor rights as a way to protect the state's prosperity.'
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6.
Report Cites an Atmosphere of Anti-Immigrant Hatred in Suffolk County
By Kirk Semple
The New York Times, September 2, 2009
An environment of racial intolerance and anti-immigrant hatred, fostered by groups and some public officials opposed to illegal immigration, has helped fuel dozens of attacks on Latino immigrants in Suffolk County during the past decade, says a report issued Wednesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks hate groups around the country.
'Latino immigrants in Suffolk County live in fear,' the report said. 'Political leaders in the county have done little to discourage the hatred, and some have actively fanned the flames.'
The law center, which came to prominence in the 1970s for its legal battles against the Ku Klux Klan, started looking into what it called 'the anti-immigrant climate' in Suffolk County after Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorean immigrant, was stabbed to death last November in Patchogue. Seven youths, who prosecutors say were driven by prejudice against Latinos, are awaiting trial in that case.
The center’s report is the product of months of investigation on Long Island, including scores of interviews with Latino immigrants and local civic leaders. While it draws heavily on news media accounts and public records, center officials said the report was the most comprehensive compilation of statements and events showing a pattern of hate crimes in Suffolk County that were at least tacitly condoned — if not actively encouraged — by some local leaders.
The center’s investigators made 'frightening' discoveries, the report said: 'Although Lucero’s murder represented the apex of anti-immigration violence in Suffolk County to date, it was hardly an isolated incident.'
Many Latino immigrants in Suffolk County say they have been beaten with baseball bats and other objects, attacked with BB guns and pepper spray, and have been the victims of arson, the report said. Latinos, it added, are frequently run off the road while riding bicycles or are pelted with objects hurled from cars.
On Aug. 15, after the center’s report had been printed, an Ecuadorean man in Patchogue was attacked by three men who used racial epithets as they kicked and punched him, the police said. The three were arrested, and two were charged with assault as a bias crime, Newsday reported.
And on Aug. 20, a man in Smithtown told a mother and a daughter who wore traditional Islamic garb that he was going to 'chop you into little pieces and kill you,' the police said. The man was charged with second-degree aggravated harassment, the Associated Press reported.
The law center report, echoing often-repeated statements by advocates for immigrants, accused the Suffolk County executive, Steve Levy, of helping to create an atmosphere of anti-immigrant sentiment by taking a hard line against illegal immigration.
A spokesman for Mr. Levy said the county executive had not received a copy of the report. But in a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Levy said, 'I know I speak for all the good, law-abiding people of this county in denouncing all acts of crime and violence against all persons.' In the past, Mr. Levy, a Democrat, has repeatedly denied accusations that he has fomented bias.
The center’s report pointed to a statement by Michael M. D’Andre, a county legislator from Smithtown, during a hearing in 2001 on a bill to penalize contractors who hire undocumented workers. Mr. D’Andre said that if his town were 'attacked' by an influx of Hispanic day laborers, 'we’ll be up in arms, we’ll be out with baseball bats.' Mr. D’Andre apologized the following week for his remark.
The report also highlighted a comment by Elie Mystal, a county legislator from Amityville, who said during a hearing in 2007 that if day laborers started gathering in his neighborhood, 'I would load my gun and start shooting, period.' He later apologized for the remark and said he had been joking, according to news media reports.
Mr. D’Andre and Mr. Mystal no longer serve in the Suffolk Legislature.
After Mr. Lucero’s death last year, many other immigrants in the county stepped forward to describe their attacks to the police and the news media. In some of the cases, the allegations were reported to the police at the time the assaults occurred, but no arrests were made, in part because language barriers made communication difficult, the authorities have said.
Law center officials said that according to immigrants they interviewed, there may have been another reason for the inaction: police indifference.
Many immigrants told the center’s investigators that the 'police did not take their reports of attacks seriously, often blaming the victim,' the report said. 'They said there’s little point in going to the police, who are often not interested in their plight and instead demand to know their immigration status.'
A spokeswoman for the Suffolk Police Department had no comment on the report.
The center’s report urged local officials to adopt several measures — including halting 'their angry demagoguery' about immigration, promoting educational programs that encourage respect for diversity, and training police officers to take seriously all allegations of hate-motivated crime.
'If these measures are taken to combat an increasingly volatile situation,' the report said, 'it’s likely that angry passions in Suffolk can be cooled and a rational debate on immigration and its consequences begun.'
EDITOR'S NOTE: The SPLC publication is available online at:
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Report: Bias against Latinos is rampant in Suffolk
By Sumathi Reddy
Newsday (NY), September 1, 2009
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7.
R.I. advisory panel on immigrants questions Carcieri’s order
By Karen Lee Ziner
The Providence Journal, September 2, 2009
Providence -- Governor Carcieri’s advisory panel monitoring his 2008 executive order on illegal immigrants met for the last time yesterday, with Carcieri reiterating that the issue 'was a tough one, a complicated one,' but one that he had no regrets about tackling.
'What I’m trying to do in a measured, limited way, is to begin to deal with an issue that has an enormous impact on our state and our nation, and awaken our federal legislators that something’s gotta be done,' the governor said. 'Some of you voiced the opinion, ‘Governor, you should stay out of this. It’s too complex and too sensitive an issue.’ I felt, and I still feel, this is an extraordinarily important issue for our state — an issue the governor needs to respond to.'
Carcieri said he knew that some people had labeled him as anti-immigrant after he issued the order, but 'nothing could be further from the truth.' He said he issued the order because taxpayers were bearing 'the considerable costs' of illegal immigration, absent federal immigration reform.The order requires state police and corrections authorities to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure federal immigration law is enforced, and directs state agencies and vendors to screen employees through the federal E-Verify program.
