Little blowback for illegal worker hires Enforcement shifts toward suspected criminal activity
By MARY LOU PICKEL The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/08/07
It was 2:30 a.m. when federal agents arrived at Jillian's restaurant in Lawrenceville looking for illegal workers.
As the cleaning crew started work on a night last February, agents arrested four Guatemalans who came to mop and vacuum the theme restaurant.
Louie Favorite/AJC Calletano Gutierrez and Unique Environmental foreman Isaac Williams work in Decatur. A spokeswoman for the Metro Atlanta Landscape and Turf Association says the industry employs many immigrants but companies try to hire legal workers.
The arrests were part of sting on a Florida-based janitorial service that provided workers on contract to restaurants around the country.
If the janitors at Jillian's had been garden-variety undocumented workers, they likely would have kept sweeping floors. But their employer was suspected by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of violating a collection of laws.
The janitor bust is the new style of federal work site immigration enforcement. Since about 1999 and definitely since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the government has targeted employers who knowingly break the law by encouraging or participating in immigrant smuggling, abusing workers, not paying taxes or document fraud.
The owners of Palm Beach-based Rosenbaum-Cunningham International were charged with evading $18.6 million in employment taxes.
Agents arrested about 200 illegal workers nationwide in the sting, including 13 at four restaurants in metro Atlanta. All 13 were Guatemalan and were processed for deportation, Smith said.
The new enforcement tactic is a shift away from the 1990s, when the government annually issued hundreds of noncriminal fines to businesses for employing illegal immigrants.
The new direction means ICE has drastically cut enforcement efforts against employers who just hire illegal workers in Georgia and nationally. Now, fines for simply hiring illegal immigrants are rare.
ICE initiated only three such noncriminal fines in the United States in 2004, the last year for which national statistics are available. In the southern region, the government issued one fine in four years, for $123,000, to a restaurant in North Carolina earlier this year.
Noncriminal fines are usually issued to employers who don't complete the paperwork to prove an employee has the right to work in the United States.
Federal immigration officials say it's a shift in policy rather than a retreat from work site enforcement.
Mandate changed
The mandate is two-pronged: the primary goal, since Sept. 11, is to protect sensitive targets such as airports, military bases and nuclear power plants. The next priority is to target abusive employers and those involved in immigrant recruiting, smuggling or fraud.
"The sheer volume of our work requires us to prioritize our response among all our investigative duties," said Ken Smith, special agent in charge of the Atlanta office of ICE.
Under the first mandate, the agency reviewed the employment forms of about 5,000 workers at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and arrested 35 illegal immigrants in the past four years, Smith said. In January, ICE raided Fort Benning, another sensitive site, charging 24 illegal workers with document fraud and ID theft.
On the second score, local ICE agents busted Sin Sin Employment Agency in Chamblee in 2005. The couple who ran the agency placed thousands of illegal workers in restaurants in several states. They were convicted of conspiracy and fraud related to immigrant smuggling and were sentenced to prison.
Such criminal prosecutions and seizures hit an employer harder than noncriminal fines, Smith said.
The government says criminal fines, restitutions and civil judgments this year from work site enforcement nationally total more than $30 million, according to ICE. But ICE has not said how much of that money was actually collected or whether it was from a few employers.
It's hard to tell whether the change in approach is having any effect on illegal immigration or on employers' behavior, partly because ICE says data that could illustrate that is not readily available.
ICE did not provide dollar values of fines collected from the 1990s, when the government issued thousands of fines to employers.
But, in 1992, for example, the government delivered 1,461 notices of intent to fine to employers for violating immigration laws. By 2004, there were three.
The number of people arrested at work sites for being in the country illegally has also declined sharply since the change in policy, from about 17,500 in 1997 to about 4,000 in 2007, according to INS statistics and ICE. There has been a recent uptick in arrests in the last two years.
To some degree, states and counties have stepped into the void left when ICE backed away from grass roots enforcement.
Georgia passed a law requiring anyone contracting with a public entity to run new hires through a federal database to ensure the employee can legally work in the United States. Cobb and Gwinnett counties have similar rules for contractors.
But that only affects companies paid with tax dollars.
The state can only regulate licensing, taxation and contracts, said Chip Rogers, sponsor of the law. It can't prosecute immigration violations criminally, he said.
"I think if [federal agents] would go out and find some employers who were violating the law and put them in jail because of it, then what you would have happen is the other employers would think twice about employing illegal immigrants," Rogers said.
'Contempt for law'
The change in policy has other critics.
"If you don't do the mundane work of enforcement and make that a real possibility that an employer will run afoul of the law, then what you do is you create a general contempt for the rule of law," said Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank that favors tighter immigration controls.
"Interior enforcement, including going after employers, has had nothing but a precipitous fall over the last 14 years," Camarota said.
Smith said the reason for that is because it's difficult for the government to prove that employers knowingly hired illegal immigrants. Workers show fake IDs that look real, he said.
"The fines became just the cost of doing business for the employer," Smith said. Many levies were bartered down to "pennies on the dollar."
Mary Kay Woodworth, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Landscape & Turf Association, says an employer who is trying to follow the rules but may have some illegal immigrants on the payroll should not be the focus of a federal investigation.
The landscape industry employs many immigrants, but most employers try to hire legal workers, she said.
"Ninety-nine percent of them are filing taxes and filling out the paperwork," Woodworth said. It's not easy to spot fake documents and asking too many questions can violate a worker's rights.
"Do you think the employer can go and ask, 'Do you really think this is a legal document?' You can't do that," Woodworth said. "If it looks legal, that's the most you can do."
1999 marked shift
The shift in thinking on work site enforcement began in 1999.
In July that year, Robert Bach, an executive associate commissioner for the old Immigration and Naturalization Service, told Congress that even if INS tripled its budget it still would "not have a significant impact on illegal workers and certainly not on employers and labor markets."
INS would focus on criminal investigations against employers who engage in patterns of knowingly employing illegal workers, or who seek to hire them through smugglers, or abuse workers, Bach said.
At that time, there were an estimated 5 million unauthorized migrants in the United States, Bach said.
Estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center put that number last year at between 11 and 12 million.
AMID LICENSE DABATE, IMMIGRANTS SEEK OUT AUTO DEALERS, DRIVER'S ED
by LEAH RAE THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: October 7, 2007)
Rulaman De Leon, left, president of De Leon Mich Auto Sales in Yonkers, and his brother, Arnold, have been fielding inquiries from immigrant customers about the changes in New York's driver's license policy.
While the debate rages on whether to let illegal immigrants get driver's licenses, Yonkers car dealer Rulaman De Leon is looking at some of the practicalities.
In business for 20 years, he often sees car buyers paying in cash, leaving for a few days and coming back with out-of-state plates and insurance. He can venture a guess that these customers are undocumented immigrants, heading to states where they can get driver's licenses and registrations. Other potential buyers keep asking if there's some way to get a New York license without a Social Security number.
Those questions are flooding in now, since Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced a new policy Sept. 21.
"They call us directly to see what we know, what they have to do to get the license," he said. His answer: "We're not sure yet."
County clerks and Republican state lawmakers are vowing to strike down a Spitzer policy that would issue a state license regardless of the applicant's immigration status. The opponents say terrorists could get access to precious ID cards, once applicants are allowed to present foreign passports and other documents in place of Social Security cards.
The demand for driver's licenses - particularly in the New York suburbs - was clear last week at car dealerships, insurance agencies and driver education schools, where employees fielded a surge of inquiries. Spitzer's policy, unless opponents find a way to defeat it, starts in December for 152,000 drivers who have been unable to renew their licenses. It extends to all applicants in April.
"Oh, God. I'd have to get four more cars, four more instructors," said Linda O'Shea, who owns the Port Chester Auto School. She turns away a steady stream of immigrants who want to prepare for the road test but have no Social Security numbers. O'Shea is doubtful the governor's changes will ever go through.
Spitzer has defended his move as a pragmatic step that will reduce unlicensed driving and bring down the cost of car insurance.
He said it would also fight crime, because the photos and fingerprints of hundreds of thousands of drivers would be brought into the state database. And certainly, some businesses stand to gain.
"Practically speaking, I see a tremendous benefit," said Victor Acevedo, a broker for DCAP Insurance in White Plains.
The brokerage is downstairs from a Department of Motor Vehicles office. Acevedo has seen more customers come in with out-of-state licenses since the New York DMV tightened its rules after Sept. 11, 2001. He said some immigrants resort to driving cars that are registered and insured under other people's names. That leads to fraud and drives up premiums for everyone, he said.
But he can sympathize with opponents, who find it unthinkable to hand a license to an illegal immigrant.
"I can understand why a lot of people would be angry," Acevedo said. "We're basically giving it (the license) away. Something a lot of people had to fight for, struggle for - we're just giving it away."
