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In the face of a U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration in the waters between Cuba and Florida, Mexican authorities have reported a surge in detentions of Cubans as quick-moving smugglers shift their routes westward.
Under a 1995 proviso of U.S. immigration law known as the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans who reach U.S. territory are entitled to legal residency. With the Florida Straits under the gun, much of the traffic has been rerouted to bring migrants to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and then guide them overland to the U.S. border -- where they are detained on illegal entry charges for just a few days, writes the L.A. Times' Carol J. Williams.
Read more about Cuban migrants in Mexico here.
For more posts on Cuba click here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Cubans are brought ashore by Mexican forces in Cancun in June after they were found in makeshift boats. Many pay smugglers as much as $15,000 in an attempt to reach the U.S.; credit: Israel Leal / Associated Press.
After sunset Sunday, an immigrant couple who crossed into the United States illegally over a year ago set out down Hollywood Boulevard on foot, headed from work to their nearby apartment.
As they walked hand in hand, a former Marine steered his car onto the boulevard. Sergio Delgado, 29, was allegedly fleeing police who had tried to stop him for reckless driving.
Cecilia Diaz Vasquez, 32, and Pedro Davila, 40, stepped into the crosswalk at Wilcox Avenue about 8:45 p.m. just as Delgado allegedly ran a red light.
In a moment, the couple were dead. It took hours for officials to identify the bodies, and in the days that followed, details have emerged about them and the man charged with killing them.
Read more about Pedro Cordova and Cecilia Vasquez here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Photo: Felix Vasquez remembers his younger sister Cecilia Diaz Vasquez, who was killed along with her longtime companion, Pedro Davila, while crossing Hollywood Boulevard on Sunday. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
City officials in Escondido, Calif., refuse to give up, and their approach is an example of how authorities are using the method of "attrition": making life as difficult as possible for undocumented immigrants in the hope that they'll self-deport back home.
Two years ago, the city passed an ordinance to punish landlords for renting to illegal immigrants. But it rescinded the rental restriction after a legal challenge was filed and bills began to mount.
Now Escondido is trying a new approach to combat what it calls the "public nuisances" of illegal immigration, citing residents for code violations such as garage conversions, graffiti and junk cars.
The city is also debating a new ordinance that would restrict overnight street parking without a permit. In addition, it is drafting a policy that would prohibit drivers from picking up day laborers along some streets.
"We learned from the rental ordinance," Councilman Sam Abed said. "We changed our focus to quality-of-life issues."
Read the report by Anna Gorman of the L.A. Times here...
Photo: In their home office in Escondido, Jack Bennett wipes his face in a gesture of frustration as wife Tisha explains their feelings about illegal immigrants, whom they say are overcrowding schools, creating parking problems and generally degrading the city. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
John McCain, angling to win a bigger share of the fast-growing Latino vote, is taking the risky step of placing an immigration overhaul at the center of his appeal, write the Times' Peter Wallsten and Maeve Reston from Washington.
The presumed Republican presidential nominee, who trails Barack Obama among Latinos and was recently in Mexico City and Colombia, had been focused on assuring conservatives that securing the U.S. border with Mexico would be his top immigration priority.
But McCain has adopted a message that gives equal weight to helping employers and immigrant workers and their families. That suggests that as president he would back the kind of legislation that has roiled many in his party -- most notably, a legalization plan for undocumented workers.
Read on...
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles
Los Angeles police officials announced Tuesday that 17 officers and two sergeants from the department's elite Metropolitan Division should be punished for their roles in last year's May Day melee in MacArthur Park which left scores of people injured.
The pending discipline revolves "mostly around force issues," LAPD Cmdr. Rick Webb told the civilian Police Commission at its weekly meeting. The department's misconduct findings come after more than a year of investigative work, which included the review of hundreds of hours of videotapes showing officers swinging batons and firing foam rubber bullets at journalists and immigrant rights protesters, officials said.
-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles 
San Bernardino County officials vowed Thursday not to become a dumping ground for San Francisco criminals, saying they may sue the Northern California city for exporting juvenile offenders to San Bernardino-area group homes. The development comes after a scandal mounted this week over San Francisco's policy for dealing with undocumented, juvenile criminal offenders.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is having to handle the fallout caused by the escape of eight young undocumented drug dealers from unguarded facilities in San Bernardino County as he prepares to run for governor. "San Francisco has a legal and moral obligation to notify us, and they didn't," said Michelle Scray, assistant chief probation officer for San Bernardino County. "We have requested a list from San Francisco of any other offenders placed in our county. They assured us they would not be sending any more."