Though some applauded Carcieri’s efforts, protests broke out immediately after Carcieri signed the order, and some — including clergy leaders — called for him to rescind it. In response, Carcieri created the advisory board — a mix of religious leaders, community advocates and people from government, law enforcement and business.
Tuesday marked the first — and last — time Carcieri met with the board to discuss the final report it issued in January. Based on 'listening sessions' at churches and other locations, the report said the order created 'an overriding sense of fear' among documented and undocumented immigrants alike.
Its recommendations included that Carcieri clarify the intent of his order, and that state officials determine its costs.
Three religious leaders in the group had pressed Carcieri since January to meet with them, and sent a letter in July requesting a meeting as soon as possible. Carcieri said the delay was due to budget matters in tough economic times.
Tuesday, some board members said they felt the panel had mitigated some of the rhetoric that arose after Carcieri’s order.
Retired Rear Adm. Joseph Strasser, the panel’s co-chairman, said he believed that the governor 'does what he thinks is best for Rhode Island and its citizens.' But he said immigration 'is not a state issue — it’s a federal issue.'
But the Rabbi Alan Flam of the Rhode Island State Board of Rabbis said he wondered whether the board accomplished much of anything.
'Walking out of the meeting, I still have no idea whether the governor heard any of the issues that the task force raised in terms of unintended consequences of his executive order, and I also have no way of knowing — there was no indication by the governor about what happens now,' said Rabbi Flam. 'Does he accept this report, does he reject this report? Will it have any impact on how his administration moves forward in terms of trying to address this issue of immigration?'
He added, 'The task force’s report notes a climate of fear … He didn’t say anything about that today, he didn’t say anything the administration has done, or will try to do, to allay fear within the immigrant community in Rhode Island. I heard nothing about building bridges with the immigrant community … So my assumption is, we noted there was fear; my assumption is there still is fear, and I have no idea how the governor or his staff intends to address that issue.
'My feeling is that he met with us today because he had to,' the rabbi said. 'But essentially, since the task force was created, I don’t think there was ever any serious consideration by him to engage in the issues that the task force might raise in its work.'
The Rev. Donald C. Anderson, executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, said he believed the panel raised 'some degree of awareness' about the order, 'but I would like to have heard a specific response to every recommendation of this panel.'
He said he was especially concerned about who would monitor the roughly 5,000 state vendors to ensure compliance with E-Verify, and how much that would cost.
Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin said the panel served a very important role by 'diffusing a very volatile situation a year and a half ago' when Carcieri issued the order.
But the Bishop added, 'I still personally believe that the executive order was a mistake, and I still can’t think of one good thing the executive order has done for this state. The only thing was to create divisions which were not helpful, and that raised the rhetoric' about illegal immigration.
Carcieri said he wanted to establish processes and procedures to determine how many illegal immigrants were in state custody, and expedite their transfer to federal immigration custody rather than put them back into the community. And, a so-called 287(g) agreement would give state police access to ICE data bases.
The intent 'was never for state police, nor local law enforcement to conduct raids,' said Carcieri, but he noted the 'unfortunate' timing of a federal raid of state courthouses as the panel met for the first time last year. [Several of the board’s two dozen members quit after learning of the raid: Carcieri reiterated that he had no prior knowledge of the raid and called its timing 'coincidental.']
Carcieri also said Tuesday that in the aftermath of his order, state police have been 'grossly unfairly painted by people with an agenda' to have engaged in racial profiling. He expressed full confidence in the organization.
Over time, said the governor, the public would see that neither state police, nor local law enforcement agencies will use the executive order to engage in immigration raids.
He also said he believed that requiring state executive departments to use E-Verify system is a prudent one, and noted the Obama administration has chosen to go forward to use that system, with a commitment to improve its accuracy and target employers who abuse it. The governor said, 'Congress needs to deal with this issue.'
While noting that he has 'enormous respect for immigrants — they built this state, they built this nation — but you know, from a national perspective, what’s sad is, you walk around town and you see people from another country, and your first reaction from the public is, are they legal or illegal? That would even be a question if you had a federal [immigration] system in place.'
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RI gov noncommittal on advisers' concerns
By Ray Henry
The Associated Press, September 2, 2009
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8.
Attorney General Milgram warns N.J. law enforcement about role in immigration program
By Tanya Drobness
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), September 2, 2009
Morristown, NJ -- As officials from two New Jersey law enforcement agencies are expected any day now to sign off on a controversial federal program allowing local officials to act as immigration agents, State Attorney General Anne Milgram is cautioning them to avoid racial and ethnic profiling.
Law enforcement agencies are allowed to participate in the program, known as 287(g). But in a letter to Morristown Police Chief Peter Demnitz, Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno and Oscar Aviles, director of the Hudson County Department of Corrections, Milgram urges them to comply with the state's prohibition on 'racially-influenced policing.'
'The principal mission of law enforcement officers in this state is to enforce the criminal laws and to protect the communities that they serve. It is not to enforce federal immigration laws,' Milgram stated in the letter.
The overhauled federal program would give police officers authority to initiate deportation proceedings against illegal aliens linked to serious crimes.
Yet under guidelines issued by Milgram, state, county and local law enforcement officers cannot act as federal immigration officials when patrolling the streets. Police officers participating in the program may only question people's immigration status after they have been arrested for a serious violation, and the inquiry can take place only during an arrest, not as part of a street encounter, Milgram stated.
Officers also are prohibited from detaining people to trigger questioning of their immigration status.
