EFE
Fecha: 11/03/201
Washington, 3 nov (EFE).- Un ciudadano estadounidense de Utah fingió ser un inmigrante indocumentado tras ser detenido por tráfico de drogas, para ser deportado a México y evitar así una larga condena en prisión, informó hoy la emisora de radio local KTAR.
Jaime Alvarado, de 27 años, fue acusado el miércoles en un tribunal federal de un cargo por hacer declaraciones falsas o inconsistentes y otro por dar información personal falsa a un agente del orden, por lo que permanecerá en prisión hasta su juicio.
Tras ser detenido en febrero de 2010, Alvarado aseguró al tribunal que se llamaba Saúl Quiroz, que era mexicano y que se encontraba en el país ilegalmente, y a continuación se declaró culpable, según los documentos del caso citados por la emisora.
El tribunal refirió entonces su caso a la Oficina de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE) y fue efectivamente deportado a México.
Casi un año más tarde, el pasado febrero, el hombre volvió a ser arrestado en el condado de Salt Lake, en Utah, en relación con sus antiguos cargos.
Esta vez, en cambio, Alvarado reconoció ante el juez que no se llamaba Saúl Quiroz y que "en realidad era un ciudadano estadounidense", según los documentos.
El joven pasó entonces a custodia de los agentes de ICE, quienes le refirieron de nuevo a las autoridades locales una vez comprobada su ciudadanía.
En su reunión con esos agentes, Alvarado explicó que había vuelto a entrar en Estados Unidos en abril de 2010, utilizando su pasaporte estadounidense, y que había inventado la historia "para evitar una larga sentencia a prisión".
http://feeds.univision.com/feeds/article/2011-11-03/estadounidense-finge-ser-indocumentado-para
Showing posts with label Documentation and Deportation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Documentation and Deportation. Show all posts
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
ICE Raids Small-Town Colorado Dairy and Locks Up Undocumented Dads in the Name of National Security
By Mike Riggs
Reason.com
June 9, 2011
Legal and illegal immigrants alike in Colorado's cow country are too scared to return to work after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 11 workers at the Wildcat Dairy in Morgan County for using forged green cards. Of 60 workers, 20 were indicted by a Colorado grand jury as "egregious violators" for using forged documents to get work. While ICE still has warrants out for nine workers, 50 of Wildcat's 60 employees were so scared of being deported that they didn't return to the dairy after the raid.
Denver's Westword reported earlier this week on meetings being held by Colorado's Immigration Rights Coalition to ease concerns in the immigrant community:
ICE has a ready answer to that question. From an agency press release sent out after the raid:
http://reason.com/blog/2011/06/09/ice-raids-small-town-colorado
Reason.com
June 9, 2011
Legal and illegal immigrants alike in Colorado's cow country are too scared to return to work after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 11 workers at the Wildcat Dairy in Morgan County for using forged green cards. Of 60 workers, 20 were indicted by a Colorado grand jury as "egregious violators" for using forged documents to get work. While ICE still has warrants out for nine workers, 50 of Wildcat's 60 employees were so scared of being deported that they didn't return to the dairy after the raid.
Denver's Westword reported earlier this week on meetings being held by Colorado's Immigration Rights Coalition to ease concerns in the immigrant community:
"One of the CIRC people was watching the kids as the adults were in the meeting," CIRC's Damaris Cooksey recalls, "and she had them make a poster. She asked them, 'What would you want to tell your dad right now? What do you want to say to people about what's happened?' And these six, eight, twelve-year-old kids wrote, 'I love you. I miss you. I wish I could see you. It's not fair.' It was very emotional.
"What a quandary for a parent," she goes on. "How do you explain, 'Your dad's not a criminal, but you're not supposed to work here without these documents -- even though there's nobody here who would do this job if he doesn't.' How do you make a child understand something like that?"
ICE has a ready answer to that question. From an agency press release sent out after the raid:
Document and benefit fraud pose a severe threat to national security and public safety because they create a vulnerability that may enable terrorists, criminals and illegal aliens to gain entry to and remain in the United States. One of the ways ICE HSI addresses the infrastructure of illegal immigration is by detecting and deterring fraud before it erodes the integrity of the immigration process.
http://reason.com/blog/2011/06/09/ice-raids-small-town-colorado
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Mexican citizen sentenced for faking identity
By JEFF REINITZ
WCF Courier
Saturday, March 5, 2011
POSTVILLE, Iowa - A Mexican citizen has been sentenced to prison for using another person's identity to gain employment in Postville.
Andres Hernandez-Marmolejo, 39, of Michoacan, Mexico, secured a job at Agri Star Meat and Poultry in December 2009 allegedly using a Missouri drivers license and a fake Social Security card identifying him as "Adam Garcia," according to court records.
Agri Star is the successor of the Agriprocessors kosher meat packing plant. Agriprocessors went into bankruptcy shortly after a May 2008 immigration raid that uncovered 389 undocumented workers.
On Thursday, Judge Linda Reade sentenced Hernandez to two years and three months in prison following a guilty plea to charges of making a false claim of citizenship on an employment form, possessing false identity documents and aggravated identity theft.
He must serve three years of supervised release and is subject to deportation after his prison time.
According to court records, Hernandez was arrested for drunken driving in Winneshiek County in July 2010 and claimed he was a U.S. citizen. In the probe that followed, agents with Homeland Security Investigations - formerly Immigration and Customs Enforcement - found the bogus Social Security card and Missouri ID with Garcia's name in Hernandez's wallet.
The Social Security number apparently belonged to an actual person.
Hernandez later admitted he paid $1,200 card and used it to apply at Agri Star. He told agents he knew the number belonged to a real person, records state.
Investigators also checked his I-9 employment form at the company and found he had checked a box claiming to be a U.S. citizen.
As part of the hiring process, Agri Star verifies the Social Security numbers of applicants to ensure they were actually issued as opposed to being a string of random digits, court records state.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6327459931741489654
WCF Courier
Saturday, March 5, 2011
POSTVILLE, Iowa - A Mexican citizen has been sentenced to prison for using another person's identity to gain employment in Postville.
Andres Hernandez-Marmolejo, 39, of Michoacan, Mexico, secured a job at Agri Star Meat and Poultry in December 2009 allegedly using a Missouri drivers license and a fake Social Security card identifying him as "Adam Garcia," according to court records.
Agri Star is the successor of the Agriprocessors kosher meat packing plant. Agriprocessors went into bankruptcy shortly after a May 2008 immigration raid that uncovered 389 undocumented workers.
On Thursday, Judge Linda Reade sentenced Hernandez to two years and three months in prison following a guilty plea to charges of making a false claim of citizenship on an employment form, possessing false identity documents and aggravated identity theft.
He must serve three years of supervised release and is subject to deportation after his prison time.
According to court records, Hernandez was arrested for drunken driving in Winneshiek County in July 2010 and claimed he was a U.S. citizen. In the probe that followed, agents with Homeland Security Investigations - formerly Immigration and Customs Enforcement - found the bogus Social Security card and Missouri ID with Garcia's name in Hernandez's wallet.
The Social Security number apparently belonged to an actual person.
Hernandez later admitted he paid $1,200 card and used it to apply at Agri Star. He told agents he knew the number belonged to a real person, records state.
Investigators also checked his I-9 employment form at the company and found he had checked a box claiming to be a U.S. citizen.
