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1. Cuban immigration talks delayed
2. Drones to monitor CA sea routes
3. ICE focusing on employers
4. AZ to enforce welfare restrictions
5. CA leaders fret Census

1.
U.S., Cuba Migration Talks Delayed Until February
Reuters, December 3, 2009

Washington, Dc (Reuters) -- Long-planned talks on Cuban migration to the United States have been delayed by two months until February, a State Department official said on Thursday, offering no explanation for the postponement.

The talks, which are supposed to take place twice a year, had been scheduled for December as a follow-up to the Obama administration's first round of migration discussions with Havana in July.

The July meeting was the first since 2003 and the State Department had portrayed the renewal of the dialogue as a signal of its desire to work constructively with the communist-run island, which lies just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

The State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S.-Cuba migration talks scheduled for December had been delayed until February. The official had no immediate explanation for the postponement.

The talks, which were suspended by the Bush administration in 2004, cover mid-1990s migration accords that aimed to prevent an exodus of Cuban refugees to the United States such as the 1980 Mariel boatlift and another wave of boatpeople in 1994.

The agreement established the repatriation by U.S. authorities of Cuban migrants intercepted at sea, while Havana also pledged to clamp down on illegal migration.

The United States has been pushing for access to a deep water Cuban port so it can return migrants safely, as set out in the accords, and to ensure U.S. diplomats can track the welfare of those sent back.
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/12/03/us/politics/politics-us-cuba-u...

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2.
Drones’ aim: smugglers
By Leslie Berestein
The San Diego Union Tribune, December 4, 2009

The federal government is preparing to use unmanned aircraft capable of patrolling sea routes in its hunt for smugglers.

Next week, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s office of air and marine operations will unveil its first maritime version of the Predator B unmanned surveillance drone. The agency already uses several of the aircraft to patrol the southern and northern land borders, with operations based in Arizona and North Dakota.

This is the first unmanned aircraft that will be used to patrol at sea, said Juan Muñoz-Torres, a spokesman for the agency in Washington, D.C. Unlike the aircraft used to patrol over land, which rely on visual technology, this version is equipped with radar technology, he said.

“This one has the capacity of detecting vessels in the water,” Muñoz-Torres said. “The sensors on board the aircraft are different.”

He said the plan is to begin testing the aircraft in the eastern Caribbean, basing it out of Florida. It is expected to be operational next year. The agency is set to receive a second sea-equipped drone by early February, to be deployed in the Gulf of Mexico out of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Depending on the need, the second aircraft could be used to enhance manned agency patrols in the Pacific, which already operate in the San Diego area, said Michael Kostelnik, assistant commissioner of air and marine operations for Customs and Border Protection. The agency may eventually buy additional unmanned aircraft to patrol sea routes in the West.

“We’re only buying two this year, but we’ll see where the budgets go,” Kostelnik said. “There will be unmanned aircraft in that area, though probably not this year.”
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/04/drones-aim-smugglers/

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3.
Audits becoming the new ICE raids
By Matt O'Brien
The Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA), December 4, 2009

Immigration agents made headlines during the Bush administration when they rushed into Midwestern meatpacking plants, a New England leather goods factory and Bay Area ethnic restaurants, handcuffing dozens of employees who would later be deported.

The agents arrested seven people at Vallejo's Empire Buffet at the corner of Sonoma Boulevard and Redwood Street last September. Altogether, the agents arrested 21 people in a four-part immigration sweep across Solano County.

Eventually, Vacaville residents Rui Yang Lin, Bi Xia Ni, Fa Yong Ni and Ru Zhu Ren pleaded guilty to unlawful employment of illegal aliens as a result of the operation.

Today, those high-profile raids have been replaced with a quieter but more expansive arm of immigration enforcement: The forensic auditor.

"Being an employer, it's like getting a letter from the Internal Revenue Service. You panic," said Manuel Cunha, president of the Fresno-based Nisei Farmers League. "It's a real frightening deal for employers."

Most audits are invisible to the public, and land with a softer impact than a raid, but they are common enough to worry some employers.