Milgram maintains that effective policing is the result of a 'positive relationship' with the community.
'Community fear that a police officer will convert every citizen encounter into an immigration inquiry destroys that relationship and will discourage reporting by victims and the cooperation of witnesses.
Latino leaders and immigration advocates have been warning the same message for months.
'Immigrants will not go to the police for anything. This will hurt the relationship between the people and the police, and it will affect the entire community, not just the Latino community,' said Diana Mejia, co-founder of the Morristown-based Wind of the Spirit immigration resource center.
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AG warns NJ deputies about immigration law role
The Associated Press, September 2, 2009
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9.
DMV shuts local office: West Salem unit worker arrested
By Michael Hewlett
The Winston-Salem Journal (NC), September 2, 2009
The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles closed the license-plate agency in the West Salem Shopping Center yesterday after one of the agency's former employees was arrested on fraud charges.
Zoyla Bustos-Perez, 28, of 3001 Marmion St. was charged with misapplication of government property, obtaining state vehicle titles by false pretense, and accessing state government computers to defraud the state of North Carolina.
Busto-Perez was in the country illegally, said Barbara Gonzalez, the southern regional communication director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Benjamin F. Joyce and Jarret Henry Joyce have run the office, which is on Peters Creek Parkway since 1993. They are under investigation by the immigration agency over whether they knowingly hired an illegal immigrant.
No charges have been filed against the owners, officials said.
Benjamin Joyce did not return a message yesterday requesting comment.
The investigation into the agency started about nine months ago, said Margo Howell, a spokeswoman for the DMV.
License-plate agencies offer vehicle-registration services, title transactions, vehicle-license renewals, replacement license plates and duplicate registrations, according to DMV. There are about 120 license-plate agencies across the state. They are typically operated by contractors, such as the Joyces.
According to arrest warrants, the alleged offenses involving Bustos-Perez started on Nov. 11, 2000. She was arrested by federal immigration agents in January, and administrative removal proceedings against her have begun, Gonzalez said.
A note on the door of the agency referred people to license-plate agencies at Parkway Plaza at 1141 Silas Creek Parkway and at 1325 E. N.C. 66 South in Kernersville. The note did not mention the investigation.
Last year, the DMV closed two license-plate agencies in High Point and Thomasville because of an investigation into fraudulent activities.
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10.
County gets tough on illegal workers
Contractors must verify all employees
By Michael Andersen
The Columbian (Clark County, WA), September 1, 2009
Clark County's government is getting strict: hand over real IDs, workers, or your bosses won't get our cash.
The county's biggest contractors will soon be required to verify online that all their employees are legal U.S. workers, under a rule passed by county commissioners Tuesday.
'It's important that we get into the 21st century with federal regulations,' said Commissioner Tom Mielke, who pushed for the new requirement.
The 3-0 decision, apparently the first such vote by a Washington county, puts Clark County at the front of a regional movement for local governments to put their purchasing power behind companies that voluntarily go above and beyond federal law to instantly check workers' immigration status with the federal E-Verify Web service.
Some local employers who have already signed up for the free program, though, said it has flaws and may not be ready for prime time.
Opponents of illegal immigration predicted the county's decision will be a tipping point in their campaign.
'We can take this victory here and go to all the other cities in Clark County,' said Chuck Miller of Camas, whose group, Washington Citizens for Responsible Government, lobbies for local policies to check illegal immigration.
Miller said the Ridgefield City Council will discuss a similar proposal this month.
Big contracts only
Clark County's rule will only affect the handful of contracts the county awards annually over $1 million. That includes its largest road projects and a few social service contracts with nonprofits such as Lifeline Connections, which treats drug and alcohol addiction.
It's similar to a federal rule, taking effect Sept. 8, that requires federal contractors to use E-Verify on projects that cost more than $100,000, last more than 120 days, and don't consist entirely of commercially available products.
Arizona and Mississippi require all employers to use E-Verify, a federal spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Mark McCauley, the county's general services director, said general contractors for the county will be required to pledge that their subcontractors' employees have been verified as legal, too.
'They're going to have lock-tight language in their contract, I would think,' McCauley said.
If any contractor knowingly breaks the rules on a million-dollar project, the county would be allowed to bar them from future bids.
The rules will take effect once county lawyers finish tweaking the details of the county's new contracts.
Steve Stuart, the county board's sole Democrat, called the new policy 'consistent with our commitment to buy local.'
The director of the League of United Latin American Citizens warned, in a forwarded fact sheet, that without a national amnesty program, requirements like Clark County's 'will only drive (illegal immigrants) and their employers further into the underground economy.'
Maria Rodriguez-Salazar of Vancouver, a local leader in the Latino group, said the county needs to pay attention to the minority of people who may be incorrectly denied work.
'In government, there is no perfect system,' she said. 'There's always going to be flaws.'
Employers like idea
Hundreds of Washington companies have already signed up to use the E-Verify Web site.
The publicly funded service allows employers to enter the name and number of any would-be employee, then see whether the two match. The site also displays a photo of the worker.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office says 97 percent of E-Verify tests so far have turned up valid. The other 3 percent of workers get an automatic appeal period to prove their status.
By July, 47 Clark County companies had registered, including manufacturer WaferTech and Riverview Community Bank.
Several of those employers said Tuesday that they supported the goals of E-Verify.
'We don't want the complications, the paperwork, being embroiled in state or federal bureaucracy issues should a person turn out not to have the proper documents,' said Don Weidner, the owner of Ansur Saddlery in Camas. 'It appeared to be solid, verifiable, firm information.'
Red tape feared
Others remain skeptical.