As part of the hiring process, Agri Star verifies the Social Security numbers of applicants to ensure they were actually issued as opposed to being a string of random digits, court records state.
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6327459931741489654
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
ICE audits target illegal workers
By Mike Sunnucks
Phoenix Business Journal
February 21, 2011
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is auditing more businesses — in particular fast food and quick serve restaurants it suspects might be hiring illegal immigrants. That includes the Southwest and nationally.
The ICE audits are a far cry from the immigration raids conducted by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said Nancy-Jo Merritt, a partner and employment attorney for the Phoenix law office of Fennemore Craig PC. “It’s not like the sheriff’s thing,” said Merritt.
The ICE actions are more akin to IRS tax audits, while the MCSO raids are more like an episode of “Cops.”
MCSO deputies have gone into businesses to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and seize files. Sometimes Sheriff Joe Arpaio is there with media in tow.
The stepped-up ICE actions target businesses that have workers listed under Social Security numbers that are either bogus or replicated elsewhere, Merritt said.
Merritt said ICE has sent out notice of inspection letters to a number of Arizona businesses telling them to have employment records and I-9 worker identification forms ready within three days.
Restaurants along with hotels, construction and services are among industries that tend to have substantial numbers of immigrants workers, some with legal employment status and some of illegal.
ICE is not allowing employers to ask for extensions to comply with the audit.
Both the ICE audits and sheriff’s raids bring attention to illegal workers and discourage other companies from breaking laws, Merritt said.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/business/2011/02/ice-audits-target-illegal-workers.html
Phoenix Business Journal
February 21, 2011
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is auditing more businesses — in particular fast food and quick serve restaurants it suspects might be hiring illegal immigrants. That includes the Southwest and nationally.
The ICE audits are a far cry from the immigration raids conducted by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said Nancy-Jo Merritt, a partner and employment attorney for the Phoenix law office of Fennemore Craig PC. “It’s not like the sheriff’s thing,” said Merritt.
The ICE actions are more akin to IRS tax audits, while the MCSO raids are more like an episode of “Cops.”
MCSO deputies have gone into businesses to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and seize files. Sometimes Sheriff Joe Arpaio is there with media in tow.
The stepped-up ICE actions target businesses that have workers listed under Social Security numbers that are either bogus or replicated elsewhere, Merritt said.
Merritt said ICE has sent out notice of inspection letters to a number of Arizona businesses telling them to have employment records and I-9 worker identification forms ready within three days.
Restaurants along with hotels, construction and services are among industries that tend to have substantial numbers of immigrants workers, some with legal employment status and some of illegal.
ICE is not allowing employers to ask for extensions to comply with the audit.
Both the ICE audits and sheriff’s raids bring attention to illegal workers and discourage other companies from breaking laws, Merritt said.
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/business/2011/02/ice-audits-target-illegal-workers.html
Friday, February 18, 2011
ICE auditing 1,000 more companies' hiring records
The Associated Press
February 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is launching a new round of worksite investigations, maintaining the pressure on businesses to make sure they are hiring only people who can legally work in the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday it has notified 1,000 companies of upcoming audits of their I-9s, forms that new employees complete, and of the identification documents those employees provided to show they are eligible to work in the U.S.
"The inspections will touch on employers of all sizes and in every state in the nation — no one industry is being targeted nor is any one industry immune from scrutiny," ICE said in a statement. The agency declined to name the businesses to be inspected.
The latest round of audits will differ slightly from previous ones. Agents previously were told to audit a certain number each of small, medium and large businesses, said Dawn Lurie, who advises businesses on immigration compliance.
But this time agents are being encouraged to investigate larger companies if that's where tips and leads are pointing them. A new Employment Compliance Inspection Center in the Washington suburb of Crystal City, Va., means they'll have more auditors and other resources for those larger investigations.
Audits are usually performed at the state in which a company is headquartered, but agents are being told they can audit other parts of the company if their records review shows there may be problems beyond the headquarters, Lurie said.
Lurie said the new focus for the audits is a sign that ICE is becoming more sophisticated in its worksite enforcement.
The Obama administration's worksite strategy differs from that of the Bush administration, which focused on high-profile raids that led to arrests of hundreds of workers at a single work site.
ICE still conducts raids, but they are smaller and less visible. The current administration also has been criticized for auditing mostly small businesses.
Lurie said she thinks the administration's audit tactic is having an effect.
"I do think businesses should be more frightened. Companies across the U.S. need to take compliance seriously. It's ridiculous to say you are not doing anything . we will wait until the federal government knocks at door," she said.
Companies can take small, inexpensive steps to help themselves, she said.
The administration has investigated records of such companies as Krispy Kreme and Abercrombie and Fitch. An immigration official has said such audits doubled in 2010 over 2008.
But critics say the administration's tactic isn't going far enough. At a recent House subcommittee hearing, Republican lawmakers suggested returning to raids and questioned whether more people not legally working could be detained and deported.
ICE assistant secretary Kumar Kibble told the House critics that the audits could not be assessed in a vacuum and are part of a larger enforcement strategy that helped bring about the record deportation of nearly 393,000 people last year, he said.
Kibble said that in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, ICE performed 2,746 worksite investigations, more than double the 1,191 two years earlier. It arrested 196 employers and fined employers nearly $7 million. That compares to fines of $675,209 in 2008.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDzekxwkevCGVJxtpgLyuUgpjhcg?docId=e0730ceeb2ee40678cfcaa81c8e672ca
February 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is launching a new round of worksite investigations, maintaining the pressure on businesses to make sure they are hiring only people who can legally work in the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday it has notified 1,000 companies of upcoming audits of their I-9s, forms that new employees complete, and of the identification documents those employees provided to show they are eligible to work in the U.S.
"The inspections will touch on employers of all sizes and in every state in the nation — no one industry is being targeted nor is any one industry immune from scrutiny," ICE said in a statement. The agency declined to name the businesses to be inspected.
The latest round of audits will differ slightly from previous ones. Agents previously were told to audit a certain number each of small, medium and large businesses, said Dawn Lurie, who advises businesses on immigration compliance.
But this time agents are being encouraged to investigate larger companies if that's where tips and leads are pointing them. A new Employment Compliance Inspection Center in the Washington suburb of Crystal City, Va., means they'll have more auditors and other resources for those larger investigations.
Audits are usually performed at the state in which a company is headquartered, but agents are being told they can audit other parts of the company if their records review shows there may be problems beyond the headquarters, Lurie said.
Lurie said the new focus for the audits is a sign that ICE is becoming more sophisticated in its worksite enforcement.
The Obama administration's worksite strategy differs from that of the Bush administration, which focused on high-profile raids that led to arrests of hundreds of workers at a single work site.
ICE still conducts raids, but they are smaller and less visible. The current administration also has been criticized for auditing mostly small businesses.
Lurie said she thinks the administration's audit tactic is having an effect.
"I do think businesses should be more frightened. Companies across the U.S. need to take compliance seriously. It's ridiculous to say you are not doing anything . we will wait until the federal government knocks at door," she said.
Companies can take small, inexpensive steps to help themselves, she said.
The administration has investigated records of such companies as Krispy Kreme and Abercrombie and Fitch. An immigration official has said such audits doubled in 2010 over 2008.
But critics say the administration's tactic isn't going far enough. At a recent House subcommittee hearing, Republican lawmakers suggested returning to raids and questioned whether more people not legally working could be detained and deported.
