The Obama administration is spending $4 million on lawyers for unaccompanied immigrant children in deportation proceedings, a move an influential Republican lawmaker says is illegal and will fuel an increase in illegal immigration.
Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, said on Tuesday that it is the first time the office that oversees programs for unaccompanied immigrant children will provide money for direct legal representation.
The grants to two organizations are part of a bigger $9 million project that aims to provide lawyers to 2,600 children. The move comes after the number of unaccompanied Central American children arriving on the U.S.-Mexico border more than doubled this past year, many of them fleeing violence.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said the funding violates federal law “and only makes the problem worse by encouraging more illegal immigration in the future.” He urged the government to focus its efforts on deterring future border crossers.
Most of the nearly 60,000 unaccompanied children who arrived on the border in the last year don’t have attorneys, and immigrant advocates have been scrambling to secure grant funding and ramp up efforts to recruit and train pro bono lawyers to take on their cases.
After being detained by federal authorities, children are placed in shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services until they can be released to a relative or sponsor in the United States. The children are then given a date to appear in immigration court for deportation proceedings, though many will seek to remain in the country by applying for asylum or other forms of immigration relief.
In the past, Wolfe’s agency has funded know-your-rights presentations, legal screenings and efforts to recruit and train pro bono lawyers, but not direct legal representation, he said. The grants issued to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants for legal services in cities including Los Angeles, Houston and Miami would be formally announced later in the week, Wolfe said.
Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy for the bishops’ organization, said the funding is an important first step. “It is a recognition that many of these children have valid protection claims and they need legal help to navigate the process,” he said.
Immigrants are allowed to have counsel in immigration courts, but lawyers are not guaranteed or provided at government expense. Immigrant advocates have filed a federal lawsuit in Seattle demanding the government provide attorneys for the children.
Having a lawyer can make a big difference: While almost half of children with attorneys were allowed to remain in the country, only 10 percent of those without representation were allowed to stay, according to an analysis of cases through June by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced plans to enroll about 100 lawyers and paralegals as members of AmeriCorps to provide legal assistance to unaccompanied immigrant children.
Immigration Issues
Politics & Government
illegal immigration
Source Article from http://news.yahoo.com/us-government-funds-lawyers-immigrant-children-230535479.html U.S. government funds lawyers for immigrant children http://news.yahoo.com/us-government-funds-lawyers-immigrant-children-230535479.html http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=immigrant immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The Obama administration is spending $4 million on lawyers for unaccompanied immigrant children in deportation proceedings, a move an influential Republican lawmaker says is illegal and will fuel an increase in illegal immigration.
Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, said on Tuesday that it is the first time the office that oversees programs for unaccompanied immigrant children will provide money for direct legal representation.
The grants to two organizations are part of a bigger $9 million project that aims to provide lawyers to 2,600 children. The move comes after the number of unaccompanied Central American children arriving on the U.S.-Mexico border more than doubled this past year, many of them fleeing violence.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, said the funding violates federal law “and only makes the problem worse by encouraging more illegal immigration in the future.” He urged the government to focus its efforts on deterring future border crossers.
Most of the nearly 60,000 unaccompanied children who arrived on the border in the last year don’t have attorneys, and immigrant advocates have been scrambling to secure grant funding and ramp up efforts to recruit and train pro bono lawyers to take on their cases.
After being detained by federal authorities, children are placed in shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services until they can be released to a relative or sponsor in the United States. The children are then given a date to appear in immigration court for deportation proceedings, though many will seek to remain in the country by applying for asylum or other forms of immigration relief.
In the past, Wolfe’s agency has funded know-your-rights presentations, legal screenings and efforts to recruit and train pro bono lawyers, but not direct legal representation, he said. The grants issued to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants for legal services in cities including Los Angeles, Houston and Miami would be formally announced later in the week, Wolfe said.
Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy for the bishops’ organization, said the funding is an important first step. “It is a recognition that many of these children have valid protection claims and they need legal help to navigate the process,” he said.
Immigrants are allowed to have counsel in immigration courts, but lawyers are not guaranteed or provided at government expense. Immigrant advocates have filed a federal lawsuit in Seattle demanding the government provide attorneys for the children.