'If the system truly works and truly gets us the correct information, we're all for it,' said Samantha Snider, owner of ProCare Cleaning Service in Battle Ground. 'I'm just afraid of government red tape screwing things up.'
Snider said she had been avoiding signing a required deal with the federal government because she didn't want to submit to the required appeal process.
'We want to have the right to let people go if we don't think they are legal,' she said.
Snider said two other companies who use the service had told her they'd never received final word after the E-Verify database first called workers' status into question.
'I'm just trying to follow the law,' Snider said.
One Clark County contractor said he had the same desire.
He'd been shocked, he said, when he ran the names of 'about 40' of his better employees through E-Verify and saw that 'maybe 20 out of 25 Hispanic last names' had been invalid.
'Two of them, at least, owned their houses,' said the contractor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he later learned that E-Verify is only supposed to be used during the hiring process. 'They were all getting car loans.'
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Clark Co to require check of workers' legal status
The Associated Press, September 2, 2009
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11.
Town hall to address immigration reform
By Jennifer Fernandez
The News Record (Greensboro, NC), September 2, 2009
Greensboro, NC -- Advocates for immigration reform set up a town hall meeting Thursday to discuss the issue with U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s staff.
The public is invited to attend the 7 p.m. meeting at Congregational United Church of Christ.
The meeting provides an 'opportunity for both the church and the community at-large to learn more about the issue and to have some of our elected representatives hear more about the issues and to speak about reform,' the Rev. Julie Peeples said.
Hagan won’t be able to attend but is sending her state deputy director, said deputy press secretary Sadie Weiner.
'I strongly believe we need to focus on comprehensive immigration reform to ensure all immigration laws are being enforced equally throughout the state and the country,' Hagan said in a statement.
Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat who opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants, said reform should focus on 'strengthening our borders, holding employers accountable and cracking down on entities that knowingly hire illegal workers, and cutting off the flow of illegal immigrants into our country.'
She said the country needs to strengthen its guest-worker programs and make sure 'we are giving employers the resources they need to follow the rules, be competitive and thrive.'
Participants will be able to submit written questions for a session at the end, Peeples said.
The meeting will include personal accounts from immigrants, many who live in fear of being stopped while driving to the store or being separated from their children, she said.
FaithAction International, a nonprofit, faith-based group that runs an Immigrant Assistance Center, is among the sponsors.
'Our goal for this meeting is, more than anything, for immigrants’ stories to be heard,' said center Director Eric Francisco Jonas, 'so that perspective is taken into account when thinking about immigration reform and immigration laws.'
The meeting is one of a series of events across the state this month promoting a resolution to immigration reform, Peeples said.
'We are encouraging faith communities to study this issue carefully, to get the facts,' she said.
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12.
Appeal may delay start date for E-Verify
By Justin Carinci
The Daily Journal of Commerce (OR), September 1, 2009
One week after a judge upheld a government system to check federal contractors’ immigration status, the matter is back in court. Lawyers for business groups including the Associated Builders and Contractors have appealed the requirement that contractors use the E-Verify system.
The system, used to check whether employees can legally work in the country, is currently optional in Oregon. It would become mandatory for contractors working on projects that receive federal money, including stimulus jobs, if it survives legal challenges.
Government lawyers are scheduled to decide today whether to delay the new rule from taking effect until the appeal is settled, said Lawrence Lorber, a lawyer with Proskauer Rose who filed the notice of appeal on Monday. If the rule’s effectiveness is not postponed, Lorber said, he’ll ask the trial judge and, if necessary, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, to put the rule on hold.
In Oregon, where contractors currently choose whether to use E-Verify, local ABC chapter president John Killin said requiring employers to use it adds one more piece of administrative work.
'A lot of contractors feel they shouldn’t have to be the immigration police,' Killin said.
Other contractors that use E-Verify say it’s simple to use. 'There’s just not much to it,' said Betty Greiner, human resources manager for JE Dunn Construction Co.
JE Dunn has used the system for two years without incident, Greiner said. 'People say it has pros and cons, but we haven’t experienced any cons.'
The E-Verify requirement for federal contractors started with an executive order from former President Bush in June 2008. A rule-making council pushed back the date the order would take effect until the Obama administration could weigh in.
In July, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced her department would enforce the E-Verify requirement starting Sept. 8, although a legal challenge was holding up that target date.
Then, on Aug. 25, Maryland District Court Judge Alexander Williams Jr. sided with the government, clearing the way for the rule to take effect.
Contractor groups have raised practical concerns, claiming E-Verify wasn’t ready for the huge influx of new users. That concern has lessened as the government has spent more on the system, said Rich Meneghello, managing partner for labor law firm Fisher & Phillips’ Portland office.
'They’ve started to pour money into it, and they have done well to appropriate sufficient funding that will allow it to catch up with the increase of usage,' he said.
But Meneghello said his main concern remains: 'If you sign up, as you are required to do, you are giving the federal government open access to audit your books at any point.
'With any other employer, if they wanted to audit your immigration documents and paperwork, they would have to give you three days’ heads-up.'
The chance of a particular contractor getting audited is probably slim, Meneghello said. 'It would be more likely that employers would face database problems,' he said.
'But the ones that have potentially more impact are the audits.'
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13.
Immigration Reform Meeting in Fresno
The KGPE News (Fresno, CA), September 1, 2009
Hundreds of residents gathered in North Fresno Monday night to talk about immigration reform and what it could mean for the Valley.
The meeting, held at Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, focused on immigration reform and what it could mean for some Valley children.
There is currently no immigration reform bill in front of our legislators, however President Obama has promised one by 2010.
