Federal immigration crackdown includes 18 arrests in Sacramento area

By Stephen Magagnini
The Sacramento Bee
Thursday, Sep. 29, 2011

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the arrest Wednesday of more than 2,900 immigrants convicted of crimes, including 18 in the Sacramento area.

The weeklong raids across the country reflect ICE's focus "on the arrest and removal of convicted criminal aliens that threaten the public safety of our communities here in Northern California," said Timothy Aitken, field office director of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations in San Francisco.

That office supervised the arrest of 186 immigrants in the Bay Area and the north state who are considered fugitives or have criminal histories.

The 18 arrested in the Sacramento region came from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, the Philippines and Uzbekistan, said Michael Vaughn, assistant field director for ICE in Sacramento. Only one was a legal permanent resident, Vaughn said, and all are facing possible deportation.

"They were convicted of crimes ranging from DUI to voluntary manslaughter," Vaughn said. "I've got drug cases, spousal abuse cases, transportation to sell narcotics, possession for sale, carrying a concealed weapon, willful cruelty to child, battery on a peace officer and theft."

Six of those arrested were ICE fugitives who had already been ordered removed by an immigration judge, but then disappeared, Vaughn said.

Seven others arrested in Sacramento are facing deportation for their convictions, but still will have their day in court before an immigration judge, Vaughn said.

Five more were previously deported criminal aliens who had returned to the United States and were apprehended again. They included a 52-year-old Mexican national who had been deported after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon. He was arrested by Sacramento's fugitive operations team in Stockton and faces federal prosecution for illegal re-entry after deportation, a crime which can bring up to 20 years in prison, Vaughn said.

Those arrested in the Central Valley were picked up as far north as Chico, as far south as Modesto and as far east as Roseville, Vaughn said.

ICE said it's targeting immigrants who present the greatest security risk to public, such as those charged with or convicted of homicide, rape, robbery, kidnapping, major drug offenses and threats to national security. The agency is also tracking those who have been previously deported and illegally re-entered the country.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/29/3946874/federal-immigration-crackdown.html

Bay Area forum condemns Secure Communities immigration program

The deportation program that was intended to target 'serious convicted criminals' is also sweeping up people with minor offenses or who were never convicted. A state bill aims to let counties opt out.
By Lee Romney
The Los Angeles Times
August 28, 2011

More than 200 people crammed into a meeting room Saturday in this city's heavily Latino Fruitvale District to condemn Secure Communities, the federal deportation program that was billed as targeting "serious convicted criminals" but has ensnared many who committed minor offenses or were never convicted of the crimes on which they were arrested.

Joined by a handful of Bay Area elected leaders, the largely Spanish-speaking crowd called on Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris to take a stance against the program. Forum leaders also sought support for a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) that would attempt to make Secure Communities optional for California counties, limit its scope to convicted felons and offer protections to crime victims.

"We're here to say we'll work with you until this program changes," Ammiano's district director, Kimberly Alvarenga, told the cheering crowd.

Weeping, a 29-year-old San Francisco woman spoke of her husband's April arrest after a dust-up at an Oakland event prompted security guards to turn him over to police. Although the painter from Mexico City was never charged, he is now in deportation proceedings, his wife told the crowd, using the alias "Ivone."

"The kids are crying inconsolably and don't know what to do," she said of their daughters, age 4 and 7.

The event comes as controversy plagues Secure Communities nationwide. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data show that 55% of those targeted for deportation under the program committed minor offenses or, like Ivone's husband, were arrested but never charged or convicted.

Under Secure Communities — created to focus limited federal resources on immigrants who posed threats — fingerprints forwarded by local jails to the FBI for criminal checks are shared with ICE. Opponents say the program has eroded immigrant communities' trust in police.

Furthermore, while local governments were told when the program was launched in 2008 that participation would be optional, ICE gradually altered its message and now says it never was. Illinois, New York and Massachusetts have said they want out. But on Aug. 5, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton announced that the agency had voided signed agreements with the states that had appeared to give them a say in participation.

The federal stance raises questions about whether Ammiano's bill would have impact if it became law. But backers of the bill say they are looking for legal avenues that could give counties control over the program. San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey, for example, has declined to hold certain low-level offenders for ICE.

Opponents also are reviewing the legality of ICE's voiding of the state agreements, and whether ICE is entitled to use local fingerprint data without permission.

Federal officials have offered recent concessions. Immigration prosecutors now have more discretion over whom they push to deport. And the Obama administration, which supports Secure Communities, announced this month that it will review all 300,000 people facing deportation to prioritize serious criminals over students and families.

Brown signed California's agreement with ICE in 2009 when he was attorney general but has since been silent on the program. "Our stance … is that, as a result of the federal government's policy, we do not have the option to opt out of it," Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford said in an email Saturday.

Harris expressed concerns that the program has "strayed far beyond" the goal of getting "serious criminals off the streets," saying in a statement that it is "critical to public safety that victims and witnesses of crime can step forward and report crime without fear of reprisal."

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Family Claims They Were 'Terrorized' By Federal Agents

KTLA News
August 1, 2011

NORCO, Calif. (KTLA) -- A family claims they were beaten by federal agents during a 'botched' drug raid and now, they're fighting for their rights to stay in the U.S.

On July 19, agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSE) went to Carmen Bonilla's residence on Corona Avenue in Norco, armed with a search warrant related to a drug-trafficking investigation.

Carmen Bonilla and seven other relatives, including a two-year-old and a 17-year-old were at the house when the agents showed up.

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Bonilla claims they were terrorized by the agents who allegedly forced them to lay face down on the ground with guns pointed at their heads.

In addition, the family says they were beaten, kicked, scratched and yelled at by the agents.

ICE has not confirmed or denied the discovery of any drugs, but the family says no drugs were found.

During the incident, agents learned that eight of the home's occupants were in the country illegally and now they're fighting deportation.

The Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles has since stepped in to help.

The family now has an immigration lawyer -- Jessica Dominguez -- who will be representing them in court on Tuesday to fight deportation charges.

The allegations made against the agents are being investigated by ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-drug-raid-deportation,0,6097566.story

Improving Mexican economy draws undocumented immigrants home from California

By Stephen Magagnini
Sacramento Bee
Jul. 28, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1B

There are fewer undocumented immigrants in California – and the Sacramento region – because many are now finding the American dream south of the border.

"It's now easier to buy homes on credit, find a job and access higher education in Mexico," Sacramento's Mexican consul general, Carlos González Gutiérrez, said Wednesday. "We have become a middle-class country."

Mexico's unemployment rate is now 4.9 percent, compared with 9.4 percent joblessness in the United States.

An estimated 300,000 undocumented immigrants have left California since 2008, though the remaining 2.6 million still make up 7 percent of the population and 9 percent of the labor force, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Among metropolitan areas with more than 1 million residents, Sacramento County ranks among the lowest, with an unauthorized population of 4.6 percent of its 1.4 million residents in 2008, according to Laura Hill, a demographer with the PPIC.

The Sacramento region, suffering from 12.3 percent unemployment and the construction bust, may have triggered a large exodus of undocumented immigrants, González Gutiérrez said.

The best-paid jobs for undocumented migrants are in the building industry, "and because of the severe crisis in the construction business here, their first response has been to move into the service industry," González Gutiérrez said. "But that has its limits. Then, they move to other areas in the U.S. to find better jobs – or back to Mexico."

Hill said it's hard to know whether the benefit of having fewer undocumented migrants outweighs the cost to employers and taxpayers.

California may have to provide less free education to the children of undocumented immigrants and less emergency medical care, she said, but it will also get less tax revenue.

In 2008, at least 836,100 undocumented immigrants filed U.S. tax returns in California using tax identification numbers known as I-10s, said Hill, who conducted the tax survey.

Based on those tax returns, the study found there were 65,000 undocumented immigrants in Sacramento County that year, far fewer than in many other big counties.

Sacramento's undocumented population ranked 10th in the state that year, behind Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Santa Clara, San Bernardino, Riverside, Alameda, Contra Costa and Ventura.

There were an estimated 12,000 undocumented immigrants in Yolo County; 9,000 in the Sutter-Yuba area; and 8,000 in Placer County.

