Conservatives, labor backing amnesty bill
By Frank Davies
The Miami Herald
WASHINGTON -- On the surface, the timing looks right for legislation this fall to provide some form of amnesty for up to one million undocumented aliens, including thousands living in South Florida. The booming economy, labor shortages and two presidential candidates and political parties avidly wooing Hispanic voters have combined to reverse the anti-immigrant fervor of a few years ago.
A major bill to benefit Central Americans, Haitians and thousands of others in legal limbo even has the support of big labor, large employers and such conservative groups as Americans for Tax Reform and Empower America, headed by Jack Kemp and William Bennett.
``Weve stepped up our efforts this year for this bill,'' said Christina Howard, a lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association. She said the groups members, chain restaurants and independents, employ more immigrants than any other industry and are facing a ``huge'' labor shortage. Unions that used to be wary of immigrants as a cheap-labor threat now see them as a new source of stable membership and energy. Union leaders note that when immigrants whose legal status was in doubt tried to unionize, employers sometimes called in the Immigration and Naturalization Service as a way to blunt pro-union activities.
Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, said the measure ``is of enormous importance to our immigrant community. No matter what group youre talking to, theres help here. ``And the time is right -- this has the support of everybody from Alan Greenspan to the AFL-CIO,'' she added. ``We dont want it to be forgotten in an election year.''
Thats the problem facing the legislation, dubbed the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act. It may get lost in the political crosscurrents when Congress returns after Labor Day with just a few weeks to deal with dozens of contentious issues and one overriding priority -- its own reelection.
ISSUE AWARENESS
``The stakes are high, but I think the [immigration] issue is underappreciated by both parties,'' said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy group in Washington. So a pro-immigration coalition of groups is trying to turn up the heat for the legislation, which would do several things:
Undocumented immigrants who can prove they have lived in the United States continuously since 1986 would be eligible for permanent residency, and after two years that date would be moved up to 1991. The current date is 1972, disqualifying many immigrants. About 300,000 aliens from the 1980s applied for amnesty and won court victories, then found themselves in limbo after anti-immigration legislation in 1996 stripped the courts of jurisdiction in these cases.
Haitians, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans would have the same opportunity for permanent residency that was granted in 1997 to Nicaraguans and Cubans who were fleeing leftist and communist regimes. A change in immigration law in 1998 was designed to help some Haitians get easier access to green cards, but advocates say it was too restrictive and
implemented late.
Undocumented immigrants with work and family ties who are applying for legal status would not have to return to their country of origin while they wait. That was the case until 1997, when Congress did not renew a provision of law allowing them to stay while their status is determined.
``This is not a complete amnesty,'' said Sharry, who estimates that the bill would help one million of the estimated five million to six million undocumented aliens in the United States. Most of those affected, he said, have already applied for temporary legal status. In the Senate, the bill is sponsored by Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and three other Democrats: Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Harry Reid of Nevada and Richard Durbin of Illinois.
So far, Republican leaders in the House and Senate have blocked votes on the measure. Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who chairs the immigration subcommittee, says the moves toward partial amnesty would simply attract more undocumented aliens.
Hispanic groups are pressuring GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush, who is campaigning hard for the Hispanic vote, to lean on Congress to adopt the measure, but he has not taken a position. ``Bush has a chance to lead here with specific, bipartisan, modest proposals,'' said Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, at a recent press conference. ``Were asking that his deeds match some of his rhetoric.''
DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT
Democrat Al Gore and the Clinton White House support the measure, and Gore specifically endorsed the three provisions of the bill. ``Many Central Americans and Haitians who fled human rights abuses or unstable conditions find themselves treated differently than others who fled similar circumstances,'' Gore said. ``We should correct this long-standing injustice.''
How hard the administration will push the bill during the end-game frenzy of Congress, when many other issues are at stake, is a big question. Immigration advocates are worried that Republicans will avoid a divisive vote on the bill, while Democrats will be content to see it lose so they can seize it as a campaign issue.
``Weve got to challenge both the Republican and Democratic leadership,'' Yzaguirre said. ``Some may want to play politics with this, but for us this is a bread-and-butter issue.'' The one immigration measure many observers expected to pass Congress this year -- more temporary visas for skilled foreign high-tech workers -- has been bogged down in recent months by political infighting.
Immigration advocates say their challenge this fall is to make sure that Congress hears about the needs of low-skilled workers along with the demand for high-tech visas -- and that the two issues are not in conflict. ``Theres a golden opportunity for candidates and Congress to show some real leadership here,'' Sharry said.