The goal of Monday night’s meeting was to bring attention to the need for immigration reform and an act that is currently before the house and senate.
The Dream Act would allow undocumented immigrant children, who have grown up in the United States, to become legal residents.
The meeting was attended by a Fresno City Councilmember and the Chief of Police. Chief Dyer said, 'I think many times people from the immigrant community are afraid to come forward as victims or witnesses for fear they may be deported.'
The night was about education; officers don't report illegal residents.
The meeting was the beginning of a media campaign by Faith in Community, a group made up of about 18 local churches.
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14.
Houston-area pastor announces hunger strike for immigration reform
By Ken Camp
The Baptist Standard (TX), September 2, 2009
Pasadena, TX -- A Baptist pastor plans to launch a public weeklong hunger strike in front of Houston’s municipal headquarters to call for immigration reform.
Julio Barquero, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Esperanza in Pasadena, will eat no solid food and drink only water Sept. 7-13 to draw attention to the plight of undocumented workers.
Interfaith Worker Justice and other Houston-area groups have joined the call for comprehensive immigration reform and an end to workplace raids and deportations of undocumented laborers.
In particular, Barquero—a former chaplain for the League of United Latin American Citizens in Arkansas—is urging city officials not to add Houston to the list of municipalities that are using local police to enforce immigration statues.
In July, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced plans to expand Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationalization Act, the program in which the federal government authorizes local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws in the place of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Supporters of Section 287(g) say it has given the United States an important tool to help stem the tide of illegal immigration and restore the integrity of laws on the books. They note the program requires state and local law enforcement officers to receive proper training and operate under the direction of federal authorities after they voluntarily enter into assistance compacts.
Opponents say it sometimes has been accompanied by racial profiling and has led to family separation when undocumented parents are detained or deported and their American-born children are left unattended.
'The 287(g) program is very bad. It is racist discrimination against Latinos,' Barquero asserted. The immigration system in the United States needs major reforms, including a simplified system that allows Latin American workers to obtain visas to enter and remain in the country legally, he insisted.
Church leaders should speak out against social injustice—including the unjust treatment of 'strangers and sojourners' in the United States, he added.
'Pastors talk about abortion. They talk about homosexuality. But they say nothing about immigration,' Barquero said. 'It is time for reform. It is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue—not an issue for one political party. It is about an immoral situation, and the church should not turn its back.'
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15.
2010 Census: Illinois making push to boost participation
Program to dole out grants to groups to promote the nationwide count
By Oscar Avila
The Chicago Tribune, September 2, 2009
A push to reverse low census participation in Illinois will soon be coming via barber, baby-sitter, tax preparer, librarian and even iTunes download, part of a first-of-its-kind collaboration by local charities.
. . .
Other participating agencies, from the United African Organization to the Polish American Association, will target immigrants with limited English skills. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, for example, will enlist Census Fellows, bilingual volunteers who will go door to door in neighborhoods with high immigrant populations.
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16.
For Colombian Immigrants, Insurance for Burial Back Home
By Kirk Semple
The New York Times, September 2, 2009
When he recalls the blur of events that followed the death of his 14-year-old son in Queens from an accidental shooting six years ago, Ivan Echeverry can still feel the smothering shame of having to go cap in hand to raise money for the cremation and funeral.
Mr. Echeverry was an immigrant from Medell�n, Colombia, working as a construction laborer — and broke. With the help of a civic leader in the Colombian community of Jackson Heights, Queens, he was able to raise $1,200 at a Lions Club meeting in one evening. Friends kicked in a little more.
“This pained me,” said Mr. Echeverry, 47, who now sells DVDs and CDs at a small store in the neighborhood. “I am not a beggar.”
The bind he faced is common among New York’s immigrant poor. In Jackson Heights, business owners say that at least once a week, someone drops by asking for donations to pay for a funeral or a flight to carry the body back to the homeland.
But a company created by four prominent funeral businesses in Colombia has come up with an alternative. In an enterprise that appears to be unusual among immigrant groups in New York, the company is offering burial insurance for Colombians in the United States.
The insurance, with rates starting at $4.12 per person per month, is available to legal and illegal immigrants alike and covers a wide range of post-mortem expenses, including picking up the body, transporting it — or the cremated ashes — by plane to Colombia, and helping to arrange a funeral service and burial anywhere in that country. It also provides the necessary paperwork for the American authorities, including a death certificate and an embalming report.
“Normally, Colombians in the United States aren’t prepared for death here,” said Mauricio Palacios, 29, the director of the company, Previsi�n Exequial Colombia, which operates out of a shopping mall on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights. “We’re preoccupied with achieving the American dream.”
“But,” he added, “it’s very expensive to die in the United States.”
Burial insurance, of course, is nothing new. With rates as low as $8 per month, the industry remains robust, particularly in some low-income black communities around the country, even though it has been dogged for years by fraud and racially discriminatory pricing.
But Previsi�n Exequial Colombia stands out for several reasons: it offers its services exclusively to a particular immigrant population, and it guarantees a funeral service and burial abroad. And the funeral businesses that founded it do much of the work themselves.
The company is part of a new niche in the funeral industry. A few similar businesses have sprung up across the United States in the past few years, catering to Mexicans, Ecuadoreans and Filipinos, said officials at the National Funeral Directors Association, a trade group based in Wisconsin.
Mr. Palacios, in turn, has been contacted by Mexican, Ecuadorean, Peruvian, Dominican and Sikh entrepreneurs in New York, who are interested in starting similar ventures here.