An analysis of local ZIP codes showed that Sacramento (95815, 95823, 95824), West Sacramento (95605), Clarksburg (95612), Esparto (95627), Guinda (95637), Knights Landing (95645), Winters (95694) and Woodland (95776) each had an undocumented population of 10 percent to 15 percent.

Yolo County relies heavily on migrant workers to grow and harvest crops.

"People in construction are now turning to agriculture; it's the start of the tomato season so the harvesters will be jump-started pretty soon," said Woodland Mayor Art Pimentel, whose 55,000 residents are 48 percent Latino, some of them undocumented.

Some aren't sticking around for the upcoming tomato harvest, said Sylvina Frausto, secretary of Holy Rosary Church in Woodland. "Some have a small parcel in Mexico. They own their own home there, so instead of renting here they go back to their small business there."

Many raise animals, run grocery stores or sell fruits and goods on street corners.

"They're going back home because they can't get medical help or government assistance anymore," Frausto said, "And when it's getting so difficult for them to find a job without proper documentation, it's pushing them away."

Anita Barnes, director of La Familia Counseling Center on Franklin Boulevard in Sacramento, said she recently spoke to a high school graduate who had lost his job in a restaurant and was thinking of going back to Mexico.

"He came over with his mom, who was in the process of losing her restaurant job," Barnes said. "It's frightening, especially for the children. They feel this is their country, they don't know anything else, and they find they can't get driver's licenses or jobs."

As its economy rebounds, Mexico "is becoming a better option than it was in the past, but you still have to find a job and reconnect," Barnes said.

While the weakened U.S. economy, rising deportations and tougher border enforcement have led to fewer undocumented migrants, changes in Mexico are playing a significant role, González Gutiérrez said.

Mexico's average standard of living – including health, education and per capita income – is now higher than those in Russia, China and India, according to the United Nations.

Mexico's growing middle class "reduces the appetites to come because there are simply many more options" at home, González Gutiérrez said. "Most people who decided to migrate already have a job in Mexico and tend to be the most ambitious and attracted to the income gap between the U.S. and Mexico."

Mexico's economy is growing at 4 percent to 5 percent, benefiting from low inflation, exports and a strong banking system, the consul said.

Mexico's birthrate is also declining sharply. "As a natural consequence of us transforming from a rural to an urban society, we are running out of Mexicans to export," González Gutiérrez said. "Our society's growing at a rate of 2.1 children per woman – in the 1970s it was more than five."

Once the U.S. economy recovers, the flow of migrants moving north "may go up again, although most likely they will not reach the peak levels we saw in the first half of the decade," González Gutiérrez said.

WORKSHOP TODAY

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will host a free information session in Spanish at 650 Capitol Mall, second floor, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today on how to avoid scams. Immigrants who can't come in person or access the workshop online can call (800) 857-4862 and provide the pass code SERVICIO when asked for a password.

• For more information, visit www.uscis.gov/enlace.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/28/3799513/improving-mexican-economy-draws.html#ixzz1TPA5Bbwn

Unions object to 'silent' immigration raids

By Paul T. Rosynsky
Oakland Tribune
07/20/2011

OAKLAND -- Bay Area labor unions demanded Wednesday that the Obama administration stop its increased practice of auditing business payrolls to check for illegal immigrant workers.

Using Berkeley-based Pacific Steel and Casting as an example, leaders from several unions said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is wreaking havoc with immigrant families and local economies by demanding that employers provide it information about its employees.

Known as I-9 audits, investigators check the legal status of employees through the Social Security numbers and green card information the employees supplied to the business when hired. In many cases of illegal immigrants, that documentation is forged and the I-9 audits can determine who at a workplace is living and working in the country illegally.

ICE drastically increased its use of I-9 audits in 2009 when 1,444 businesses were audited, almost tripling the number audited in 2008, The New York Times reported this week. In 2010, the government audited 2,196 businesses.

Although the audits, in many cases, do not lead to the deportation of a worker, they do force an employer to fire the worker, harming the company, the worker and the economy, labor leaders said.

"These are silent raids," said Oakland Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, who also is the vice president of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics, and Allied Workers International Union. "We know that this country was built by immigrants. These workers should have some rights."

Even employers are not pleased with the audits; many have said they disrupt production and, in some cases, force out key workers who have become valuable to the organization.

"It's terribly disruptive," said Elisabeth Jewel, a spokeswoman for Pacific Steel and Casting. "We have highly trained employees and to lose them is very damaging."

Pacific Steel and Casting was first notified that it was to be audited in late February when ICE sent a letter seeking information on the steel foundry's 550 employees. The company complied but has yet to hear back from the government.

In the meantime, the Alameda County Labor Council began lobbying local politicians to object to the increase I-9 raids. The group successfully won resolutions from the Berkeley and Oakland city councils that condemn the audits.

De La Fuente said he expects that 100 to 200 employees at Pacific Steel could lose their jobs as a result of the audit

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18516773?source=rss

Stranded Student Arms Himself With an Education After Parents' Deportation

By Tania Luviano
Fox News Latino
July 13, 2011

Graduating from high school marks the beginning of a new era for any teenager, but for Marcos Muñoz, the diploma is renewed hope for him and his family.

Muñoz, a San Diego, California, resident, was just 14-years-old when his parents were deported to Mexico, abruptly forcing him to take on the role as father to his little sister.

“Our lives changed in a second. My older sister and I had to learn how to run the house and take care of our 10-year-old sister,” he said.

Muñoz’s priorities changed in a flash. Somewhere along the line, schoolyard drama and popular girls were no match to newfound concerns over economic stresses in his efforts to help his older sister bring money home.

“My parents were hardly making any money in Tijuana, Mexico, and we had to pay the mortgage, electricity, buy food, everything,” he said.

Muñoz made the decision to transfer to a charter school, where he was be able to study on his own time and allowed him to work as much as he wanted to.

And since Muñoz, who wasn't even 16-years-old and therefore not particularly attractive to potential employers, would take any job.

“I started working on a taco shop close to my house. The hours were the worst and I would do all sorts of things, but on top of that I was only making a couple hundred dollars, so it wasn’t enough,” he said.

Tired of not making ends meet, Muñoz got a full time job at a tennis store. His days were long, he would get up at dawn to catch the bus at 6 a.m. to the trolley, and arrive to school two hours later. Already tired, he would continue to his afternoon duties, which included more buses and trains to be able to get to work.

“If you don’t work hard, you’re nobody in this country,” said Muñoz, whose will power would keep him going until midnight, the only time he had to do his homework.

The thought of quitting never crossed Munoz's mind, however, and not working was never an option for him, so dropping-out of school became more and more enticing.

“I wasn’t eating or sleeping well and still my sister and I couldn’t pay the bills. I felt all my hard work was in vain," Muñoz said.

But Muñoz refused to let himself down, and most importantly, he didn’t want to disappoint his parents, who are his biggest motivation.

“They came to the U.S. for the only purpose of providing us a better education, and that’s what I was determined to do,” he said.

His determination and hard work paid off this past June when Muñoz was able to finish high school in just two years with a 3.5 grade point average.

“We are very proud of our son and we know he’ll do bigger things,” said Abel and Zulma Muñoz, who weren’t able to attend their son’s graduation because of their immigration status, but celebrated their son’s accomplishment with the whole family at their home in Tijuana.

Thirty-three percent of all Latinos and Latinas drop out of school in the United States without graduating. Muñoz says many of his friends are in the same boat.

“They are making a big mistake because in this country you are nobody if you don’t go to school," he said. "You can’t even work at McDonald’s if you don’t finish high school.”

But this strong-minded 17-year-old has a bigger dream in mind: he wants to become an odontologist. And he’s in the process of applying for as many scholarships as he can to be able to attend community college in the fall and, in the future, transfer to San Diego State University.

Beyond his education aspirations, Muñoz wants to inspire other Latinos to finish high school and get a college degree. If he can do it, he humbly says, anyone can.

“I want to be an example to other young Latinos, who like me have to work and go to school at the same time," Muñoz said. "And I know they must feel discouraged, but I want to tell them, you can do it!”

And if you ask him who his mentor and most admired role model is, there’s only one name.

“My sister Leslie," he said. "She taught me never to give up and always fight for what you want.”

The drive to success must run in the Muñoz‘s blood. Just like her brother, Leslie, 21, graduated from high school three years ago and currently has two jobs. Additionally, she attends Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California, where she's studying to become an immigration lawyer.