For years, San Francisco, a sanctuary city since 1989, has been shielding juvenile offenders from federal authorities, either escorting them to their home countries at city expense or transporting them to group homes, including locations in San Bernardino County.
Mayor Gavin Newsom reversed the policy Wednesday saying minors in the country illegally who commit crimes will be turned over to immigration authorities.
Read the full report here...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has his work cut out for him: As he positions himself to run for governor, he has to handle the fallout caused by the escape of eight young undocumented drug dealers from unguarded facilities in San Bernardino County.
The youths are from Honduras and were convicted in San Francisco which, as we reported yesterday, is changing its policy on deporting undocumented juvenile offenders. "On Wednesday, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) demanded that San Francisco officials turn over all convicted illegal immigrant drug dealers to federal authorities instead of shipping them 'out to San Bernardino County, where they can escape and victimize the neighborhoods in my district.' "
"In a strongly worded statement, Newsom said Wednesday that he has directed his administration 'to work in cooperation with the federal government on all felony cases. And I urge the district attorney, the public defender and the courts to do the same.' "
On top of that, Newsom must persuade Californians that he is more than just the mayor of a famously liberal city, the man who ushered in same-sex marriage, reports the L.A. Times' Maria L. LaGanga.
Read on...
Update, July 3, 10:50 a.m. PST: The Los Angeles Times' David Kelly is reporting that furious San Bernardino County officials will announce new measures to prevent "any future shipments" to the county of convicted juvenile offenders who are illegal immigrants.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City and Reed Johnson in Los Angeles
An internal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general into the deaths of immigrants detained by the government has recommended better access to medical care, stronger oversight and general improvements in detention standards, reports Nicole Gaouette of the Los Angeles Times from Washington.
But investigators in the limited probe commended officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that oversees immigrant detentions, for adhering to standards they are supposed to follow after detainees have died.
Critics said that although the report's recommendations mirrored their concerns about detainee care, the narrow scope of the inquiry reinforced how little information Homeland Security provides about detainees and the overall lack of accountability for their care.
The deaths of legal and illegal immigrants in detention have drawn widespread attention in the last year, resulting in lawsuits, investigative reports, the attention of a special United Nations investigator and two bills in Congress. This Washington Post series took a close look at the state of immigrant detention.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
 Barack Obama and John McCain went head to head this past weekend in front of Latino officials at a conference of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) on the issue of immigration reported here and here on La Plaza.
Writing in Opinion today, Alberto R. Gonzales, former attorney general of the United States, has his say on what Latinos want from their next president.
"Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has reignited an examination of race relations in America. It has led some to question how deep the divide is between black and white Americans. From my perspective, the question ignores the reality of our diverse society. We must also consider the divide between the majority from another group, one that I happen to belong to: Latinos," Gonzales writes. "I have said often that Latinos share a common prayer: 'Just give me a chance to succeed.' I believe that the candidate who will win Latino votes is the one who understands that desire and who will engage the issue of racial equality for Americans of all colors. It's politically wise. More important, it is the right thing to do for our nation."
In June, a Gallup Poll summary of surveys taken in May showed Obama winning 62% of Latino registered voters nationwide, compared with just 29% for McCain, according to this report in The Times by Peter Wallsten.
Read the whole Opinion piece here ... and leave your own thoughts.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times
 California's best-known sanctuary city -- a haven for illegal immigrants -- has been escorting convicted juvenile offenders back to their home countries at city expense for nearly a generation and shielding them from federal officials in the process.
The city's sanctuary city ordinance, enacted in 1989, requires that the city turn over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement adult illegal immigrants with felony records or those who have been accused of felonies. But the ordinance is murkier on the subject of juvenile offenders. See here for a report from last year on the controversial issue of sanctuary cities.
However, after several recent embarrassing incidents in the area, this famously liberal enclave has been forced to reconsider how it deals with young undocumented criminals.
Maria L. LaGanga, David Kelly and Anna Gorman of the L.A. Times have the details.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times
Joe Horn, who shot two men he suspected had burgled his neighbor's house in Pasadena, Texas, was cleared by a grand jury on Monday, writes the L.A. Times' Miguel Bustillo.
The two men, Diego Ortiz, 30, and Hernando Riascos Torres, 38, were illegal immigrants from Colombia, and the case has stirred a national debate over whether Horn was a vigilante or a hero. "The incident in Pasadena, a city of about 140,000 east of downtown Houston, outraged some activists, who staged protests in the neighborhood.