“It’s a solution to a very big problem: Nobody thinks they’re going to die and nobody ever saves for a burial,” said Orlando Tob�n, a civic leader of Jackson Heights’ Colombian population, who has lent his name and face to printed advertisements for Previsi�n Exequial Colombia. The company works out of his small office, a two-room travel agency.
For years, Mr. Tob�n has been the first stop for many people trying to raise money to cover funeral and transportation costs. “I take them to the bars, the discoth�ques to ask for help,” he said. “I’ve seen people have to sell their house in Colombia in order to pay for the shipment of a cadaver back to Colombia.”
Since the company was founded in 2005, more than 14,000 Colombians have signed up, most from the New York region, Mr. Palacios said. Though the insurance is aimed at Colombians in the United States, it can also cover relatives living in Colombia, and Mr. Palacios estimates that most family policies include at least one family member in the home country.
The business offers a choice of two packages: $21.99 per month for four family members, and $32.99 for eight. The insurance becomes effective one month after the first payment. So far, Previsi�n Exequial has handled the post-mortem procedures for more than 330 participants, Mr. Palacios said.
When her mother fell ill in 2007 with advanced pancreatic cancer, Gloria Pel�ez, 48, who works as a waitress at the Harvard Club in Manhattan, rushed to sign up herself and seven members of her family. And when Ms. Pel�ez’s mother died three months later, she said, the insurance worked as advertised.
The family chose to cremate the body in New York. Ms. Pel�ez flew with the ashes to the family’s home in Medell�n, where they held a wake and funeral service. “Everything was on time and just right,” she said.
Maria Bertha P�rez, 68, who works as a baby sitter in Manhattan, took out a policy two years ago and added five relatives, including a daughter living in New Jersey and three sisters and two brothers living in Colombia.
On July 23, a brother, who was 80, died in Cali, Colombia, of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. A funeral home affiliated with the insurance program immediately took over, she said, and ran things smoothly.
“My relatives called me to say thank you because they didn’t have to pay anything,” Ms. P�rez said this week in the apartment in Elmhurst, Queens, where she rents a small room. “They are very poor.”
But the morning after her brother’s death, one of her sisters — 94, and also in Cali — died. By the time Ms. P�rez got the news — her relatives in Colombia were unable to reach her right away — a funeral home in Cali had already been hired. Ms. P�rez now finds herself having to pay the full cost for her sister’s burial, draining her meager savings.
She sighed heavily. “Look how life can be sometimes,” she said.
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17.
Area cases keep Border Patrol busy
The Sierra Vista Herald (AZ), September 2, 2009
Border Patrol agents from the Naco and Douglas stations recently made some significant arrests of illegal immigrants as a result of the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
Past cases
In Naco on Tuesday, records revealed a Mexican had charges of sex with a minor.
On Monday, Naco agents found a Mexican man had been convicted of child abduction and obstructing justice.
On Sunday in Naco, records checks revealed that a Mexican was convicted of sexual assault of a child.
West of Douglas on Sunday, a Mexican was found to have a prior arrest for sexual rape first degree.
In Naco on Friday, agents interviewed a Guatemalan identified as being affiliated with the MS-13 Gang. Records checks revealed the person had a prior order of removal.
All of the individuals were held for further processing.
Rescues
Border Patrol agents assigned to the Douglas station arrested a group of four individuals believed to be illegally present in the U.S. on Sunday. The people said they had left one man behind, who was believed to be deceased. Agents immediately began searching for the missing group member, a Mexican national, and later found him still alive. Border Patrol emergency medical technicians examined the man and began first aid. The man regained consciousness and was transported to a hospital for further medical treatment.
On Sunday, the Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue Team rescued an three illegal immigrants near Green Valley.
Stash house
Authorities arrested a group of illegal immigrants at a stash house in Douglas on Monday.
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Douglas station worked in conjunction with the Douglas Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Operation Stonegarden.
When agents and officers arrived at the residence, they said they discovered 43 people concealing themselves within the home.
While securing the residence, agents detected the odor of propane gas and immediately moved the group to a safe distance from the house and notified the Douglas Fire Department.
Fire officials removed a propane tank. Following safety protocols, they conducted air tests and found a high concentration of ammonia that was attributed to the unsanitary conditions in the house.
All individuals were arrested and taken to the Douglas Border Patrol station for further processing.
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18.
Jury Picks Life in Prison for 2 in Vegas Bombing
The Associated Press, September 1, 2009
Las Vegas (AP) -- A Nevada jury chose life in prison without parole Tuesday for two illegal immigrants found guilty in a bombing that killed a hot dog stand vendor in a Las Vegas casino parking lot in 2007.
Convicted bombmaker Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 29, of Nicaragua, and co-defendant Omar Rueda-Denvers, 33, of Guatemala, showed no reaction when the sentencing verdicts were read in Clark County District Court. Rueda-Denvers also uses the name Alexander Perez.
''They showed their emotions yesterday,'' Duarte-Herrera defense attorney Clark Patrick said later, referring to pleas for mercy each man offered late Monday during a penalty hearing before the jury that convicted them Friday.
''I'm sure they were relieved,'' said Christopher Oram, a lawyer for Rueda-Denvers. ''They were facing a death sentence. That's terrifying.''
The attorneys said both men intend to appeal their convictions. They face formal sentencing Nov. 5 before District Court Judge Michael Villani.
The panel of 11 women and one man deliberated about two hours late Monday and two hours Tuesday before reaching the middle sentence for first-degree murder in the May 7, 2007, slaying of 24-year-old Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio outside the pyramid-shaped Luxor resort.