Having a lawyer can make a big difference: While almost half of children with attorneys were allowed to remain in the country, only 10 percent of those without representation were allowed to stay, according to an analysis of cases through June by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced plans to enroll about 100 lawyers and paralegals as members of AmeriCorps to provide legal assistance to unaccompanied immigrant children.
Immigration Issues
Politics & Government
illegal immigration
Source Article from http://news.yahoo.com/government-funds-lawyers-immigrant-kids-204448811.html Government funds lawyers for immigrant children http://news.yahoo.com/government-funds-lawyers-immigrant-kids-204448811.html http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=immigrant immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results
The logo of Pole Emploi, the French national employment agency, sits on documents inside a job center in Cahors, France, on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014. Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
This summer, the Monkey Cage ran a series of posts debating whether the news about Muslim integration in France was good or bad. On one hand, scholars have argued that large proportions of Muslims claim they feel French. Yet others have emphasized instead that Muslims in France remain distinctive on a number of key integration measures. A possible explanation for apparently contradictory findings is that integration can be an elusive term, and our conclusions depend on how integration is measured.
This may be true, but a more likely explanation is that existing research is not actually measuring Muslim integration in France. To do so, one would have to compare two groups of immigrants who are similar in all respects except for their religious identity, an incredibly difficult task in France, where most Muslim immigrants come from North Africa and with few non-Muslim counterparts. In the Trajectories and Origins survey employed by Bleich and Maxwell, for example, 56 percent of the Muslim sample is Maghrebi, such that any characteristic of that sample can be attributable to the fact that it is Maghrebi as much as to the fact that it is Muslim. If we want to be able to say something about Muslim integration in France, and attribute findings to the Muslim factor, rather than the Maghrebi factor, we need to compare Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants from the same region – or better yet, from the same country. By doing so, we gain confidence that any difference in integration we observe is attributable to religious identity rather than to region-of-origin.
Our research, summarized in a forthcoming book (Why Muslim Integration Fails: an inquiry in Christian-heritage societies, Harvard University Press), does just that. It identifies a group of immigrants to France who hail from the same two ethnic groups and the same socio-economic status in Senegal, vary in their religious identity, and migrated to France at the same time (the 1970s) and for the same economic reasons. Furthermore, the historical forces that led some of these Senegalese to convert to Christianity and others to convert to Islam in the mid-19th century were purely accidental. Southwest Senegal, where our sample originates, was penetrated by jihadists and Christian missionaries at the same time. And conversion to one of the Western religions was determined by crop cultivation: Christian missionaries helped develop and commercialize palm oils and wines, an enterprise that was scorned by Muslim jihadists who turned instead to the cultivation and development of the groundnut trade. These crops offered similar economic returns, and they were the easiest ones in the region to cultivate. We thus gain confidence that converts to Islam or Christianity did not differ in their levels of economic or social ambition. Finally, historical accounts show that the French colonial administration in Senegal did not favor Catholic over Muslim converts. In other words, we are not comparing apples to oranges.
In 2009, we ran a CV experiment comparing responses to Senegalese Christian and Muslim job applicants; we then surveyed 511 Senegalese Muslim and Christian immigrants in France, and obtained data on a battery of integration measures, which we conceptualize as both an individual’s attachment to the country-of-origin and to the host country. One advantage of this approach is that it offers a comprehensive account of the immigrant integration experience. A limitation is that it may mask or underplay important exceptions to the rule, such as Bleich and Maxwell’s finding that a significant proportion of Muslim immigrants in France say they feel French.
Still, our data reveal four disturbing trends.
First, Muslim immigrants in France face discrimination on the job market precisely because of their religious identity. Results from our CV experiment, in which employers responded to matched CV applications that differed solely on the religious identity of the applicant (holding constant the applicant’s Senegalese origins), indicate that a Muslim candidate is 2.5 times less likely to receive a job interview callback than is her matched Christian counterpart. Consistent with such discrimination, our survey of Senegalese Christian and Muslim immigrants in France reveals a significant income gap between the two. Muslim households make, on average, 400 euros less than matched Christian households each month, the equivalent of 15 percent of the average monthly income for France in 2007.
Distribution of household income, by religion. Senegalese Christian immigrants are more likely to earn more than their Muslim counterparts in France.