"They argued that if Horn -- who was not arrested -- were not white and his victims not dark-skinned, he would have been taken to jail immediately."
Read the full report here...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Even as Republican presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wooed Latino officials at a conference Saturday, Democrats were gunning for him on the issue of immigration. McCain stressed his commitment to comprehensive immigration reform -- and enforcement -- at a conference of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), covered by Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Simon.
On the same day, Democrats released a video called McCain vs. McCain: Immigration Reform that purports to show McCain flip-flopping on whether enforcement should come first, or whether Congress should try for broad reform that gives some legal status to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S. First, McCain tells the NALEO members that enforcement must come first, then he is shown saying comprehensive reform will be his "top priority yesterday, today, and tomorrow." The short video finishes with a clip of McCain from a January 2008 presidential debate saying that now he wouldn't vote for the comprehensive immigration bill he helped write in 2006. Karen Finney, communications director of the Democratic National Committee, which made and distributed the video, said: "Apparently, Senator McCain's idea of 'straight talk' means giving two different answers to a straightforward question."
The McCain camp, not to be outdone, countered with a three-page memo alleging that Obama supported "poison pill" amendments designed to kill the immigration reform bill in 2007. "While John McCain was reaching across the aisle to solve the tough problem of immigration reform, Barack Obama was working for politics as usual in Washington," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.
--Nicole Gaouette in Washington
What happens when immigration law and family law conflict? When a parent is here illegally, does a federal deportation order automatically trump a state custody order? Should child custody issues be considered in immigration cases? Anna Gorman of the Los Angeles Times asks those questions in this report about a custody case for a boy, Michael Campo, involving a father who is an illegal immigrant. On Friday nights, Michael Campo throws his clothes and homework into his backpack and waits at his mom's Long Beach apartment for the phone to ring. When it does, 10-year-old Michael runs downstairs and jumps into his dad's car.
Thus begins the weekly ritual familiar to millions of American children in split families who bounce back and forth between mother and father.
But Michael's situation has an added wrinkle that threatens to derail the custody agreement and his weekends with Dad: Carlos Alvarado is an illegal immigrant involved in deportation proceedings.
Read on...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Carlos Alvarado plays basketball with his son, Michael. He and the boy’s mother have joint legal custody. Credit: Stefano Paltera / For The Times.
San Francisco juvenile probation officials -- citing the city's immigrant sanctuary status -- are protecting Honduran youths caught dealing crack cocaine from possible federal deportation and have given some offenders a city-paid flight home with carte blanche to return, reports the San Francisco Chronicle today. The paper reports: Barred by state law from sending drug offenders to the California Youth Authority and bound by a 1989 city law defining San Francisco as a sanctuary city for immigrants -- meaning officials do not cooperate with federal immigration investigations -- juvenile officials settled on an unorthodox strategy.
Rather than have the drug offenders deported, they have recommended that Juvenile Court judges and commissioners approve city-paid flights home to Honduras for the offenders with the aim of reuniting them with their families.
The practice, federal authorities say, does nothing to prevent offenders from coming back, while federal deportation legally bars them from ever returning. Federal officials also say U.S. law prohibits helping an illegal immigrant to cross the border, even if it is to return home.
Read the report here...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Courting the increasingly influential Latino vote, the rival presidential candidates each pledged Saturday to make overhauling the nation's immigration policies a top priority, writes Richard Simon.
In separate appearances before the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain looked for every possible way to connect with their audience and emphasize distinctions between themselves.
Both political camps are working hard for the Latino vote. A projected 9.3 million Latinos will go to the polls this year, up from 7.6 million in 2004 and 2.5 million in 1980, according to the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at USC. In California, more than 2.6 million Latinos will cast votes this year, up from about 2.1 million in 2004, the institute projects.
On the central question of providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, Obama accused McCain of shifting positions to suit his audience.
"When he was running for his party's nomination, he walked away from that commitment," Obama said. "He said that he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote."
Read on...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: REACHING OUT: Barack Obama after addressing Latino leaders. He and John McCain each told the group that border security must be part of the solution. Melissa Golden / Getty Images
The Senate Democratic leader, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, blasted President Bush and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday for failing to get immigration reform through Congress in 2007. Reid was speaking at the annual conference of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
The 6,000-member organization is holding its four-day conference in Washington, D.C., and has drawn major political speakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), McCain, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
The Latino community's political and policy leaders are discussing issues such as education, the growing economic crisis and the emerging clout of Latino voters in U.S. politics — one reason, no doubt, why so many political heavy hitters came to pay their respects.