Acevedo said his mother often reminds him how she struggled to immigrate legally from the Dominican Republic and become a citizen. But he also believes that undocumented immigrants come out of desperation and want to play by the rules.
"Most people are not looking to commit fraud," he said. "They want the insurance in their own name."
It's not mandatory to have a New York driver's license in order to insure a vehicle, though some agencies require it. The problem for illegal immigrants is trying to register a car. That's because registration requires "six points" of ID - easily fulfilled by a New York license. An out-of-state license counts for two points of ID.
The consequences of uninsured, unlicensed drivers show up after accidents, said Enoch Brady, an attorney in Port Chester.
If an uninsured driver causes injury to an insured driver, the victim's medical bills are covered through no-fault insurance. Compensation for pain and suffering - personal injury claims - would depend on liability coverage, and a little-used option called "uninsured motorist coverage." As a last resort, other car insurance customers wind up paying the bill through the New York Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corp.
Some immigrants are losing their car insurance because they can't renew their licenses, Brady said. He believes that offering licenses to illegal immigrants, as eight states currently do, would assist law enforcement in fighting crime, because more people would be in the state database instead of living under the radar.
"This information can be used. And I've never heard of security being served by less information rather than more information," he said.
Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant was among those who took an official stand Thursday against the policy change. Clerks in most counties, unlike in Westchester and New York City, oversee the local DMV operations.
"I feel that I would actually be violating my oath of office," he said, "to be issuing a license to somebody who is a lawbreaker and who is here illegally."
Leticia, a 19-year-old Yonkers resident, said she takes a bus to her baby-sitting job in White Plains because she can't get a driver's license and doesn't want to risk driving without one.
"I'd rather take public transportation and know that I'm OK," she said. Born in Mexico and raised in the United States since age 1, she did not want her last name published because she is undocumented.
"With a driver's license, I know it would help me get a better job," she said.
De Leon said Spitzer's policy wouldn't just be good for the used-car business. New York would get more sales tax and fees that currently go out of state. "I hope they do it, and I hope they see the money that they're losing ... and the risky situation that people are driving with another state's license."
AP INTERVIEW: FORMER MEXICAN PRESIDENT VICENTE FOX SAYS RACISM HOLDING UP IMMIGRATION ACCORD IN U.S.
By DIEGO A. SANTOS,AP Posted: 2007-10-08 17:08:56
NEW YORK (AP) - Former Mexican President Vicente Fox said Monday that the United States is letting racism dictate its policies, especially when it comes to immigration.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Fox applauded U.S. President George W. Bush 's desire to pass an immigration accord that would allow more Mexicans to work legally in the United States. But he criticized the U.S. leader for failing to pass the promised reform.
"There was always a reason for why it couldn't be done. 'It is not possible because of the elections.' He couldn't touch the topic because this election is very important, or because security was more important," Fox said in his first interview to promote his new book, "Revolution of Hope." "So, when are they going to finally address it? It needs to be resolved."
Without naming names, he said U.S. policy was being driven by racists.
"The xenophobics, the racists, those who feel they are a superior race ... they are deciding the future of this nation," he said.
Fox also talked about his sometimes rocky relationship with Bush, a man he calls a "cowboy" in his book.
Both men had worked together as governors of influential agricultural states in Mexico and the United States. They began their presidential terms in office nearly eight years ago with close relations, and Bush even made a visit to Fox's central Mexican ranch his first foreign trip as president in early 2001.
But they parted ways on Iraq , after Fox refused to back the impending war.
"There are important differences between myself and President Bush , including the case of Iraq and other topics where we think and act differently," Fox said.
Fox said he hopes his new book, written in English, helps Americans understand the Mexican point of view on immigration.
"To be so repressive isn't democractic or free ... to be putting up fences, chasing Mexicans, that isn't right," Fox said. "The U.S. needs better answers than repression, weapons and violence."
Fox also denied media and opposition allegations of illicit wealth that arose in Mexico after a celebrity magazine published photos of his newly renovated ranch.
He said the accustions were made "without any evidence."
Homeland Security Director Dave Mitchell, right, talks with Mike Nunley, left, and former Murfreesboro Police Commissioner Bill Jones.
Almost 600,000 illegal immigrants accused of violent crimes in the U.S. await deportation, the state's Homeland Security director said this week.
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents apprehended more than 61,000 illegal fugitives with the goal to eliminate the huge backlog, said state Safety Commissioner Dave Mitchell who also directs Homeland Security.
Mitchell addressed the hot button issue of immigration during a speech Tuesday to the Evening Exchange Club. He was educated in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. He worked as a Murfreesboro Police officer before a career with the FBI. He served on the first Anti Terrorist Task Force in New York City.
"I think this is the biggest political issue to face the nation in my lifetime," Mitchell said.
State agencies and sheriff's offices are obtaining federal authorization to help enforce the immigration laws to help the understaffed ICE agents. Davidson County apprehended more than 1,000 illegal immigrants for deportation.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office hope to obtain the federal authorization by next year. The authorization allows officers to have access to a nationwide database to determine if the person is in the country illegally.
On the state level, immigrants were allowed to obtain a certificate for a driver's license. The law was designed to ensure drivers took the driving test.
"It was abused significantly," Mitchell said, explaining immigrants from other states came to Tennessee to get the certificates and corrupted driver's license examiners.
Effective Oct. 1, the state Legislature changed the law to require immigrants to use legitimate documents for driver's licenses. They must be in the U.S. lawfully.
State Rep. John Hood, D-Murfreesboro, said the Legislature passed five bills regarding immigration during the past session, including reforms for obtaining driver's licenses. States experience problems passing laws about immigration because the federal government is responsible.
Regarding Homeland Security, Mitchell said the state was divided into 11 districts for training, prevention and information sharing among first responders. The result is first responders are better trained and received updated equipment. Rutherford County has received $2.6 million.
A key element in prevent terrorism attacks in Tennessee will be the Fusion Center at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's headquarters in Nashville.
"It's going to transform the way we do business," Mitchell said, adding crime reports from law enforcement agencies statewide will be collected and analyzed.
Every terrorism event was preceded by a low-level criminal activity, he said. For example, a Maryland state trooper stopped one of the 9-11 terrorists the night before.
All crash reports, citations and reports will be included as part of the Fusion Center's database with information shared among law enforcement agencies.
One of the remaining obstacles is the inability for law enforcement officers, firefighters and paramedics to communicate with each other, he said.
Mitchell addressed the leaders of first responders who attended his speech, including retired Murfreesboro Police and state Safety Commissioner Bill Jones, Sheriff Truman Jones, Murfreesboro Police Chief Glenn Chrisman, Emergency Medical Services Director Mike Nunley, Emergency Management Agency Director Roger Allen and Emergency 911 Director Steve Smith.
"There's a passion about serving people and doing the right thing," Mitchell said, adding when disasters occur, "Our folks will step up to the plate."
CALDERON SAYS MEXICAN IMMIGRATION TO U.S. CAN'T BE STOPPEDBy Brendan Walsh Diane Sawyer walks with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. During their interview, Calderon said Americans should not be afraid of Spanish speakers because English always will dominate American culture. (ABC News)
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the illegal immigration of Mexicans to the U.S. can't be stopped because of the strong demand for inexpensive labor there.
``It's impossible to stop that by decree. It's impossible to try to stop that with a fence,'' Calderon said today in a taped interview with ABC News' ``Good Morning America.''
A lack of job prospects prompts more than 400,000 Mexicans to enter the U.S. each year seeking work both legally and illegally, according to the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.
The U.S. Senate this month voted to spend $3 billion for more fences, patrol agents and surveillance along the U.S.- Mexico border. Calderon said he's seeking to improve economic conditions in Mexico so that citizens don't have to leave the country for work.
``In the future, I can't imagine a Mexico without enough economic growth to provide for them,'' Calderon said during the ABC interview. ``I want to build the conditions in Mexico to provide the opportunities here.''
To contact the reporters on this story: Brendan Walsh in New York at Bwalsh8@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 8, 2007 08:35 EDT
____________________________________________ MEXICAN PRESIDENT TALKS EXCLUSIVELY TO DIANE SAWYER ABOUT IMMIGRATION ISSUES
Oct. 8, 2007
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has called the idea of building the fence "deplorable," and said today on "Good Morning America" that he wanted to strengthen the Mexican economy to keep Mexicans there.
"Let me tell you, I think that the only way to stop migration is to provide to the people opportunities here in Mexico," Calderon said in an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer.
The Pew Research Center estimated that about 6.2 million undocumented Mexicans lived in the United States in 2005.
A majority of the Mexicans who cross the border are young and male. And while many of the immigrants come to the states seeking jobs and security, a large number of them already were employed in their native country.
Their goal is to make money in America and to send it back home and into the Mexican economy. The transaction is a huge boost to Mexico's economy, providing $20 billion a year in additional funds.
Calderon said having the youngest, strongest and bravest leaving the home country and their families take a huge toll on Mexico.