ICE assistant secretary Kumar Kibble told the House critics that the audits could not be assessed in a vacuum and are part of a larger enforcement strategy that helped bring about the record deportation of nearly 393,000 people last year, he said.
Kibble said that in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, ICE performed 2,746 worksite investigations, more than double the 1,191 two years earlier. It arrested 196 employers and fined employers nearly $7 million. That compares to fines of $675,209 in 2008.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDzekxwkevCGVJxtpgLyuUgpjhcg?docId=e0730ceeb2ee40678cfcaa81c8e672ca
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
TODAY: Kennewick forum to discuss immigration raid issues
By The Herald Staff
The Bellingham Herald
Feb, 15, 2011
Kennewick -- A Tri-City immigration action group will offer a community forum today discussing what to do if an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid occurs.
The Tri-Cities OneAmerica committee’s “Know Your Rights” forum is at 7:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Catholic Church's gym, 520 S. Garfield St., Kennewick.
The forum was sparked by a Jan. 20 ICE raid in Ellensberg, said Jazmin Santacruz, Eastern Washington organizer for OneAmerica.
ICE officials have said the agency was investigating the manufacture and purchase of counterfeit identity and employment documents and 14 people were arrested on criminal charges.
Nationwide, ICE has increased immigration raids, Santacruz said. Pasco immigration attorney Tom Roach will discuss what legal rights people have and what to do if approached by an ICE officer.
A representative from Child Protection Services will discuss what resources exist for families who take in their relatives' children when their parents are deported and what happens to children if there are not relatives to take them when their parents are deported.
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/02/15/1868122/today-kennewick-forum-to-discuss.html
The Bellingham Herald
Feb, 15, 2011
Kennewick -- A Tri-City immigration action group will offer a community forum today discussing what to do if an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid occurs.
The Tri-Cities OneAmerica committee’s “Know Your Rights” forum is at 7:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Catholic Church's gym, 520 S. Garfield St., Kennewick.
The forum was sparked by a Jan. 20 ICE raid in Ellensberg, said Jazmin Santacruz, Eastern Washington organizer for OneAmerica.
ICE officials have said the agency was investigating the manufacture and purchase of counterfeit identity and employment documents and 14 people were arrested on criminal charges.
Nationwide, ICE has increased immigration raids, Santacruz said. Pasco immigration attorney Tom Roach will discuss what legal rights people have and what to do if approached by an ICE officer.
A representative from Child Protection Services will discuss what resources exist for families who take in their relatives' children when their parents are deported and what happens to children if there are not relatives to take them when their parents are deported.
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/02/15/1868122/today-kennewick-forum-to-discuss.html
Monday, January 24, 2011
Immigration raid shakes up Ellensburg
By SHANNON DININNY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 22, 2011
YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Latino community in a small central Washington college town nervously hid behind closed doors Friday following an immigration raid a day earlier that resulted in more than two dozen arrests and left relatives scrambling to find child care for the children left behind.
Residents in Ellensburg, about 90 miles east of Seattle, reported raids at several mobile home parks early Thursday. Ellensburg has about 17,000 residents and is home to Central Washington University.
Fourteen people - 13 of them women - made initial court appearances Friday on charges of using false documents or falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One was charged with re-entry into the United States after deportation.
Sixteen others were being held on immigration violations at a detention center.
In a statement, ICE officials said the investigation centered on the manufacture and purchase of counterfeit identity and employment documents.
However, as of Friday, none of those arrested faced those charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Rice said.
"Those who create and sell fraudulent documents compromise our nation's legal identification system and provide counterfeit identities to those who may otherwise be ineligible to live or work legally in the United States," said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of the agency's Homeland Security Investigations in Washington state.
Tearful relatives, some holding sleeping babies, looked on in court in Yakima, as a toddler happily crawled on the floor.
"All of our friends are in there, our families, our extended families," said Helen Lopez. "It's our whole community. And it's all of our women - mothers."
Lopez and her husband, Armando, were still searching for his sister, who had not yet appeared in court. They now are caring for the sister's two young children along with their own four children.
Silvia Barrientos said the trailer park where the raid happened is now empty.
"Very few are left," she said. "They know Mexicans live in the trailer park, and here the agents came."
Barrientos' husband was preparing to go to work around 6 a.m. Thursday when police and immigration agents arrived at the trailer park with guns drawn. She said they were shouting orders and knocking down doors, including her brother-in-law's.
"They're saying they're criminals. They're not criminals," Barrientos said.
Barrientos said her brother-in-law, Gilberto, and his wife were arrested and authorities didn't tell her why. Gilberto Barrientos, she said, has been a pastor at a local church for more than 10 years.
Barrientos said she was asked to take in Gilberto's 15-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter, who she described as being petrified. On Friday afternoon, a family friend had taken them out to distract them. She said they were afraid to go to school.
Michelle Bibich, principal at Morgan Middle School, said no agents showed up at the school Thursday, but that word spread quickly about the raids, worrying the students. About 13 percent of the school's 700 students are Hispanic.
"Our kids, regardless of race and ethnicity, were concerned for their friends and their friends' families," Bibich said. "It was pretty traumatic."
---
Associated Press writer Manuel Valdes contributed to this report from Olympia, Wash.
---
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_immigration_raid.html?source=mypi
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 22, 2011
YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Latino community in a small central Washington college town nervously hid behind closed doors Friday following an immigration raid a day earlier that resulted in more than two dozen arrests and left relatives scrambling to find child care for the children left behind.
Residents in Ellensburg, about 90 miles east of Seattle, reported raids at several mobile home parks early Thursday. Ellensburg has about 17,000 residents and is home to Central Washington University.
Fourteen people - 13 of them women - made initial court appearances Friday on charges of using false documents or falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One was charged with re-entry into the United States after deportation.
Sixteen others were being held on immigration violations at a detention center.
In a statement, ICE officials said the investigation centered on the manufacture and purchase of counterfeit identity and employment documents.
However, as of Friday, none of those arrested faced those charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Rice said.
"Those who create and sell fraudulent documents compromise our nation's legal identification system and provide counterfeit identities to those who may otherwise be ineligible to live or work legally in the United States," said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of the agency's Homeland Security Investigations in Washington state.
Tearful relatives, some holding sleeping babies, looked on in court in Yakima, as a toddler happily crawled on the floor.
"All of our friends are in there, our families, our extended families," said Helen Lopez. "It's our whole community. And it's all of our women - mothers."
Lopez and her husband, Armando, were still searching for his sister, who had not yet appeared in court. They now are caring for the sister's two young children along with their own four children.
Silvia Barrientos said the trailer park where the raid happened is now empty.
"Very few are left," she said. "They know Mexicans live in the trailer park, and here the agents came."
Barrientos' husband was preparing to go to work around 6 a.m. Thursday when police and immigration agents arrived at the trailer park with guns drawn. She said they were shouting orders and knocking down doors, including her brother-in-law's.
"They're saying they're criminals. They're not criminals," Barrientos said.
Barrientos said her brother-in-law, Gilberto, and his wife were arrested and authorities didn't tell her why. Gilberto Barrientos, she said, has been a pastor at a local church for more than 10 years.
Barrientos said she was asked to take in Gilberto's 15-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter, who she described as being petrified. On Friday afternoon, a family friend had taken them out to distract them. She said they were afraid to go to school.