Reid used his address to target McCain on immigration. "Unfortunately, despite President Bush and Sen. McCain’s proclamations of support, neither one showed the leadership or expended the political capital necessary to actually get [2007 immigration reform] done," Reid said. "Sen. McCain has gone so far as to announce in the Republican debates that he would vote against his own bill. His new position on immigration is so divisive and wrongheaded that it has won him the endorsement of Tom Tancredo."
— Nicole Gaouette in Washington
 A judge Wednesday threw out a lawsuit filed by a Los Angeles resident who wanted to repeal the long-standing LAPD Special Order 40 that restricts when police officers may ask people about their immigration status.
The spotlight fell on Special Order 40 after the murder of Jamiel Shaw II. He was allegedly gunned down by a reputed gang member who was in the country illegally. The suspect, Pedro Espinoza, had been released from jail the day before the slaying. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu, granting a motion from the city and the American Civil Liberties Union, said Harold Sturgeon had failed to prove that Special Order 40 was in conflict with federal and state laws that dictate the flow of information between local and federal agencies regarding people's immigration status.
Check the comments on this story here.
Here's a Los Angeles Times editorial from April which says Special Order 40 had nothing to do with the slaying of Shaw, Opinion L.A on the issue and a La Plaza post containing a plethora of links around the Order.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Photo: Ex- L.A. Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, left, of Teach Compton was among those at a City Hall rally where elected officials were urged to fund gang intervention efforts, expand job opportunities and maintain Special Order 40. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times
That it takes an act of Congress to streamline the citizenship process for immigrants willing to fight for this country is "more than a travesty; it is a crime against American history," says this Los Angeles Times editorial.
The piece urges the signing of the Kendell Frederick Act, named after Army Spc. Kendell K. Frederick, who was from Trinidad but serving in the U.S Army in Iraq. He was killed when a roadside bomb hit his convoy in Tikrit as he was returning from a U.S Embassy outpost in Iraq to submit fingerprints -- which the military already had -- for his citizen application.
Read the editorial here...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
USA Today has a story today about United States citizens who are suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nitin Dhopade, 47, says in the article that he and 30 other administrative workers for a Van Nuys, Calif., company were marched down a stairwell lined by officers. The workers were ordered against a wall and told not to touch anything or use their cellphones. "There was no way you could leave. You were definitely detained," he says. "None of us were in handcuffs, but there was no way you could say 'I'm leaving.' "
"That marked the beginning of a surprise raid that would result in the arrests of 138 suspected illegal immigrants, about one-fifth of MSE's workforce. Also swept up in the same raid were more than 100 U.S. citizens and legal residents, including Dhopade, a naturalized U.S. citizen from India. They say they were illegally detained at the factory for an hour when ICE agents blocked the doors and interrogated them, forbidding them to leave or go to the bathroom without an escort."
Read the full report here...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico city
An upcoming deadline of July 15, when the remaining National Guard personnel on the U.S- Mexico border are due to be withdrawn, has raised fears that without them the increased drug violence in the border area could spill into the United States. "When the Guard was posted along the frontier in 2006 to help the strapped Border Patrol, critics warned that sending soldiers would be an insult to Mexico and that innocents could get shot by troops trained for combat, not law enforcement."
"Now those worries have given way to fears that without the Guard's help, a bloody drug cartel war on the Mexican side will spill into the U.S. and overwhelm the Border Patrol." Dallas Morning News
Read on...
Meanwhile, conflict between Mexico's drug cartels and law enforcement agencies continues. The Associated Press is reporting that Mexican soldiers captured at least 10 suspected members of a Tijuana-based drug cartel in a raid on a child's baptism party in the border city.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Both John McCain and Barack Obama hold positions on immigration that are abhorrent to anti-immigration groups, writes The Times' Nicole Gaouette from Washington.
"Although heavily supported and highly organized, those who oppose illegal immigration suddenly find themselves without a champion," she writes.
Obama and McCain are seen as generally indistinguishable on the issue. McCain, though toughening his stance recently, has backed proposals providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Obama favors a similar mix of enforcement and legalization.
Read on »
The Ellis Island immigration center was shut down decades ago. But there's a new stop in New York for immigrants yearning to assimilate to their adopted home.
 The Queens Library branch in Flushing, N.Y., sits at the intersection of five avenues amid an array of Afghan, Indian, Korean and Vietnamese businesses in this busy borough downtown.