Second, perhaps as a consequence of the first point above, Senegalese Muslims are more attached to their region-of-origin than are Senegalese Christians. They are significantly more likely to travel to Africa, to own a home in Africa and to send remittances back to Africa. Most striking is the stark contrast between Senegalese Muslims and Christians in terms of where they wish to be buried. While only 43 percent of Senegalese Christian respondents express a desire to be buried in Africa, close to 77 percent of Senegalese Muslim respondents do. These differences persist even when we neutralize the fact that respondents differ in gender, age, education, and even in time since the arrival of the family’s first migrant to France.
Third, and speaking directly to the debate above, Senegalese Muslims are less attached to their host country than are Senegalese Christians. They express less sympathy toward French people, and are less likely to believe they share much in common with the French. They are significantly less secular than their Christian counterparts, hence distinguishing themselves in a country that defines itself by its laïcité. Finally, they express significantly lower trust than do Senegalese Christians toward key French institutions from schools to firms, to the French administration. Given the discrimination they face on the French labor market, such distrust is hardly surprising.
Finally and perhaps most disturbingly, these patterns do not improve over time. The distinct separation of Senegalese Muslims from French norms and attitudes is characteristic not just of first-generation immigrants: it persists, and even increases in some instances, when we look at second- and third-generation immigrants as well.
In order to be able to say something about the fate of Muslim immigrants as Muslims, our strategy has identified a small group of immigrants from a single country, who vary in their religious affiliation. The flip side of our strategy is that we end up focusing on a small slice of the Muslim immigrant population, and certainly not on the prototype of the Muslim immigrant to France – which is North African. And yet this brings us back to our initial conundrum: the countries of North Africa do not contain large enough populations of Christian immigrants to compare to matched Muslims in France.
But by focusing on Muslims who are not spontaneously associated with the collective imagination of Islam in France, our findings offer an underestimate of the Muslim effect on immigrant integration. And even with an underestimate, the news for Muslim immigrant integration in France is on the pessimistic side of the debate.
****
Claire Adida is an assistant professor of political science at the University of California San Diego.
David Laitin is the James T. Watkins IV and Elise V. Watkins Professor of Political Science at Stanford University.
Marie-Anne Valfort is associate professor of economics at Paris School of Economics-Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University.
This week in Your Business a number of small business owners share their experiences of setting up shop in a country where they weren’t born.
Eugene De Villiers, managing director of the Extra Mile Company. Photo / Wayne Martin
Eugene De Villiers recalls that one of the earliest, and most important, lessons he learnt as an immigrant entrepreneur came out of a pitch he didn’t win.
The South African-born managing director of customer loyalty solutions firm the Extra Mile Company gave what he thought was a knockout presentation to TelstraClear, and walked out the door feeling like they’d won their first big account in New Zealand.
But they didn’t win the business. So De Villiers asked to meet one of the corporate’s senior execs over coffee for some feedback.
“He was wonderful, and very graciously explained that in New Zealand you shouldn’t sing your own praises. Don’t tell the client how good you are, what awards you’ve won, what great events you’ve run – instead, be humble and only present facts and allow others to sing your praises,” recalls De Villiers.
“This was a really important lesson to learn, so I adjusted my presentation – dramatically – and won my very next presentation, which was to Digital Computers.
Even today I’m still grateful for his candid advice.”
De Villiers is one of a handful of immigrant entrepreneurs interviewed this week for Your Business about their experiences of setting up shop in a country where they weren’t born.
His story highlights some of the challenges faced by immigrant entrepreneurs, but also illustrates how many turn challenge into opportunity.
Berlinda Chin, director of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, says a lack of understanding of ‘the way we do things here’ is one of the difficulties migrant entrepreneurs can face. Not having networks of folks who can vouch for your reputation or credibility in business, and learning how to negotiate the financial landscape are another couple of challenges she points to.
For some, overcoming these challenges is a process of going through the school of hard knocks, she says.
“Because they’re migrants they’ve made a conscious decision to build a new life in a foreign land, so they want to push forward and survive,” she says. “So they’ll do whatever they need to overcome these challenges. That also relates to having a mindset of resilience, which helps many face these kinds of challenges.”
Tapping into networks is another strategy that she says can help, although research shows those with good English language skills fare better with this approach.