South Floridians Creating Families from Afar as International Adoptions Increase
By Hellaine Anyango
Fort-Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
"Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a duck, E-I-E-I-O ... " The sound seeped from the nursery into the living room. A maze of toys of red, blue, yellow and green littered the floor. A baby table accompanied by a little red seat was tucked into a cove within the living room. By all signs, Rich and Shawn Erisman had prepared their home in the Coral Heights section of Fort Lauderdale for the arrival of their baby.
Like all new parents, they were in awe of Cavan Alexander Erisman, 19 months, their fair-skinned, blond son with clear gray eyes and a perfect smile. "He gets bored very fast," new daddy Rich Erisman said in an effort to explain the abundance of toys. Cavan is not just any baby, as his parents would be the first to proclaim. They traveled to Russia to bring him home to Florida only three weeks ago.
The Erismans are part of a growing group of Americans who are adopting babies from abroad. The National Council for Adoption says many Americans are turning to international adoption. They have doubled over the past decade, going from 7,948 in 1989, to 15,774 in 1998.
The council gives the top five source countries in 1999 as: Russia, with 4,348; China, with 4,101; Korea, with 2,008; Guatemala, with 1,002; and Romania, with 895. The top five countries accounted for more than half of the worldwide total of 16,369 last year.
NCFA founding president Bill Pierce says some Americans are wary of adopting children at home because they do not feel protected by the laws and are concerned about the tendency of courts to rule against adoptive parents in contests with birth parents. "A majority of them do not trust the judges or the state legislature to rule in their favor when it comes to illegal intrusion by biological parents," he said.
The emotional and financial investment that adoptive parents put into their children is enormous. To live with the possibility of someone turning up on their doorstep and breaking their family into pieces is what many of them admit fearing.
"I had gone through infertility treatments, endometriosis, laser surgery, artificial insemination, and when they all failed we turned to international adoption," said Shawn Erisman, Cavan's mother. "I wanted a baby in my arms. I wanted to come home and raise my child without having to worry about anybody ever taking him away from me," she said.
To many adopting parents, the leap of faith and the positive results at the end of it all are what make the experience so gratifying. Don't expect to bond right away, the adoption official had warned John Donahue and his wife, Sarah, when they went for their 27-month-old Guatemalan-born son. "But the sparks flew the moment I laid my eyes on him. I could feel this love engulfing me. Every time I looked at his little face, I couldn't contain a rush of feelings totally unknown to me from before," John Donahue said.
Doreen Kiwa, 39, of Lake Worth, feels the same rush every time she looks at her 1-year-old daughter, Lauren. She brought her daughter from Russia. "Both my grandmothers were from Russia, and deep down I felt the link with my family there," Kiwa explained.
The readiness to have children and the capability to provide a nurturing environment sometimes come late in life, and that can be one incentive to seek a child abroad.
"At the age of 45, I was getting too old to be a father by the country's regulations on domestic adoption. When my wife and I came to the realization all the miracles of science could not give us our own flesh-and-blood baby, we opted for international adoption," said John Donahue, who is a supervisor at Big Cypress National Preserve.
Pierce of the adoption council said he expects the numbers of international adoptions to stay on the rise because of a bill pending in the U.S. Congress, the Hague Convention for Inter-Country Adoption. He said if the bill passes, which is likely, it will reduce paperwork and prevent fraud in international adoptions. It would institute a central office in each country to ensure there is one authoritative source of information and point of contact. The idea is to cut down on unauthorized agencies that do not follow the right procedures, are prone to fraud, and could compromise children's safety.
Bureaucratic delays and paperwork can be a significant problem for the prospective adoptive parent. "My wife left her work to deal with the paperwork. It took us one year from the start to the finish," said John Donahue.
"International adoption has its ups and downs ... there are so many trivial details. The embassy of the government you have been working with closes down, the government official goes on vacation, lost paperwork, not to mention USCIS and FBI," he said, referring to required immigration and criminal background checks.
Kiwa, the Lake Worth adoptive mother, had other problems. "You are sometimes required to attend two court sessions in some countries before you take the baby," she said. "I wish the U.S. government could work with the foreign countries' governments to make the process faster."