It's an appropriate spot for a library whose clientele is overwhelmingly made up of immigrants from Asia and whose purpose is the intersection of conventional book and information services and help for the newly arrived, writes the L.A. Times' Louise Roug.
Read on...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
In May, it was immigrants marching for immigration reform. This weekend, about 50 protesters marched in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to decry violence by illegal immigrants and to demand that the Los Angeles Police Department change its controversial policy, Special Order 40, limiting when someone can be questioned about their immigration status, writes the L.A. Times' Anna Gorman.
The marchers, including anti-illegal-immigration Minutemen and local community activists, also called for justice for Jamiel Shaw II, 17, a black athlete who was shot and killed in March by an alleged gang member who authorities say was in the country illegally.
Photo: Dozens of protesters, including anti-illegal-immigration Minutemen and community activists, march along Broadway in downtown L.A. to decry violence by illegal immigrants and to demand that the Los Angeles Police Department change its controversial policy limiting when someone can be questioned about their immigration status. Credit: Benajamin Reed, Los Angeles Times
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
"The inmates sit on a metal bench in a converted cell at a Los Angeles County jail. Many have served their time and are ready for release. But not before a quick interview," reports the L.A. Times' Anna Gorman.
"Where were you born? Have you ever been deported? Did you know that a judge had ordered you to leave the country?"
"Sheriff's officials, who have been trained by federal authorities to screen for illegal immigrants at the jail, have interviewed nearly 20,000 inmates since the controversial program began more than two years ago. They have referred 10,840 people to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible deportation."
Read on »
" It was meant to be a magazine for 'your city' -- Tu Ciudad. But in the end, the glossy lifestyle publication aimed at affluent, assimilated Latinos failed to find a home in the region's turbulent media landscape," writes Augustin Gurza of the L.A. Times.
"After more than three years serving as a guide for the city's best mojitos, taco stands and cultural trendsetters, Tu Ciudad magazine abruptly shut down this week. The bimonthly leaves behind a stunned staff of eight, thousands of disappointed readers and millions in losses for Indianapolis-based parent company Emmis Communications, which also publishes Los Angeles magazine."
Read on »
Mexican officials said this morning that at least 18 Cubans have reached Texas more than a week after masked gunmen hijacked a bus in southern Mexico and seized them, reports the Associated Press.
The Cubans were snatched on June 11 when their bus was hijacked by six men armed with assault rifles. The attackers forced unarmed immigration officials off the bus before fleeing with the undocumented migrants, who were being taken to a detention center.
The incident highlights the vulnerability of undocumented migrants in Mexico and has also brought into the spotlight, not for the first time, the possible involvement of Mexican immigration officials in their exploitation. The event has prompted the Mexican government to launch an investigation into its immigration personnel, reports the Houston Chronicle.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today that it will permanently shutter its field office in Tijuana, Mexico. Officials for the agency, part of the Homeland Security department, said the office is being closed as part of a larger effort to trim overseas costs and because the Tijuana office did not have “much of a workload.” The office will close on July 3, 2008. “Applicants should not be adversely affected by the office closures,” said Chris Rhatigan, an agency spokesman.
Rhatigan said the Tijuana office and another in Hong Kong are being closed as part of a broader Homeland Security evaluation of its overseas offices. Citizenship and Immigration Services has district offices in Rome, Mexico City and Bangkok that oversee 31 overseas field offices. Officials looked at activity levels in each one, examining current migration patterns, fraud trends, adoptions, where U.S. military are stationed, national security priorities, projected immigration workload and “fiscal sensibility.”
Homeland Security is coordinating with the State Department on handling case files from Hong Kong and Tijuana once those offices are closed. People with applications pending in the Tijuana office should soon get notice that the files are being transfered to either the Mexico City district office of the Ciudad Juarez field office.
--Nicole Gaouette in Washington
The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last year, with increases so dramatic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half of the nation's federal criminal caseload, writes Nicole Gaouette from Washington.
In the widening crackdown, administration officials prosecuted 9,350 illegal immigrants on federal criminal charges in March, up from 3,746 a year ago and an all-time high, according to statistics released Tuesday. Those convicted have received jail sentences averaging about one month.
Read on...
See Nicole's blog post on the issue yesterday, with comments, here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
The Department of Homeland Security has dramatically ratcheted up its arrests of individuals along the U.S.-Mexico border for various immigration crimes, according to statistics released today by Syracuse University. Immigration prosecutions hit an all-time high in March 2008, with 9,350 defendants charged. The number of March arrests is up 50% from April and up a whopping 73% from 2007. The prosecutions are part of a Homeland Security and Justice Department program called "Operation Streamline." Under the program, illegal immigrants caught along the U.S.-Mexico border are prosecuted on federal criminal charges that require jail time. The average sentence is one month.