Nats Subramanian came from India to settle in Palmerston North a decade ago. An IT manager by trade, early last year he decided to set off on a new path and start a travel company, TakeMe2India, with his wife Uma.
The company naturally capitalises on the couple’s knowledge of, and networks in India, but Subramanian says their biggest challenge was gaining an understanding of how Kiwis holiday offshore.
It was here that those all-important networks kicked in.
“Fortunately Uma and I have integrated ourselves well with the local community and we have many close Kiwi friends,” explains Subramanian. “When we asked for help, they rose magnificently to the occasion. We set up focus groups over Indian dinners at our place and probed them with plenty of questions. This really complemented the other forms of data we’d obtained through market research, giving us a clear idea of what we should be doing.”
Like Subramanian’s, the stories shared by the immigrant entrepreneurs interviewed this week have an overwhelmingly positive tenor. Many talk about the ease of setting up a business here, the transparency of the commercial environment and the good access to resources and support systems.
To capitalise on this environment, Subramanian advises other immigrants to work hard to integrate themselves into the community.
“Stop moving only in your own closed groups, and make new friends and be part of the wider community. Network, network and network,” he says.
“Above all I think cutting all secure ties and setting up a business takes huge courage. But having immigrated to a new country, you have already taken the risk. So what is stopping you?”
Eugene De Villiers is managing director of Auckland-based customer loyalty solutions firm the Extra Mile Company.
Can you tell me a bit about your background?
I was born in Pretoria, South Africa. My parents were transferred to Paris, France, when I was 10 years old so that’s where I did most of my schooling and picked up French as my third language. As a young man I made the choice to go back to South Africa, which is where I started my first business.
In 1994 I was invited to be a keynote speaker at a major industry conference, which was held in Auckland. I so enjoyed the country, and the people, who all seemed to share similar values and work ethic to those we held dear, that I decided this was the place for us.
Shortly after making this decision, my eldest daughter was killed in a car accident, and all the emotions and events that came as a result of such a catastrophe made us decide to move the scheduled departure forward. In November 1996, I settled in Auckland along with my wife and two daughters to start a new chapter in our lives.
What prompted you to set up your own business in New Zealand? What were your motivations?
Over the years of running the Extra Mile Company in South Africa, we often brought incentive groups to visit Australia and New Zealand, usually to take in a Tri-Nations game. It was one of my Kiwi business contacts who had become a friend, who then became my business partner when we moved to New Zealand and established the Extra Mile Company here.
What have been the major challenges you’ve encountered being an immigrant entrepreneur?
The first lesson, and possibly the most important one, I learnt from a senior executive at TelstraClear. I went to meet with them in the hope of being appointed to design and manage their staff and reseller incentive programme. I presented the Extra Mile Company, based on the format I had for many years successfully used in South Africa.
At the end of the meeting he told me it was the best presentation he had ever seen. Needless to say I left his office buoyant, pumping my fists that we’d secured our first significant incentive account. However, we didn’t get the business, so I asked if we could meet over a coffee for some feedback. He was wonderful, and very graciously explained that in New Zealand you shouldn’t sing your own praises. Don’t tell the client how good you are, what awards you’ve won, what great events you’ve run – instead, be humble and only present facts and allow others to sing your praises.
This was a really important lesson to learn, so I adjusted my presentation – dramatically – and won my very next presentation, which was to Digital Computers. Even today I’m still grateful for his candid advice.
On the other hand what are some of the advantages you feel you have being an immigrant in business here?
There are lots of advantages in starting anew, even if there are also lots of challenges.
Believe it or not, I think it’s an advantage to have a different accent. And as an immigrant, I am happy to employ other immigrants and give them the opportunities that I was given. As a result our office has a real cultural mix – with even a few Kiwis!
Even though as South Africans we’re pigeonholed to an extent in New Zealand, these perspectives are positive, and we seem to be well accepted by New Zealanders. They love barbecues as we do, they love rugby as we do and both nations have been known to enjoy a cold beverage together, so how can it be bad! I can buy boerewors at my local Countdown and my friends are teaching me new recipes adapted from South African classics, so I feel our two nations seem to integrate well.
What advice would you have for other immigrants looking to set up shop in New Zealand?
