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1. Virtual Fence in jeopardy
2. ICE executes smuggling raid
3. Poll: CA down on amnesty's odds
4. WA group to press restrictions
5. Obama's Aunt seeks leniency

1.
Border fence plagued by glitches, long delays
By Jacques Billeaud
The Associated Press, February 3, 2010

Phoenix (AP) -- An ambitious, $6.7 billion government project to secure nearly the entire Mexican border with a "virtual fence" of cameras, ground sensors and radar is in jeopardy after a string of technical glitches and delays.

Having spent $672 million so far with little to show for it, Washington has ordered a reassessment of the whole idea. The outlook became gloomier this week when President Barack Obama proposed cutting $189 million from the venture.

Ultimately, the project could be scaled back dramatically, with the government installing virtual fences along a few segments of the nation's 2,000-mile southern boundary but dropping plans for any further expansion, officials said.

"The worst that happens is that we have a system which gives us some value but we conclude that it's not worth buying any more of it," said Mark Borkowski, the government's director of the project at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The first permanent segment of virtual fence -- a 23-mile stretch near Sasabe, Ariz. -- was supposed to be turned over to the Border Patrol by the main contractor, Boeing Co., for testing in January, but the handover has been delayed by problems involving the video recording equipment.

The Bush administration launched the project in 2005 to help secure the border against illegal immigrants, drug smugglers and other intruders. It was conceived as another layer of protection, in addition to thousands of Border Patrol agents and 650 miles of real fences.

The system was supposed to let a small number of dispatchers watch the border on a computer monitor, zoom in with cameras to see people crossing, and decide whether to send Border Patrol agents to the scene. Although there are sensors, cameras and radar at many points along the border, they are not connected to cover large expanses.

Originally, the virtual fence was supposed to be completed by 2011; that date has slipped to 2014, largely because of technical problems.

Among other things, the radar system had trouble distinguishing between vegetation and people when it was windy. Also, the satellite communication system took too long to relay information in the field to a command center. By the time an operator moved a camera to take a closer look at a spot, whatever had raised suspicion was gone.

The Homeland Security Department and Boeing said the early problems were fixed, but other glitches keep popping up. The latest: a software bug that causes video recording devices to lock on to the wrong cameras, hindering agents trying to collect evidence against illegal border-crossers.
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http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/02/03/border_fence_plagued_...

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2.
Bus companies accused of immigrant smuggling
By Susan Carroll
The Houston Chronicle, February 3, 2010

Federal agents have targeted more than a dozen local bus companies they say shuttled scores of illegal immigrants to destinations across the U.S., vowing to continue cracking down on smuggling organizations' transportation networks.

ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton was in Houston on Wednesday to announce results of a three-month operation focused on Houston- area smuggling by transportation companies, saying federal agents charged 22 suspects with conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants.

Federal agents executed nine search warrants Tuesday morning and targeted 14 businesses, including one on the city's southeast side that Morton said used armed guards and pit bulls to hold passengers in a stash house before they were smuggled on to their final destinations.

“Houston, unfortunately, has become a hub for these illegal transportation companies,” the ICE official said.

Morton called the operation “unprecedented,” saying that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is no longer targeting just one transportation company or arresting just one driver at a time.

Morton called the operation “unprecedented,” saying that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is no longer targeting just one transportation company or arresting just one driver at a time.

“We are taking on the whole industry,” he said.

He said the businesses investigated in the ICE operation were not legitimate transportation companies, but worked exclusively with smuggling organizations. The companies charged illegal immigrants “exorbitant” fees — up to $650 for a one-way bus ticket, he said, and transported illegal immigrants from Houston throughout the United States, to places such as Miami, Washington D.C., New Jersey and New York.

Morton said the companies avoided major highways that were likely to be patrolled by law enforcement, and traveled primarily at night. The companies paid commissions to smugglers, typically $200 to $300 each, to bring the smuggled immigrants to them, and would buy and trade passengers for fees, authorities said.

“These companies didn't treat their passengers as persons, but rather as commodities to be bought and sold,” Morton said.

Ed Gallagher, the deputy criminal chief for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston, described the crackdown on the transportation companies as a large-scale operation.