In early June, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the program was yielding "striking" results. "Once they get prosecuted, they stop trying to come in again," Chertoff said, adding that officials have also seen "a reduction in smuggling -- in smuggling organizations and illegal entries in the relevant urban areas." The top three charges in March were: "reentry of deported alien," "bringing in and harboring certain aliens," and "entry of alien at improper time or place, etc." The Syracuse data found that five federal judicial districts along the border dominated when it came to immigration prosecutions. The Southern District of Texas, around Houston, was the most active with 488 prosecutions in March. Texas' Western District court, around San Antonio, was second and the Southern District of California, around San Diego, was third.
"Operation Streamline" began as a pilot project around Del Rio, Texas, in December 2005. It was expanded to Yuma, Ariz., in December 2006 and Laredo, Texas, in October 2007. On June 9, Chertoff said the administration would commit more resources to the program with hiring of an additional 64 prosecutors and 35 support staff. The program, he said, "has a very significant deterrent impact."
--Nicole Gaouette in Washington
The Supreme Court made it easier Monday for some foreigners who overstay their visas to seek to remain in the United States legally, the Associated Press is reporting.
"The court ruled 5-4 Monday that someone who is here illegally may withdraw his voluntarily agreement to depart and continue to try to get approval to remain in the United States.
The decision essentially embraced a proposed Justice Department regulation governing the treatment of similar cases in the future," says the report.
As Opinion L.A. explains:
"Prominent immigrants' rights lawyers and advocates filed in favor (pdf) of the man at the center of this case, Nigerian Samson Dada, who overstayed a tourist visa and married an American, but couldn't get a visa as a citizen's spouse. That story probably won't win sympathy with those inclined to be tough on illegal immigration."
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
While law enforcement officials in Arizona are showcasing their efforts at tackling problems related to immigration, religious leaders in the state are calling on lawmakers to turn the immigration debate into a "more compassionate one."
"Another Arizona law-enforcement agency is joining the
growing ranks of those touting their efforts at tackling problems
arising from illegal immigration. The Department of Public Safety on
Monday released statistics that showed officers of a specialized unit
have discovered 40 drophouses since the unit started investigations six
months ago, arresting 99 suspected human smugglers and nearly 500
suspected illegal immigrants in the process," writes the Arizona Republic today.
Meanwhile, Kold News
is reporting that despite these reported success levels, Gary Kinnaman
of Word of Grace Church in Mesa, Arizona said, "We have a huge problem
and it's not going away, and it's becoming more and more complex, and
it's the responsibility of our civic leaders to reconsider how those
laws are written." "The group does not have a
specific plan to address illegal immigration, but they do support a
path to citizenship for the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants," says the report.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
CNN host Lou Dobbs may be denying plans to run for public office, but his opponents aren't taking his word for it. The immigrant advocacy group America's Voice has launched a website to "tell the truth" about Dobbs, who takes a blisteringly hard line on illegal immigration in his show.
Dobbs, who owns a 300-acre horse farm in New Jersey, denied Friday that he plans to run for governor of that state. "I'm not considering anything right now in terms of running for governor and that's where I am," Dobbs said in a voice mail message to a New Jersey newspaper. America's Voice went ahead anyway and launched the site, where it imagines a Dobbs-like platform.
Some sample campaign positions: 1. Build a Fence Around New Jersey; 2. Build like the biggest fence ever built around New Jersey; 5. Deport the Statue of Liberty back to France. Visitors to the site can submit their ideas -- in English only -- for a Dobbs campaign slogan contest. The winner will be printed on T-shirts that activists around the country will be able to buy online. The point, says America's Voice in this press release, is to shed light on "Dobbs and pundits like him, who think they can stir-up waves of anti-immigrant hysteria and ride them all the way to the statehouse, the White House or the Governor's mansion."
Then America's Voice gets really mean. "Though the quality of CNN's programming would improve by default, the citizens of New Jersey deserve a governor that deals in facts," the group's director, Frank Sharry, said in a statement. "Let's hope he remains as far away from the Governor's mansion as he does from good journalism."
No comment yet from Dobbs, who has complained often on his show of being targeted by "ethnocentric special interests."