“My parents taught me to always value what you have and never give up in your dreams, to always work hard because later in life it will pay off,” said Marcos.

Still, the family has hurdles to clear. Although, Muñoz works full time at a parking lot in San Ysidro, California, they were evicted from his home just last month.

Tough times lie ahead, indeed. But he says he’s ready for any challenge.

“For my parents and for myself," the teen said, "I will fight for a better future.”

Tania Luviano is a freelance contributor for Fox News Latino.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/community/2011/07/13/stranded-student-arms-himself-with-education-after-parents-deportation/#ixzz1SBVdfNrY

Man wanted for 2004 murder in Guatemala is deported

by Nathan Gonzalez -
The Arizona Republic
May 13, 2011

A Guatemalan man arrested in San Diego for a murder in his native country was deported by federal authorities Friday morning.

Walter Orozco Veliz, 30, was wanted in connection with the September 2004 murder of Eduardo Franco Campos in Gualán, Zacapa, Guatemala and was arrested April 2 as he tried to enter the U.S., said Vincent Picard, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix.

Authorities allege Veliz and several other suspects arrived at Campos' home and began arguing with him, according to ICE. At some point, Veliz allegedly pulled a gun and shot Campos twice, killing him instantly.

"ICE will not allow aliens who commit crimes abroad to use the United States as a safe haven from justice in their home countries," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office Director Katrina Kane said in a statement. "ICE is working closely with law enforcement agencies here and abroad to ensure our international borders are not barriers to bringing criminals to justice."

Veliz apparently evaded authorities until he attempted to enter the U.S. using a valid passport at the San Ysidro Port of entry in San Diego, Picard said. Authorities determined he was wanted by Guatemalan authorities in connection with Campos' murder.

Veliz was found with two counterfeit immigration documents he purchased to work in the U.S., however, Picard was unaware whether Veliz had been in the country previously.

Veliz was detained in Florence while authorities prepared to return him to his native country. On Friday morning, accompanied by ICE agents, his flight departed Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

The airport handles about five to seven deportations per week, Picard said.

Between Oct. 1 and April 30, ICE deported 215,900 wanted immigrants to their home countries. That figure includes 109,700 people with criminal convictions, with 585 being convicted of homicide, 3,177 convicted sex offenders and 24,593 convicted of serious drug offenses.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/05/13/20110513man-wanted-murder-guatemala-deported-face-charges.html#ixzz1MQkDFfrm

Town hall gathering held in Oxnard to protest deportation

By Mark Storer
Ventura County Star
Friday, April 29, 2011

Denise Cabello spoke passionately in Spanish to the audience as she described her plight.

"Now, I can't stay here without documents," she said. "I'm afraid to pick up my children at school for fear of being arrested and deported."

Cabello was one of three people who spoke to more than 200 people gathered at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Oxnard on Friday evening.

Many of those gathered wore green T-shirts that said "indocumentado" for "undocumented." They were there to rally against government deportations of undocumented workers and to hear U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, discuss the issue.

In a town hall meeting sponsored by La Hermandad Mexicana Nacional as well as Central Coast Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (known as CAUSE) and United Farm Workers, among others, Gutierrez listened to Cabello's story as well as those of Anthony Garnett and Miguel Rodriguez.

"I came to the United States when I was 8 years old," Rodriguez said. "Now, both of my parents are ill and rely on me as their primary caregiver."

Rodriguez said he was arrested once for driving without a license.

"The police thought I was an American citizen because my English was so good. So they kept me in jail for three days. I was released before the INS found out," he said.

At the meeting, Mila Medina, a volunteer for La Hermandad, said: "I'm here showing my support. It's important for our community. This is about policies, yes, but it's also about the treatment of individuals. There's a lot of injustice out there and it's time for a change."

Garnett spoke to the gathering about his wife, an undocumented worker who nevertheless earned an associate of arts degree from Oxnard College.

"She's a legal assistant, but now can't go on to get her law degree. Because we don't have the DREAM Act, the world is missing a great lawyer because of documentation," he said. "We have too many broken homes and families for the government to make more."

Gutierrez was introduced by Hank Lacayo, a businessman and activist.

"It takes honor and bravery to give these testimonies," Gutierrez said in English and Spanish.

While those gathered chanted "Si se puede!" and gave Gutierrez a standing ovation, he told them he was committed to comprehensive immigration reform.

"When communities are terrorized by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and when people are detained without legal representation, when children come home to find their parents missing, the system has to change," Gutierrez said. "Those aren't my words. They are candidate Barack Obama's words. Thank you for your words, Mr. President, but it's time to replace them with actions."

U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., spoke to the audience in a pre-recorded message. She was unable to attend as she is still in Washington, D.C., with her family.

"I want you to know that I remain comprehensive immigration reform and I support the DREAM Act," Capps said to the cheers of the audience.

Beatrice Garcia, lead organizer with CAUSE, said: "Under President Obama, more deportations of undocumented workers have taken place than under any other president. We want to change legislation, yes, but we also want President Obama to use his executive power to provide relief to some of these people," she said.

Gutierrez said: "We're traveling to cities throughout the U.S. We came from Oakland today and we'll be in Los Angeles and San Jose tomorrow — and we won't stop until we get the reform that we truly need."

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/apr/29/town-hall-gathering-held-in-oxnard-to-protest/

Deportation divides Orange County family

By YVETTE CABRERA
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
March 17, 2011

As Martha Morales stood before the altar at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tijuana her thoughts were focused on one thing – her children.

"Make sure that they have everything they need," she prayed. "Make sure that nothing happens to them because they are going to be all alone."

That was May 8, 2008.

A day earlier, Martha had been separated from her six children – then ages 1 to 23 – when she was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At 6 a.m., at the family's Orange County home, she was handcuffed and taken to the ICE facility in Santa Ana.

Her husband, Juan Manuel, a welder, was already at work, but he was also ordered to appear at the facility. By day's end, the couple – in the United States for 19 years – were deported to Tijuana. They left behind their six children, three undocumented and three U.S. citizens, on their own.

Increasingly, as more undocumented parents are deported, such separations are becoming common, leaving families with a painful decision – leave U.S. citizen children behind, or pull them out of the only country they've ever known.

In the past decade, the number of U.S. citizens born to undocumented immigrants more than doubled, to 4.5 million, according to data released last month by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization.

In the same period, immigration officials have cracked down on the undocumented, more than doubling the number of deportations. In 2010, ICE statistics show that 392,862 undocumented immigrants were deported.

Naturally, the trend has become fodder in the immigration debate. Some politicians want to repeal the right to citizenship granted in the 14th Amendment. Meanwhile, immigration activists and others are speaking out against such a move, calling it fundamentally un-American.

But behind closed doors, in the homes of families separated by legal deportations, the people paying the full price in this battle are children.

In January, I traveled with a news team from KCET's series "SOCAL Connected" to the border town of Tecate, Mexico. That's where Martha and Juan Manuel live, in a friend's home, with their youngest daughter, Aileen, now 4, a U.S. citizen. Their sons, Rodrigo, 16, and Rigoberto, 12, with the help of Rigoberto's godparents, drove down for a visit. The two-hour trip has become a ritual for the brothers, both U.S. citizens, on weekends and holidays.

The two-day visit felt more like two minutes, as the parents crammed in as much love as they could. Martha oohed and aahed over Rigoberto's artwork. She made the boys' favorite foods. She knew that, soon, her sons would be out of reach.

Martha crossed illegally into the United States in 1989. Juan Manuel had likewise entered the country illegally six months earlier. For the next 19 years, until the day they were deported, Juan Manuel worked steadily for the same boating company. Martha worked as a seamstress and, later, in a hotel laundry.

The family never received government aid, and through their jobs, they had health insurance.

"The dreams that we had for ourselves we now wanted for (our children.) What we couldn't accomplish, we wanted them to accomplish," says Martha, 49, in Spanish.

Eight years ago, the couple filed paperwork to become legal residents. And an immigration judge granted them permission to stay in the United States, concluding that deporting the couple would result in "exceptional and extremely unusual hardship."

But the Department of Homeland Security appealed that decision and, in 2006, the couple was instructed to voluntarily depart the country. Still, working with a man they believed to be a lawyer, they stayed, believing their appeal was still under way.

That was not the case.

In May, 2008, as ICE agents handcuffed her, Martha, wearing pajamas and slippers, told her children to remain calm.