The waiting and the anxiety clearly show that international adoption is not all cuddly babies and happy endings. Charlotte Danciu, a Miami-based attorney specializing in domestic adoption, argues that in many cases, people have run overseas only to find the children have hepatitis or are HIV-positive.
Jill Scott, a consultant for Adoption Source, agreed there is often very little or no medical information on the children. But she said the agencies try to give prospective parents all the information they have.
"They get video shots of the child's facial characteristics, obtain measurements of the head, and they keep records of their development milestones, like walking, coordination and recognition of people," Scott said. "All the information gathered is aimed at lowering the risk of bringing in a sick child."
"We have realized that a lot of these medical problems can be solved, by good nutrition and physical therapy," added Paul Lesnik, a social worker with Adoption Source. And luck may play a role. The Erismans' baby is a perfect example. "We were told to expect him to be slow, to be behind in his shots," said Rick Erisman, "but he is so full of energy that he tires me out. He is just like any other regular kid around here, if not better."
Brought up in the regimental orphanage in Russia with numbers as identification tags, Cavan knows, even at his tender age, that every time he goes outdoors he has to have his hat on to protect his skin. "He is just too conscious of his schedule," said his father, "but he is also very conscious of when his mother comes back home and he runs to the door to meet her."
Judge Frees Iraqi Dissident Accused by U.S. of Spying
The San Francisco Chronicle
Los Angeles -- Calling charges of espionage ``ill- founded,'' an immigration judge set free Iraqi dissident yesterday who had been jailed for nearly four years based on secret government evidence suggesting he was a spy for a Middle Eastern country. Dr. Ali Yasin Mohammed Karim, 39, walked out of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Detention Center shortly after 3 p.m., accompanied by his brother and his attorneys. ``I was kept for four years by the USCIS for things I never heard about,'' said Karim. ``I am innocent, but I have paid a high price.'' Karim was part of a group of six dissidents evacuated from Iraq by the United States in March 1997 only to be jailed by the USCIS and threatened with deportation. The case against them was based on classified evidence kept secret from defense attorneys during immigration hearings in 1997 and
1998. After the information was released, five of the Iraqis accepted an offer to remain in Nebraska until they could relocate to another democratic country. Karim, however, decided to fight the charges and pressed his claim for political asylum. He was retried in April by U.S. Immigration Judge D.D. Sitgraves, who originally concluded that he was a national security
threat. In reversing her earlier decision, Sitgraves said that Karim ``has sufficiently demonstrated that the government's claims were ill-founded,'' and concluded that the screening process used by the FBI was insufficient and conducted by agents who had limited knowledge of Iraq and its people.
Lott to Push H-1B Bill
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Washington -- Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott will negotiate with Democrats next week on a bill raising the number of visas for high-skilled foreign workers, Lott told reporters Thursday. The Republican leader will seek to limit amendments to the bill, allowing the long-stalled measure to move toward passage. The tech industry welcomed the prospect of compromise on the H-1B visas, one if its top priorities in the waning weeks of the congressional session. Lott's promise is "one giant step in the right direction," said Connie Correll, a spokeswoman for the Information Technology Industry Council. "If the Senate moves it, then it puts pressure on the House to do the same."
The H-1B visas allow skilled foreigners, such as computer programmers and engineers, to work in the United States for up to six years. Technology-driven companies say they are facing a worker shortage so severe that only an immediate infusion of foreign talent will help. A spirit of compromise appeared to be spreading as industry steps up its fierce lobbying for the visa bill.
"This week, we've heard lot of positive talk" among key members of Congress, Correll said. "We're very optimistic that the talk is going to turn into something" that can pass both the House and Senate. That the bill has not already passed may seem strange, considering that both Democrats and Republicans support the effort to nearly double the number of visas granted each year to 200,000.
But partisan fighting broke out this summer. The flash point came when Hispanic groups began pushing Congress to link H-1B legislation to a separate measure granting legal residency to as many as 2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States since 1986. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who along with Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) co-authored a bipartisan bill for expanding H-1B visas, surprised Republicans when she suddenly agreed with the Hispanic groups.
She sent a letter to Dreier saying the two issues ought to be linked. That infuriated Republicans, who insisted the White House was trying to use the immigration amnesty bill to make the GOP appear unfriendly to Hispanic voters during an election year. Tech lobbyists overwhelmingly have sided with Republicans in saying that the complex amnesty issue should not be tied
to the high-tech visas.