Duarte-Herrera and Rueda-Denvers each were also found guilty of attempted murder, possession of an explosive or incendiary device and transportation or receipt of an explosive. Those charges carry a combined possible 58 years in state prison.
Jurors were shown detailed statements and a sketch Duarte-Herrera provided for police of the pipe bomb he built and hid in a 24-ounce 7-Eleven coffee cup planted atop Dorantes Antonio's car. It was powered by a 9-volt battery and activated with a motion switch.
Prosecutors said Duarte-Herrera's best friend, Rueda-Denvers, supplied the motive for the attack -- jealousy and revenge against Dorantes Antonio for dating Rueda-Denvers' ex-girlfriend, Caren Chali.
''We think this verdict reflects justice,'' Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Nell Keenan said.
Chali now 30, the mother of one of Rueda-Denvers' two daughters, worked with Dorantes Antonio at a Nathan's hot dog stand at the Luxor. The two just finished an overnight shift when Dorantes Antonio lifted the bomb-laden coffee cup off his parked car.
The blast blew off Dorantes Antonio's hand and sent fragments across the top deck of the two-story parking structure. Dorantes Antonio, a Mexican immigrant, was killed by a piece of shrapnel to the forehead. Chali, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was walking around to the passenger door of the vehicle and escaped injury.
''It was pure luck we're not here on a double murder,'' Keenan told jurors Monday. ''That bomb had the capability to kill anyone within 300 feet.''
The jury was also told about Duarte-Herrera's claims of responsibility for two other bombings in the Las Vegas area -- one set off by a timer that damaged a pickup truck outside a Home Depot store on Halloween 2006, and one detonated by remote control in the desert near Nellis Air Force Base. No one was hurt, and Duarte-Herrera has not been convicted in either case.
Neither man testified during their trial. Both apologized Monday and pleaded to be spared the death penalty.
''I ask you to have compassion over me,'' Duarte-Herrera told the jury through a Spanish-language interpreter. ''Taking my life doesn't resolve anything and will not bring back Willebaldo.''
Rueda-Denvers promised to work hard and ''contribute'' in prison.
''I want to say so sorry to family Dorantes,'' he said in halting English. ''I want to say so sorry to family Chali. I want to say so sorry to my family. I want to say I love you to my daughters.''
Both men have been held at the Clark County jail since their arrests shortly after the bombing, which briefly raised fears of a terrorist attack on the Las Vegas Strip resort corridor.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman in Laguna Niguel, Calif., said the federal government will take custody of the men and begin deportation proceedings if they are ever released from state custody.
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19.
Burglary probed at Latino church in Patchogue
By Sophia Chang and John Valenti
Newsday (NY), September 2, 2009
Hate crimes detectives are investigating a burglary at a Latino church in Patchogue, across the street from where Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero was stabbed to death in a bias attack in November.
Suffolk County police said an 'unknown person or people unlawfully entered' the Iglesia Evangelica Refugio de Salvacion at 102 Railroad Ave. on Tuesday, leaving notes with 'anti-Hispanic comments.'
'There were three papers with, with something, a statement saying that Hispanics didn't rule but white people ruled here,' said Carlos Sanchez, 19, son of the church pastor. He said the notes were handwritten, in 'poor Spanish,' adding: 'They were in Spanish. Out of a dictionary. They didn't make any sense, when you tried to read it.'
Police were called to the scene at 7:11 p.m. Tuesday after Roberto Sanchez, the pastor, discovered the letters as he readied for an evening service at the church.
Carlos Sanchez said a window to the church was broken. Police said items, such as paper and marker, were found strewn throughout the church.
'We didn't feel fear,' Carlos Sanchez said Wednesday, 'just sadness somebody broke into the church to put those letters there. It's hard to understand why someone would do this.'
He said the notes appeared to be translated, word for word, from a dictionary and appeared not to be written by someone fluent in Spanish.
Several weeks ago, a van in the parking lot also had its driver's side window broken, Sanchez said. He said he hoped the two incidents were not connected - and he did not believe the fatal stabbing of Lucero was connected.
The incident occurred just hours before the release of a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center. That report, released Wednesday morning, called Suffolk a hotbed of anti-immigrant violence that has plagued Latinos for a decade - finding 'Latino immigrants in Suffolk County are regularly harassed, taunted, and pelted with objects hurled from cars.'
That anti-immigrant environment has been fostered by community leaders, most notably County Executive Steve Levy, the report said. It charges that police have failed to take the reported attacks seriously.
The center said the report documents numerous crimes against Latinos beyond the November killing of Lucero, who was stabbed in what authorities have labeled a hate crime.
The report comes on the heels of four hate crime arrests in Suffolk last week, three involving the assault last month of an Ecuadorean in Patchogue.
In a statement released Tuesday, Levy said: 'I know I speak for all of the good, law-abiding people of this county in denouncing all acts of crime and violence against all persons. We welcome any information that can be provided to assist the district attorney in pursuing accusations.'
A man walking around the Iglesia Evangelica Refugio de Salvacion Wednesday morning said he was a concerned resident and he wanted to help pay for the damage, after seeing the pastor interviewed on TV.
'I'm a Christian and I saw his face on TV and how sad he was,' said Holden Chandler, 52, a carpenter and salesman from Blue Point. 'The damage was more psychological.'
Chandler said he hadn't been able to reach the pastor yet.
The church has about 70 members and has been in the location for about four years, Sanchez, the pastor's son said.
Edwin Roldan, a community organizer with the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, came by the church Wednesday to learn more about the incident.
'It's very disheartening, especially the location with the incident several months ago with Lucero,' Roldan said. 'In a church? That makes it worse.'