Photo credit: Al Seib, Los Angeles Times
--Nicole Gaouette in Washington
 The current heated debate in the United States surrounding guest-worker programs has focused on Latin Americans. But an incident this week involving a group of migrant workers from India could have repercussions for other short-term, non-farm guest workers.
"On Wednesday, a dozen workers from India ended a four-week hunger strike that was meant to highlight their allegations that a guest worker program is abusing foreign laborers and shutting Americans out of decent jobs," writes The Times' Nicole Gaouette from Washington, D.C.
"The workers had camped out in a tiny park across from the Indian Embassy in the shadow of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. They came to the U.S. to work in a Mississippi shipyard, lured by assurances of permanent residency. Instead, they said, they ended up in substandard living conditions, with reduced wages and promises of a green card that never came."
Photo credit: DC Indymedia
Read on »
In a blistering attack, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) took to the Senate floor to excoriate Homeland Security for aggressive immigration raids that have rocked the U.S. in the last year.
In his speech, Menendez blasted the agency for violating basic constitutional rights and for the way its agents "harass U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent." Menendez highlighted Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in which officers have shackled, handcuffed and even deported U.S. citizens "targeted because of their race, targeted because of their color. Denied every fundamental right guaranteed by the United States Constitution."
He cited a 19-year-old Texan dragged by ICE agents from her home in her pajamas and a mentally impaired Southern Californian named Pedro Guzman who was deported to Mexico and repeatedly turned away when he tried to cross the border to come home. "Together we need to face a blunt reality: Our legitimate desire to get control over our borders has too often turned into a witch hunt against Hispanic Americans and other people of color," Menendez said.
The senator used the speech to introduce the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act, which he is co-sponsoring with a group of senior senators. The bill would require better detention conditions, boost the rights of asylum seekers and require the reporting and investigation of all deaths that occur in immigrant detention facilities, among other measures.
-- Nicole Gaouette in Washington
"The FBI system for performing background checks on immigrants has become so overloaded since the Sept. 11 attacks that thousands of legal immigrants are waiting years to get into the United States or obtain citizenship, according to findings from an internal investigation released Monday," writes the Times' Richard Serrano in this story.
"The Justice Department's inspector general concluded that the FBI's National Name Check Program is working with outdated technology, and that poorly trained personnel and overworked supervisors are falling far behind. As of March, there was a backlog of 327,000 requests for names to be validated, some of which had been pending for up to three years."
Read on....
-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City
"President Bush issued an executive order today requiring all federal contractors to use an electronic verification system to ensure their workers can legally work in the United States," reports Nicole Gaouette of the Times' Washington bureau.
"The move is the latest step by the administration to ratchet up enforcement of immigration laws by using tough measures, including a series of high-profile raids on work sites and factories across the country."
" 'Contractors that employ illegal aliens cannot rely on the continuing availability and service of those illegal workers,' the administration said in a statement."
"Bush administration officials last year outlined a series of steps to change immigration regulations after Congress failed to pass broad immigration reform. The administration efforts involve changes to federal regulations that are meant to make it easier for some industries to hire foreign workers. Other changes are meant to strengthen enforcement and improve immigrant assimilation."
-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City
 "As federal authorities expand immigration enforcement in California and throughout the nation, teachers, mental health professionals and immigrant rights advocates are raising concerns about the effect on children ... who are U.S. citizens," writes the Times' Anna Gorman in this story.
"Last month, a California congresswoman held a hearing on the raids' consequences for children."
" 'The administration must take the necessary steps to ensure that these raids are conducted in a humane fashion and they are protective to kids, not harmful,' said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma)."
"During the hearing, an elementary school principal from the Bay Area city of San Rafael, testified that local immigration raids in 2007 traumatized children and resulted in high absenteeism and low test scores."
"About 5 million children in the U.S. have an undocumented parent, and two-thirds of those children are U.S. citizens. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they strike a balance between enforcing the law and humanitarian issues that arise during enforcement."
Photo: Yolanda Mendez, 12, stands between her parents, America Milian and Santiago Mendez, who was arrested by immigration agents during a traffic stop last year. Credit: Francine Orr, Los Angeles Times
-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City
The issue of whether illegal immigrants should receive the benefit of lower tuitions has been the subject of much debate in recent years, writes The Times' DeeDee Correll in this story. Advocates say that out-of-state rates put college out of reach for such immigrants and that children shouldn't be punished for their parents' decisions to enter the country illegally. Opponents argue that illegal immigrants should not receive the same benefits afforded legal residents.