Calderon told Sawyer that some of his own relatives live and work in the United States"” "some of them in the vegetable fields, others in restaurants and others in construction," he said.
Immigration to America is a "natural phenomenon," Calderon said, because Mexico has a large, young labor force that is needed by U.S. businesses, a sentiment that some politicians and business leaders across the country agree with.
Help Wanted
New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has said his city would "collapse if they were deported," referring to Mexican immigrants.
The agriculture and the food service industries across the country are especially reliant on Mexican workers. A recent report out of Washington said that apple growers don't have the workers to harvest the fruit.
"If you took away Hispanic labor from agriculture and from dairying in Wisconsin, we'd be in crisis," said Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture Rod Nilestuen. "There's no two ways about that."
Calderon said that Mexico needs to attract more American capital into the country to create more jobs and provide comprehensive regulations about immigration.
Finding a common ground in the United States on those regulations has proved difficult. Congress failed to pass an immigration reform bill in June that would have allowed a guest worker program.
But not everyone agrees that the influx of immigrants is a positive thing. While the majority of immigrants pay taxes totalling billions of dollars, it still costs American taxpayers to subsidize the health-care and education costs of illegals.
The issue has become so polarizing that angry protests across the country have occasionally erupted in violence.
Calderon said that he knows there is an anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, and he said that is fueling anti-American feelings in Mexico.
The Mexican president says he can envision a prosperous North America "” the United States, Canada and Mexico working together to become an economic powerhouse.
"I can see that the world is open, new ways, new bridge, and we are building fences, instead of bridges," Calderon said. "So we need to, to recover the rational discussion about this matter, about this issue, because otherwise at the end of the road both countries and both societies will make a lot of mistakes."
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Oct 8, 2007 6:00 AM (15 hrs ago) by Alexandria Rocha, The Examiner
More than a hundred people gathered in the Mission district on Sunday to give and hear testimony about the plight of families in The City that are not living on the streets, but might be on the brink of homelessness. SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News)
Jose Alfredo and Olga Contreras live in a backyard garage in the Mission district with their two young children. The couple's teenage daughter sleeps on a bed, the 6-year-old on a couch. The garage is humid, the paint is chipping, the carpets are torn up. Alfredo says the children have asthma.
"I work and work and work," Alfredo said. "It is never enough to afford a place for my family with dignity."
According to a group of community leaders in the Mission district, Alfredo's family falls into a category they call the invisible homeless. They are people who are not living in the streets, but may be on the brink, and have a difficult time navigating The City's complex affordable-housing process because they are illegal immigrants or do not speak English. Many of the families share one-room trailers, garages and studios with multiple people.
On Sunday, the San Francisco Organizing Project, a faith-based advocacy group, held a community meeting in the Mission district about the invisible homeless, and more than 100 people attended to share stories about living on the edge of homelessness.
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"I'm afraid I may end up living in an abandoned car or garage," said Maria Guadalupe Garcia, who lives in a trailer in the Mission district after fleeing an abusive relationship in Mexico six months ago. "I want to keep working. I always want to have a smile on my face. I can't meet those goals." Garcia said she earns $650 a month from cleaning jobs, but her monthly rent is $600.
Since Jan. 2004, The City has created more than 2,500 new affordable housing units, according to Matt Franklin, director of the Mayor's Office of Housing, who attended Sunday's forum. There are 3,000 more units in the development pipeline, he said.
"This is a very robust program, but it is not enough," he added.
Franklin said there are 225 beds in shelters that are reserved for families, and they are full each night. There are also 80 families on a waiting list for the shelters, he added.
Community members on Sunday asked for an easier, streamlined application process for affordable-housing units. They want materials in both Spanish and English and do not want immigration status to be a factor in the process. They also pushed for lottery exemptions.
"We recognize and accept the concept of the invisible homeless," Franklin said. "But until we have enough units to meet the need, I can't imagine eliminating the lottery."
Megan Matteucci | Monday, October 8, 2007 at 12:30 am
Early in the morning of Sept. 29, Samuel Soto Martinez saw his younger brother lying inside their Garden City apartment.
He had been shot to death.
Moments later, Martinez and six friends were taken to the Chatham County jail on gun charges.
Now, all seven face deportation to Mexico and Garden City Police have an unsolved homicide and few witnesses willing to talk to them.
"We're trying to get through the investigation, but it's so time-consuming because we have to do two interviews because of the language barrier and no one is talking," said Garden City Police Chief David Lyons. "It's that fear of deportation. It's a major problem for us."
Such cases complicate local officers' attempts to gain trust within the Hispanic community, Lyons said. Making things worse is the confusion surrounding the new Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act that took effect July 1.
Under the law, sheriff's deputies across Georgia are required to check the citizenship status of anyone jailed for a felony or for driving under the influence. It does not require police to check the status of witnesses, crime victims or people stopped for speeding or other minor traffic violations.
Martinez, 24, and his six friends are not considered suspects in the Garden City homicide, police said. But officers arrested them after seizing two guns from the apartment.
"There were guns in the house. We want to find out what their involvement is," Lyons said. "We think we may know who the shooter is, but we believe he may already be out of the area by now."
Lyons said he is not pushing for deportation. That's up to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"Because they are illegal aliens, they have a detainer currently placed on them by ICE," said agency spokesman Richard Rocha. "Once Garden City decides if they are going to go forward with the charges, we will determine how to proceed. Even if Garden City is not charging them, they still face deportation."
The men also could face federal charges for possession of a firearm by an illegal immigrant, Rocha said.
'A sworn obligation'
Local police say they are not required to - and don't - check the immigration status of people with whom they come in contact.
So far this year, Lyons said, Garden City has only contacted immigration officials once to ask them to deport an illegal immigrant arrested for child molestation.
"We don't just reach out and deport someone because they are undocumented," Lyons said. "Whether they are legal or not, we owe them the same services as everyone else. We have a sworn obligation to do as much for them as for anyone else.
"(Martinez) has a mother and a father somewhere, too. We're trying to find out who shot him."
Alberto Soto Martinez, 22, was found shot to death inside his Plantation Townhouses home off Augusta Avenue early Sept. 29. Police had been called to a loud party and encountered two Hispanic men who needed help. Officers followed the men and found the 22-year-old dead inside his apartment.
Initial reports indicated dozens of people were at the party, but no one seems to know what happened to the victim, Lyons said.
"Everybody involved in this is from the same little community in Mexico," Lyons said. "They come here and band together and don't let anyone in. They don't trust police."
Some are also afraid of corrupt police based on experiences in their homelands, Lyons said.
Other times, it's rumors.
A lot of time, the fear is just hearsay, said Melody Rodriguez, director of the Hispanic Outreach and Leadership program at Armstrong Atlantic State University.
"It's word of mouth and spreads through these communities," Rodriguez said. "These communities literally will not leave their home, not even go to Wal-Mart or the grocery shopping to buy milk because of the fear of living undocumented. It is something that is very common."
Building bridges
Criminals know about that fear, says Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Chief Michael Berkow.
In August, Savannah-Chatham officers arrested several suspected gang members who preyed on Hispanics at the Melody Acres mobile home park. One suspect, Alphonzo Hennegan, had been arrested in previous Hispanic robberies, but the victims didn't show up to testify against him.
"He made a calculated decision to do the same thing again," Berkow said.
This summer, Savannah-Chatham officers investigated similar incidents in Melody Acres and other predominately Hispanic neighborhoods. In these instances, however, many of the victims have come forward and arrests have been made.
Rodriguez attributes that to the work of Savannah-Chatham's Latino Officer Outreach Program.
"I really see them moving along and really being proactive about making changes that will prevent crime in the future," she said. "Gaining trust and having someone within the department that will be able to approach the community in a positive way is the way to go."
The outreach program, which started in 2005, is composed of seven officers who work to bridge relations between police and the Hispanic community.
"If people in the Hispanic community see us coming to arrest and deport them, they are not going to trust us or give us the information needed to solve crimes," Berkow said. "We can't have a situation where the public we serve is afraid of us."
Savannah-Chatham police have made no referrals to federal immigration officials this year.
Garden City police have had several town meetings in Hispanic neighborhoods and met with Hispanic business owners and pastors. But with an estimated 8,000 Hispanics living in Garden City and only two Spanish-speaking officers, the department struggles to make contacts, Lyons said.
Garden City, like other departments in the region, is trying to recruit more bilingual officers.
"I would hire 10 if I could find them," Lyons said. "You can send officers to Spanish lessons, but it's still not like hiring a Spanish officer. They never will learn the culture and nuances."
Learning the culture is important, but learning compassion is a must, Rodriguez said.
"I feel that people need to really just put themselves in their shoes," she said. "They are really just living in hiding. They live under fear all the time," Rodriguez said.
'Force multiplier'
Federal immigration officials say they don't always know when an illegal immigrant is booked into the Chatham County jail, but they're trying to change that.