"She looks into our eyes and tells us, 'Everything is going to be OK. ... ' And that was really hard," says her son Adrian, a 24-year-old Cal State University student who is majoring in deaf studies and hopes to become a sign-language interpreter.

Yet life has been anything but fine. Now, Adrian, along with his 26-year-old brother, is trying to parent Rodrigo and Rigoberto. They show up for parent nights at school, check homework, and mete out discipline.

"It's hard and I am still learning," says Adrian, one of the Morales' three undocumented children.

Clearly, immigration reform is needed.

But what good does it do to separate otherwise law-abiding families? Lost among the strident voices calling to deport "all illegals" is a solution that acknowledges America's reliance on this undocumented labor force.

Critics say undocumented immigrants like Martha want to come here so the United States can take care of them.

The truth is Martha just wants to take care of her children.

For now, however, she can't. She and Juan Manuel must wait five years before they can try to return legally to the United States.

"As a mother you're a protector, even when (your children are) grown, you worry," says Martha. "That's why I asked the Virgin of Guadalupe – "Give us the patience, the strength to withstand this difficult moment."

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/martha-292443-children-undocumented.html

Firm's owner gets 10 months for hiring illegal immigrants

Rick M. Vartanian told officials that unauthorized workers identified in an earlier audit were no longer with Brownwood Furniture of Rancho Cucamonga. In fact, 18 still were.
By Phil Willon
Los Angeles Times
March 09, 2011

A Rancho Cucamonga furniture company owner was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, federal officials said Tuesday.

Rick M. Vartanian, 57, of Ladera Ranch had been convicted of obstruction of justice and employing illegal immigrants at his company, Brownwood Furniture.

Along with the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Gary Fees on Monday ordered Vartanian to pay a $15,000 fine.

In November 2009, officials said, Vartanian told investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that unauthorized workers identified during an earlier audit were no longer employed by the company.

In fact, Vartanian had kept 18 of those workers on his payroll and was concealing their employment, according to federal officials, who said the investigation began when the immigration agency received an anonymous tip that Brownwood Furniture had hired the illegal workers.

A federal audit of the company's personnel in 2009 found that 61 of the firm's 73 employees had submitted invalid documents to obtain their jobs, officials said.

"As these sentences make clear, employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers face serious consequences," Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security investigations in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Brownwood Furniture's vice president, Michael Patrick Eberly, 48, of Alta Loma, also pleaded guilty to one count of employing unauthorized workers.

He was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

In 2009, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano directed immigration officials to focus their worksite enforcement resources on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. In fiscal year 2010, a record 180 business owners, employers and managers were charged with illegal hiring, up from 114 in fiscal 2009 and 135 the previous year.

Also in fiscal 2010, immigration officials conducted more than 2,200 employer audits, up from more than 1,400 in fiscal 2009.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/09/local/la-me-0309-illegal-hiring-20110309

Secure Communities Expands Across State

By Elena Shore
New America Media
March 8, 2011

Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that all counties in California are now participating in the Secure Communities program, which shares the fingerprints of anyone who gets arrested with federal immigration authorities.

El Mensajero’s María Mejía wrote an editorial about the program, which she titled “Insecure Community.” Although San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey opposed the program, and the San Jose City Council voted against it, she writes, it's clear that counties don't have a choice in the matter. A California Watch report found that the program is also bad news for domestic violence victims, who are often arrested along with the alleged perpetrator, and can find themselves in deportation proceedings.

California is the ninth state in the nation to have all counties participating in the program, reports Pilar Marrero for La Opinión. Among the other states are Texas, Arizona and Florida. As of March 1, ICE reported that the program had been implemented in 1,074 jurisdictions in 39 states. ICE plans to implement Secure Communities in all counties in the nation by the year 2013.

Since it began in October 2008, the program has led to the deportation of “more than 62,500 foreigners convicted of a crime,” according to ICE.

La Opinión reports that although ICE claims it goes after violent and dangerous criminals, studies show that these are in fact the minority of people arrested. A study released last year analyzing the deportations in the previous fiscal year found that only 15 percent of deportees had been convicted of a class 1 felony, the most serious kind.

Twenty-seven percent of immigrants deported from California had no criminal record, La Opinión reports, and some were sent into deportation proceedings as a result of minor offenses.

http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/pulse-of-the-bay/secure-communities-expands-across-state/

Secure Communities' Information-sharing Capability Activated Across California

Written by Border Scope
Saturday, 26 February 2011

Los Angeles, California - The activation earlier this week of Secure Communities in six northern California jurisdictions - Alpine, Del Norte, Lassen, Sierra, Siskiyou and Trinity counties - means the program's vital information-sharing capability is, for the first time, accessible to law enforcement agencies in all 58 of the state's counties.

Secure Communities' information-sharing capability, a key component of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) comprehensive strategy to enhance efforts to identify and remove convicted criminal aliens from the country, uses biometric identification to alert ICE when potentially removable aliens are booked into local law enforcement custody for a crime.

Since May 2009, when San Diego County became the first California jurisdiction to benefit from Secure Communities, ICE has taken custody of nearly 48,000 convicted criminal aliens in the state identified as a result of the program. Of that number, 23,712 have already been removed from the United States. The aliens deported from California as a result of Secure Communities include more than 10,000 individuals who had been convicted of serious or violent criminal offenses. The data is current through Jan. 31.

The deportable aliens identified in California as a result of Secure Communities include a previously deported aggravated felon from Mexico who was arrested Jan. 31 by the Los Angeles Police Department for driving with a suspended license. Benjamin Yanez-Parra, 40, was subsequently turned over to ICE and is being prosecuted by the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's Office for re-entry after deportation. The publicly available case indictment details what the Secure Communities fingerprint screening originally revealed, that Yanez-Parra's criminal record includes three prior drug trafficking convictions and a burglary conviction as well as six deportations over a period of 11 years.

In Sacramento, Secure Communities is credited with identifying a man who used an alias following his Sept. 2010 arrest by Sacramento police for carrying an open container of alcohol in public. That individual, Jorge Vega-Reyes, was ultimately prosecuted by the Sacramento U.S. Attorneys Office for felony re-entry after deportation. As with the Los Angeles case, the publicly available case indictment details what the Secure Communities fingerprint originally showed, that Vega-Reyes had multiple prior convictions for drug trafficking as well as a conviction for assault with a firearm and had been previously deported. Vega was convicted of felony re-entry in November 2010 and is currently serving a 27-month prison sentence, following which he will be deported to Mexico.

"This is another significant milestone in the ongoing national deployment of the Secure Communities strategy," said Secure Communities Acting Assistant Director Marc Rapp. "Secure Communities is improving and modernizing the identification and removal of criminal aliens. It is a major step forward in ICE's efforts to work with local law enforcement in California and across the country to prevent criminal aliens from being released to our streets."

Prior to the deployment of Secure Communities, biometrics-fingerprints-taken of individuals charged with a crime and booked into custody were checked for criminal history information against the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). Now, through enhanced information sharing between DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), biometrics submitted through the state to the FBI will be automatically checked against both the FBI criminal history records in IAFIS and the biometrics-based immigration records in DHS's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT). The IDENT system is maintained by DHS's US-VISIT program and IAFIS is maintained by the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS).

If fingerprints match those of someone in DHS' biometric system, the new automated process notifies ICE. ICE evaluates each case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action. This includes aliens who are in lawful status and those who are present without lawful authority. Once identified through fingerprint matching, ICE will respond with a priority placed on aliens convicted of the most serious crimes first-such as those with convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping.

California is the ninth state nationwide where Secure Communities has been fully deployed. Other states include Texas, Arizona and Florida. Across the country, ICE is using the Secure Communities information-sharing capability in 1,067 jurisdictions in 39 states. By 2013, ICE plans to be able to respond nationwide to all fingerprint matches generated through IDENT/IAFIS interoperability.

Since ICE began using this enhanced information sharing capability in October 2008, immigration officers have removed from the United States more than 62,500 aliens convicted of a crime. ICE does not regard aliens charged with, but not yet convicted of crimes, as "criminal aliens." Instead, a "criminal alien" is an alien convicted of a crime. In accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, ICE continues to take action on aliens subject to removal as resources permit.