Nowhere is that debate hotter right now than in Denver, where Mayor John Hickenlooper is making good on a pledge to pay college tuition for a group of students who've completed high school.
But the deal has soured for some students in the group: those who are illegal immigrants, writes Correll. Because they would be required by Colorado law to pay out-of-state tuition, it would cost much more to pay for their college educations.
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The Times' Dana Parsons follows the life of Francisco Navarro-Robles in this column, from the moment that he crossed the border illegally from Mexico into the United States to the day of his swearing-in ceremony for citizenship. "I ask about swearing-in day. 'Big-time nervous,' he says. 'I got my clothes ready the night before so in the morning I could take a shower and go. I wore a tie, the first time in many years. I wanted to look good, because it was one of the most important days of my life. I wanted to look sharp. We hit the road at 9 in the morning, because I wanted to take my time.'
"The ceremony was at noon, but at 11 a.m. he and his two friends were stuck in a freeway jam. 'I started getting nervous at 11,' he says. 'I said this is not good. Another 20 minutes go by, it's 11:20, I looked at my girlfriend and said, "I don't care if I have to walk, I'm going to make it," so I jumped out of the car.' "
Read the column here...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
A relatively new border policy means people trying to cross end up with a criminal record for their efforts, says Opinion L.A, drawing on this piece yesterday by the Washington Post which reports that immigration prosecutions have increased. "The article notes that apprehension statistics aren't always reliable, particularly when a slow economy is already deterring migrants. And some say the program is straining jail facilities and law enforcement resources. Still, the tactic will likely have an effect much like other border security measures: decreasing illegal immigration in the short run (but making it into a more dangerous gambit for those who decide to cross through more dangerous terrain), while quite likely negatively impacting the economy in the longer run."
Go to the full blog post here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
A new study has found widespread fear-mongering and reckless journalism by cable television hosts such as CNN's Lou Dobbs and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, who have made a career of bashing Hispanic undocumented immigrants and their home countries, writes Andrew Oppenheimer in his Miami Herald column today.
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A Dallas suburb's ban on apartment rentals to illegal immigrants is unconstitutional, a federal judge decided Wednesday.
Only the federal government can regulate immigration, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay concluded.
The ordinance, passed by Farmers Branch city officials last year and endorsed by a citizen referendum, didn't defer to the federal government, Lindsay said, which is in violation of the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Read on...
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
 Cities like Baldwin Park are turning away from ethnic-oriented retail projects in favor of mainstream businesses. Starbucks is welcome, Hector Becerra writes.
"Call it 'immigrant' store fatigue. It's happening in cities that are overwhelmingly Latino, with Latino political leaders and with large immigrant communities.
"For decades, these cities attracted working-class and immigrant-centric retailers: check-cashing businesses, Latino supermarkets, discount gift stores, bridal shops and Mexican western wear stores. Some are independent, and some are chains such as La Curacao, an appliance and electronics retailer that offers credit accounts to immigrants who lack the documentation for conventional credit cards."
"Until relatively recently, cities like Baldwin Park, South Gate and Santa Ana had few options beyond 'Latino' retailers. But this year, Baldwin Park -- a city of 70,000 in the San Gabriel Valley -- enacted a moratorium on new payday loan and check cashing stores. The city is now partners with Bisno Development Co. on an 'urban village' of mixed-income housing, theaters and mainstream restaurants such as Claim Jumper, Applebee's and Chili's."
Photo: Many residents of cities like Baldwin Park are second-, third- and even fourth-generation Latinos with little interest in stores aimed at immigrants. Luis Cinco / Los Angeles Times
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
United States vegetable growers are getting around problems such as immigration raids and increasing risks for migrants coming north to work their farms by outsourcing that work down to Mexico. "Antonio Martinez used to pay smugglers thousands of dollars each year to sneak him into the United States to manage farm crews. Now, the work comes to him."
"Supervising lettuce pickers in central Mexico, Martinez earns just half of the $1,100 a week he made in the U.S. But the job has its advantages, including working without fear of immigration raids." From the Associated Press via the Miami Herald.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
Some advocates are asking immigrant families, many of which include at least one U.S. citizen, to make emergency plans for rent, bail and lawyers, The Times' Paloma Esquivel writes. Others are asking them to write certified letters designating caretakers for their U.S.-born children. Read the report here.
This video report visits an "immigrant rights" workshop at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church near USC, during which immigrant organizer Antonio Bernabe urged illegal immigrant parents to set aside money to be used in case they are picked up in an immigration raid.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City | |