Ron Eckstein, a spokesman for Lofgren, insists Democrats were just trying to be helpful, believing that linking the issues would get the Hispanic Caucus to support high-tech legislation. "At one point, we suggested in a letter ... that it might be a good strategy to include these (amnesty issues) because it might help grow the vote," he said.
Richard Mills, a spokesman for Dreier, said the letter was never intended to be helpful, and in fact "derailed the House and Senate H-1B bills by inserting unrelated immigration issues into the debate." Now lawmakers are trying to get back on track. But the clock may be running down, as Congress has set a target adjournment date of Oct. 6 so members can hit the campaign trail.
Immigration Statute Found Discriminatory Bathers
By Mark Hamblett
New York Law Journal
A statute that grants citizenship to the children born abroad of American mothers, but does not do the same for children of American fathers, has been found unconstitutional by the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. The court found in Lake v. Reno, 99-4125, that a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) violated the right to equal protection under the law, and that Frederick A. Lake, the Jamaican-born son of an American father, was a citizen of the United States. At issue is Section 309(a) of the INA, which confers citizenship on a child born out of wedlock if the father, an American citizen, establishes the child's paternity before the child reaches age 21.
In contrast, Section 309(c) states that a person born outside of the United States to a mother who is a U.S. citizen is a citizen if the mother had previously been "physically present" in the U.S. for a "continuous period of one year." Frederick Lake was convicted of armed robbery in a New York State court in 1991 and served a prison sentence until 1997, the year that his father, Joseph Lake, died. Facing deportation, Lake challenged the constitutionality of Section 309(a), arguing that the INA does not impose the same burden for citizen mothers and therefore violates his right to equal protection.
The Board of Immigration Appeals, upholding the ruling of an immigration judge, denied Lake's request for a termination of removal proceedings and ordered him removed. The BIA also found that it lacked jurisdiction to consider Lake's constitutional challenges. On appeal, Circuit Judge John M. Walker Jr., said the first issue to be resolved was one of standing. He said that "like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, a Supreme Court decision sits squarely in the middle of this case."
The case is Miller v. Albright, 523 U.S. 420 (1998), which Walker said involved a challenge that was "nearly identical" to the Lake case. In Miller, a daughter born abroad to an American citizen father asserted an equal protection claim on behalf of her father. The case was decided 6-3, with the majority, for a variety of reasons, accepting the arguments of the government to uphold the statute. Five different justices wrote opinions. Three justices dissented, saying they believed Section 309 was unconstitutional.
Two other justices said they would agree that the statute was unconstitutional, but declined to reach that result because, in their view, the plaintiff in Miller lacked standing to bring the challenge. While the majority in Miller declined to rule the statute was unconstitutional, Walker said that "after analyzing and parsing the opinions of the justices in Miller as the law of the circuit suggests we should, we are convinced that the Court would have reached a different result had this case been before it."
Walker said seven of the nine justices in Miller had no problem with the petitioner's standing in that case, and logically, would have accepted that Lake had standing in this case. "Joseph Lake died before the USCIS commenced removal proceedings against his son," he said. "At the time that the necessity for Lake's constitutional challenge became apparent, Joseph Lake was irrevocably and finally hindered from vindicating his own rights, and we will not speculate as to his earlier
intentions."
FIFTH AMENDMENT CITED
Having decided that Frederick Lake had standing, Walker said the 2nd Circuit believed that the Supreme Court, subjecting the statute to heightened scrutiny, "would have found the government's justification for the statute insufficient to satisfy that standard." "We hold that Section 309(a) violates the equal protection rights of citizen fathers as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment," he said. The court said that the "gender-based distinction mandated" by Section 309(a) of the INA violates Joseph Lake's right to equal protection. The court went on to reject a final claim of the government that the 2nd Circuit has no authority to grant citizenship. While the court agreed it does not have such authority, Walker said that "Lake is not an alien who seeks naturalization as an equitable remedy." "It is Lake's claim that Congress conferred citizenship upon him at birth, and he merely asks the court to recognize his status, not to confer citizenship." Senior Circuit Judge James L. Oakes and Judge Damon J. Keith of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals joined in the opinion.