"US VISIT is proud to support ICE, helping provide decision makers with comprehensive, reliable information when and where they need it," said US-VISIT Director Robert Mocny. "By enhancing the interoperability of DHS's and the FBI's biometric systems, we are able to give federal, state and local decision makers information that helps them better protect our communities and our nation."

"Under this plan, ICE will be utilizing FBI system enhancements that allow improved information sharing at the state and local law enforcement level based on positive identification of incarcerated criminal aliens," said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director of the FBI's CJIS Division. "Additionally, ICE and the FBI are working together to take advantage of the strong relationships already forged between the FBI and state and local law enforcement necessary to assist ICE in achieving its goals."

http://imperialvalleynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9606&Itemid=2

Forum draws immigrants seeking answers

By Jennie Rodriguez
Recordnet Staff Writer
February 21, 2011 12:00 AM

STOCKTON - Elizabeth Hernandez's two toddlers used to light up when they saw their father come home from work every day in his muddy shoes and scuffed clothing.

"He used to play with them," Hernandez said of her husband, a landscaper.

"He is a hard worker," said Hernandez, 23. "He is a very respectful person."

But it's been a month since Hernandez and the couple's children have seen him. He was deported to Mexico before Hernandez, a U.S. citizen, could complete her husband's residency petition.

Hernandez didn't know where to go for help - until Sunday night. That's when a forum was held on immigrants' rights at the St. Mary's Church gymnasium in downtown Stockton, where speakers included a representative from the Mexican Consulate's protection and legal matters department.

It is estimated that there are about 6 million undocumented immigrants from Mexico in the United States. San Joaquin County's agricultural industry draws many in search of work.

"We see that there is a great necessity for people to know their basic rights," said Luis Magana, the forum organizer from Project Voice. "We want to empower the people. The people who live here and work here."

Hernandez was happy to finally have some answers to her questions.

"I've been trying to get information from different people, and they've been telling me the wrong things," she said.

Alejandro Celorio of the Sacramento Mexican Consulate office said undocumented immigrants are among the most vulnerable groups to forgo their civil rights.

Celorio said undocumented immigrants have the right to demand a search warrant, and the right to remain silent when approached by immigration enforcement agents, and yet most are unaware of those rights.

Celorio said most undocumented immigrants who face deportation sign voluntary removal orders when they could have argued their case before a judge.

He said undocumented immigrants also are less likely to report to police when they are victims of crimes for fear of being deported.

"They are afraid of the system," Celorio said.

More than 100 people attended the event.

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110221/A_NEWS/102210312/-1/NEWSMAP

Escondido's city-federal effort to oust illegal immigrants draws praise, criticism

Escondido police and ICE agents join to snag and deport people with deportation orders or criminal records. Some welcome U.S. involvement. Others say the targets are sometimes well-established community members with decades-old convictions.
By Richard Marosi
Los Angeles Times
February 4, 2011

Reporting from Escondido —It was just an inconvenient traffic stop on the way through town for Javier Barrera Saldivar. Police had spotted the broken tail light on his car, and he figured he'd get a fix-it ticket and be on his way. But federal immigration officers soon rolled up, wielding handcuffs and Barrera's mug shot on a cellphone.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been stationed at the Police Department of this San Diego County city since May, responding to everything from traffic stops to gang sweeps in an aggressive effort to clear the community of illegal immigrants with deportation orders or criminal records.

Barrera, 24, the records showed, was a previously deported illegal immigrant with convictions for drunk driving and possessing a false driver's license. Instead of receiving a traffic citation and being released — which is what typically would have occurred — he was arrested and placed in deportation proceedings.

Barrera is among 303 illegal immigrants arrested and placed in deportation proceedings so far in a program dubbed Joint Effort, which allows federal agents to reach deeper into the streets for immigration scofflaws than in almost any other community in the country. Most arrests are of illegal immigrants with deportation orders and drunk-driving records, but gang members and sex and drug offenders have also been snared and deported.

Since the pair of ICE agents moved into police headquarters, the pilot program, which was recently made permanent, has been hailed by many as a welcome expansion of federal authority. ICE officials say they would consider expanding the program if other communities expressed interest.

But opponents say the presence of immigration officers on the streets of Escondido has put Latinos, who constitute slightly more than 50% of the population of 140,000, on edge.

One local immigrant rights group last year issued a travel advisory for people visiting the city, saying the program invites racial profiling. Critics contend that the measure is the latest effort by City Hall, which once tried to punish landlords for renting to illegal immigrants, to create a hostile environment for Latinos.

"The city of Escondido is the Arizona of San Diego County," said Kevin Keenan, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego and Imperial counties. "The program is an extreme example of local police working with federal immigration agents, and neglects the tremendous harm to public safety from scaring to death our immigrant communities."

But backers call the program a balanced approach toward changing Escondido's status as a revolving-door destination for previously deported illegal immigrants. Officers arrest only previous deportees or people with criminal records; illegal immigrants encountered on city streets who have clean records are not arrested, said Police Chief Jim Maher.

"We're here to protect everybody regardless of what their [immigration] status is, but if they're criminals then we make every effort to get them out of Escondido," Maher said.

Federal immigration officers working shoulder to shoulder with local police would be a welcome sight in many regions of the country where there is growing support for tougher enforcement measures against illegal immigration.

"I think there are many police departments across the country that would love to have a similar arrangement, if ICE were able to staff it," said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which supporters stricter immigration laws.

With the Obama administration under pressure to burnish its immigration enforcement credentials, Joint Effort represents one of the boldest measures yet to boost deportation numbers. Most deportations of criminal aliens — 58,000 nationwide in the last two years — result from ICE agents and local police running immigration checks of inmates at jails. The Escondido program goes a step further, targeting immigrants who come in contact with police but would not typically be booked into jail.

ICE officials in San Diego said officers regularly encounter illegal immigrants in Escondido with no criminal records. They are not detained because the program focuses only on people who are deemed threats.

"Escondido is not a huge community, and police were seeing these guys over and over again," said Robin F. Baker, ICE's director of enforcement and removal operations in San Diego. "These are people that have victimized the community before."

A young man recognized by police as a previously deported immigrant, someone hanging out with known gang members or someone pulled over who can't provide identification can now be subject to an immediate immigration check.

When Escondido police officers pulled over Barrera in October for the broken tail light, he couldn't provide a driver's license. He gave his name to the officer, who called ICE agents. A few minutes later the agents rolled up to the scene, having determined through a database check that Barrera had previous convictions and had been deported in 2005. After they confirmed his identification through the image on a cellphone, Barrera was arrested. The woman and child in the car were not checked for their immigration status, police said.

Few police departments in California, including the Los Angeles and San Diego departments, inquire about immigration status on routine police contacts. The Escondido program is most similar to one in Arizona, where federal immigration officers can respond to traffic stops. Under that program, however, all illegal immigrants, regardless of criminal history, can be arrested, according to ICE.

Having immigration officers inside the city, Escondido police say, has made the city safer by exposing people who pose a threat. One man stopped for walking after hours along a drainage canal turned out to be a convicted wife batterer; another man pulled over for having tinted windows in his car, an immigration check showed, was a convicted child molester.

But critics contend that most detainees are people with drunk driving convictions from long ago who are hardly criminals.

"What about a person who was 21 years old, convicted in 1979, and here we are in 2011, he's now in his 50s, has a family and hasn't had any law enforcement contact, and he gets deported. Is that what we want?" said Bill Flores, a local activist and former assistant sheriff for San Diego County. "It ruins lives unnecessarily."

When Salvador Santoyo Juarez, 61, was pulled over last month for a having tinted windows in his car, an immigration check revealed that he had convictions for child molestation, drug transportation and drunk driving — all more than 20 years old.

To his family, the grandfather of eight was hardly a threat to the community, spending most of his days resting his injured hip in front of the television. His wife, Carmen, 54, said his deportation would tear the family apart. "There are so many bad people, and they focus on the one who does nothing," she said. "How sad."

But police and federal agents said Santoyo is just the kind of person Joint Effort was designed to snare. Maher, the police chief, said he hopes the word gets out so illegal immigrants with criminal records who are considering a return to the U.S. will think twice about it.