Under the new Georgia law, sheriff's deputies must check the citizenship status of people jailed for felonies and DUIs. The Chatham County Sheriff's Department is trying to join a federal program that would allow deputies to perform immigration duties.
"We have a lot of aliens come through the jail. We're looking at sitting down, having a meeting with ICE and seeing the benefits of the program for the community," said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tommy Tillman.
Currently, only two law enforcement agencies in Georgia are part of the program: the Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Cobb County Sheriff's Department.
As part of the program, ICE provides training and computer systems to deputies to assist with deportation.
"It acts as a force multiplier to identify and remove criminal illegal aliens," Rocha said.
Rodriguez said she hopes the program is used to protect the community from criminals, not just as a way to detain innocent immigrants.
"I feel that if law enforcement in any case is willing to leave that deportation to the very end, people cooperate even more instead of frightening them even more," she said. "I understand why these witnesses will not help. If they are going to be deported, then of course they won't cooperate."
FROM TEXAS TO VIRGINIA, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS CRACKING DOWN ON IMMIGRANTS
A U.S. Border Patrol agent takes a man into custody after illegally attempting to cross the border. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)From GMA
Oct. 5, 2007
The issue of immigration has moved from a war of words in Washington to an explosive, countrywide battle as average citizens fight to enforce laws with an iron fist.
It's a crackdown on illegal immigration.
In Irving,Texas, for example, the immigration debate is blasting onto the streets. "Obey the laws of this country," protesters shout. "We are Americans!"
Residents are suddenly finding that their neighborhoods are a battleground.
"That is a bunch of bull over there that we even allow them to march on our land when they are here illegally," said Dorothy Shields, an Irving resident and anti-immigration activist.
"It's political dynamite "” people are saying we've had enough, we just can't take it anymore and if the federal government doesn't get serious about it we're going to do the jobs ourselves," Dan Stein said.
But lately, the government has been trying to prove it can get serious, by putting immigration enforcement into overdrive.
In a staggering sweep in California, 1,300 illegal immigrants have been arrested. Last week, federal agents in Nevada raided 11 McDonald's restaurants as part of a crackdown on illegal immigrants. In New York's Nassau County, armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials raided homes in the middle of the night in search of gang members and fugitives.
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff admits that raids aren't the perfect solution, but that they are a reality right now.
"I think we have an obligation to use the tools that we do have at least to achieve what the law currently requires," Chertoff said.
But in Irving, like many places around the country, residents aren't willing to wait for government intervention. Police are turning over any arrested illegals to the feds.
Latino parents have grown so nervous, they're keeping their children out of school.
"We are just scared of going out, just because you look Hispanic they pull you over," Irving student Crystal Chacon said.
One man from Virginia said he was so frightened about being rounded up in Virginia, where governments are threatening action, that he would only talk to ABC News anonymously.
"What breaks my heart," he said, "is when my 6-year-old daughter comes home and asks why do they hate us."
Watch "Good Morning America," Monday, when Diane Sawyer will be live in Mexico with more on the immigration debate.
During his first swing through Florida, Fred Thompson publicly mulled over the idea of repealing birthright citizenship -- the concept embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment that all those born in the United States are entitled to citizenship and the rights and benefits (e.g. voting) that go with it. Proponents of the idea argue that if illegal immigrants' children are not allowed to establish citizenship their parents will be deterred from entering illegally. Florida, with a substantial Hispanic immigrant population, may not have been the best place to raise this issue and local press reports seized on this as another of Thompson's early "gaffes." Thompson spokeswoman Karen Hanretty hastened to explain that Thompson was not making a formal proposal.
Nevertheless it is worth considering whether Thompson's idea has merit, how the politics of repealing birthright citizenship would play out, and where that leaves us in the immigration debate.
Thompson, of course, is not the first conservative politician to raise this idea. Georgia Republican Rep. Nathan Deal and 70 co-sponsors tried to tack a no-birthright-citizenship provision onto the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, but the bill passed the House without it. Deal has introduced a similar measure, HR 1940, in the current Congress. Immigration-restrictionist groups like NumbersUSA have advocated Congressional action, arguing that "an entire industry has built up around the U.S. system of birthright citizenship. Thousands of pregnant women who are about to deliver come to the United States each year from countries as far away as South Korea and as near as Mexico so that they can give birth on U.S. soil."
However, several of the primary combatants in the immigration debate seem less than enamored of changing birthright citzenship. Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian, a leading voice in opposing President Bush's immigration policies, had this take in response to my inquiry: "I'm as outraged as anyone about illegal aliens having citizen kids, but I don't think it's a good strategy for us, since it's a symptom of excessive illegal immigration, not a cause. Besides, all the political effort it would take to change the citizenship rule would better be spent trying to get the government to enforce the law." As a public relation matter he also warns off conservatives, saying that "going after little kids...is never a political winner."
Dan Griswold of the Cato Institute, who favors comprehensive immigration reform, also argues that ending birthright citizenship is not a fruitful way to address illegal immigration. He notes that we should not lightly tamper with "established Constitutional doctrine" and that even if proponents were to overcome legal hurdles it is unwise to create a "permanent underclass" of non-citizens as is the case in Germany and other European countries. He acknowledges that the lure of citizenship for their children is a motivating factor for some to illegally enter the country but warns that the downsides of such a measure are "too great" to justify the benefit of deterring some who want to enter illegally.
Moreover, the suggestion that birthright citizenship might be tampered with has not won praise in Florida, a critical state in the Republican primary race. State Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami (a key Hispanic leader in Florida not yet supporting a presidential candidate), was quoted in the Orland Sentinel as arguing that repealing birthright is a "xenophobic" idea that would damage the GOP with Hispanic voters. He remarked: "At best, this would be seen as mean-spirited. At worst, it's seen as bigotry." Al Cardenas, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and Mitt Romney's National Hispanic Steering Committee chairman, has also spoken out against the idea.
So if this suggestion does not seem to be a viable proposal, where do we stand on immigration reform? For opponents of Bush's comprehensive approach, no news may be just fine. Krikorian explains: "I don't see any enforcement bill coming out of the Congress, but that doesn't bother me -- what I really want is the administration to show it's willing to start enforcing the laws we have now."
Those who praised the Bush effort and hope that a comprehensive plan will eventually come about are not optimistic that anything can be done in the short term. Griswold contends that we are in a full employment economy and that immigration -- whether legal or illegal -- will need to meet the shortfall of approximately 500,000 workers each year for the foreseeable future. According to Griswold, the "situation will have to get worse" before another immigration reform effort is possible, and in all likelihood not until a new president takes office.
As for the other Republican presidential candidates, most for now are stressing border security and are mum about legalization for those workers who would remain after border security and employer sanctions are enacted. Even John McCain, who helped father the recent immigration reform effort, seems chastened by the effort and repeatedly concedes that so long as the American people have "lost faith" in the government's ability to control our borders comprehensive reform will be stalled for now. Mitt Romney stresses border security and removing "magnets" including employment for illegals and "sanctuary cities" (a clear swipe at his opponent Rudy Giuliani who Romney contends favored such an approach as New York City mayor). Giuliani puts forth a robust border security plan and proposals for biometric I.D. cards and employment verification system -- insisting that only when all that is in place can we discuss some legalized status for those still here. And after the foray into the birthright citizenship debate, even Thompson has largely emphasized the need for border security.
So for as long as a political stalemate prevails in Washington both parties seem content. Democrats can bemoan the lack of a comprehensive plan without having enacted a plan that was sure to anger labor unions. Republicans can assure their political base that a comprehensive plan and any form of "amnesty" are off the table. In that regard, there seems little incentive to push for abolishing birthright citizenship, or any other plan, which would revive the immigration debate in the near term. Immigration, like so many other contentious issues, therefore will likely not be resolved until the next president takes office.
Chiefs: Migrant law not our duty Local-level enforcement saps resources, they say
Michael Kiefer and Allison Denny The Arizona Republic Oct. 9, 2007 12:00 AM
Valley police chiefs spoke out Monday against a groundswell to make local police departments enforce immigration law.
They cited limited resources and a mind-set that puts serious crime ahead of routine immigration enforcement.
"Our officers are committed to arresting bad guys off the street," Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said. advertisement
Harris and other chiefs do not want their officers to routinely check immigration status of people they encounter, unless those people are suspected of committing a crime other than being in the country illegally.
The contentious debate over immigration and crime has increased since the shooting death of Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle last month by an illegal immigrant. And law-enforcement officers are not unanimous in their approach to one of the state's most-divisive issues.
Monday was a day of dueling news conferences.
On the same day that police chiefs took their stance against extra immigration duties, the labor union that represents Phoenix police officers asked for easier access to federal immigration agents. "We're not asking to become immigration officers," said Mark Spencer president of the 2,200-member Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. But, he said, it should be easier for police to handle immigration matters.
