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1. Noncriminals and Sec. Comm.
2. AK cop an illegal alien
3. Bloomberg touts immigration
4. Women lead protests int SC
5. GA business against law

1.
Noncriminals swept up in federal deportation program
By Lee Romney and Paloma Esquivel
Los Angeles Times, April 25, 2011

More than once, Norma recalls, she yearned to dial 911 when her partner hit her. But the undocumented mother of a U.S.-born toddler was too fearful of police and too broken of spirit to do so.

In October, she finally worked up the courage to call police — and paid a steep price.

Officers who responded found her sobbing, with a swollen lower lip. But a red mark on her alleged abuser's cheek prompted police to book them both into the San Francisco County Jail while investigators sorted out the details.

With that, Norma was swept into the wide net of Secure Communities, a federal program launched in 2008 with the stated goal of identifying and deporting more illegal immigrants "convicted of serious crimes."

But Norma was never convicted of a crime. She was not charged in the abuse case, though the jail honored a request to turn her over to immigration authorities for possible deportation.

"I had called the police to help me," said Norma, 31, who asked that her last name not be used because she fears that speaking out may jeopardize her case. "I think it's unjust…. Even with a traffic ticket we can now be deported."

Under the program, fingerprints of all inmates booked into local jails and cross-checked with the FBI's criminal database are now forwarded by that agency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be screened for immigration status. Officials said the new system would focus enforcement efforts on violent felons such as those convicted of murder, rape and kidnapping.

But Secure Communities is now mired in controversy. Recently released ICE data show that nearly half of those ensnared by the program have been noncriminals, like Norma, or those who committed misdemeanors.

In addition, hundreds of ICE emails released in response to litigation by immigrant and civil rights groups show the agency knowingly misled local and state officials to believe that participation in the program was voluntary while internally acknowledging that this was not the case.

U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) on Friday accused ICE officials of lying to local governments and to Congress and called for a probe into whether ICE Director John Morton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who oversees the agency, were aware of the deception.

San Francisco and Santa Clara counties are among those jurisdictions that sought to prevent fingerprint data from being automatically routed to ICE. Although that data will still be forwarded to immigration authorities, both counties are now crafting policies that would deny ICE hold requests for inmates booked on minor infractions.

There is still much confusion over what legal authority states have to change their participation agreements with ICE, which now says they are unnecessary.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-secure-communities-20110425,0,17...

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2.
Officials: Popular cop in Alaska Illegal immigrant
The Associated Press, April 23, 2011

For years, the man known as Rafael Espinoza was widely respected as an exemplary police officer who was popular among his peers in Alaska's largest city.

All that ended this week when authorities discovered he was really Mexican national Rafael Mora-Lopez, who was in the U.S. illegally and stole another man's identity, officials charged.

"His reputation here is one of a hard-working officer, one who was very professional," Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew said Friday at a news conference announcing Mora-Lopez's arrest. "The problem, obviously, is he is not Rafael Espinoza."

Soon after the announcement, Mora-Lopez appeared in U.S. District Court in Anchorage and pleaded not guilty to a charge of passport fraud, which carries a maximum 10-year sentence. At his arraignment, Mora-Lopez told a federal magistrate he is 47, even though officials listed his age as 51.

His attorney, Alan Dayan, declined to comment to The Associated Press.

Federal agents processing a renewal request for his passport discovered the alleged fraud. He was arrested Thursday after authorities searched his home and found documents confirming his true identity, officials said.

Mora-Lopez had been employed as an Anchorage police officer since 2005 under the assumed name. Police and federal prosecutors said he doesn't have a criminal record.

"We have no evidence that this individual had at the time been anything other than a good police officer," Karen Loeffler, U.S. Attorney in Alaska said.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h9k1fCDDWLNpiMoq4ZnPKz...

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3.
Bloomberg: Stop immigration bickering
United Press International, April 24, 2011

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg Sunday said conservatives should stop fighting immigration and accept it as necessary to U.S. growth.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Bloomberg said immigration reform should include acceptance of the illegal immigrants already in the country alongside measures to prevent more from coming.

"They came here, they broke the law, and, let me tell you, this country encouraged them to come here and made sure that we didn't stop them," the mayor said. "But that's the past. What are you going to do going forward? You can't deport them. It's just too many people. It would never happen. So let's find a way where they are productive, where they contribute to society."

Bloomberg said the problem is 25 years old and began in President Ronald Reagan's administration.
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http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/04/24/Bloomberg-Stop-immigration-bic...

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4.
Women lead fight against S.C. immigration bills
By Noelle Phillips
The State (SC), April 25, 2011

As dusk settled across the State House grounds on a recent Wednesday night, scores of people opposed to South Carolina's latest immigration bill gathered for a candlelight prayer vigil.

The crowd of more than 280 people was filled with women and children. A female Methodist minister led the vigil. And of the 11 people who read Bible verses in English and Spanish, seven were female.

As the S.C. General Assembly has considered the bill during the past year, the opposition to it has been steady and strong.

And it has been driven by women.

The arguments against the bill have focused on religious values, human rights concerns and civil rights issues — all issues that women are more likely to be involved in, experts say.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/25/2184065/women-lead-fight-against-s...

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5.
Georgia Business Owners Say Tough New Immigration Law Could Hurt State Economy
Fox News Latino, April 24, 2011

Georgia's new immigration law could lead to profiling and a reluctance by even legal immigrants to apply for work, some of the state's business owners and farmers say.

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal has pledged to sign the bill, which would require employers to use a federal database to make sure new hires are in the country legally. It also would allow law enforcement to check the status of people being investigated, even during a traffic stop, if they don't have an acceptable form of identification.

Business owners say the measure -- which some experts say would be the toughest on immigration in the nation so far -- could make non-citizen workers reluctant to apply for jobs and make hiring new employees more expensive and cumbersome.

Atlanta chef Chris Hall, who said he relies on an immigrant workforce, opposes the bill in part because of fears his workers could be subject to racial profiling.

"My guy's supposed to be here at 5, but if he's pulled over for being brown in his car on the way here and he doesn't get here until 6, that's a problem," said Hall, who co-owns Local Three restaurant. "A lot of us wonder, if you start taking away parts of our labor force, can we replace that?"

Hall, who said he follows federal requirements to ensure his employees are in the country legally, said that in 10 years of working in restaurants he hasn't seen a U.S. citizen apply for a dishwashing job.

Civil liberties and immigrant rights groups, as well as some Democratic lawmakers, have also raised concerns that possible racial profiling and strict hiring rules could cause both legal and illegal immigrants to leave the state, which they say would diminish the work force and hurt the state's economy.

The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, has said illegal immigrants are a drain on the state's resources. He and law enforcement officials dismissed fears of profiling.

"We've got to have probable cause to make a stop, probable cause that a criminal or traffic offense has occurred, and probable cause is based on probable cause, not the color of one's skin," said Terry Norris, executive director of the Georgia Sheriff's Association.

The law -- which has provisions similar to a crackdown passed in Arizona last year that led to protests and court fights -- would allow officers to detain an illegal immigrant, though it's unlikely cash-strapped local jails will keep people in custody if they haven't been charged with a crime and won't be taken into custody by federal authorities, Norris said.

And officers won't necessarily check immigration status in every instance because they are authorized -- but not required -- to do so, meaning departments can craft policies that fit their communities, said Frank V. Rotondo, executive director of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police.

He said some amount of instruction will likely be necessary for officers in the course of ongoing training.
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http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/04/22/georgia-business-ow...