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1. Strategy to target employers
2. ICE discloses more deaths
3. Sen Kyl backs critics
4. CA candidate talks issue
5. Agent's autopsy released

1.
U.S. Intensifies Audits of Employers
By Miriam Jordan
The Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2009

Los Angeles -- A senior U.S. immigration official said Monday that his agency will intensify a crackdown on employers of workers in the country illegally as part of the Obama administration's new immigration strategy.

John Morton, the new chief of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, said that the agency is set to increase the number of companies it will audit and systematically impose fines on violators. Violations could also lead to criminal charges, he said.

On July 1, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced an audit of employers to verify whether their employees were eligible to work. Mr. Morton said that 654 companies are currently being audited and that many more employers will be notified soon that they also will be under scrutiny by the government.

"You are going to see audits regularly and on a larger scale," Mr. Morton said during a two-day visit to southern California, his first since being appointed four months ago. "You will see the resuscitation of...civil fines."

Tom Roach, an immigration attorney in Pasco, Wash., said that apple, cherry and grape growers in his area are panicking over the new crackdown.

Few industries have come so close to admitting they cannot survive without the labor of illegal immigrants as agriculture. At least half of the 1.8 million crop workers in the U.S. are undocumented.

Mr. Roach said a client who received a notification of inspection from ICE last month could face thousands of dollars in fines. "There is a ton of counterfeit documents out there. The employer does exactly what he is supposed to do, but he can still get in trouble," he said.

As part of the audit, immigration agents review the I-9 forms and other records of a company. If agents conclude that a business knowingly hired illegal workers, criminal investigations follow.

On Monday, federal prosecutors filed charges against Bellingham, Wash.-based Yamato Engines Specialists where 28 people were arrested in a February immigration raid, accusing the family-owned business of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. The raid at Yamato was the first since President Barack Obama took office and attracted national attention. Calls to Yamato Engine weren't immediately returned Monday, the Associated Press reported.

Fines for companies found to employ workers in the country illegally could exceed $800 per employee. "You have to make sure that the fine isn't just seen by these companies as part of their bottom line," said deputy ICE chief Alonzo Peña. Messrs. Morton and Peña said the government would promote use by companies of an electronic employment verification system, known as E-Verify. The system is voluntary in California and most states.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125055700606938851.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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2.
ICE: Deaths highlight need for immigration detention reform
Ten more detainees died than originally identified, immigration enforcement officials say.
By Cindy Carcamo
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), August 18, 2009

On the same day Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced the deaths of 10 additional individuals while in custody, the agency's newly appointed head emphasized the need for an overhaul of its detention system.

"My foot is on the pad," ICE head John T. Morton told a room full of journalists Monday about detention reform. "I'm focused on this personally."

Later that day, immigration enforcement officials announced that a closer review of their records of detainee deaths revealed 10 more individuals who had died from October 2003 to 2007. That brings the total number of deaths to 104 from 2003 to the present, ICE officials said. The majority of deaths were from natural causes, they said.

The discovery prompted Morton to call for an agencywide review of all the agency's documents and databases on detainee deaths.

The American Civil Liberties Union triggered the initial review after filing a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the death of a detainee not previously found on the agency's list.

The ACLU has been critical of ICE's detention system and has taken legal action against the agency for claims of inhumane treatment. In April the group announced it had filed a lawsuit with five plaintiffs, including Abelardo Chavez Flores of Santa Ana.

Flores, 52, claimed he was treated egregiously -- unable to brush his teeth or change his clothes for weeks and forced to sleep on a concrete floor -- at the detention facility in downtown Los Angeles.

ICE officials wouldn't comment on pending litigation as a matter of policy, they said in a written statement.
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http://www.ocregister.com/articles/detention-agency-deaths-2532776-morto...

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3.
Kyl Says Concerns Over Illegal Immigration Are Valid
By John Stanton
Roll Call (Washington, DC), August 19, 2009

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday defended critics of Democratic health care reform plans who claim the proposals would provide subsidized health care to illegal immigrants. Kyl said Democrats have long sought to block curbs on public services for people illegally in the country.

“It’s a logical question for people to ask,” Kyl said during a conference call with reporters, maintaining that during last year’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program debate and other legislative fights, Democrats blocked efforts by Republicans to include curbs on health care for illegal immigrants.

“In the last couple of bills … there were efforts to ensure that only eligible people would get the benefits … those efforts were defeated by Democrats,” Kyl argued, pointing out that hospitals currently are required to provide illegal aliens — as well as anyone else — with health care if they are in need.

“That illegal immigrants get care ... it’s a big burden on hospitals,” Kyl said.

Over the past two weeks, questions have become common about whether illegal workers would get subsidized insurance or benefits under health care reform. In Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) faced immigration questions at all four of his town-hall events.

None of those events saw heated exchanges over the issue — and Grassley said there are no bills being considered that would extend benefits to illegal immigrants.
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http://www.rollcall.com/news/37825-1.html

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4.
Whitman wants bigger state voice on immigration policy
By Jack Chang
The Sacramento Bee, August 18, 2009

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said Tuesday she supports toughening federal enforcement of employers who hire illegal immigrants and also expanding guest worker programs for farmworkers and highly skilled immigrants.

The 53-year-old former CEO of the online auction firm eBay laid out her immigration views while speaking to a crowd mostly made up of supporters at an El Dorado Hills home Tuesday.

"The next governor of California has to weigh in more heavily on federal immigration policy and enforcement than we have in the past," Whitman said.

The federal government needs to tighten enforcement of the country's borders, she said, while raising scrutiny of employers.

"I believe ultimately we're going to have to hold employers accountable for hiring legal documented workers," Whitman said. "Because I think we can build a fence a million feet high, and the lure of the jobs will keep people coming.
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http://www.sacbee.com/latest/story/2119971.html

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5.
Autopsy: Slain Border Patrol agent shot 8 times
The Associated Press, August 18, 2009

San Diego (AP) -- A Border Patrol agent who was killed last month in a remote, boulder-strewn area was shot eight times in the head, neck and torso, according to an autopsy report released Tuesday.

Robert Rosas, 30, was struck four times in the head — three times on the left side of his face and once in the back of his head, the San Diego County medical examiner's office. He was also shot once in the neck and three times in the torso.

The autopsy says Rosas and other agents were pursuing three suspected illegal immigrants on a cool, "extremely dark" night in Campo, about 60 miles east of San Diego. Rosas, driving alone, left his vehicle with the ignition running. The report says Rosas approached "at least one person," but does not elaborate.

Another agent who heard six to eight gunshots rushed to Rosas, finding him without a pulse about 10 yards from his flashlight and another 10 yards from his vehicle. A wallet in his pocket contained his driver's license and badge.

Mexican authorities have identified the chief suspect as Ernesto Parra Valenzuela, 36, who was arrested near Tecate, Mexico, several hours after the July 23 killing. The FBI, which is leading the investigation in the United States, has not identified any suspects.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hPSwshFPzVfadMmjIwIckS...