Stop and listen. God gave you two ears and only one mouth, which I think is a clear indication that you should listen twice as much as you speak. Listen, watch and respect the way Kiwis do things first, before challenging anything with that despised saying ‘when we did it back in …’ That’s enough to drive anyone nuts, so respect the nation that has given you a wonderful new opportunity.
Coming up in Your Business: I’ve been hearing about a few interesting local jewellery brands lately and it’s got me thinking, what does it take to build a small business in this area, particularly if you’re taking your brand offshore? If you’ve got a story to tell, drop me a note: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) was liaising with the Irish Family Planning Association for over seven weeks about applying for exit and re-entry documents for Ms Y, the young woman at the centre of the latest abortion controversy, a draft HSE report into her care has found.
Eight weeks after Ms Y first said she wanted an abortion, no application had been made for her travel documents, a first draft of the report indicates.
According to the draft HSE report, which has been seen by The Irish Times, no application was, however, made to the Department of Justice’s Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) for travel documents by the time of Ms Y’s final IFPA appointment.
Ms Y had three crisis pregnancy counselling sessions with the Irish Family Planning Association between 8th April – four days after she found out she was pregnant – and 22nd May.
At her final session, despite the fact she had consistently said she wanted an abortion, the counsellor suggested she might consider adoption, the draft report says.
The report indicates the Immigrant Council, which operates a support service for migrants seeking travel documents to leave and return to Ireland, was contacted by an IFPA counsellor the day after Ms Y’s first counselling session.
Ms Y, a young immigrant, claims she was raped before she arrived in the State earlier this year. She came to the attention of HSE psychiatric services at about 24 weeks’ gestation, when it was deemed too late to abort the pregnancy – despite the fact she was deemed suicidal under the provisions of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act.
Her baby boy was born at just under 26 weeks’ gestation by Caesarean section last month.
The HSE established a four-person report team to establish what happened to Ms Y, from the time she came into the State on March 28th until the Caesarean section was performed.
A first draft of the report has been circulated to interested parties.
The draft report states on every page: “This is a draft report and can only be considered as such. This document can expect to contain factual/clinical inaccuracies and/or information that may require additional clarification.”
This draft also states that Ms Y found out she was pregnant during medical screening at her accommodation centre on April 4th. A staff nurse – known in the draft report a ‘staff nurse 1’ – noted she “became very distressed and stated …she could not have a baby and that no-one could know”.
She was referred by the nurse to the IFPA and seen by a crisis pregnancy counsellor on April 8th.
“It is documented that all options were discussed with Ms Y who was visibly very upset,” the report states.
The counsellor explained it may be difficult for her “to access safe and legal abortion services outside the country because of her status” but began liaising with the Immigrant Council “to help Ms Y apply for her temporary travel documents”.
An ultrasound on Friday April 11th established the gestation was eight weeks and four days and the estimated delivery date was November 9th, 2014.
The draft report indicates the IFPA discussed Ms Y’s case with the Immigrant Council’s co-ordinator of support services on April 17th and the counsellor was told the process of applying for travel documents could be lengthy.
On April 28th, the IFPA contacted the Immigrant Council in relation to Ms Y’s travel documents and was told that while it would normally take six to eight weeks to process an application, “cases such as Ms Y’s were given priority and that it usually took in the region of two to three weeks.”
The Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) was liaising with the Irish Family Planning Association for over seven weeks about applying for exit and re-entry documents for Ms Y, the young woman at the centre of the latest abortion controversy, a draft HSE report into her care has found.
Eight weeks after Ms Y first said she wanted an abortion, no application had been made for her travel documents, a first draft of the report indicates.
According to the draft HSE report, which has been seen by The Irish Times, no application was, however, made to the Department of Justice’s Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) for travel documents by the time of Ms Y’s final IFPA appointment.
Ms Y had three crisis pregnancy counselling sessions with the Irish Family Planning Association between 8th April – four days after she found out she was pregnant – and 22nd May.
At her final session, despite the fact she had consistently said she wanted an abortion, the counsellor suggested she might consider adoption, the draft report says.
The report indicates the Immigrant Council, which operates a support service for migrants seeking travel documents to leave and return to Ireland, was contacted by an IFPA counsellor the day after Ms Y’s first counselling session.
Ms Y, a young immigrant, claims she was raped before she arrived in the State earlier this year. She came to the attention of HSE psychiatric services at about 24 weeks’ gestation, when it was deemed too late to abort the pregnancy – despite the fact she was deemed suicidal under the provisions of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act.