Welcome Centers Aid Refugees, Immigrants
By Lynn Olamoto
The De Moines Register
Gov. Tom Vilsack announced the opening of two welcome centers for new residents Wednesday. He called it a first step toward getting Iowans to understand and accept immigration. "What we fail to do at the state level is to have a comprehensive plan and strategy that helps to make that transition easier," Vilsack said. The state's first New Iowan Centers are in Muscatine and Sioux City. They will help immigrants and refugees get settled in Iowa with English-as-a-second-language classes, job placement and support services for child care, transportation and housing. Iowa Workforce Development offices in Storm Lake and Waterloo will also carry pamphlets in other languages, ensure that staff members can speak multiple languages, and offer to help businesses be sensitive to cultural diversity. Vilsack says the state needs more immigrants to help address its labor shortage. The state must grow over the next decade for businesses to have the people they need to succeed, he maintains. A majority of Iowans are opposed to immigrants settling here, according to a recent survey. The Iowa Poll sponsored by The Des Moines Register showed earlier this month that 58 percent of Iowa adults oppose a state policy to encourage immigration. "I'm not surprised by the poll results because I think we've not done a very good job at putting the right face on immigration," Vilsack said. "It's a bargain," the governor said. "America has opportunity, but immigrants have a responsibility to work hard and to be part of America." Vilsack said Iowa took a planned approach in the 1970s when it invited southeast Asians to the state. Iowa performed worse in the 1990s, when it let companies dictate the pace of immigration, he said. "When we did it in a planned way, when we had community buy-in before people arrived, it was very successful," Vilsack said. Five thousand immigrants come to Iowa each year. The New Iowan Centers are paid for with $160,000 set aside by state lawmakers this year. Legislators approved the money while rejecting a bill designating English as the official state language.
Immigration Fraud Seen as Low Priority in S. Fla.
By Jacqueline Charles and Cindy Krischer Goodman
The Miami Herald
On the same day in June that a Miami couple was convicted in a Utah courtroom for defrauding 1,200 immigrants out of $4 million, it was business as usual on South Florida streets where law enforcement authorities say dozens of phony immigration advisors regularly cheat their clients. It was no coincidence that Leonardo Caballero and his wife, Flor, were prosecuted in Utah and not Miami for defrauding hundreds of South Florida immigrants. In South Florida, prosecuting immigration fraud is not considered a top priority. Nearly three years ago, Miami law enforcement officials were told how the Caballeros were systematically cheating their vulnerable clients. They were accused of contacting illegal aliens throughout the United States and flying them into Miami in groups of 50, promising them green cards and work permits for $3,000 or more.
Months later, South Florida officials handed off the case after learning that Utah officials were investigating the Caballeros' operation. Immigration fraud is a priority crime in Utah. ``While white collar cases are traditionally difficult to investigate and prosecute, I will not hesitate to use every resource at my disposal to investigate, prosecute and punish these criminals,'' said Paul M. Warner, the U.S. Attorney for Utah, whose office prosecuted the Caballeros. RULES ARE DIFFERENT
The attitude is different in South Florida, where neither the state attorney's office nor the U.S. attorney's office confronts the problem with the same resources devoted to combating public corruption, robbery and burglary. ``We don't want to minimize the importance of immigration fraud, but we also have a lot going on down here,'' said Barry Sabin, first assistant U.S. Attorney in Miami. Said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle: ``If it is a problem, then I'd like to know about it. I'd like to see cases coming in; I would like to see the cases prepared so I can address those issues and hold people accountable.''
Fredric A. Kerstein, Rundle's deputy chief for prosecutions, said cases do come in, but in order to pursue unscrupulous operators, prosecutors must be able to establish a pattern of fraud and that requires police investigation. ``Will they conduct an investigation? They rarely will do it because it's a first-degree misdemeanor,'' he said.
Meanwhile, other states have declared war on immigration fraud and lawmakers are cracking down. In California, legislators are pushing for tighter restrictions on immigration consultants and for improved laws to help victims get restitution. For the last two years, California officials have been tackling the problem by enforcing a 14-year-old state statute that regulates immigration consultants, seeking stronger new laws and focusing community awareness on their efforts to crack down on fraudulent immigration operators. Consultants in California must register with the state and post a bond to ensure their clients are not cheated.
Florida has no such statute. Nor does Florida have any coordinated effort among the various agencies to combat what immigration advocates call an ``overwhelming'' and ``rampant'' problem. At least one state lawmaker, Sen. Skip Campbell, D-Tamarac, said it may be time for Florida to consider following California's initiative and regulate consultants. Campbell, a lawyer, sponsored a bill in the Florida Legislature last session strengthening the laws against unlicensed doctors. He thinks something similar can be done with immigration consultants.