Federal agents this month are probing more than 150 California businesses and 1,000 nationwide, the latest in a surge of civil inspections that began in the spring.

"They were selected because we received leads or intelligence indicating there might be problems with their workforce, and these businesses might have (connections) to public safety and critical infrastructure," said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

The inspections typically begin with a phone call and are followed by visits from auditors with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, who ask to review the I-9 forms that all employees must fill out to verify their identity and eligibility to work in the United States.

"A lot of people in business now know a company who's had an I-9 audit," said lawyer Dan Brown, who was a policy director at ICE during the Bush administration. "They are more nervous and taking the threat more seriously."

Along with the threat of fines and a tarnished reputation, many companies face the added costs of attorneys to navigate the conflicting demands of the government and the company's own bargaining agreements with union workers.

Targets range from brand-name firms to small companies, but ICE will not identify them unless employers are dealt a fine. Among the industries targeted because they are part of the nation's "critical infrastructure" are those involved in the food supply chain, officials have said.
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http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_13924906

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4.
DES says it'll enforce ban on aid to illegal immigrants
By Howard Fischer
The Capitol Media Services, December 4, 2009

Phoenix -- The Department of Economic Security issued a policy Thursday instructing its workers to enforce a new ban on providing welfare services to those not in this country legally, including a requirement to report illegal applicants to federal immigration officials.

DES spokesman Steve Meissner said the department was already asking for documents proving citizenship or legal residency, but the policy clarifies any ambiguity about what is required and specifies what documents are acceptable and what programs are covered.

Thursday's release of memos, charts, forms and other documents that will be used to implement the law came one day after the state Supreme Court announced it had dismissed a legal challenge to the new enforcement law.

The policy says DES eligibility workers must file a report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement when anyone they are dealing with admits he or she is an illegal immigrant. A report also must be filed when federal immigration officials provide "confirmed documentation" an applicant is not in the country legally, such as the results from computerized checks run by state workers of applicants through the federal government's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.

But the policy does not require a report to be filed if someone walks away without benefits because that person did not provide proper documentation.

The move follows legislative approval in August of new laws designed to tighten up who can get public benefits.

A 2004 voter-approved law was billed as closing the door on these benefits to anyone who could not prove legal residency. But a legal interpretation of that initiative by Attorney General Terry Goddard, as implemented by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, said that prohibition applied only to a small number of programs.

Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said the new law, which took effect last week, overrides that opinion and ensures every service paid for by Arizona taxpayers is covered.
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http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/320058.php

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5.
Lack of census outreach could cost the region
By Jim Miller
The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA), December 3, 2009

Sacramento -- Before the last national census, California lawmakers approved a $25 million blitz to increase the likelihood that everyone would be counted and the state would get its fair share of federal aid and political clout.

The prelude to next year's population count is a little different.

"You got me and a couple loaned staff," Ditas M. Katague, the state's census 2010 director, told participants at a Southern California census and redistricting conference this fall.

Perhaps more than anywhere else, California -- and its fast-growing Inland area -- have a lot to lose in the census that begins in March. Federal money and at least one congressional seat could go elsewhere for the next decade if the census misses a significant number of residents.

But major budget problems have sharply limited the state's census spending, to just $2 million for 2009-10. Foundations, community groups and some local governments are trying to pick up the slack, but they face fiscal problems of their own.

Meanwhile, California is home to 10 of the 50 counties nationwide with the largest numbers of people in places deemed hard to count because of high unemployment, lack of telephone service and other factors.

In addition, foreclosures in the Inland area and other parts of the state are making residents harder to track down. And a dispute about counting illegal immigrants also could reduce participation.

Next year's census will lack the time-consuming long form that went to one of six people in 2000. And the Census Bureau has $1 billion in stimulus money for the 2010 count.

But some California census watchers are concerned that the federal campaign will not resonate with residents of hard-to-count areas. The fear is that the state's census participation rate will be significantly below 2000 numbers.

"There has been a serious impact," said Rosalind Gold, a senior director at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, referring to government budget problems.

"The Census Bureau is doing programs in the state. But it's not the same as having the full investment of state and local governments."
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http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_census04.3737...