Her baby boy was born at just under 26 weeks’ gestation by Caesarean section last month.
The HSE established a four-person report team to establish what happened to Ms Y, from the time she came into the State on March 28th until the Caesarean section was performed.
A first draft of the report has been circulated to interested parties.
The draft report states on every page: “This is a draft report and can only be considered as such. This document can expect to contain factual/clinical inaccuracies and/or information that may require additional clarification.”
This draft also states that Ms Y found out she was pregnant during medical screening at her accommodation centre on April 4th. A staff nurse – known in the draft report a ‘staff nurse 1’ – noted she “became very distressed and stated …she could not have a baby and that no-one could know”.
She was referred by the nurse to the IFPA and seen by a crisis pregnancy counsellor on April 8th.
“It is documented that all options were discussed with Ms Y who was visibly very upset,” the report states.
The counsellor explained it may be difficult for her “to access safe and legal abortion services outside the country because of her status” but began liaising with the Immigrant Council “to help Ms Y apply for her temporary travel documents”.
An ultrasound on Friday April 11th established the gestation was eight weeks and four days and the estimated delivery date was November 9th, 2014.
The draft report indicates the IFPA discussed Ms Y’s case with the Immigrant Council’s co-ordinator of support services on April 17th and the counsellor was told the process of applying for travel documents could be lengthy.
On April 28th, the IFPA contacted the Immigrant Council in relation to Ms Y’s travel documents and was told that while it would normally take six to eight weeks to process an application, “cases such as Ms Y’s were given priority and that it usually took in the region of two to three weeks.”
WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of young families caught crossing the border illegally earlier this year subsequently failed to meet with federal immigration agents, as they were instructed, the Homeland Security Department has acknowledged privately.
An official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that about 70 percent of immigrant families the Obama administration had released into the U.S. never showed up weeks later for follow up appointments.
The ICE official made the disclosure in a confidential meeting at its Washington headquarters with immigration advocates participating in a federal working group on detention and enforcement policies. The Associated Press obtained an audio recording of Wednesday’s meeting and separately interviewed participants.
On the recording obtained by the AP, the government did not specify the total number of families released into the U.S. since October. Since only a few hundred families have already been returned to their home countries and limited U.S. detention facilities can house only about 1,200 family members, the 70 percent figure suggests the government released roughly 41,000 members of immigrant families who subsequently failed to appear at federal immigration offices.
The official, who was not identified by name on the recording obtained by the AP, also said final deportation had been ordered for at least 860 people traveling in families caught at the border since May but only 14 people had reported as ordered.
In a statement emailed Thursday afternoon, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said the no-show rate “represents an approximate snapshot of individuals encountered beginning in May” who didn’t reported to ICE. Christiansen added that some of those people may still be reporting to immigration court hearings and a “significant” number of deportation cases are still pending before judges.
The AP reported in June that the administration would not say publicly how many immigrant families from Central America caught crossing into the U.S. it had released in recent months or how many of those subsequently reported back to the government after 15 days as directed. The AP noted that senior U.S. officials directly familiar with the issue, including at the Homeland Security Department and White House, had dodged the answer on at least seven occasions over two weeks, alternately saying that they did not know the figure or didn’t have it immediately at hand.
The Homeland Security Department’s public affairs office during the same period did not answer roughly a dozen requests for the figures.
More than 66,000 immigrants traveling as families, mostly mothers and young children, have been apprehend at the border since the start of the budget year in October. Nearly 60,000 of those immigrants are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and cannot be immediately repatriated, so the government has been releasing them into the U.S. and telling them to report within 15 days to the nearest Immigrations and Customs Enforcement offices.
At the meeting, the ICE official acknowledged the no-show figures while explaining the administration’s decision in June to open a temporary detention center for families in Artesia, New Mexico. A second immigration jail in Texas was later converted for families and can house about 530 people. A third such detention center will open in Texas later this year. Before the new facility in Artesia, the government had room for fewer than 100 people at its only family detention center in Pennsylvania.
Immigration advocates have complained that the new detention centers were punishing immigrants who ultimately may win lawful asylum claims to remain in the U.S. In the meeting, they also questioned whether immigration officials had clearly and properly instructed immigrants to meet with federal agents within 15 days.