Maricopa County's most-vocal opponents of illegal immigration, County Attorney Andrew Thomas and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, said at their own news conference that they would support citizens initiatives to force Valley police to enforce immigration laws.
Chiefs stand united
Ralph Tranter, executive director of the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, summarized the chiefs' concerns. Immigration enforcement, he said, is a federal responsibility, and for local police forces to add it to their own lists of responsibilities would divert resources, without funding, from other needs "at a critical juncture in Arizona's attempts to fight violent crime."
Such decisions, he said, should be made at municipal levels. All Valley police chiefs stood united in not forcing their officers to become immigration agents.
Mesa Police Chief George Gascon warned against conclusions drawn from disinformation about immigration and crime.
"There are some that would have us believe that undocumented immigrants in the state or in this country are largely responsible for crime," he said. "However, the statistics do not support that."
In Mesa, he said, Hispanics both legal and illegal commit only about one quarter of crimes, exactly proportionate to their segment of the population as a whole.
Other studies have come to similar conclusions.
Furthermore, Gascon, Harris and others warned of the unconstitutionality of targeting one segment of the population or of frightening the immigrant community so that it shuns law enforcement in general.
"This is not being soft on undocumented immigrants who commit serious crimes. On the contrary," he said.
But in a separate news conference, Spencer, the Phoenix police union head, called on leaders to change the city's more than 20-year-old operations policy to give officers easier access to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
ICE is to be contacted only when suspected illegal immigrants are encountered in drophouses or smuggling vehicles, although ICE is automatically contacted when illegal immigrants are jailed.
Last year, citizens tried to put an initiative on the Phoenix ballot that would have forced officers to check immigration status. Then-union President Jake Jacobsen said the change would eliminate an officer's ability to prioritize whom to help.
Still, Spencer said that after hearing from "numerous" officers, he decided to ask in the union's annual survey whether members thought their current operations order improves the quality of life in Phoenix. Seventy-seven percent disagreed, he said.
Spencer said the union now wants city leaders to allow officers to contact ICE directly to interpret or otherwise assist. Officers do not, however, want to turn crime victims or witnesses over to ICE.
Support for initiative?
Arpaio has repeatedly said that his is the only law-enforcement agency that enforces immigration law.
About 160 of Arpaio's deputies and detention officers have been trained by ICE to enforce immigration law.
At their joint news conference, Thomas said that he would support a citizen initiative on the issue.
"I would like to see the language before signing on officially," he said.
Arpaio agreed. "If it takes an initiative to do it, I support it 100 percent," he said.
"The letter of the law is a sword that killeth; its intent is a spirit that giveth life." (Justice Holmes on 3 Cor 3:6)
But the battle in Prince William County, where a measure to curb illegal immigration has thrown the Latino community into turmoil, changed his mind.
"This situation has brought together people who never would have sat in one room before," said Marinay, 50, who owns a real estate settlement company that has offices across Northern Virginia and a mainly Latino clientele. Since the measure was passed in July, he said, business has fallen 80 percent at his Manassas office, and he will probably close it. He also said a sense of growing hostility toward Latino immigrants has affected him.
"I dress well, and I drive a nice car. But on the weekends, when I am in shorts and sandals and I haven't shaved, I look Latino enough to scare a few folks," Marinay said. "There is a definite chill in the air. We may be a fragmented community, we may eat or celebrate in different places, but now they are looking at us in the same way. If we don't unite and work together, we will all sink."
Sense of siege and solidarity
lthough not yet enacted into law, the resolution passed by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors has created a sense of siege and solidarity throughout the county's wider Latino community of about 30,000. Rumors circulate that people will be arrested if they board buses or drop off their children at school. Some legal residents, who bought homes and opened businesses, expecting to stay for years, say they are thinking of leaving.
"When we came to Manassas 20 years ago, it was a beautiful place. We were full of enthusiasm and optimism. But in the last three months, that has all gone away," said Carlos Alvarado, 45, a Salvadoran immigrant whose variety store sells fresh corn tamales, pi¿atas and frilly girls' dresses. Many customers are too broke or scared to shop, he said. "Everyone is talking about moving to Maryland or North Carolina, and I am almost bankrupt."
Sponsors and advocates of the resolution assert it is neither anti-Latino nor anti-immigrant. They insist it is aimed at stopping the steady influx of illegal immigrants during the past decade, who they complain are crowding neighborhoods and burdening schools. The measure would deny some services to illegal immigrants and allow local police to turn them over to federal officials.
At first, the region's Latino community was conflicted in its response, reflecting differences in class, education levels, immigration status, national origin and ideological roots. Within the business community, potential allies saw each other as economic rivals first.
The split was exacerbated by the confrontational actions of a group in Virginia, Mexicans Without Borders, that staged a number of protests against the measure, including a one-week store boycott in August. The group has called for a one-day countywide work stoppage today. Last month, the group put up a huge Liberty Wall in Manassas with a sign that condemns "racism against Hispanics." The sign was half torn down by vandals last weekend.
Many established Latino immigrants in Northern Virginia said they disapproved of such tactics, saying they feared the efforts would turn community goodwill against them, too. But as the firestorm over illegal immigration has spread, more affluent Latinos in the area, including entrepreneurs from Colombia and Venezuela, have come to realize they have a personal and economic stake in resolving the issue.
Use of lobbying, economic power
In August, a regional Latino business coalition was formed to seek subtler ways to fight anti-immigration measures, such as through personal lobbying and economic power. Coalition leaders said that it was hard to get some entrepreneurs involved but that more are being spurred to action by a mixture of self-interest, guilt and sympathy for those they once considered a lower class of immigrant.
"This is definitely not business as usual. If people can't buy groceries, they can't buy cars or houses," said Marinay, a coalition official. Other members work in real estate, banking, entertainment and insurance. "We are a wealthy group, and we have invested millions in this region," he said. "Why can't we get these people off our backs? It's our own fault for not being united."
Ricardo Juarez, a leader of Mexicans Without Borders, said that despite their tactical differences, he has come to appreciate the efforts of Marinay's committee. At a county hearing last Tuesday, Juarez and several Latino business owners testified against the resolution, using nearly identical arguments and similarly polite tones.
"We can march. They can lobby. We are each doing our part," Juarez said later. "We all want to solve the problem, and we all have to coexist in the community."
Ruben Andrade, who owns several cafes and clubs in Prince William, embodies the contradictions that have pulled successful Latinos in several directions on illegal immigration. A war refugee who came to the United States 25 years ago, he worked menial jobs and faced his share of discrimination. Now, he prides himself on running stylish establishments and criticizes Latino laborers who pick fights in bars and throw trash in the streets.
"We need to educate our people," Andrade said. "If your neighbor asks you to pick up your garbage, you don't tell them to go to hell. You need to learn English and respect the rules." On the other hand, he said, "this law will hurt the entire community. It is not against illegal immigrants; it is against all Latinos, and we must fight it together."
Fear of arrest, harassment
In Maryland, where attitudes toward immigrants have been more relaxed, at least one measure similar to Prince William's has been proposed in the city of Frederick, and Latino leaders throughout the state's suburbs are increasingly worried that the illegal immigration controversy will engulf the region.
A handful of Latino businessmen in Montgomery and Prince George's counties have joined meetings of the Virginia coalition. Gilbert Mejia, a Salvadoran restaurant owner, was the host of a recent meeting at his La Frontera restaurant in Gaithersburg. He said the fear of arrest and harassment among Latino immigrants has become so widespread that business at his restaurant has fallen sharply this summer.
"Look at this place. Normally, we would be full for lunch," said Mejia, gesturing around a room full of empty tables. "People are afraid the attitude from Prince William will drift here, that Maryland will be the next target. I have been in this country 27 years, and I've invested hundreds of thousands of dollars. We need to know what's coming our way."
In Prince William, many immigrants who have never joined a protest or a committee, but have spent years quietly securing a niche for their families, find themselves drawn to the unfamiliar fray of public debate. Last Tuesday, about 200 Latinos filled an overflow room outside a supervisors meeting in which the July resolution was being discussed, although a final vote was postponed.
One was Jesus Calva, 40, who lives with his wife and two children in Lake Ridge, a woodsy townhouse community. Calva entered the United States illegally as a teenager and started working as a tree trimmer for $3 an hour. Today, he makes $27 an hour with a large construction company, and he helped rebuild the Pentagon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. On his living room wall is a certificate of thanks signed by former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
"I have always appreciated this country, and it really upsets me to hear about this law," said Calva, who spoke briefly at last Tuesday's hearing. Afterward, he strode outside, sat down on a curb and began to weep in frustration. "Even when I was illegal, I worked hard for everything I got, and I paid a lot of taxes," he said. "If they don't like us, why don't they just say so? I love my home, but I don't want to live in a place where I am hated."