"Maybe at some point that criminal alien will say, 'You know what, I'm going back to America, but I'm not going back to Escondido, because they have this program,' " Maher said.

richard.marosi@latimes.com

Improved economy has many Latinos returning to Mexico

REBECCA HUVAL
Napa Valley Register
January 19, 2011

Marbin Escalante, 26, and Olman Martínez, 32, both of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, sit together for a dinner of beans and tortillas on a recent night at the Calistoga Farmworker Housing Center.

The workers reminisced about their recent holiday spent at home and the family and friends they left behind. They estimate about 20 regulars at the Calistoga center from Mexico don’t plan to return to the Napa Valley this year.

“They spent some time here and they haven’t come back,” Escalante said. “They have their family, or they stayed to get married. Some don’t have papers and returning is very difficult.”

Seasonal workers from Mexico have more reason to stay home this year as the Mexican economy improves. While Napa and the rest of the U.S. struggle to add jobs and jolt the economy back to pre-recession levels, Mexico created 730,348 jobs in 2010, the highest number in 14 years, Mexican officials announced this month.

At the same time, a record number of people were deported from the U.S. in 2010.

Some friends who usually make the trip back to Napa Valley vineyards for pruning season have stayed home, the diners at the Calistoga Farmworker Housing Center said.

Daniel Alvarez-Garcia, 19, of Mexico City, mentioned two friends who will stay in Mexico this year to work as a taxi driver and a florist instead of making the trek to Calistoga.

They’ll stay in Mexico “not so much because the economy is good, but because rent and food is so expensive here,” he said.

Despite the high cost of living in Calistoga, Garcia plans to send $800 a month home to his family in El Centro, the central neighborhood of Mexico City.

The employment outlook in Mexico might not be as rosy as the job-creation number suggests. The manufacturing, service and commerce sectors in Mexico were the top creators of jobs in 2010, but the average salary for those new jobs was only $19.29 (232 pesos) a day.

Many seasonal workers at the Calistoga Farmworker Housing Center plan to keep sending money to families south of the border, they said.

Unemployment in Mexico persists. It fell slightly to 5 percent at the end of 2010 from a peak of 6.4 percent in September 2009, according to the Mexican government.

By comparison, Napa County’s unemployment rate was 10 percent in November, the most recent number released by state officials.

While it’s difficult to understand the full impact of an improved Mexican economy on Napa County, it does have the power to stimulate business locally, said Lisa Batto, CEO of the Napa Chamber of Commerce.

“Because we are 45 percent Latino, that has ramifications for Napa,” Batto said. “Our economy can grow.”

Often, workers who came to Napa yearly for jobs are now staying in Mexico due to the danger of border crossing or because they were deported, local immigration experts said.

The U.S. reported a record number of deportations — 392,862 — in the 2010 fiscal year, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Immigration officials attribute this increase to Secure Communities, the program in U.S. jails that enforces the checking of fingerprints against immigration records with every inmate booked. Secure Communities was implemented in Napa County Jail last August.

As a result, the largest increase in U.S. deportations was among convicted criminals. There was a 46.6 percent increase in convicted criminals deported from the U.S. to Mexico from fiscal year 2009 to 2010, according to ICE data.

Out of the San Francisco ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Office, which is also responsible for Napa County, the overall number of deported criminals increased slightly to 9,684 and non-criminal deportations decreased slightly to 6,055 in 2010.

Once deported, the newly repatriated “don’t have any other option than to start their own business,” said Teresa Foster, an immigration consultant in Napa. “A lot of them say, ‘Okay, I’m here, let’s face the fact that my family needs to eat.’ In Mexico, “The job situation is hard, so a lot of times they have to create their own jobs.”

Others have created jobs in Mexico deliberately.

Angel Calderon manages the River Ranch Farmworker Camp in St. Helena and also manages a factory in his hometown Timbinal in the state of Guanajuato, where he employs about 70 workers in the 600-population town.

In addition to producing robes, towels and baby clothes since 1999, the workers have recently started learning design, sales and marketing during work hours to increase their opportunities for advancement.

“You turned around in my community, and you wouldn’t have seen a place to work,” Calderon said. “They were pretty hopeless.”

Even still, many poor states in Mexico have bleak employment prospects, he said. But the lackluster job situation in the U.S. doesn’t always have the same draw it once did.

“To cross the border illegally right now is very dangerous, very expensive and it’s not worth it,” Calderon said.

http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_40cd43ec-23a3-11e0-98e5-001cc4c002e0.html

Advocates Say Immigration Holds Result in Deportation, Even for Minor Charges Like Driving Without License

Pushing for a new ordinance that would bar local law enforcement from assisting immigration authorities in any way
By Karina Ioffee
Petaluma Patch
January 11, 2011

Half of all people arrested by federal immigration authorities in Sonoma County in the past two years were never convicted of any crime, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) statistics obtained by Patch.

Out of more than 500 people arrested or booked into ICE custody from October 2008 through September 2010, 286 were labeled non-criminal, despite being apprehended under ICE's Secure Communities program, a new effort aimed at rooting out violent criminal aliens.

Additionally, 50 percent of the people deported in the same time period from Sonoma County had no criminal charges against them, the documents show.

Immigrant advocates point to the numbers as evidence that Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office deputies are cooperating with federal immigration authorities to stop, question, detain and eventually deport undocumented immigrants whose only crime is being in the U.S. illegally.

California law bars local police agencies from cooperating with federal immigration officials in apprehending illegals, unless a person has committed a crime.

Many undocumented people--typically Latinos--wind up in detention after being stopped during routine traffic stops, such as when someone is pulled over for a broken taillight or for failing to stop at a red light, explains Richard Coshnear, a Santa Rosa immigration attorney who has represented many Latino immigrants.

During a stop, if a deputy suspects that a driver may be illegal or if the person is not able to present a driver's license, he can enter the person's name into the Secure Communities database. This cross references information from the Department of Justice with immigration records. If there is no match, the person is assumed to be illegal and apprehended.

This is what happened to 30-year-old Gloria Lopez Gutierrez who was deported in 2009 after being arrested for driving without a license. Lopez Gutierrez’s church friends gathered enough money to post her bail, but the woman was still kept behind bars because an ICE hold had been placed on her, according to Coshnear.

“People are kept in jail for an extra day or two until ICE comes around and apprehends them," he said. "The Sheriff’s Department assists ICE in ways in which it is not mandated to do so."

The Sheriff’s Office denies the allegation.

“I challenge anyone who says this to show us proof,” said Matt McCaffrey, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office. “Time and time again, we find there is a reason people are picked up—whether it’s on an outstanding warrant or something else.”

In light of the alleged problem, one group is pushing for an ordinance to prevent county funds from being used to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants, while continuing to assist with the removal of aliens convicted of serious felonies.

The so-called "family unity ordinance" is being spearheaded by the Committee for Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County, an advocacy group that wants to put the issue before the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors "as soon as possible."

Several supervisors who could be reached for comment refused to speculate on an ordinance that is not yet on the agenda. But there is evidence that they are not eager to jump into the debate, deferring to state and federal jurisdiction. However, as the last election indicated, "sanctuary" or at least the extent to which local law enforcement cooperates with immigration agents, is an issue on the minds of many voters.

Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has repeatedly said that it "does not care about immigration status" and just wants to "solve crimes and protect the community."

However, Sheriff's deputies and ICE agents do occasionally work together, such as when ICE accompanies the department's Gang Enforcement unit to locate known gang members who are undocumented, McCaffrey said.

"They come to us because our guys have pretty good knowledge of where these gang members can be found and will work with us to track those individuals down," he said. "We don't assist them or keep them from making arrests. They are peace officers and can enforce the law."

Federal immigration agents also have a steady presence at the Sonoma County Jail, coming by at least twice a week.

Critics allege many innocent people — usually young Latino males — are apprehended during the course of gang suppression operations by the sheriff's office. Many of these operations focus on heavily Latino communities — where gang problems do exist — and result in racial profiling by officers who question men with shaved heads and tattoos.

"What we've got is a dragnet that's catching young Latino males whether they've committed any crime or not, and setting them up for deportation," Coshnear said.

The sheriff's office vehemently denies the allegation.

"We don't make a stop because we think someone is an illegal alien and we don't engage in racial profiling," McCaffrey said.

The Sheriff's Office says the high number of people who are arrested but never convicted is due to immigration raids.

"After all, you have to ask yourself, 'What is ICE's job?" McCaffrey said.

But Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that it does not conduct raids in Sonoma County, but instead focuses on "targeted enforcement," whose number one priority is rooting out criminals, said spokeswoman Lori Haley.

"We are looking at convicted criminal aliens who have been identified for immigration enforcement," Haley said. "Our priority is people who have committed the worst crimes, however we can still take enforcement action against people who are in the country illegally."

Two years ago, the dispute culminated in a lawsuit against Sonoma County filed in 2008 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

One of the plaintiffs is a 23-year-old Latino immigrant named Francisco, who was apprehended by gang detectives while driving in Santa Rosa several years ago.

"The officer ordered me out of the vehicle and asked me if I was a gangster, a Sureno, then if I had any tattoos," said Francisco, who asked that his last name and country of origin not be revealed, pending a lawsuit.

"I told him 'no' about the gangs and 'yes' about the tattoos, and I showed him the tattoo on my shoulder, which says 'Rest in Peace.'" Francisco says it refers to his relationship with a girlfriend.

After Francisco was patted down, he was directed to an ICE agent standing about 15 feet away, he said in a sworn affidavit.

"I knew I didn't want to talk to that ICE officer or answer his questions, but they kept us there and it didn't look like they'd let us leave until I answered his questions."

Francisco was arrested, booked into Sonoma County Jail and then transferred to a detention facility in San Francisco. Heeding his family's advice, Francisco refused to sign anything. Instead, he asked for an immigration judge, who concluded that Francisco had been illegally searched, resulting in charges being dropped.

Many others aren't so lucky and are usually so terrified that they sign a voluntary departure form agreeing to be sent to their home country, Coshnear said.

The Committee for Immigrant Rights of Sonoma County estimates that some 60 families in Sonoma County are affected each month. They don't get a chance to say goodbye to family and friends or collect of any of their belongings before being dropped off at the border, the group claims.

"You get the feeling that in Sonoma County if you are undocumented or you happen to be driving without a license because you can't get one, you have no civil rights," said Mario Funes, 40, a legal immigrant who lives in Rohnert Park and is originally from El Salvador.

Another issue being haggled over in the ACLU lawsuit against the county is immigration holds automatically placed on undocumented immigrants who are detained by law enforcement officials and transported to jail. The ACLU maintains immigration holds on people who have not been charged with a crime are unconstitutional.

"People are sitting in jail, they have no notice of the charges against them and they have no access to a judge," said Julia Harumi Mass, the lead ACLU attorney in the suit against Sonoma County. "There is no probable cause to be holding them and just letting people stew in jail for four days."

The end result is a community terrified--of driving, of going outside, of doing anything that could result in arrest and deportation, advocates say. And even when people need help, they think twice before calling the authorities.

"It is really affecting the trust that Latino people have of the police," Funes said. "People don't want to say anything because they are so afraid."

http://petaluma.patch.com/articles/half-of-those-arrested-and-deported-never-convicted-of-crime#

Felony Immigration Cases Reach Record Levels in Certain Parts of California

Hispanically Speaking News
January 11, 2011

Authorities announced Friday that the number felony prosecutions in the Eastern District of California in fiscal year 2010 for illegal re-entry after deportation hit their highest level in at least 12 years.

In the most recent fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, there were 432 felony re-entry cases filed in the Eastern District involving 432 defendants, a seven percent increase compared to fiscal year 2009. The fiscal year 2009 figure of 404 defendants represented a 48 percent increase over fiscal year 2008, and a nearly 130 percent increase compared to fiscal year 2007. The cases all consisted of prosecutions for illegal re-entry to the United States following a prior deportation.

The previously deported aliens targeted for criminal prosecution were those who had been re-arrested in the Eastern District of California after serving prison time for aggravated felonies committed in the United States. Most defendants convicted of felony re-entry receive sentences of between two to six years.

The Eastern District of California covers 34 counties in the Central Valley and the Sierras, from the Los Angeles County line to the Oregon border. Authorities say the local increase in felony immigration cases stems from greater investigative and prosecutorial resources dedicated to such offenses. Both this year and last year, the U.S. Department of Justice authorized additional resources to bring immigration prosecutions in the Sacramento and Fresno offices.

“The criminal aliens targeted for prosecution by this office are those who pose a genuine public safety threat to our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner. “They are persons who previously had been convicted of serious crimes and then deported, only to return to California and engage in further criminal activity. No matter where one stands in the larger debate over federal immigration laws, there should be little debate over the prosecution of serious criminals who illegally return to California after prior deportations. I commend the diligent work of the agents and prosecutors who have worked so hard to bring these cases over the past year.”

The fiscal year 2010 felony re-entry convictions included an alien with numerous prior state and federal convictions, including robbery, burglary, kidnapping, child molestation and soliciting lewd acts, who had been previously removed from the country five times. Another defendant, with three prior removals, had past convictions for drug trafficking, vehicle theft, lewd and lascivious acts with a child under age 14, and alien smuggling. A third case involved a defendant with eight prior removals who had seven convictions for battery, along with convictions for burglary, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse, and illegal re-entry to the United States.

“These prosecutions send an important message to criminal aliens who believe they can treat deportation as little more than a revolving door,” said Timothy Aitken, the field office director who oversees ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Sacramento. “If you commit crimes in this country, get removed, and come back illegally, we will seek to prosecute you and put you in federal prison. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws. ICE is bringing all of its tools to bear against those who show no regard for those laws.”

The felony re-entry statistics do not include other immigration prosecutions, such as cases involving the production or distribution of counterfeit immigration documents and aliens in possession of firearms. In fiscal year 2010, authorities noted there was also a sharp increase in misdemeanors prosecutions for illegal entry. Many of those prosecutions involved aliens who were apprehended in the vicinity of rural marijuana gardens in the Eastern District of California during law enforcement operations.

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/felony-immigration-cases-reach-record-levels-in-certain-parts-of-california/4242/

Controversial immigration check at Santa Cruz County Jail speeds efficiency

By Stephen Baxter
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Posted: 01/04/2011

SANTA CRUZ — Nearly five months since a controversial fingerprint immigration check started at Santa Cruz County Jail, federal and local authorities say it has accelerated the deportation of illegal immigrants who have serious criminal histories.

The new Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, called Secure Communities, started Aug. 10 in Santa Cruz and has been rolled out to 38 of the state’s 58 counties. It checks jail inmates’ fingerprints against Department of Homeland Security immigration records and FBI criminal records.

County Jail staff used to fax a list of inmates’ names to federal authorities, but they now press the inmates’ fingertips on a machine and send the information to ICE in minutes.

“With this new program, literally some of the holds are coming through within an hour or two of their arrest,” said Jeff Marsh, chief deputy of the County Jail.

Fewer of the short-term inmates with immigration issues and serious criminal histories slip through the cracks and are released, Marsh said.

ICE holds are essentially triggered when an inmate has prior immigration issues and has been arrested for a serious crime, or if the person has a serious criminal history in addition to being an illegal immigrant, said Virginia Kice, an ICE spokeswoman from Laguna Niguel.

The person must have previous contact with the FBI or Homeland Security, Kice said.

Since August, 119 County Jail inmates have been taken into ICE’s custody through Secure Communities, according to the most recent ICE records that ended Nov. 30.

Of those 119 inmates, 43 were deported to their home country, Kice said.

Tuesday, 28 inmates in Santa Cruz County Jail had ICE holds, according to jail records.

Those inmates will be in custody until their case is adjudicated in Santa Cruz, then ICE officials can transport them to an immigration court or a detention facility if the inmate has a criminal record, Kice said.

A match in the ICE system is based on the “totality of a person’s criminal and immigration history,” Kice said.

“In many instances, non-criminal aliens coming into ICE custody have been previously arrested for criminal offenses, though they were never convicted. They also may have been deported before or have outstanding orders of deportation. Other non-criminal cases that would be prioritized for enforcement are aliens with an affiliation to a known street gang or persons who have overstayed their visa,” Kice wrote in an e-mail.

The new system in Santa Cruz has made a difference for inmates who are in custody for public drunkenness and typically stay for four hours, Marsh said. In that time, ICE could match a person and ask for a hold.

Some immigration advocates have balked at that change, worrying that police could racially profile suspects to trigger immigration checks and deportation.

Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend said that has not been the case.

“Secure Communities has nothing to do with Santa Cruz police. It simply doesn’t involve us,” Friend said.