Michelle Bibich, principal at Morgan Middle School, said no agents showed up at the school Thursday, but that word spread quickly about the raids, worrying the students. About 13 percent of the school's 700 students are Hispanic.
"Our kids, regardless of race and ethnicity, were concerned for their friends and their friends' families," Bibich said. "It was pretty traumatic."
---
Associated Press writer Manuel Valdes contributed to this report from Olympia, Wash.
---
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_immigration_raid.html?source=mypi
Friday, February 12, 2010
Two held for immigration after arrests
February 8, 2010 at 8:17 p.m.
Houma Today
THIBODAUX — Two men police say are in the country illegally are being held for immigration officials after they were arrested over the weekend in south Lafourche following separate incidents.
Arturo Ramos, 25, 135 E. 157th St., Galliano, was arrested after the Lafourche Sheriff's Office and State Police tried to pull him over about 2 a.m. Saturday on La. 308 in Cut Off when a deputy noticed he was driving without his headlights on, police said. Ramos allegedly refused to stop and hit speeds of more than 100 mph during the pursuit. He also allegedly swerved into oncoming traffic, forcing other vehicles off the road.
Ramos crashed the truck near La. 308 and East 161st Street and was tased by State Police trooper Frank Besson when he tried to run away, police said.
Ramos also refused to submit to a breath test, threatened one officer's family and threatened to blow up the Sheriff's Office substation in Galliano, police said.
He is charged with driving without headlights, aggravated flight from an officer, reckless operation, a traffic light violation, operating a vehicle without lawful presence in the United States, making threats, three counts of resisting an officer, fourth-offense DWI, and improper lane usage.
In the second, unrelated, arrest, deputies were called about 2:30 p.m. Saturday to Blackie's restaurant on La. 1 in Lockport on a report that a man was refusing to leave and trying to fight customers.
Juan Beltran, 25, 400 N. Carol St., Lockport, left the po-boy shop before police arrived but was later found bleeding in a wooded area near North Oak Street. Beltran told police his neighbor hit him because Beltran was drunk, police said. Beltran gave deputies a Social Security card and a permanent resident card as identification then later admitted both cards were fake, police said. He was identified by witnesses as the man causing the disturbance at the po-boy shop, police said. He is charged with two counts of disturbing the peace while intoxicated.
Both Beltran and Ramos are in the country illegally, police said. They are being held for transfer to immigration officials for deportation proceedings. Their home countries were not immediately available.
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100208/HURBLOG/100209199?p=all&tc=pgall
Houma Today
THIBODAUX — Two men police say are in the country illegally are being held for immigration officials after they were arrested over the weekend in south Lafourche following separate incidents.
Arturo Ramos, 25, 135 E. 157th St., Galliano, was arrested after the Lafourche Sheriff's Office and State Police tried to pull him over about 2 a.m. Saturday on La. 308 in Cut Off when a deputy noticed he was driving without his headlights on, police said. Ramos allegedly refused to stop and hit speeds of more than 100 mph during the pursuit. He also allegedly swerved into oncoming traffic, forcing other vehicles off the road.
Ramos crashed the truck near La. 308 and East 161st Street and was tased by State Police trooper Frank Besson when he tried to run away, police said.
Ramos also refused to submit to a breath test, threatened one officer's family and threatened to blow up the Sheriff's Office substation in Galliano, police said.
He is charged with driving without headlights, aggravated flight from an officer, reckless operation, a traffic light violation, operating a vehicle without lawful presence in the United States, making threats, three counts of resisting an officer, fourth-offense DWI, and improper lane usage.
In the second, unrelated, arrest, deputies were called about 2:30 p.m. Saturday to Blackie's restaurant on La. 1 in Lockport on a report that a man was refusing to leave and trying to fight customers.
Juan Beltran, 25, 400 N. Carol St., Lockport, left the po-boy shop before police arrived but was later found bleeding in a wooded area near North Oak Street. Beltran told police his neighbor hit him because Beltran was drunk, police said. Beltran gave deputies a Social Security card and a permanent resident card as identification then later admitted both cards were fake, police said. He was identified by witnesses as the man causing the disturbance at the po-boy shop, police said. He is charged with two counts of disturbing the peace while intoxicated.
Both Beltran and Ramos are in the country illegally, police said. They are being held for transfer to immigration officials for deportation proceedings. Their home countries were not immediately available.
http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100208/HURBLOG/100209199?p=all&tc=pgall
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Johnson: Immigrant mom's journey ends in a cell
By Bill Johnson
The Denver Post
12/11/2009
Here is a concept: What is right can still be wrong. I think it goes back to the way I was raised.
You likely know nothing of the case of Estrella Jacquez-Quiroz. It likely will not surprise you, either, that a jury took only a couple of hours Tuesday to convict the Longmont woman.
The baseline story is a familiar one. The woman, now 26, was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by her family about 10 years ago. She enrolled in and graduated from Fairview High in Boulder.
She becomes pregnant and has a son. What does she do?
She goes out and gets not one, but two jobs, "to provide a better life for her baby," her public defender, Matthew Connell, would later say.
And then came the very familiar part of the story: You cannot get a job without a Social Security number, and you for sure cannot get a Social Security number if you are a citizen of another country.
On the witness stand, Jacquez-Quiroz testified she hadn't the money to go down the proper legal avenues to become a citizen. There was a baby to feed. So she bought a fake Social Security card.
Her employers never bothered to check, simply telling her to get to work.
The woman broke the law. No way for a jury to get around that. It convicted her on two felony counts, criminal impersonation and possession of a forged document.
The judge gave her 90 days of probation, forgoing any jail time because this woman — obviously a clear, deep and present danger to our republic — had already spent 105 days behind bars.
Yes, 105 days in jail.
To rid us of this threat, Jacquez-Quiroz has been handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings.
All of the above, no question, is legally proper. So why does it reek to me of unfairness? Maybe it is just me.
There must be a better way.
She was not rounded up in some big ICE raid. A busybody on her street called police to complain that Jacquez-Quiroz's now-8-year- old boy was walking the couple of blocks from her home to his third-grade class alone.
The cops waved away that nonsense but upon further investigation discovered Jacquez- Quiroz was in the country illegally and working with a fake ID.
The illegal-immigration crackdown nuts on their radio shows and in their living rooms are cheering what is happening to Jacquez-Quiroz. As if it were moral, much less that it actually means anything.
The immigration-reform story I could really get behind is one that does not end with her arrest, but the arrest of those who employed her.
If they did not know about Jacquez-Quiroz, they did not want to know.
We could end illegal immigration in this country tomorrow if the same cops who slammed the cell door on her immediately started going after those who employed her.
Let them defend themselves before a judge and a jury.
But that will never happen. Not in this country, where finding cheap labor and making a profit is king, where a person's legal status is all wink-wink and "Get to work."
When the cops do arrive, of course, it is all: "I didn't know! I was hoodwinked!"
The American way is they all go unpunished and on their merry way, letting it be known there is an opening for Jacquez-Quiroz's old job.
You tell me: Whom do you think they are going to get?
Bill Johnson writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-2763 or wjohnson@denverpost.com.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13973579#ixzz0Zav4rSHm
The Denver Post
12/11/2009
Here is a concept: What is right can still be wrong. I think it goes back to the way I was raised.