The ICE official said it was necessary to detain families to ensure they didn’t vanish into the U.S. He encouraged advocacy groups to help find ways to ensure that immigrants reported to federal agents as ordered so the government could begin processing their cases, including any requests to remain in the U.S. legally.
___
Follow Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/acaldwellap
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — As an immigrant activist’s stay at an Oregon church to avoid deportation nears a week, he’s gaining supporters, including Portland’s mayor, and the church plans a rally for him.
But court documents reveal more details about the troubled past of Francisco Aguirre, 35, who came to the U.S. from El Salvador nearly two decades ago and is facing removal to his native country because of an old drug conviction and a previous deportation.
Aguirre — who has two U.S. citizen children and is now the coordinator of a Portland nonprofit that runs a day labor center — disputes the criminal prosecution on drug-dealing charges 15 years ago and says he was innocent.
He has vowed to remain at Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland until he’s able to resolve his immigration case. In recent years, as immigration reform has stalled, churches around the country have offered sanctuary to immigrants who lack legal status because federal officials generally don’t make arrests at sensitive locations such as churches.
“I’m a part of this community, and this is where I belong,” Aguirre said.
Portland-area churches and local leaders support Aguirre, pointing to his contributions during the past decade as a labor and immigrant rights’ organizer and a family man.
“Francisco Aguirre has been a community leader in Portland and an important voice on issues of equity and immigrant rights … I believe Francisco should remain in the United States, and in Portland, until his case can reach a humane conclusion,” Mayor Charlie Hales said in a statement.
Court records show that in the final month of 1998, Aguirre, then 19, was involved in small-time drug dealing in Portland. Police surveillance reports and a search-warrant affidavit describe Aguirre selling cocaine and heroin to undercover police officers on multiple occasions. The records also show police observing Aguirre selling or offering to sell drugs.
After Aguirre and two other men were arrested, Aguirre was charged with 20 counts of delivery and possession of a controlled substance. In July 1999, most of the counts were dropped, and he pleaded guilty to two counts of delivery of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation. Aguirre later changed his plea to no contest.
Aguirre said the evidence against him was fabricated and is untrue. He offered a place to stay to two homeless men who brought the drugs with them to his apartment, he said.
He received bad advice from a lawyer, and he couldn’t defend himself because he didn’t know his rights and didn’t speak English, Aguirre said.
His immigration lawyer, Stephen Manning, said Aguirre is in the process of obtaining a U-visa, a special document for violent-crime victims who help authorities investigate or prosecute cases. Manning declined to talk about the circumstances surrounding the U-visa petition.
Aguirre says he first entered the U.S. illegally in 1995. He worked as a day laborer and helped found the nonprofit group that operates the day labor center.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Aguirre to El Salvador in 2000 after his drug conviction. He then unlawfully re-entered the country, spokesman Andrew Munoz said in a statement.
Aguirre came to the attention of immigration authorities in August after his arrest for driving under the influence.
The churches and organizations that have rallied around Aguirre say they’ll continue to stand behind him.
“Francisco has contributed a lot to this community,” said Marco Mejia, an organizer with Portland Jobs with Justice, a workers’ rights group.
The pastor of the 900-member church that’s offering Aguirre refuge — including a room to sleep in the church’s basement — also says the court documents change nothing.
“I’m not convinced he had justice in his case and want to presume his innocence,” Pastor Mark Knutson said. “But even if he did get in trouble with the law, are we a society that labels people for life as a criminal? Do we not forgive?”
The church is one of more than 30 congregations in Oregon that are part of the sanctuary movement and have pledged to give refuge to immigrants living in the country illegally.
Experts estimate about 300 congregations nationwide are willing and ready to take in such immigrants. This year, at least three immigrants have taken sanctuary in churches in Arizona and one in a church in Chicago.
Society & Culture
Crime & Justice
Portland
Source Article from http://news.yahoo.com/immigrant-hid-oregon-church-gains-support-061504802.html Immigrant who hid in Oregon church gains support http://news.yahoo.com/immigrant-hid-oregon-church-gains-support-061504802.html http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=immigrant immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results
DILLEY, Texas (AP) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Tuesday that a fourth center to house families apprehended while crossing the Southwest border into the U.S. will eventually hold 2,400 people in Texas.