The Santa Cruz police manual also says as much, Friend said.

Suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant is not a legitimate basis for an officer’s first contact with a person, the manual states. To try to protect victims and witnesses of crime who are illegal immigrants, the manual also instructs police not to report them to ICE unless “circumstances indicate that such reporting is reasonably necessary.”

Many Santa Cruz leaders have long supported the city’s so-called Sanctuary City status to protect illegal immigrants against harassment. Members of the City Council spoke out against federal immigration raids in Beach Flats in the early 1980s and against a 2006 raid that netted 107 people in Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Hollister.

Tony Madrigal, a Santa Cruz city councilman who has worked with immigrant issues for years, said residents have raised concerns with Secure Communities since August.

He and people he has spoken to view it as part of a larger issue of communication between immigrants and police, Madrigal said Tuesday.

“When crime has happened in Santa Cruz, (police) have said they can’t do it alone. But everyone in the community needs to feel that there’s that two-way trust. The willingness to cooperate constantly needs to be nurtured. So when something like Secure Communities is considered, there needs to be a conversation with local stakeholders,” Madrigal said.

A community group in Watsonville planned to meet this afternoon to discuss their issues with Secure Communities, Madrigal added.

Marsh, the chief deputy of the jail, said the County Jail had no choice but to implement it.

California leaders signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government to roll out the program throughout the state, Kice said. Santa Cruz was chosen as one of the earlier counties based on its criminal population in the geographical area and the case load that ICE could handle, ICE spokeswoman Kice said.

“Jurisdictions cannot opt out of Secure Communities as it is an information sharing between federal partners,” Kice said.

For more information on ICE or to lodge a complaint of racial profiling, visit www.ice.gov/about/offices/enforcement-removal-operations/secure-communities.

ICE HOLDS

Number Santa Cruz County inmates who are also being held for immigration issues:

Aug. 13, 2010: 26

Jan. 4, 2011: 28

SOURCE: County Jail, Sheriff’s Office

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17010874?source=email&nclick_check=1

ICE Confirms 5 Seized in Raids

By Patric Hedlund
The Mountain Enterprise
December 24, 2010

Officials have confirmed that five people were seized Friday, Dec. 3 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Rumors alleging that 30 people were taken into custody appear to be untrue.

ICE officers with the Fugitive Operations Team based in Bakersfield “arrested five males in the Frazier Park area on December 3,” according to ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice. “The subjects included a Mexican national with an outstanding order of deportation. He was arrested at a residence where officers located two additional Mexican nationals who were also determined to be in the country illegally. One of the two had a prior DUI conviction. All three of these individuals have since been repatriated to Mexico,” she said.

The other subjects taken into custody, according to Kice, include a naturalized French citizen of Lebanese descent who overstayed his visa and a Syrian national who was determined to have entered the country illegally.

“Both of these men have been placed in removal proceedings and remain in ICE custody pending a hearing before an immigration judge,” Kice said.

The two still detained pending hearings are said to be in the Lerdo Corrections Facility. Both were employees of Sam’s Liquor Market in Lebec, friends have confirmed.

A family member said they have an attorney’s assistance and “they are being treated very well.”

In the early morning action that began at 4:30 a.m., the five were taken from Frazier Park and Lebec, according to a call that went through Kern County Sheriff’s dispatch. The Bakersfield ICE office originally told The Mountain Enterprise that the only way to officially confirm the number of people seized from the Mountain Communities would be through a Freedom of Information Act filing in Washington D.C. By Friday, Dec. 17 the ICE offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles began providing factual information.

Meanwhile, rumors were running wild in the affected neighborhoods of the Frazier Mountain Communities.

Rumors that mothers and fathers were seized, leaving children at the El Tejon School are not true, according to Principal Dena Kiouses. She said she is positive that reports circulating in the community of “agents in black uniforms visiting the school to tell children their parents are in custody and that they would be going into foster care” are not true.

“This is a time of year when parents do tend to move, and we sometimes do not know why,” Kiouses said, adding that if children go into foster care the school is typically not notified. One kindergarten-age child enrolled at Frazier Park School is said to have gone back to Mexico with his father.

Parents have reported to The Mountain Enterprise that children and families are fearful of going outside or answering the door.

The popular Lebec man known as “Nathan,” (his last name is not confirmed) who reportedly managed Sam’s Liquor for seven years, had been a frequent donor to children’s sports activities in the Mountain Communities. He is well-known in the region for generosity to families in need, friends say. Some children are said to be confused regarding his disappearance. Children have been reported to have heard the word “visa” was in the newspaper, and told their parents: “Nathan is being deported because he didn’t pay his visa bill.” More than one parent reported this confusion to reporters.

Although The Mountain Enterprise was unable to obtain immediate official confirmation of the facts, two preliminary stories were published on December 10 and 17. Because of the delicacy of personal and legal issues, community sources have been slow to allow their names to be used. The national ICE office spokespersons were also slow to respond. Retired ICE agents and a former immigration judge have been helpful in providing details about ICE procedures.

Joseph Whalen of Buffalo, New York, a retired adjudication officer, who worked making decisions on citizenship, explained that information about a person in ICE custody—and communication with the prisoner— is available only to “an accredited representative, as designated on form G-28, from the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review and signed by the alien.”

Whalen warned that he has seen some people known as “notarios” exploit families with immigration status problems. Sometimes they represent themselves as lawyers (abogados), but they are not,” he said.

Whalen added that the League of United Latin American Citizens (http:// lulac.org) is a resource for Latinos seeking accurate immigrant rights information.

http://mountainenterprise.com/atf.php?sid=7961&current_edition=2010-12-24

Hotel Migrante— Where Deportees Find Shelter

By David Bacon
New America Media
December 22, 2010

MEXICALI, Mexico-- Last year, almost 400,000 people were deported from the United States. That's the largest wave of deportations in U.S. history, even larger than the notorious "Operation Wetback" of the 1950s, or the mass deportations during the Great Depression.

Often the Border Patrol empties buses of deportees at the border gates of cities like Mexicali in the middle of the night, pushing people through at a time when nothing is open, and no services are available to provide them with food or shelter. Most deportees are young people. They had no money in their pockets coming to the United States, and have nothing more as they get deported back to Mexico.

These are invisible people. In the wave of anti-immigrant hysteria gripping the United States, no one asks what happens to the deportees once they're sent back to Mexico.

In Mexicali, a group of deportees and migrant rights activists have taken over an old, abandoned hotel, formerly the Hotel Centenario (the Hundred Year Hotel). They've renamed it the Hotel Migrante, or the Migrant Hotel. Just a block from the border crossing, it gives people deported from the United States a place to sleep and food to eat for a few days before they go home, or try to cross the border again. The government gives it nothing. Border Angels, the U.S.-based immigrant rights group, provides what little support the hotel gets. A cooperative of deportees cooks the food and works on fixing the building.

During the winter, about 50-60 people live there at any given time, while five or six more knock on its doors every night. Last summer, at the peak of the season when people try to cross the border looking for work, the number of deportees seeking shelter at the hotel rose to over 300.

"A lot of people get hurt trying to walk through the mountains around Mexicali," says Benjamin Campista, a cooperative member. "It's very cold there now, and when they get caught and deported, many are just wearing a T-shirt and tennis shoes. Some get sick -- those we take to the hospital. The rest stay here a few days until their family can send them money to get home, or until they decide to try to cross again."

Border Angels and the hotel collective agreed to pay the landlord 11,000 pesos a month in rent (about $900 USD), but they're already six months behind. Every day hotel residents go out to the long lines of people waiting to cross through the garita (the legal border crossing). They ask for money to support the hotel, and each person gets to keep half of what they're given. The other half goes mostly for food for the evening meal. Deportees have plenty of time to explain their situation to people standing in line, since on a recent afternoon the wait to get through the garita was two hours.

Every day Campista hears deportees tell their stories. "Three brothers stayed here last summer, before they tried to cross. A month later one came back. I saw him on the roof, crying as he looked at the mountains where the other two had died from the heat. A woman came here with her two-month-old baby. Her husband had died in the desert too."

"We're human beings!" Campista exclaims. "We're just going north to try to work. Why should we die for this? Our governments should end these violations of human rights. Then our hotel wouldn't even be necessary."

http://newamericamedia.org/2010/12/the-migrant-hotel---where-deportees-find-shelter.php