You likely know nothing of the case of Estrella Jacquez-Quiroz. It likely will not surprise you, either, that a jury took only a couple of hours Tuesday to convict the Longmont woman.
The baseline story is a familiar one. The woman, now 26, was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by her family about 10 years ago. She enrolled in and graduated from Fairview High in Boulder.
She becomes pregnant and has a son. What does she do?
She goes out and gets not one, but two jobs, "to provide a better life for her baby," her public defender, Matthew Connell, would later say.
And then came the very familiar part of the story: You cannot get a job without a Social Security number, and you for sure cannot get a Social Security number if you are a citizen of another country.
On the witness stand, Jacquez-Quiroz testified she hadn't the money to go down the proper legal avenues to become a citizen. There was a baby to feed. So she bought a fake Social Security card.
Her employers never bothered to check, simply telling her to get to work.
The woman broke the law. No way for a jury to get around that. It convicted her on two felony counts, criminal impersonation and possession of a forged document.
The judge gave her 90 days of probation, forgoing any jail time because this woman — obviously a clear, deep and present danger to our republic — had already spent 105 days behind bars.
Yes, 105 days in jail.
To rid us of this threat, Jacquez-Quiroz has been handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings.
All of the above, no question, is legally proper. So why does it reek to me of unfairness? Maybe it is just me.
There must be a better way.
She was not rounded up in some big ICE raid. A busybody on her street called police to complain that Jacquez-Quiroz's now-8-year- old boy was walking the couple of blocks from her home to his third-grade class alone.
The cops waved away that nonsense but upon further investigation discovered Jacquez- Quiroz was in the country illegally and working with a fake ID.
The illegal-immigration crackdown nuts on their radio shows and in their living rooms are cheering what is happening to Jacquez-Quiroz. As if it were moral, much less that it actually means anything.
The immigration-reform story I could really get behind is one that does not end with her arrest, but the arrest of those who employed her.
If they did not know about Jacquez-Quiroz, they did not want to know.
We could end illegal immigration in this country tomorrow if the same cops who slammed the cell door on her immediately started going after those who employed her.
Let them defend themselves before a judge and a jury.
But that will never happen. Not in this country, where finding cheap labor and making a profit is king, where a person's legal status is all wink-wink and "Get to work."
When the cops do arrive, of course, it is all: "I didn't know! I was hoodwinked!"
The American way is they all go unpunished and on their merry way, letting it be known there is an opening for Jacquez-Quiroz's old job.
You tell me: Whom do you think they are going to get?
Bill Johnson writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-2763 or wjohnson@denverpost.com.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13973579#ixzz0Zav4rSHm
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Paying Taxes, and Fearing Deportation
Paying Taxes, and Fearing Deportation
By DAN FROSCH
The New York Times
February 2, 2009
GREELEY, Colo. — For the past decade, thousands of Hispanic men and women who settled here went to Amalia’s Translation and Tax Services to pay their annual income taxes.
Whether these people were in the United States legally mattered little to Amalia Cerrillo, who runs the business out of her home in this northern Colorado farming town. The Internal Revenue Service, Ms. Cerrillo knew, requires everyone, regardless of immigration status, to pay taxes on income earned in this country.
“My clients wanted to do what any other American does,” Ms. Cerrillo said. “And they wanted to show that they paid their taxes if there is ever a chance for amnesty or a green card.”
That all changed Oct. 17, when investigators with the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, armed with a search warrant, seized thousands of confidential tax returns from Ms. Cerrillo’s business. They told her they were looking for people with fraudulent Social Security numbers, commonly used by illegal immigrants to get work.
The seizure of the tax returns was the first step in a broad, continuing investigation, called Operation Number Games by local law enforcement officials. Sheriff John Cooke said his investigators had identified about 1,300 illegal immigrants who had filed tax returns bearing fake or stolen Social Security numbers. Many will face deportation proceedings.
Since October, 40 people have been arrested on identity theft or criminal impersonation charges. Sixty-five additional arrest warrants have been issued, and District Attorney Ken Buck said many more would be coming.
“I don’t care whether they are meth addicts or petty thieves or illegal immigrants,” Mr. Buck said. “What matters most to me is that they are committing felonies through identify theft.”
The campaign is causing concern at the I.R.S., which says illegal immigrants paid almost $50 billion in taxes from 1996 to 2003, and among immigrants’ rights groups, which call the operation a thinly disguised attempt to root out illegal immigrants.
“For years, they said immigrants don’t pay taxes and are a burden on our system,” said Julie Gonzales, the political coordinator for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.
Late last Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a lawsuit in State District Court here arguing that by seizing and retaining confidential tax information, the Weld County authorities had violated privacy rights of thousands of taxpayers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/us/02greeley.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
By DAN FROSCH
The New York Times
February 2, 2009
GREELEY, Colo. — For the past decade, thousands of Hispanic men and women who settled here went to Amalia’s Translation and Tax Services to pay their annual income taxes.
Whether these people were in the United States legally mattered little to Amalia Cerrillo, who runs the business out of her home in this northern Colorado farming town. The Internal Revenue Service, Ms. Cerrillo knew, requires everyone, regardless of immigration status, to pay taxes on income earned in this country.
“My clients wanted to do what any other American does,” Ms. Cerrillo said. “And they wanted to show that they paid their taxes if there is ever a chance for amnesty or a green card.”
That all changed Oct. 17, when investigators with the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, armed with a search warrant, seized thousands of confidential tax returns from Ms. Cerrillo’s business. They told her they were looking for people with fraudulent Social Security numbers, commonly used by illegal immigrants to get work.
The seizure of the tax returns was the first step in a broad, continuing investigation, called Operation Number Games by local law enforcement officials. Sheriff John Cooke said his investigators had identified about 1,300 illegal immigrants who had filed tax returns bearing fake or stolen Social Security numbers. Many will face deportation proceedings.
Since October, 40 people have been arrested on identity theft or criminal impersonation charges. Sixty-five additional arrest warrants have been issued, and District Attorney Ken Buck said many more would be coming.
“I don’t care whether they are meth addicts or petty thieves or illegal immigrants,” Mr. Buck said. “What matters most to me is that they are committing felonies through identify theft.”
The campaign is causing concern at the I.R.S., which says illegal immigrants paid almost $50 billion in taxes from 1996 to 2003, and among immigrants’ rights groups, which call the operation a thinly disguised attempt to root out illegal immigrants.
“For years, they said immigrants don’t pay taxes and are a burden on our system,” said Julie Gonzales, the political coordinator for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition.
Late last Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a lawsuit in State District Court here arguing that by seizing and retaining confidential tax information, the Weld County authorities had violated privacy rights of thousands of taxpayers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/us/02greeley.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Monday, January 26, 2009
Local immigration raids show little effect
Local immigration raids show little effect
Few face ouster, but DA defends his enforcement effort
By Riley Yates
Of The Morning Call
January 25, 2009
For years, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli has pursued illegal immigrants in efforts that have given him national status as a crusader on a hot-button political issue.
In interviews with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and on CNN's ''Lou Dobbs Tonight,''Morganelli has defended local raids against businesses hiring illegal immigrants as necessary, given a lack of action at the federal level.
But despite the high visibility, Morganelli has had little success, court records show.