He said the 22 criminal defendants were charged with conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

ICE officials also made 81 administrative arrests of suspected illegal immigrants during Tuesday's raids of the transportation businesses, which are located primarily in east and southeast Houston. The suspected illegal immigrants found at the companies were placed in deportation proceedings, federal officials said.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6849917.html

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3.
Poll: 54% say immigration reform will not pass this year
By Cindy Carcamo
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), February 3, 2010

Readers were divided when responding to an ocregister.com poll on whether they believe immigration reform will pass in 2010.

The unscientific poll showed that 54 percent of responders said no when asked the following question: "Do you think immigration reform will pass this year?"

About 34 percent said they think immigration reform will pass, while only 12 percent of 119 respondents said "maybe."

The poll was part of a posting about how the Webisphere has been a flutter with news analysis and commentary as to whether immigration reform is dead this year in light of recent political events – one of them being the recent election of Massachusetts' new Republican Senator Scott Brown, who is against immigration reform.

Will immigration reform (or as some in the anti-illegal immigration crowd call Amnesty) pass this year? Cast your vote on the bottom right hand corner of this page.

A good portion of the readers who commented on the posting criticized the possibility of immigration reform.

tuebor2 wrote:

"The chances of the (Amnesty) Immigration reform bill HR4321 passing this year is fading and by Nov 2010 it should be dead. The only reform bill I want to see is one that makes it a felony to hire illegal aliens and a fine so high that it would be cheaper to hirer 5 Americans for the same job."
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http://www.ocregister.com/news/immigration-232367-reform-pass.html

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4.
Group will try again for state initiative to curb illegal immigrants' benefits
Undaunted by a string of past failures, a group of Washington residents will try for the fifth straight year to collect signatures for an initiative that would make Washington less attractive to illegal immigrants.
By Lornet Turnbull
The Seattle Times, February 2, 2010

Undaunted by a string of past failures, a group of Washington residents will try for the fifth straight year to collect signatures for an initiative that would make Washington less attractive to illegal immigrants.

The measure, I-1056, would require all employers — public and private — to use a free federal employment-verification system, E-Verify, to weed out those ineligible to work legally in the U.S.

It would deny them most nonemergency public benefits, including lottery winnings and college assistance, and prevent them from obtaining driver's licenses.

Beginning in 2006 and every year since, a group of individuals who've organized under different names but are now called Respect Washington have failed to get similar initiatives either on the statewide ballot or before the Legislature for passage.

Organizers would need at least 241,153 signatures this year to put the measure on the November ballot. They acknowledge they haven't had a broad volunteer base or strong financial backing.

But this latest attempt comes as some Americans grow more frustrated and hundreds of thousands in the state remain jobless — factors organizers believe could work in their favor this time.

"The political and economic environment in this country and this state have shifted and may lead to a greater interest in people who are now waking up," said Craig Keller, who is leading the group.

Those who work with the region's illegal-immigrant population, however, say they believe Respect Washington hasn't had much success because of the state's accommodating attitude toward all immigrants

"We have diversity in this state," said Dianne Aid, an advocate with St. Matthew Episcopal Church in Auburn, which serves many illegal immigrants.

"And particularly in Western Washington, we have a social fabric that includes immigrants from all over the world, and we tend to honor that," shes said.

Washington is home to an estimated 136,000 illegal immigrants and remains one of only four states where illegal immigrants may still obtain a driver's license.
. . .
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010963413_illegalimmigr...

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5.
Obama aunt fights deportation before US court
Agence France Presse, February 4, 2010

Boston (AFP) -- President Barack Obama's aunt, an illegal immigrant fighting deportation to Kenya, arrived at a Boston immigration court here Thursday to plead her case for staying in the country.

Zeituni Onyango, 57, is to appear before the Boston federal immigration court at 9:00 am (1400 GMT) for her second attempt to secure permission to remain in the United States, after she ignored a 2004 deportation order to be sent back to her native Kenya.

Onyango previously cited violence in Kenya in seeking refugee status, but it was not immediately clear what argument she would make before the court Thursday.

Onyango made headlines in 2008 when US media tracked her down living in a South Boston housing project at the height of Obama's election campaign.

The White House has said the president was unaware of her illegal status and that the appropriate laws should be followed.

Onyango's hearing will take place behind closed doors, but media interest in the case has been high.

"She's the aunt of the president of the United States -- the most famous man in the world," Mike Rogers, spokesman for the Ohio law firm defending Onyango, told the Boston Herald.

The newspaper reported that Onyango has requested the case be heard before a closed session, though that is not unusual in immigration hearings.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j4kxbvhxedyuaoLL3T8ZH...