``If California did it, I don't know why Florida can't do it,'' Campbell said. ``They have to be regulated. They are unregulated and what you have is fraud. Accountants are regulated, engineers, cosmetologists, massage therapists. If you have people out there doing things hurting the general public, we should protect them. That is what government is there for.''
SOLVING A PROBLEM In California there is a joint effort to solve the problem. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, local police and community groups are working together.
Assemblywoman Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, sponsored a bill now moving through the California Legislature that would increase the penalties against fraudulent consultants from $10,000 to $100,000 and force licensed consultants to publish their state ID number in all advertising and correspondence and state they are not attorneys.
Said Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti who made prosecuting immigration fraud a top priority two years ago: ``I believe any prosecutorial agency should be more than an agency that prosecutes after a crime has been committed, but should be a leader in trying to prevent crimes.'' As in South Florida, there was no crowd of victims coming forward, no phones ringing off the hook, Garcetti said. Instead, the impetus, he said, came from listening to the community. He decided to act after hearing the horror stories being told by Latinos, Asians and other immigrant groups on how they were being duped by unscrupulous notaries advertising themselves as lawyers in the various foreign-language yellow pages and promising green cards.
``Once we started scratching the surface, we discovered that this is a huge problem,'' said Garcetti, whose father was from Mexico. ``I know the difficulties all immigrant families go through. I know how hard working they are and how difficult life is for immigrants in this community. For them to be working hard, and have hopes and dreams, and have an unscrupulous con artist come in and do them wrong was just unacceptable for me.''
``No one deserves to be the victim of a crime or fraudulent activity, no matter who they are,'' said Kathleen Tuttle, one of two assistant district attorneys assigned to immigration fraud cases in Los Angeles County. ``No one deserves to be ripped off and have their life savings taken by a con artist.'' SIMILAR STORIES In South Florida, immigrants from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Brazil, Jamaica and elsewhere tell similar stories of losing hard earned money to unscrupulous consultants.
In Los Angeles County, officials are keeping track. Since 1998, Garcetti's office has prosecuted 30 cases related to immigration fraud -- illegal aliens swindled out of money. The number isn't huge, Garcetti conceded, but by publicizing the arrests, and doing periodic sweeps, his office is letting people know that law enforcement cares, and consultants should obey the law, he said. And that means letting consultants know what they can and can't do under the law. ``They can't represent they are a lawyer if they are not,'' Tuttle said. ``They can't promise they have a special connection in the BCIS. They are supposed to have a bond with the secretary of state office and tell customers what they are.''
Last year, Romero and other state lawmakers voted to increase the amount consultants must bond from $25,000 to $50,000. Some lawmakers this session are talking about increasing it even higher to $100,000. The bond is used to give victims restitution should they be defrauded. Florida does not require consultants to post a bond or to register with any state agency, making it difficult for victims to get their money back. California lawmakers also are looking at creating a safe haven for immigrants to report fraud, without the fear that they will be deported. The complaining victim's illegal immigration status creates problems, Florida prosecutors say.
``These cases are incredibly difficult to prosecute,'' said Howard Pohl, an assistant state attorney in Miami-Dade. ``The problem is getting witnesses to come forward. Many are either here illegally or their status is shaky. They're incredibly fearful that if they come forward, they'll be deported. There's no immunity for those who are illegal but assist prosecutors.'' DEAL IN L.A. Although USCIS has not guaranteed the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office that it will not deport victims, prosecutors say the two agencies have an understanding and victims are assured by prosecutors that the information they provide won't be used to deport them. ``We have assured them, you step forward, you are not going to be reported to BCIS. It's a very difficult line,'' Garcetti said. ``You do put yourself at risk, but our relationship with USCIS is very good. They understand what we are trying to do. They understand the larger picture. We seem to be quite successful in moving and getting the word out through prosecutions and word of mouth in the community.''
Linda Osberg-Braun, a former USCIS attorney who sits on the Florida Bar Unlicensed Practice of Law immigration committee, said a similar policy would encourage more victims to come forward in South Florida. ``The first thing that has to be done for the vulnerable foreign national is the fear factor has to be eliminated -- getting Braun said. ``Also, resources have to be dedicated to show people who do this are getting caught. One big case like Caballero could send a resounding message to others in the business here that they can't get away with it.''
SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES Osberg-Braun and others say there also has to be more serious consequences for those who are found guilty. In the few instances where operators have been charged with theft or organized fraud -- more than $50,000 -- actual case files show they rarely get jail time. Often, those who get caught just pick up and do it again, Osberg-Braun said.
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois, says change could result from a national policy. He is planning to file a congressional bill that would require nonlawyer consultants who provide paid immigration assistance to obtain a license from BCIS. It also would prevent USCIS from using the information obtained in fraud investigations to deport undocumented immigrants.
Russ Bergeron, a spokesman for USCIS in Washington, D.C., said any decision to regulate consultants through the agency would have to come from the administration. ``I think ultimately that is an issue that should be decided by Congress as to whether or not there needs to be some sort of standardized regulation of that particular industry,'' he said. But like any type of fraud, Bergeron said, the best solution is ``Buyer Beware.''
``The more the public is informed and educated about free assistance available to them, the less likely they are to become victims of exploitation,'' he said. SOME HELP John Shewairy, chief of staff with USCIS in Miami, said he would like to think that national regulation of consultants would help. ``The hard-core individuals who have been doing it for years, I doubt it would affect them because they're so good at manipulating the system,'' he said. ``But it might keep individuals thinking about it from going into business.''
Not everyone is sold on the idea of licensing or registering consultants and forcing them to post a bond. Florida critics fear it would legitimize an industry undeserving of such recognition. Even Tuttle, the Los Angeles County prosecutor, concedes that the law is a mixed blessing. ``On the one hand, it gives immigration consultants a kind of polished name,'' she said. ``The word consultant implies someone has special education and training, and they don't have to have either. But the good part is, it has about five prongs under which we can prosecute.''
Mary Ellen Bateman, deputy director of the Florida Bar's Legal Division, said she is not totally convinced it would be advantageous in Florida. ``It's a very difficult question,'' she said. ``By setting up some kind of regulation scheme, we would be permitting it. And if so, what should their training and education be?'' The Florida Bar, which investigates nonlawyers who charge for legal advice, has created a committee in Miami solely to look into immigration complaints. It pursues all complaints and often asks the court to force illicit operators to stop. EDUCATE IMMIGRANTS Bateman said the Bar, through pamphlets, has attempted to educate immigrants about the scams. She questions whether a registry would only exacerbate the problem.
``The USCIS registration scares me,'' she said. ``That's what they are going to have in their ads. The public will believe because they are registered by USCIS that's OK.'' The more beneficial route, she said, would be education. That's a point on which all interested parties agree. ``It's better to get to the consumer and help them understand the difference between an attorney in the United States, and say an abogado. I am not sure individuals really understand that and I don't know if we do a good job in helping them understand that,'' Bateman said.
Attorney Cheryl Little thinks education would help, but more extreme solutions might be needed. As executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, Inc., which provides free legal advice to immigrants, Little often has to clean up problems created by unscrupulous consultants. ``There has to be a concerted effort to shut these offices down,'' she said.
USCIS is Sued over Delays in Processing Applications
The Los Angeles Times
A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the Immigration and Naturalization Service of placing thousands of immigrants at risk of deportation by failing to promptly process their applications to remain in the United States. The lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of the children and spouses of immigrants who have obtained permanent legal resident status under a 1986 amnesty law. A subsequent program, known as Family Unity, allows the relatives of those residents to live and work in the United States while their own applications for permanent residency are processed.
http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/20000829/t000081168.html
US Tries Spy Tactics to Stop Human Smugglers
By Scott Baldauf
The Christian Science Monitor
They've come a long way from the mom-and-pop scofflaws who would guide immigrants across the Rio Grande for a hundred bucks and the thrill of it. These days, smugglers have infrared scopes, two-way radios, and computer databases to keep track of each immigrant, how much they have paid, and where they are supposed to go. It is this new breed of smuggler - call them "Coyote 2.0" - that has forced the US Immigration and Naturalization Service to make monumental changes in its border strategy. Now, after a decade or so of building up personnel and equipment in military-style "operations," the USCIS is breaking out the wiretaps, sending in the undercover agents, and opting for a little cloak and dagger. If it works, the BCIS's pumped-up efforts in targeting smugglers will likely be hailed as a cost-efficient and humane solution to America's immigration problems. If it fails, the strategy is likely to invite calls for a complete change in the country's goals and policies. "What it tells me is that the Border Patrol and these USCIS operations are only a part of what needs to be a broad strategy on immigration," says Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. "More agents on the border and even individual operations are insufficient, but they happen to be politically easy things to do."