At the federal level, deportations of illegal immigrants Morganelli arrested for false identification or fake Social Security cards were not the rule, a review of 94 cases from 2004 to 2007 by The Morning Call showed. At the local level, slim prison sentences -- if there was prison time at all -- were the norm.
The results demonstrate what Morganelli and other critics of federal immigration enforcement have long contended: that deportations, even for those arrested for crimes, are not guaranteed. They also raise doubts about how successful local authorities are in battling a traditionally federal problem.
''What you have is an unnecessary use of resources which could have been better used fighting real crime -- violent crime and other crime that affects society,'' said David Vaida, an Allentown attorney who has long been critical of Morganelli's policy.
Of the 94 cases reviewed, just one person was actually deported. According to Northampton County and federal court records, seventeen individuals left the country voluntarily, one case is on appeal and one person did not show up for federal court proceedings. No recorded immigration action was taken against the other 74.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-3immigration.6700754jan25,0,2581285.story
Few face ouster, but DA defends his enforcement effort
By Riley Yates
Of The Morning Call
January 25, 2009
For years, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli has pursued illegal immigrants in efforts that have given him national status as a crusader on a hot-button political issue.
In interviews with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and on CNN's ''Lou Dobbs Tonight,''Morganelli has defended local raids against businesses hiring illegal immigrants as necessary, given a lack of action at the federal level.
But despite the high visibility, Morganelli has had little success, court records show.
At the federal level, deportations of illegal immigrants Morganelli arrested for false identification or fake Social Security cards were not the rule, a review of 94 cases from 2004 to 2007 by The Morning Call showed. At the local level, slim prison sentences -- if there was prison time at all -- were the norm.
The results demonstrate what Morganelli and other critics of federal immigration enforcement have long contended: that deportations, even for those arrested for crimes, are not guaranteed. They also raise doubts about how successful local authorities are in battling a traditionally federal problem.
''What you have is an unnecessary use of resources which could have been better used fighting real crime -- violent crime and other crime that affects society,'' said David Vaida, an Allentown attorney who has long been critical of Morganelli's policy.
Of the 94 cases reviewed, just one person was actually deported. According to Northampton County and federal court records, seventeen individuals left the country voluntarily, one case is on appeal and one person did not show up for federal court proceedings. No recorded immigration action was taken against the other 74.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-3immigration.6700754jan25,0,2581285.story
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Undocumented Illegal Aliens in North Carolina Face Deportation
Undocumented Illegal Aliens in North Carolina Face Deportation
By Alexandra Vilchez
Latin American Herald Tribune (Caracas)
December 31, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- More than 50,000 Hispanics in North Carolina will not be able to renew their driver's licenses in 2009 and could face deportation thanks to the state's eight separate programs aimed at detecting undocumented immigrants.
From Jan. 1, 2002, to Aug. 28, 2006, North Carolina permitted the use of a taxpayer identification number, an ITIN or W-7, so that residents lacking a Social Security number could apply for a driver's license.
During that period, the Division of Motor Vehicles issued 220,983 licenses valid for five years to applicants presenting the ITIN as identification, the majority of them undocumented immigrants of Hispanic origin.
But under political pressure from anti-immigrant groups reporting that "illegals" from other states were flooding into North Carolina to take out licenses fraudulently, the state legislature approved a restrictive law on July 2006.
The law now bars anybody without legal status in the United States from having a driver's license or a government-issued ID.
According to DMV figures, for the year 2009 around 50,555 drivers - mostly undocumented Hispanics - that obtained licenses with the ITIN must present a Social Security number to get a new one.
Without a license, undocumented Hispanics can neither register a vehicle nor get insurance.
That situation, according to Tony Asion, director of the El Pueblo group in the North Carolina capital of Raleigh, is keeping the state from "collecting a large amount of money from taxes on these services."
"People don't want to drive without licenses but they don't have any other choice than to take a chance and drive, since they can't get to distant places on a bike, and some rural towns don't have good transportation systems," Asion told Efe.
An analysis by The News and Observer newspaper using figures from the court system showed in June that Hispanics are fined for not having a license more than any other ethnic group although they make up only 7 percent of the state's total population.
From April 2006 until now, eight North Carolina counties have activated the 287g program that allows verification of the immigration status of foreign detainees in local jails.
That means that if an undocumented alien is arrested in any of those counties for not having a driver's license, he or she could face deportation.
A report by the North Carolina sheriffs' association revealed last month that between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 4,511 foreigners were investigated under the 287g program, of which 3,359 were undocumented.
Of that total, approximately 3,182 were deported and another 177 had previous orders to leave the country.
Some 829, or 23 percent, were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and 1,215, or 33 percent, for minor traffic infractions.
Eleanor Kinnaird, a Democratic state senator from Carrboro north of Raleigh, told Efe that the 287g is a program that encourages racial profiling.
"They take Hispanics to jail for not having a license and to citizens they just issue a summons to appear in court. That is simple discrimination," the senator said.
Asion predicts that in 2009 the arrests of undocumented aliens for not having a license will continue, and for that reason the organization he directs will begin talks this year with lawmakers and will pressure them to restore the privilege of driving to the undocumented.
"It's better for the state in these times of financial crisis. And the streets are safer if people know the laws and can respond in case of an accident," he said.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=324460&CategoryId=13003
By Alexandra Vilchez
Latin American Herald Tribune (Caracas)
December 31, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- More than 50,000 Hispanics in North Carolina will not be able to renew their driver's licenses in 2009 and could face deportation thanks to the state's eight separate programs aimed at detecting undocumented immigrants.
From Jan. 1, 2002, to Aug. 28, 2006, North Carolina permitted the use of a taxpayer identification number, an ITIN or W-7, so that residents lacking a Social Security number could apply for a driver's license.
During that period, the Division of Motor Vehicles issued 220,983 licenses valid for five years to applicants presenting the ITIN as identification, the majority of them undocumented immigrants of Hispanic origin.
But under political pressure from anti-immigrant groups reporting that "illegals" from other states were flooding into North Carolina to take out licenses fraudulently, the state legislature approved a restrictive law on July 2006.
The law now bars anybody without legal status in the United States from having a driver's license or a government-issued ID.
According to DMV figures, for the year 2009 around 50,555 drivers - mostly undocumented Hispanics - that obtained licenses with the ITIN must present a Social Security number to get a new one.
Without a license, undocumented Hispanics can neither register a vehicle nor get insurance.
That situation, according to Tony Asion, director of the El Pueblo group in the North Carolina capital of Raleigh, is keeping the state from "collecting a large amount of money from taxes on these services."
"People don't want to drive without licenses but they don't have any other choice than to take a chance and drive, since they can't get to distant places on a bike, and some rural towns don't have good transportation systems," Asion told Efe.
An analysis by The News and Observer newspaper using figures from the court system showed in June that Hispanics are fined for not having a license more than any other ethnic group although they make up only 7 percent of the state's total population.
From April 2006 until now, eight North Carolina counties have activated the 287g program that allows verification of the immigration status of foreign detainees in local jails.
That means that if an undocumented alien is arrested in any of those counties for not having a driver's license, he or she could face deportation.
A report by the North Carolina sheriffs' association revealed last month that between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 4,511 foreigners were investigated under the 287g program, of which 3,359 were undocumented.
Of that total, approximately 3,182 were deported and another 177 had previous orders to leave the country.
Some 829, or 23 percent, were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and 1,215, or 33 percent, for minor traffic infractions.