HILLARY'S CHIEF STRATEGIST: ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR RELATIVES MAY BE 'MOST POWERFUL POLITICAL FORCE' IN AMERICA
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, told a British magazine last week that illegal immigrants "may be the most powerful political force in the country."
In an interview with The Spectator magazine, Penn said, "The most powerful political force in [America], and the most important voting bloc in the upcoming elections, may not even be able to vote "” but their cousins can. And that may make all the difference.'
Interviewer Matthew d'Ancona also noted, ˜the radicalisation of illegal migrants to America, Penn thinks, could determine the next presidential election because their grievances will encourage their legally settled relatives to register and vote."
In his recent book, Microtrends, Penn wrote:
Just look at what has happened in the U.S. to illegal immigrants. A few years ago, they were the forgotten Americans, hiding from daylight and the authorities. Today they are holding political rallies, and given where they and their legal, voting relatives live, they may turn out to be the new Soccer Moms. Militant immigrants fed up with a broken immigration system just may be the most important voters in the next presidential election, distributed in the key Southwest states that are becoming the new battleground areas.
Penn's client, Hillary Clinton, has courted this demographic since the beginning of her campaign. In a recent interview with Hispanic Trending, Clinton said, "when I'm President, I will work to pass immigration reform that honors our history as both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws, and that includes a path to legalization."
As a senator, Clinton denounced past efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
In 2006, she criticized a House Republican bill that would have imposed harsher penalties for undocumented workers, charging that some Republicans were trying to create a "police state" to round up illegal immigrants. She later charged that the bill would "criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself," using that line again in a debate sponsored by the Spanish-language channel Univision in September.
In that debate, she said, "[the issue] is being demagogued, and I believe that it is being used to bash immigrants, and that must stop. The Republican candidates need to understand that they are doing a great disservice to our country." A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton told the New York Times after the debate that she was referring to the CNN anchor Lou Dobbs and the radio host Rush Limbaugh, among others.
She also said she supports "border security" and "in some cases a physical border."
Mark Kirkorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group which staunchly opposes illegal immigration, has some doubts about the political potency of illegal immigrants' relatives. He pointed to the short-lived impact of marches in the past two years, and two separate mobilizations this year against comprehensive immigration plans that opponents said amounted to amnesty.
As to the presidential election being determined by the political mobilization of Hispanic citizens, Kirkorian says, "it could happen if the electoral vote count is close enough, but it can only make a difference at the margins, since all Hispanics, of recent immigrant origin or not, will account for only a little more than 6 percent of the vote. The problem for Penn is that meeting the demands of the elites who claim to speak for immigrants "”amnesty for illegals, ever-looser enforcement, increased legal immigration "” holds the real potential to radicalize Americans, making immigration a much higher-saliency issue than it usually is "” and that's not a micro-trend."
The Clinton campaign has not replied to a Friday request for elaboration on Penn's remark.
By David C. Lipscomb and Gary Emerling October 9, 2007
The city of Alexandria, Va., is expected to pass a resolution tonight renewing its commitment to extend public services to illegal aliens.
"We are reaffirming and recommitting our services and outreach to international citizens," Mayor William D. Euille, a Democrat, said yesterday.
The seven-member City Council will vote on a two-page resolution that outlines Alexandria's intent to comply with state and federal immigration laws but not question the immigration status of people seeking public services.
Mr. Euille said that the resolution should pass unanimously but that Alexandria has no figures on the cost of providing services to illegal aliens.
"We haven't calculated that, and we probably won't calculate that," he said. "We have money designated for human services, but it's not broken down by race."
Alexandria must provide every resident with schooling, public health care and police protection. However, the city can extend such services as rental and burial assistance, job placement and emergency Medicaid without mandatory proof of legal residence, according to a memorandum to the resolution.
If the resolution is approved, Alexandria will follow Arlington as the second Northern Virginia jurisdiction in recent weeks to take such a stance.
The Alexandria resolution also states that police officers will check the immigration status of people who commit "serious crimes." However, that duty will be handled by the sheriff's office to keep the burden off city police, Mr. Euille said.
Alexandria Vice Mayor Redella S. Pepper, a Democrat, said the resolution is largely based on the commitment of city leaders to protect social diversity, not a direct response to other Virginia jurisdictions' cracking down on illegal aliens.
In July, Prince William and Loudoun counties passed resolutions that deny public services to illegal aliens and toughen local enforcement of immigration laws.
As a result, Prince William County police must check the immigration status of detainees if there is probable cause to think that they have violated immigration laws.
In Maryland, the Frederick Board of County Commissioners tonight also will consider whether to recommend state lawmakers introduce similar legislation in the General Assembly. The legislation must go through the Assembly because Frederick's government charter does not allow for such changes to be made.
Officials have said previously that the resolutions will likely fail in the Democrat-controlled Assembly.
The D.C. Council last week unanimously passed a resolution calling for federal enforcement of immigration laws but said the actions by Prince William and Loudoun officials were discriminatory.
"I thought someone in our jurisdiction needed to stand up to what in my view was a bullying environment," said David A. Catania, at-large independent, who brought the resolution to the council.
"The adoption of these laws "” under the guise of assisting the federal government with its immigration enforcement "” breeds a climate of fear, xenophobia and discrimination," Mr. Catania's measure reads.
The immigration debate over the past few years has been less contentious in the District than in surrounding suburbs.
But escalating tensions in the Brentwood neighborhood of Northeast between black residents and Hispanic day laborers has led council member Harry Thomas Jr., Ward 5 Democrat, to consider putting a city-funded facility at a shopping center to connect workers, including illegal aliens, with jobs, despite community opposition.
Mr. Thomas did not return a call yesterday seeking comment on the status of the center. But he and the 11 other council members joined Mr. Catania in introducing the immigration resolution.
"Our city, our region and our country in many ways heavily rely on these groups of individuals," said council member Jack Evans, Ward 2 Democrat. "We as a nation of immigrants should know better."
Posted Oct 9th 2007 6:26PM by Zac Bissonnette Filed under: Newspapers, Housing
Here's a fascinating story from
The Wall Street Journal: "Despite the downturn of the mortgage market, a type of home loan has remained surprisingly sturdy: one extended to illegal immigrants....
For loans more than 90 days in arrears, ITIN mortgages have a delinquency rate of about 0.5%, according to independent estimates. That compares with 1% for prime mortgages and 9.3% for subprime mortgages extended to those with spotty credit histories."
The Journal talks about the possibility of a weakening in this lost stronghold but there's another interesting story here: If these immigrants can pay their mortgages, why can't other people? Part of the reason could be that these mortgages are evaluated using different, more stringent metrics.
But I also wonder if too many Americans have just lost the sense of pride and commitment to keep their homes. If illegal immigrants can keep their homes, while they send money to families abroad and face tough job conditions, why can't Americans?
If immigrants can keep up with their mortgages, does it really make sense for Congress to push for bailouts for homeowners who are falling behind?
This message has been edited. Last edited by: explora,
Unlikely Mortgage Winner Illegal-Immigrant Loans Have Been Solid Bets; Threats Are Looming
By MIRIAM JORDAN October 9, 2007; Page C1
Despite the downturn of the mortgage market, a type of home loan has remained surprisingly sturdy: one extended to illegal immigrants.
Now, the question is whether these loans will continue to hold up. A number of factors "” including a possible government crackdown on illegal workers and a slowdown in job prospects for undocumented laborers "” threaten the ability of these borrowers to keep paying. And there are signs of a slowdown as some lenders have raised the interest rates they charge because of the recent mayhem in the credit markets.
Known as ITIN mortgages because applicants must have an individual taxpayer identification number, the fixed-rate loans are designed for immigrants who can prove they are creditworthy and pay taxes even though they don't have legal permanent residency in the U.S.
The mortgages represent a fraction of the $2.8 trillion mortgage market. But they are a bright spot in today's gloomy mortgage industry.
For loans more than 90 days in arrears, ITIN mortgages have a delinquency rate of about 0.5%, according to independent estimates. That compares with 1% for prime mortgages and 9.3% for subprime mortgages extended to those with spotty credit histories.
Many lenders who have sought this business remain bullish.
"Our default level is almost zero," says Scott Hastings, director of marketing for Citizens Home Loan Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based lender that is active in 33 states. The bank has been originating ITIN mortgages for almost two years, and the loans now make up about 20% of the institution's mortgage business. "It's an absolutely promising market. These Hispanic families will pay their mortgage before anything else." ... A Department of Homeland Security plan to crack down on employers of illegal immigrants is giving some banks that issue ITIN mortgages the jitters. The new policy, which has been delayed by a court challenge, would force employers to terminate workers whose Social Security numbers and names don't match. Those that don't comply would face stiff penalties or criminal prosecution.
Only one of 120 homes financed by Mitchell Bank in Milwaukee, an ITIN-mortgage pioneer, has gone into foreclosure in seven years. But, "if these immigrants start to lose their jobs, they may have trouble paying their loans," says James Mahoney, chairman of Mitchell Bank. "That would severely hurt the bank."
JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World The Rev. Michael Feliciano (right) speaks Sunday about Oklahoma's new immigration reform law to a gathering of mostly Hispanics at the Green Country Event Center in Tulsa. Seated is his wife and translator, Estele Feliciano.
By DEON HAMPTON World Staff Writer 10/1/2007
A half or more of the Hispanic population in Tulsa will move by November, a speaker said Sunday during a meeting held to discuss the state's new immigration reform law.
"That's being conservative," the Rev. Michael Feliciano of Redemptive Word Ministries told a crowd of about 150 people -- most of whom were Hispanic.
"100 percent of everyone I have talked to are planning to leave," he said.
The gathering at the Green Country Event Center, 12000 E. 31st St., was held to discuss the effects of Oklahoma House Bill 1804.
The law, which takes effect Nov. 1, requires law enforcement agencies to check the immigration status of people arrested for felonies.
"There are so many misconceptions about this law," Feliciano said.
One is that Hispanics will be targeted and purposely stopped by Tulsa police and sheriff's deputies without cause.
However, officers say that isn't true.
"People won't be pulled over for their race or religion," said Sgt. William Lewis of the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office.
The law isn't meant to be a blanket sweep for Hispanics, Lewis said.
"We make a concerted effort to comply with the law," he said.
Lewis referenced a recent incident in which a Hispanic needed assistance from Tulsa police, and although it was discovered that the person was an illegal immigrant, officers let him go because no felonious activity was suspected, Lewis said.
Thousands of people were invited to Sunday's meeting, but once they heard officers would be present, they didn't come, organizers said.
NATIONAL BRIEFS: CHERTOFF SAYS FENCE WILL IMPROVE ENVIRONMENT
By Wire Reports 10/2/2007
WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Monday defended the construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's actually better for the environment than what happens when people illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico line.
"Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas," Chertoff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."
To curb illegal immigration, the U.S. government plans to complete 370 miles of fencing and put 200 miles of vehicle barriers on the southwest border by the end of 2008. But this has brought complaints that the fence and barriers are harmful to the environment.
Chertoff said the department exceeded its goal to complete 150 miles of fencing along the Mexican border by the end of the 2007 fiscal year, which was Sunday.
Last month, Chertoff said there was glitch in a "virtual fence" -- a 28-mile stretch of surveillance technologies near the border southwest of Tucson -- and he would not pay the contractor, Boeing Co., until that was resolved. The technologies were not all working together so that images caught on radar could be sent to a Border Patrol agent monitoring the system, Chertoff said Monday.
Their parents picked them up from school in a car jam-packed with belongings and a U-haul trailer hitched to the b u mper.
That was the first sign.
When the three students did not show up for class the next morning, that is how Principal Judy Feary knew for sure that Kendall-Whittier Elementary School had lost a few more Hispanic students.
"The parents had gone home and packed during the day. They were picking up their kids and heading back to Mexico," Feary said.
Enrollment at Kendall-Whittier has rebounded significantly since the first day of school, when 18 percent of the school's 1,000 students failed to show up.
Now the school is reporting an enrollment downturn of just 40 students compared with 180 around this date in August, but Feary said more and more Hispanic students are leaving all the time for Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, California and Mexico -- anywhere but here.
"We're hearing that many of them are planning to leave in October, before the law takes effect," Feary said.
She was referring to House Bill 1804, which takes effect Nov. 1. It requires law enforcement agencies to check the immigration status of people who are arrested in felony and drunken-driving cases and also contains measures to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining employment and public benefits.
The departure of some immigrant families, combined with the reluctance of some remaining in Tulsa to send their children to school, is having an impact on schools across the city.
Gary Lytal, the assistant to the superintendent for school and district accountability, said preliminary enrollment data suggest that Tulsa Public Schools has had the smallest percentage increase in Hispanic students in recent years, up by just 0.72 percent, compared with 1 percent to 1.5 percent increases previously.
At Kendall-Whittier, 2601 E. Fifth Place, the loss of 40 students already has cost one teacher's position.
"Many of the children are stressed," Feary said. "We had one mother deported last week who was picked up on an outstanding traffic ticket. She left her children (here) with relatives. We've also had some children tell us their parents are telling them what to do if they don't come home from work, how to stay safe at home and what relatives to call.
"That's a lot of pressure to put on a child."
Rosenstein, Fist and Ringold, the law firm that represents TPS and more than 300 other school districts in Oklahoma, has advised its school clients not to ask about the citizenship of any student or differentiate between students in any special services or programs.
The difficulty in getting some students to attend school is in convincing parents that their children will be safe there.
At Celia Clinton Elementary School, 1740 N. Harvard Ave., student enrollment is up slightly. But Principal Cindy Taylor said 13 of 15 Hispanic students in prekindergarten and kindergarten who were absent on the first day of school still have not shown up.
"We've heard some of them moved to Texas or Kansas, but many of them are here, and their parents won't send them to school because they're concerned that (the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) is going to take their kids," Taylor said. "Our school interpreter tried to reassure them, but they were too afraid."
Taylor said a school employee who attends a church in the Celia Clinton neighborhood told her that its pastor was warning Hispanic parents that their children could be taken at school. She asked the employee to set the pastor straight.
"My biggest concern is that by next year, some of these kids will be really behind in language and everything else. It's going to kind of spiral down," she said.
Principal Karen Vance of Rosa Parks Elementary School in the Union district, said its number of Hispanic students has remained unchanged, but some faces are different.
"Some previous students have been replaced by new ones moving in, because some families have chosen to move to other states that have friendlier legislation," Vance said.
Administrators at Rogers High School in Tulsa apparently succeeded in preventing an enrollment decline.
The school's registrar, who is bilingual, attended a Hispanic community meeting in August to address parents' concerns and questions.
And Rogers administrators met with the priest at a nearby Catholic church with a large Hispanic population to solicit his help in reassuring parents.
"TPS is taking the stand that we're here to educate and help the students, so everyone should be enrolled," Assistant Principal Lyda Wilbur said. "We want all students to come to school regardless of their legal status."
[COMMENT BY EXPLORA: The teacher said the family was pulling a U-haul. I wasn't aware you could take a U-haul to Mexico. If not, then she might've been 'assuming' they were going to Mexico. (Another assumption?) Maybe they were going to Utah or Arkansas. Best of luck to them wherever they're heading.]
DAY LABORERS SQEEZED ON TWO SIDES LEGAL CRACKDOWN, JOB SLUMP COINCIDE
By Pamela Constable and Marcela Sanchez Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, October 10, 2007; Page A01
By sunup every day last month, the parking lot between a filling station and a paint store in Fairfax County was scattered with Latino men, many wearing clean white shirts and pants in hopes of landing a day's work painting apartment walls. They yawned, joked and sipped coffee, but their faces were hard with worry.
"I have never seen so many men out here before or so few trucks," said Vicente Crespo, 37, a Salvadoran who shares an apartment with six other Latino immigrants, five of them in the country illegally. "A year ago, I was working all month and getting $15 an hour. Now, if I'm lucky, I get a job for a few hours and they pay $10."
The reason for this growing job scarcity -- described by immigrant day laborers, counselors and employers throughout the Washington suburbs -- is an economic and legal double whammy. A sharp regional downturn in housing construction has coincided with increased government pressure on employers not to hire illegal immigrants, who have traditionally gravitated to building and remodeling jobs.
The result, they said, has been a domino effect in which spooked employers are firing skilled workers with dubious identification, who in turn are flooding street corners and job programs. There they compete with casual workers for less-skilled jobs, accepting ever lower wages and shorter hours out of desperation.
Crespo and others said the dual squeeze has dramatically changed the atmosphere and tactics of their daily job search. Before, a contractor's van would pull into a parking lot outside a gas station or convenience store. A dozen men would stroll over and bargain for a few moments over wages and hours. Now, they said, there is often a mad scramble, with everyone looking over his shoulder for police cars or immigration vans.
"There's no time to negotiate. You just grab the door handle and jump in," Crespo said. The workers still share housing and beers, hair-raising tales of desert border crossings from Mexico and photos of wives and children back in Central America. But out in the parking lot, he said, "it's every man for himself."
Latino workers expressed confusion and alarm over a bewildering variety of recent government actions designed to curb illegal immigration. In Virginia, several jurisdictions have passed or are considering measures to deny public services to illegal immigrants and empower police to arrest them. A new federal law would allow employers to be prosecuted and fined if they ignore official letters warning that some workers have false or stolen Social Security cards.
Many of the new measures have not been implemented, but the perception of a crackdown has had a palpable chilling effect. At the same time, the immigrants are finding fewer and fewer safe places to seek work. In Maryland, they are welcome at the network of job placement centers operated by the nonprofit agency CASA of Maryland, but in Virginia, the only such center, in Herndon, was besieged by controversy and shut its doors last month, leaving workers to fend for themselves.