The change in approach was announced earlier this month by Doris Meissner, USCIS commissioner, during a visit to southern Arizona, where Border Patrol agents are catching more than 60,000 illegal immigrants a month. Referring to Operations Hold the Line in El Paso, Texas, Gatekeeper in San Diego, and Rio Grande in south Texas, Ms. Meissner said, overall, USCIS policies were "working," but acknowledged the USCIS had underestimated how many immigrants would risk their lives in Arizona deserts.
In some ways, the local Border Patrol has already begun taking steps to target smugglers. Tucson, Ariz., sector chief David Aguilar has begun working closely with local law enforcement, and even the state health department, to coordinate efforts to shut down the "drop houses," where dozens of immigrants cram into small rooms, waiting for their rides up north. In addition, Meissner says, plainclothes agents will now patrol the airports in Phoenix and Las Vegas, two major hubs for immigrant smuggling.
But targeting smugglers will go far beyond all that, officials say. The USCIS has received two important powers in the past few years: In 1997, Congress authorized the USCIS to tap phone conversations and e-mail, and just this month, Congress gave the USCIS the power to seize the assets of accused smugglers. With these new tools, the USCIS will likely resemble a hybrid of the anti-Mafia techniques of the FBI and the drug-war policies of the Drug Enforcement Agency. Consider Operation Seek and Keep, a year-long 1998 sting operation that dismantled a $200 million smuggling ring based in Dallas. Led by alleged ringleader Nick Diaz, aka Nitin Shettie, the group is believed to have smuggled as many as 12,000 Indian nationals and other foreigners through Russia and Cuba to transit sites in Ecuador, the Bahamas, and Mexico. Some immigrants paid as much as $20,000 apiece to be smuggled from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and India, to safe houses in 38 states of the US. The case is still pending.
Mike McMahon, head of an USCIS investigation unit in Houston, predicts that the USCIS will break up more smuggling networks, particularly in hubs like Houston and Phoenix, where smugglers tend to transport and hold immigrants in "safe houses." By identifying large flows of money and recurring calls to certain host countries, Mr. McMahon says his unit is close to breaking a case that could be just as large as "Seek and Keep." The irony, says McMahon, is that USCIS success in shutting down illegal entry points in major urban areas, such as south Texas, El Paso, and San Diego, has forced smugglers to cooperate with one another, and form sophisticated networks capable of delivering immigrants from multiple countries to virtually any destination in the US. "Operation Rio Grande, as we added large numbers of Border Patrol agents, made the smugglers work together and create new schemes to get these people into the country," says McMahon. "It's organized crime. They've become much more sophisticated, and so are our efforts over the last several years."
The BCIS's new approach is drawing plaudits from both immigrants-rights groups and advocates for stricter immigration laws. "It makes sense to go after the problem in the interior of the state instead of just at the border," says Sen. Jon Kyl (R) of Arizona. While he and other critics of the administration's border policies consider this step a long time in coming, he notes, "I'm just glad they're doing what they're doing." For Judy Mark, spokeswoman for the Washington-based immigrant-rights group National Immigration Forum, focusing on smuggling networks could help reduce the number of border deaths - more than 280 since last October. "It makes the most sense economically and from a human rights perspective to focus on the individuals who are not only flagrantly breaking the law, but also abusing immigrants at the same time," she says.
But pro-business and civil-liberties groups argue that nothing will solve the American immigration problem, as long as immigrants can earn more money in the US than they can back home.
"The problem with illegal immigration is not the immigration; it's that it's illegal," says Dan Griswold, associate director of the Center for Trade Policies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington. Noting the BCIS's new strategy, he sighs. "It's just another example of government trying to stop people from doing something that is natural, to better their conditions."
But the limit of US abilities to control the flow of immigrants will depend on political will, and Mr. Krikorian says neither the Congress nor the White House have shown a great deal of that. For example, a few years ago, USCIS agents cracked down on undocumented Mexican laborers harvesting Vidalia onions in Georgia. Farmers and immigrant-rights groups protested to congressmen, who called on the White House to stop targeting farm labor in the interior of the US. Similar protests arose when the USCIS raided meat-processing plants in Nebraska under Operation Vanguard. "Congress has made it quite clear that the USCIS is not to enforce the law that Congress itself passed," says Krikorian. "But if you're not going to round up illegal aliens where they are working, where are you going to find them?"