Eleanor Kinnaird, a Democratic state senator from Carrboro north of Raleigh, told Efe that the 287g is a program that encourages racial profiling.
"They take Hispanics to jail for not having a license and to citizens they just issue a summons to appear in court. That is simple discrimination," the senator said.
Asion predicts that in 2009 the arrests of undocumented aliens for not having a license will continue, and for that reason the organization he directs will begin talks this year with lawmakers and will pressure them to restore the privilege of driving to the undocumented.
"It's better for the state in these times of financial crisis. And the streets are safer if people know the laws and can respond in case of an accident," he said.
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=324460&CategoryId=13003
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Immigrant Rights Groups Challenge ID Theft Arrests
By Jennifer Ludden
NPR News
Thursday 24 July 2008
For years, the chief punishment for immigrants caught working illegally in the United States has been deportation. But prosecutors are now bringing criminal charges that include aggravated identity theft, which can bring a hefty prison sentence. Immigrant rights groups and some members of Congress are challenging the practice.
A congressional panel is meeting Thursday to look at the controversial fallout from an immigration raid on an Iowa meat-packing plant in May. Not long ago, illegal immigrants swept up in such raids faced administrative charges and swift deportation. But in recent years, the Bush administration has started bringing criminal charges against immigrants who use fake documents, including stolen Social Security numbers.
After the raid at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, more than 250 workers were sentenced to five months in prison. Rights groups, defense lawyers and even some judges are questioning the Bush administration's strategy.
Iowa immigration attorney Dan Vondra says he was stunned to see immigrant workers from the plant charged with aggravated identity theft. Congress created that law in 2004 to toughen penalties for the growing problem of identity theft.
Still, Vondra said, "When you think of identity theft, what you really want to target is somebody getting credit cards in your name, ruining your credit, using your name to commit crimes, things of that nature."
The immigrants had bought stolen Social Security numbers to help them find work, Vondra said. In fact, one of the translators at the court proceedings has said the mainly Guatemalan immigrants he encountered had no idea what a Social Security card was - let alone that the numbers on it belonged to real people.
Challenges in the Courts
Last year, another Iowa attorney used that argument in court. Gary Koos' client had been arrested at a concrete company after buying an ID off the street in order to fill out employment forms. Koos didn't think that fit the crime of aggravated identity theft.
"If you want to think of it in legal terms, it would be that a person has to be put upon notice of what the crime is," Koos said. "And in this case, it's knowingly to use someone else's identity. My client didn't know he had someone else's Social Security number, he just had a number."
Koos lost the case on appeal, and his immigrant client is now serving five years in federal prison. But Koos' argument has been backed by other appeals courts - and he thinks the Supreme Court may need to resolve the dispute.
The issue is coming up more often because of another part of the Bush administration's immigration crackdown. More and more companies are using a federal computer program that can detect fake Social Security numbers. But it can't tell when real numbers are used by another person - which has fueled a growing market for stolen IDs.
"The issue is whether people using false identifications should be held accountable for that," said Bob Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in northern Iowa, which prosecuted the Agriprocessors case.
Teig said he didn't know whether any of the workers charged with aggravated ID theft had used Social Security numbers for anything but work. But that's not the point, he said.
"The point is, by the time it happens it's too late. The statute is not just designed to punish, the statute is designed to prevent," Teig said.
A Stiff Mandatory Sentence
To be clear, the Agriprocessors employees did not plead guilty to aggravated ID theft. But because the charge carries a two-year prison sentence as its mandatory minimum, it put pressure on them to accept a plea deal on lesser charges.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) has called for a hearing to look at that procedure. She's also an immigration attorney, and she questions whether due process was upheld.
"Hundreds of people were convinced to plead guilty to a crime without really an adequate opportunity to see if they had any remedy under immigration law," Lofgren said. "And of course, now that they've pled guilty to a crime, they have no remedies that they might otherwise have had."
Not all arrested immigrant workers are being sentenced to jail time. But federal immigration officials say incarceration can be an important deterrent. And Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says that some victims of this kind of ID theft suffer financial and legal hardships.
"We think it's tragic and unfortunate when people break the law by coming here," Myers said, "and then break the law again by actually stealing the identity of U.S. citizens."
So far this year, the immigration agency has made more than 900 criminal arrests.
http://www.truthout.org/article/immigrant-rights-groups-challenge-id-theft-arrests
NPR News
Thursday 24 July 2008
For years, the chief punishment for immigrants caught working illegally in the United States has been deportation. But prosecutors are now bringing criminal charges that include aggravated identity theft, which can bring a hefty prison sentence. Immigrant rights groups and some members of Congress are challenging the practice.
A congressional panel is meeting Thursday to look at the controversial fallout from an immigration raid on an Iowa meat-packing plant in May. Not long ago, illegal immigrants swept up in such raids faced administrative charges and swift deportation. But in recent years, the Bush administration has started bringing criminal charges against immigrants who use fake documents, including stolen Social Security numbers.
After the raid at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, more than 250 workers were sentenced to five months in prison. Rights groups, defense lawyers and even some judges are questioning the Bush administration's strategy.
Iowa immigration attorney Dan Vondra says he was stunned to see immigrant workers from the plant charged with aggravated identity theft. Congress created that law in 2004 to toughen penalties for the growing problem of identity theft.
Still, Vondra said, "When you think of identity theft, what you really want to target is somebody getting credit cards in your name, ruining your credit, using your name to commit crimes, things of that nature."
The immigrants had bought stolen Social Security numbers to help them find work, Vondra said. In fact, one of the translators at the court proceedings has said the mainly Guatemalan immigrants he encountered had no idea what a Social Security card was - let alone that the numbers on it belonged to real people.
Challenges in the Courts
Last year, another Iowa attorney used that argument in court. Gary Koos' client had been arrested at a concrete company after buying an ID off the street in order to fill out employment forms. Koos didn't think that fit the crime of aggravated identity theft.
"If you want to think of it in legal terms, it would be that a person has to be put upon notice of what the crime is," Koos said. "And in this case, it's knowingly to use someone else's identity. My client didn't know he had someone else's Social Security number, he just had a number."
Koos lost the case on appeal, and his immigrant client is now serving five years in federal prison. But Koos' argument has been backed by other appeals courts - and he thinks the Supreme Court may need to resolve the dispute.
The issue is coming up more often because of another part of the Bush administration's immigration crackdown. More and more companies are using a federal computer program that can detect fake Social Security numbers. But it can't tell when real numbers are used by another person - which has fueled a growing market for stolen IDs.
"The issue is whether people using false identifications should be held accountable for that," said Bob Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in northern Iowa, which prosecuted the Agriprocessors case.
Teig said he didn't know whether any of the workers charged with aggravated ID theft had used Social Security numbers for anything but work. But that's not the point, he said.
"The point is, by the time it happens it's too late. The statute is not just designed to punish, the statute is designed to prevent," Teig said.
A Stiff Mandatory Sentence
To be clear, the Agriprocessors employees did not plead guilty to aggravated ID theft. But because the charge carries a two-year prison sentence as its mandatory minimum, it put pressure on them to accept a plea deal on lesser charges.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) has called for a hearing to look at that procedure. She's also an immigration attorney, and she questions whether due process was upheld.
"Hundreds of people were convinced to plead guilty to a crime without really an adequate opportunity to see if they had any remedy under immigration law," Lofgren said. "And of course, now that they've pled guilty to a crime, they have no remedies that they might otherwise have had."
