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NEWS BYTES


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Last week an INS asylum officer was indicted on charges of demanding sex and
money from two Chinese women.  Last year, the two women filed a civil lawsuit
against Thomas Powell seeking $10 million.  If convicted of the criminal
charges, Powell could face up to 31 years in prison.  He is the third person
in the INS Los Angeles district to be criminally charged in the past month.

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INS officials in Tennessee recently [arrested] five people and confiscated
nearly 1000 fraudulent documents in what they say is the largest and most
sophisticated document fraud ring in the area.

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An INS sting operation last week in Atlanta resulted in the arrest of 19
people believed to be in the US without authorization.  While the nationality
of those arrested has not been revealed, officials do say that several are
from Pakistan.  The 19 were among 37 arrested throughout the Southeast.
Officials say that there is no indication that any of those arrested are
connected to terrorism.

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A Boston area man was recently indicted on charges of forgery and making false
statements in part of a scam to cheat undocumented immigrants.  According to
authorities, Gaspard Francois, a permanent resident and citizen of Haiti,
conned at least five undocumented immigrants from Costa Rica into believing
that he was an INS agent and giving him $3,000.

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Two nationals of the Czech Republic recently pled not guilty to charges of
enticing undocumented immigrants to come to the US to work.  According to
authorities, the two men, who themselves remained in the US after their
allowed time, recruited people from Eastern Europe to work as janitors for
their business.

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Last week, the Supreme Court granted the government’s request that it hear a
case on when immigrant detainees must be released from INS custody while they
are in deportation proceedings.  The case deals with a 1996 law that calls for
the mandatory detention of any person being detained for deportation on the
basis of a wide number of crimes classified as aggravated felonies.  The
government says that such detention is necessary to prevent the detainees from
fleeing before they are deported and to protect the public.

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Following the events of September 11th, record numbers of people applied for
US citizenship.  Now, about nine months later, many of these applications have
been approved and this Independence Day is seeing many new citizens experience
their first Fourth of July.

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A federal judge recently ruled that undocumented minors have no right to free
legal counsel in their deportation proceedings.  The decision was based on the
long standing rule that in deportation proceedings, unlike a criminal trial,
there is no right to counsel.

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Four teenage boys who pled guilty to beating a group of elderly migrant
workers near San Diego, California in 2000 were recently sentenced.  The case
received substantial attention because of the youth of the boys, ages 14 to 17
at the time, and because it was one of the first cases in which prosecutors
used a law to enhance the punishment for juveniles convicted of certain
offenses.  Four other boys will be sentenced later this month.

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As many as 1,700 Mexican workers are expected to receive part of a settlement
from their employer, DeCoster Egg Farms, based in Maine.  Fourteen employees
sued the company in 1998, claiming that the company discriminated against
Hispanic workers.  The total value of the settlement is about $ 3.2 million,
and covers people who worked there between 1988 and 1997.

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The Mexican government recently announced that it expects to issue more than
one million identification documents, known as matricula consular this year.
Last year, about 600,000 were issued.  As of June this year, more than 500,000
had been issued.  Many cities accept the document as proof of identification,
and a number of banks have allowed people to use them to open accounts.

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The US Commission on Civil Rights recently announced that it would investigate
claims of abuse by immigrants detained in the Clay County (Florida) judge.
According to advocates, detainees in the facility are routinely beaten and
denied medical care.



"Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon...must inevitably come to pass" (J. Meyers).

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