At one informal pickup spot next to a gas station in Annandale, where dozens of jobless Latino men gathered last month, several said police were following contractors' vans and giving them tickets if they lingered too long. They said the only way to guarantee a day's work was to arrange by phone to meet a previous employer at another spot.
"We all have to have cellphones now," said German Reyes, 58, a former hospital worker from Mexico who came to Virginia in 2000, hoping to earn a better living in construction. A year or two ago, Reyes said, work was "abundant" in new housing developments, and he could make about $500 a week. Now he is reduced to part-time remodeling for less than half that amount.
The construction downturn alone has badly hurt the immigrant population, which constitutes about 14 percent of the industry's workforce, according to the Pew Hispanic Center in the District. Housing starts nationwide are down 27 percent from two years ago, according to the National Association of Home Builders. In the Washington area, single-family housing starts are at their lowest point since 1992.
The industry slump and the tough new laws against hiring illegal immigrants have particularly affected large construction companies, which hire for longer periods than small contractors, keep more written records and have more to lose if they get in trouble. Big builders are especially worried about the new federal "no-match" law -- temporarily halted by a lawsuit -- that warns them when workers have bad Social Security cards and exposes them to legal prosecution if they fail to fire those workers.
Steven Vermillion, chief executive of Associated General Contractors of Virginia, said the political and legal situation, especially Congress's failure to overhaul immigration laws this year, is making it "more cumbersome for employers to do hiring. . . . Everybody is a little bit confused."
Small contractors, whose home repair or installation businesses normally provide a fallback for immigrant workers, have also been pummeled by the region's residential real estate downturn. With thousands of area homeowners trying to sell instead of improving their property, workers say such firms are hiring less, paying less -- and sometimes not paying at all.
Day laborers in white painting clothes wait near a gas station in Annandale for jobs, which they say are both harder to find and lower-paying now. (By Pamela Constable -- The Washington Post)
On the other hand, small employers' relationships with immigrant workers tend to be more personal and their attitudes more sympathetic. Michael Histon, who owns a waterproofing firm in Mount Airy, picks up several Latino workers every morning from a day-laborer site in Wheaton operated by CASA of Maryland.
"These guys work hard, they are orderly and they never complain," Histon said. He said he made sure all his workers had proper documents but added that the crackdown on illegal immigration was a "double-edged sword."
"Let's be honest: Who is going to cut the grass and clean the bathrooms? If they were gone for three weeks, everything would come to a screeching halt," he said.
Inside the Wheaton center, where more than 50 men were waiting for jobs Friday morning, manager Tona Cravioto had other worries. From a steady average of 542 construction jobs a month, he said, clients at the site found 400 jobs in August, and he predicted that the number would fall to 200 by January.
As a result, Cravioto said he is urging men to prepare for a long, hard winter -- three months earlier than last year -- by opening savings accounts, stocking up on staples and looking for menial or indoor jobs. More than 150 have signed up for a county leaf collection program that pays barely minimum wage.
"Cold weather is a phenomenon we can prepare for. But this is something we never expected," he said. "I tell them they have to be more flexible and versatile. You may be a professional painter who could normally earn $18 an hour, but now you must be willing to do dishwashing or snow removal, too."
For a growing number of immigrant workers -- even some with legal documents -- the tradeoff no longer seems worth it. Once proud to send home a monthly money order, many say they can barely afford to pay their own rent while feeling devalued by an increasingly hostile society.
"All my life I heard about the American dream, but now I see doors closing everywhere," said Eduardo Miguel, 27, an electrical worker from Bolivia who lives in Northern Virginia. "I read about how the Irish and Italians worked their way up in American society, but I don't see the same future for us. We are losing our jobs, our mortgages and our rights. What do we have to dream about now?"
Gov. Eliot Spitzer in the Columbus Day Parade on Monday.
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and DANNY HAKIM Published: October 9, 2007
ALBANY, Oct. 8 "” Opponents have decried Gov. Eliot Spitzer's move to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants as a "passport to terror" and a "frightening" policy shift that is "dangerous and inconceivable."
They suggest that the policy will shield illegal immigrants from scrutiny by law enforcement and airport security personnel and make them appear to be in the United States legally.
But the governor's policy is drawing support from some terrorism and security experts, who, like Mr. Spitzer, regard it as a way of bringing a hidden population into the open and ultimately making the system more secure, not to mention getting more drivers on the road licensed and insured.
The success of the policy, they say, will rest on the reliability of new technology that Mr. Spitzer wants installed in Department of Motor Vehicles offices to verify the authenticity of passports and other documents that the illegal immigrants will be required to submit when applying for licenses.
Some of the new security problems predicted by critics appear unlikely, several security experts said. Having a driver's license should not make it easier to board a domestic airplane flight, because foreign passports are already accepted as identification at airports. Moreover, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said, neither a foreign passport nor an American driver's license is among the criteria used to determine whether the bearer will be subject to extra security screening.
Further, while critics have made much of the fact that several of the Sept. 11 terrorists used driver's licenses to rent vehicles and board airplanes, they were able to obtain licenses as apparently legal immigrants, if in some cases by presenting fraudulent documentation. As a result, the federal commission that investigated the attacks specifically declined to make recommendations on whether licenses should be granted to illegal immigrants, saying it was not germane to their inquiry.
"If you talk to people in the intelligence and law enforcement communities, when they're investigating terrorists or crimes or unlawful activity, they want people to be in the system, because that's how you find them," said Margaret D. Stock, an associate professor at West Point who also works for the Army as an immigration lawyer.
"I'm a Republican," she added. "I find it disturbing that people who claim to be law and order types want to let hundreds of thousands of people run around the country without any oversight when there's a war going on."
But critics of the policy see it as a retreat.
"There will no longer be any security," said Frank J. Merola, a Republican and the county clerk in Rensselaer County. A license, he said, "will no longer be different than a fraudulent document on the street."
"When a police officer walks up to a routine traffic stop," he said, "he doesn't know if someone is here legally or illegally."
Mr. Merola added that his concerns would have been allayed if the governor had proposed creating a second class of driver's license for the illegal immigrants. Chuck Canterbury, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said his group has generally opposed giving licenses to people who cannot prove they are here legally. However, he said he would not necessarily object to a system like the one Mr. Spitzer is proposing, as long as the verification technology was adequate to prevent fraud.
"We just need to know who we're stopping, and have some degree of confidence that the information is accurate," Mr. Canterbury said. "As long as they have proof of who they are, I don't think that we would object to something like that."
Under the new policy, someone applying for a license without a Social Security number would need a valid, current foreign passport, in addition to other documents that would aid in establishing the applicant's identity.
The passport's authenticity would be verified through new scanners installed at all Department of Motor Vehicles offices or at a central location by a new unit of specially trained personnel. In addition, under the policy, photo-comparison software will be tested in hopes of keeping people from getting multiple licenses under different names.
"If the photo-comparison technology works and if the D.M.V. uses effective methods for authenticating and verifying foreign-source identity documents, the future New York license will be more robust than today's driver's licenses, and of much greater use in screening and investigations involving terrorism," said Susan Ginsburg, a former staff member of the 9/11 Commission who is now a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and an adviser to the federal Department of Homeland Security.
The most important thing for investigators and intelligence officials, she added, was to be able to track suspects, legal or not.
"Consistency of identity is critical to law enforcement and counterterrorism, and it's the consistency of identity that the New York system is designed to increase," she said.
But James M. Staudenraus, an adviser to the groups 9/11 Families for a Secure America and the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, argued that forgoing a requirement for Social Security numbers meant forgoing the only reliable method for verifying someone's true identity. Foreign passports varied so widely in quality and antifraud protection, he said, that it was dangerous to rely on them.
"We can't rely on technology for verifying people's true identity," Mr. Staudenraus said.
He worries that once would-be terrorists had access to valid state driver's licenses, they would raise less suspicion. "Everyone who sees it assumes that the individual carrying it has gone under some sort of a background check," he said.
The Spitzer policy means that New York driver's licenses are unlikely to meet the federal guidelines being phased in by 2013 for a federally recognized license known as a "Real ID," which will require, among other things, proof of legal residency. Under the federal law, at that time, the Real ID or a passport would be needed to board an airplane in the United States. In that case, New York and other states may opt to offer both Real IDs for those who want them, as well as standard driver's licenses.
The dispute over the Spitzer policy appears headed for the courts.
In most upstate counties, county clerks operate centers for the Department of Motor Vehicles, and a dozen Republican clerks have threatened to defy the policy, even though they act as agents of the governor's administration. Republican lawmakers have threatened to sue to block the policy, saying the governor did not have the statutory authority to act on his own; the Spitzer administration argues that previous litigation on the matter supports their position.
Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, has called the response hysterical.
"We are not talking about letting more people into this country," he said, "we are talking about being practical about those who are already here."
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