Not all arrested immigrant workers are being sentenced to jail time. But federal immigration officials say incarceration can be an important deterrent. And Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says that some victims of this kind of ID theft suffer financial and legal hardships.
"We think it's tragic and unfortunate when people break the law by coming here," Myers said, "and then break the law again by actually stealing the identity of U.S. citizens."
So far this year, the immigration agency has made more than 900 criminal arrests.
http://www.truthout.org/article/immigrant-rights-groups-challenge-id-theft-arrests
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Raid nets 20 suspected illegals
By Nathaniel Lukefahr
The Facts
7/19/2008
CLUTE — Twenty men were in the Clute jail Friday awaiting deportation to Mexico after police say they were using the identities of others to gain employment in the United States.
A team of Clute, Freeport and Angleton police officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers walked into a hotel in the 1100 block of Highway 332 with search warrants in hand at 6 a.m., Clute Detective Scotty Harris said. They then visited a meeting room where 43 employees of Quantum Geophysical Inc. were discussing the day’s work and asked for all applications and documents showing proof of citizenship, Harris said.
“They were illegal, using other people’s names, Social Securities, date of births,” Harris said. “We left them in the room and just started IDing everyone based on their application with their physical ID. A lot of them admitted that the ID they were using was fake. That made it easier.”
The men identified themselves to police as Jose Zavala, 27 Oscar Yanez, 35 Mario Yanez, 32 Ramiro Cacho, 41 Martin Acesta, 41 Jose Juan, 19 Juan Velasquez, 25 Mario Rodriguez, 30 Benito Lopez, 50 Hugo Acosta, 39 Garica Herrera, no known age Carizales Velasquez, 20 Isiero Velasquez, no known age Martin Arreage, 29 Mario Cerquega, 29 Jelso Bmella, 20 Arriaga Oviedo, 29 Juan Gonzalez, 25 Sael Zanualla, 21 and Harindo Yanez, 25.
“I’m not even really sure those are their real names,” Harris said. “The only way we’ll find out is once the fingerprints are sent to the FBI and ran there and in INS, that’s when we’ll find out who they really are.”
Harris said the men came from the Houston area, Indiana, Miami and Michigan.
Clute police charged the men with felony fraudulent use and possession of identifying information, which holds a penalty of two to 10 years in prison or and a $5,000 fine, Harris said
“Once we arrest them on state charges, ICE placed detainers on them so they can’t bond out,” Harris said. “So when they are done with our charges, they’ll go to the feds.”
Harris couldn’t say whether the company knowingly was hiring undocumented workers. Supervisors were in the room at the time of the raid but weren’t charged.
“I can just tell you that the investigation is ongoing and we are pursuing several different avenues to look into filing more charges,” Harris said.
Messages left at the company’s Houston office weren’t returned.
Harris said some of the men could have been deported previously and fingerprint exams that will show their identities could determine if any are repeat offenders. If an illegal immigrant previously has been deported and is arrested in the United States a second time, they are to serve a term in a federal detention center.
The raid stemmed from the Tuesday arrests of two pairs of brothers at the same hotel, all of whom worked for Quantum Geophysical. Officers charged the four with felony fraudulent use and possession of identifying information.
“Basically, this stemmed from the previous case with the four illegal immigrants,” Harris said. “As I told you then, we were going to continue investigating it.”
During Tuesday’s arrests, Harris spoke with four employees and arrested all of them for being undocumented workers.
“I figured I interviewed four and all four were using other people’s information, so I was batting 100 percent,” Harris said. “So it was reasonable to suspect that were would be more.”
Harris said officers were hoping to interview 64 employees but some didn’t show up for work.
“We’re still looking for 21 other employees,” he said. “They were short.”
Harris said police have yet to sort out and contact the people whose identities were being used by the illegal workers.
“The harm is going to be the taxes that the real people are going to have to pay because of these illegals using the information,” Harris said.
Police also have yet to figure out how many more dollars the men...
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=84db4553f8e33ff0
The Facts
7/19/2008
CLUTE — Twenty men were in the Clute jail Friday awaiting deportation to Mexico after police say they were using the identities of others to gain employment in the United States.
A team of Clute, Freeport and Angleton police officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers walked into a hotel in the 1100 block of Highway 332 with search warrants in hand at 6 a.m., Clute Detective Scotty Harris said. They then visited a meeting room where 43 employees of Quantum Geophysical Inc. were discussing the day’s work and asked for all applications and documents showing proof of citizenship, Harris said.
“They were illegal, using other people’s names, Social Securities, date of births,” Harris said. “We left them in the room and just started IDing everyone based on their application with their physical ID. A lot of them admitted that the ID they were using was fake. That made it easier.”
The men identified themselves to police as Jose Zavala, 27 Oscar Yanez, 35 Mario Yanez, 32 Ramiro Cacho, 41 Martin Acesta, 41 Jose Juan, 19 Juan Velasquez, 25 Mario Rodriguez, 30 Benito Lopez, 50 Hugo Acosta, 39 Garica Herrera, no known age Carizales Velasquez, 20 Isiero Velasquez, no known age Martin Arreage, 29 Mario Cerquega, 29 Jelso Bmella, 20 Arriaga Oviedo, 29 Juan Gonzalez, 25 Sael Zanualla, 21 and Harindo Yanez, 25.
“I’m not even really sure those are their real names,” Harris said. “The only way we’ll find out is once the fingerprints are sent to the FBI and ran there and in INS, that’s when we’ll find out who they really are.”
Harris said the men came from the Houston area, Indiana, Miami and Michigan.
Clute police charged the men with felony fraudulent use and possession of identifying information, which holds a penalty of two to 10 years in prison or and a $5,000 fine, Harris said
“Once we arrest them on state charges, ICE placed detainers on them so they can’t bond out,” Harris said. “So when they are done with our charges, they’ll go to the feds.”
Harris couldn’t say whether the company knowingly was hiring undocumented workers. Supervisors were in the room at the time of the raid but weren’t charged.
“I can just tell you that the investigation is ongoing and we are pursuing several different avenues to look into filing more charges,” Harris said.
Messages left at the company’s Houston office weren’t returned.
Harris said some of the men could have been deported previously and fingerprint exams that will show their identities could determine if any are repeat offenders. If an illegal immigrant previously has been deported and is arrested in the United States a second time, they are to serve a term in a federal detention center.
The raid stemmed from the Tuesday arrests of two pairs of brothers at the same hotel, all of whom worked for Quantum Geophysical. Officers charged the four with felony fraudulent use and possession of identifying information.
“Basically, this stemmed from the previous case with the four illegal immigrants,” Harris said. “As I told you then, we were going to continue investigating it.”
During Tuesday’s arrests, Harris spoke with four employees and arrested all of them for being undocumented workers.
“I figured I interviewed four and all four were using other people’s information, so I was batting 100 percent,” Harris said. “So it was reasonable to suspect that were would be more.”
Harris said officers were hoping to interview 64 employees but some didn’t show up for work.
“We’re still looking for 21 other employees,” he said. “They were short.”
Harris said police have yet to sort out and contact the people whose identities were being used by the illegal workers.
“The harm is going to be the taxes that the real people are going to have to pay because of these illegals using the information,” Harris said.
Police also have yet to figure out how many more dollars the men...
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