Carlos Sanchez said his father is determined to hold regularly scheduled services this week at the church.
'He says as a church we don't want to create a place of hostility,' the son said. 'We want to be a place of community. Everybody has their right to express how they feel but there's a way to do that. This is not the right way.'
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20.
Key Biscayne couple must pay $125,000 in damages to ex-nannies
BY Gerardo Reyes
The Miami Herald, September 2, 2009
When Alejandra Ramos received an offer in Peru to work as a nanny for a Key Biscayne couple, she thought it would be a great opportunity to change her life, and especially to have health-insurance coverage to treat her diabetes.
But her aspirations began to unravel after her employers went from failing to keep their promises to making her work exhaustingly long hours while spurning her health complaints, Ramos told El Nuevo Herald.
For $500 a month, Ramos slept in what used to be the apartment's closet next to the garbage chute. She had to work an exhausting shift that began each day at 6:30 a.m. and ended only at 1 a.m., or later if the couple had a party at their home, according to court documents.
Besides caring for the couple's son, Ramos had to cook, wash and iron clothes, plus clean the apartment located in one of the exclusive condominium buildings in the exclusive South Florida neighborhood, where hundreds of rich Latin American families try to replicate their own countries' lavish lifestyle that allowed servants, chauffeurs and butlers.
Ramos, 37, said Patricia Perales and her husband, Javier Hoyle, never gave her the promised health-insurance coverage, took away her passport and were constantly late paying her salary. She said Perales humiliated her with reminders that she could never be her equal, nor dress like her and buy expensive shoes like her.
``It was very hard. I came to this country because they offered me health insurance and they never delivered,'' Ramos told El Nuevo Herald. ``I was sick and the lady said that all I did was whine. They wanted me to work day and night.''
In the middle of a kidney crisis and after not getting paid for four months, Ramos said, she abandoned the apartment in June 2005 with only the clothes she had on.
``I had a urinary infection and kept working until 2 in the morning because there was a party that night,'' Ramos said. ``I told her, ma'am, I need to get paid. I can't continue begging for my salary.' She said she hadn't withdrawn cash from the bank and didn't have any money. That's when I decided to leave.''
Two weeks ago, a federal court jury in Miami found the Key Biscayne couple guilty of various civil charges and granted Ramos and Mar�a Onela Maco Castro, the servant who replaced her, $125,000 total in damages as compensation.
In an unprecedented verdict, the jury also found the couple guilty of violating federal laws against human smuggling when they took away their passports and threatened to have them deported if they disobeyed them.
To take away passports from domestic employees is a generalized practice in Key Biscayne because employers fear other families may lure their domestic help away by offering higher pay, various housewives told El Nuevo Herald.
The court documents offer a rare insight into the labor conditions of domestic employees in South Florida, which immigration defense attorneys say is much more common that people might suspect.
``Most significantly in this case is the disclosure of details in a world highly unknown because everything happens in private,'' said Jennifer Hill, attorney with the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center (FIAC), the nonprofit organization that represented the two domestic employees at the civil trial in Miami.
Winning the case was not easy. In the middle of the proceedings, the couple filed a countersuit against Ramos, accusing her of sexually abusing their 5-year-old son.
The judge ruled the countersuit had been filed in retaliation for the employee's suit and rejected those claims. The amount granted includes compensation for damages caused by the countersuit. El Nuevo Herald made unsuccessful attempts to communicate with the Hoyles' attorney in the case.
The job the Hoyles offered Ramos was only to be the boy's nanny, according to the suit. They signed a contract with Ramos committing to pay her $7 an hour for eight-hour days.
The Hoyles filed a motion last week to lower the amount for damages to be paid the employees.
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21.
Oregon driver sentenced for 7th drunk driving arrest
The Associated Press, September 1, 2009
Bend, OR (AP) -- A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison following his seventh conviction for driving while under the influence of intoxicants.
Deschutes County Judge Stephen Tiktin ruled that Rafael Diaz-Quintana is ineligible for early release and is barred from participating in any rehabilitation programs. Tiktin says rehab programs are unsuitable for someone incapable of reform.
Diaz-Quintana is subject to a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement hold and will likely be deported after his release.
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22.
Judge acquits 5 arrested at Dec. county meeting
By JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), September 2, 2009
A Maricopa County justice of the peace on Tuesday ruled in favor of five defendants who were charged with disorderly conduct following a Board of Supervisors meeting.
The defendants were arrested after they cheered during the public-comment portion of the meeting in December as part of a protest of county politicians, including Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Sheriff's deputies arrested the defendants after being asked to leave the meeting. Those who hesitated or spoke out were taken into custody.
Community activists Monica Sandschafer, Kristy Theilen, Joel Nelson, Jason Odhner and Raquel Teran are all affiliated with the Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability, a group that brought together organizations opposed to Arpaio and many of his policies - most notably illegal immigration - during and after the 2008 general election.
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23.
Illegal Immigrant Arrested in Harrisonburg with Pounds of Marijuana
The WHSV News (Harrisonburg, VA), September 1, 2009
An illegal immigrant from Germany was arrested in Harrisonburg Monday.
Thirty-year-old Reza Zarrin faces charges for possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm while in possession of a schedule I drug, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a fake ID from Maryland.
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24.
Cheektowaga, federal authorities probe prostitution, human trafficking
Raids target massage parlors near airport
By Michelle Kearns
The Buffalo News (NY), September 2, 2009
Cheektowaga police teamed up Tuesday with Chinese interpreters and federal immigration investigators to raid four massage parlors near Buffalo Niagara International Airport suspected of prostitution and human trafficking.
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Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
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