ICE will operate the residential facility when it opens in November in Dilley, Texas, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio. It will house immigrant adults with children caught entering the country illegally.
The South Texas Family Residential Center will be the fourth such facility, three of which have opened in recent months following a surge in the number of immigrant families crossing the Southwest border. It’s meant to expedite their return to their home countries and deter others from embarking on the journey, according to a statement from ICE. Other centers have opened in Karnes City and Artesia, New Mexico. There had been one existing facility for immigrant families in Leesport, Pennsylvania.
The Dilley center initially will house 480 people and will eventually hold 2,400. The facility, like others for families, will provide medical care, social workers, educational services and access to legal counsel, according to ICE.
Shortly before that announcement, a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups hosted a conference call for reporters in which they called on the U.S. government to stop its expansion of family detention centers.
Advocates from We Belong Together and the National Immigrant Justice Center said that women and children should not be detained while waiting for their immigration cases to move forward.
Immigration Issues
Politics & Government
DILLEY, Texas
Source Article from http://news.yahoo.com/4th-immigrant-holding-facility-open-texas-195314744.html Texas immigrant center to hold up to 2,400 http://news.yahoo.com/4th-immigrant-holding-facility-open-texas-195314744.html http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=immigrant immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results
A community activist who first came to the U.S. from El Salvador nearly two decades ago spent the weekend hidden in an Oregon church, becoming the latest immigrant to seek sanctuary as authorities try to deport him.
Francisco Aguirre, who has lived illegally in the U.S. for 19 years and has two children who are American citizens, is facing deportation due to a drug trafficking conviction 15 years ago and a previous deportation, authorities said.
Aguirre, 35, is now the coordinator of the Voz Workers’ Rights Education Project, a Portland nonprofit that runs a day labor center. He’s a well-known immigrant rights organizer and a musician who performs songs about social justice.
His case marks the first time in recent years that an immigrant has been granted sanctuary inside an Oregon church. During the past decade, as reform has stalled, churches around the country have offered refuge to immigrants who lack legal status.
Experts estimate about 300 congregations nationwide are willing and ready to give sanctuary to such immigrants. Immigration officials generally do not arrest people inside churches and other places of worship.
Aguirre has vowed to remain at Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland until he’s able to resolve his immigration case.
His immigration lawyer Stephen Manning says Aguirre is in the process of obtaining a U-visa, a special document for crime victims who help authorities investigate or prosecute cases.
Aguirre says he first entered the U.S. illegally in 1995. He worked as a day laborer and helped found the nonprofit group that operates the day labor center. Aguirre also runs a computer repair business from his home.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Aguirre was deported to El Salvador in 2000 following a conviction for drug trafficking offenses. He then unlawfully re-entered the country, spokesman Andrew Munoz said in a statement.
Aguirre came to the attention of immigration authorities in August following his arrest for driving under the influence.
Due to his criminal history, previous deportation and most recent DUI charge, Aguirre is considered a public safety threat and a priority for removal by ICE, Munoz said.
Aguirre disputes the criminal prosecutions and says he was innocent, but a lawyer told him to plead no contest, a decision he now regrets.
The court documents could not be acquired on Monday; a court clerk said the case was so old the files have been stored in a warehouse.
Some Portland community leaders, saying Aguirre has become a role model for his peers, have launched a campaign to prevent his deportation.
“I believe I should be allowed to stay in Oregon, because I’m a good citizen, I’m a part of this community, and this is where I belong,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre took refuge at the church after immigration officials sought to arrest him Friday at his home in Fairview, a suburb of Portland. He says they couldn’t provide a warrant and left after he refused to come outside.
The 900-member Augustana Lutheran Church is one of several dozen churches in Oregon that are part of the sanctuary movement and have pledged to give refuge to immigrants living in the country illegally.
“A church is a place without borders,” the church’s pastor Mark Knutson said. “”It allows people to be and to sort things out… without guns, without coercion.”
Source Article from http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/portland-man-hides-church-avoid-deportation-25685581 Portland Immigrant Takes Sanctuary at Church http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/portland-man-hides-church-avoid-deportation-25685581 http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/rss?p=immigrant immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results immigrant – Yahoo News Search Results
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