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1. Obama policies under fire
2. AZ sheriff given choice
3. NY Rep. hosts ICE, police
4. Illegal population declining
5. VA co. operation questioned

1.
Obama's Immigration Policies Under Fire
By Eric S. Page
NBC San Diego, August 4, 2009

If you believe successful government makes nearly everyone unhappy on some level, then the White House's immigration policy is a winner.

Although Barack Obama campaigned on a pledge to soften the Bush White House's stance on illegal immigration, the Obama administration has taken many pages out of his predecessor's playbook, according to a published report.

These days, the Department of Homeland Security is focusing on expanding E-Verify -- an existing program of employee immigration-status verification -- the New York Times reported, and stepping up the controversial 287(g) program, a policy permitting local and federal law-enforcement officials to cooperate on, among other things, immigration checks of people taken into custody. Also, the feds' are resisting efforts to dictate conditions in federal immigration detention centers.

Critics have slammed E-verify, arguing that the database contains thousands of errors and has led to as many as 19,000 people -- of 6.4 million checked -- being mistakenly identified as illegal immigrants. Opponents of 287(g) fear the program does not adequately protect against potential abuses, including racial profiling, and question the continuation of an agreement between the current administration and the controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, in Arizona. The sheriff, the paper reported, has been accused of using 287(g) as a tool to harass Latinos inside his jurisdiction.
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http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/politics/Obamas-Immigration-Policies-Und...

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2.
Feds give sheriff a tough choice on immigration enforcement
If sweeps not altered, jail help will be lost
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix), August 5, 2009

It was another sweep, with more arrests and complaints of racial profiling.

Valley residents are getting used to the fanfare and bitter debate that accompany Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "crime suppression operations," like the one in Chandler nearly two weeks ago. It has been 18 months since Arpaio launched the first raid in central Phoenix, but do they work?

Arpaio says "yes": The operations clear warrants, nab illegal immigrants and reinforce the message that illegal immigrants aren't welcome in the county.

Critics say "no": The sweeps don't result in enough arrests, they spark fear in immigrant communities and divert scarce resources.

In the 10 sweeps conducted since March 2008, deputies arrested 552 people, according to the Sheriff's Office. Fewer than half were in the country illegally. The legal residents detained were frequently picked up for offenses such as driving with suspended licenses or warrants.

The sweeps, in which drivers are stopped, can take weeks to plan, require dozens of law-enforcement personnel and can cost up to $40,000 for large-scale operations like last month's in Chandler.

By contrast, another program aimed at identifying illegal immigrants has caught more than 26,000 people as they were booked into jail. That operation, which is sanctioned by the federal government, uses federally trained officers already working in the jails.

It's those undocumented immigrants accused of committing crimes that the federal government now wants local law-enforcement to target. The Department of Homeland Security clarified its policy last month to reiterate that local agencies participating in the 287(g) program should only target "criminal aliens," those who have committed a crime other than illegal border crossing.

Arpaio has less than 90 days to weigh the two strategies as he considers his continued participation in the federal program.

If he accepts the new policy, he can still conduct sweeps, but his deputies will have to release illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes. If that policy had been in effect during the past 18 months, the Sheriff's Office would have had to release 150 of the sweeps detainees. If Arpaio doesn't agree to the terms, he won't be able to continue the identification program in the jails.

For Arpaio, the dilemma is real.

"The agreement is a package deal," covering street-level deputies and detention officers, Arpaio said. "I have to make a big decision. . . . I don't think they're going to change the policy just for me. If they were smart, because they do like the jail policy, they would say, 'Well, in Phoenix, Arizona, let the sheriff still turn these people over.' "
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http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/08/05/200908...

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3.
ICE, local law enforcement hold closed door briefings
Mid Hudson News (NY), August 5, 2009

Goshen, NY -- It was top secret. Officials of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) met with local law enforcement authorities in the 19th Congressional District in closed door sessions in Goshen and Carmel Tuesday.

They were brought together by Congressman John Hall.

Following the Goshen session, Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois told MidHudsonNews.com the concern of ICE is on criminal aliens.

“Country-wide there are 12 million illegal immigrants so there has to be some kind of threshold that they have to go by and so when it comes to criminal aliens, that’s what their focus is on,” he said.
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http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/August09/05/ICE_mtg-05Aug09.html

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4.
CIS studies show mixed picture of illegal immigration
Personal Liberty News, August 4, 2009

CIS studies show mixed picture of illegal immigrationAccording to new reports from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), the illegal immigrant population is declining but the unauthorized border crossings that still take place in large numbers are having a profoundly negative environmental impact.

The analysis suggests the illegal population declined by 13.7 percent (1.7 million) from a peak of 12.5 million in the summer of 2007 to 10.8 million in the first quarter of 2009.

CIS estimates also suggest that because the legal immigrant population has not declined, the overall foreign-born population has held relatively steady.

At the same time, a CIS web video using exclusive hidden camera footage shows wildlife populations are increasingly threatened by illegal immigration and smugglers who are cutting paths through federally protected lands.

Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border: Coyotes, Bears, and Trails has found evidence of abandoned vehicles, drug drops, illegal groups trekking and camping, human waste and litter that are destroying Arizona’s ecosystems.
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http://www.personalliberty.com/news/cis-studies-show-mixed-picture-of-il...

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5.
Illegal immigrants total 3 percent of serious-crime arrests in Prince William County
By David Sherfinski
The Washington Examiner (DC), August 5, 2009

About 3 percent of individuals arrested for violent crimes in Prince William County last year were illegal immigrants, according to data released Tuesday.

Of nearly 2,000 people arrested for the most violent crimes -- which include murder, rape and aggravated assault -- from March to December 2008, 3.4 percent were in the country illegally, according to an interim report on the county police department's policy.

Seventy-six percent of illegal immigrants arrested during that time were charged with public drunkenness, driving without a license or driving under the influence, said the report from the University of Virginia's Center for Survey Research.

The county's highly publicized crackdown on illegal immigrants was implemented smoothly by the county's police department but has had a mixed effect on crime and the community's perception of the department, according to the report presented to the county Board of Supervisors.

"This is a difficult question to sort through," said Bruce Taylor, director of research at the Police Executive Research Forum, which worked with the University of Virginia to study the effect the policy has had on crime in the county.

Another major question was how much the policy contributed to illegal immigrants leaving the county. Thomas Guterbock, director of the Center for Survey Research, estimated that several thousand illegal immigrants left when the policy was enacted, but added that the reasons for the exodus were not clear.

"It is unclear if the modest outflow was attributable to the immigration enforcement policy (that is, people getting arrested and turned over to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]), fear of the policy or the highly publicized anti-immigration sentiment voiced in the controversy, the economic downturn or all four," the report said.

Prince William Police Chief Charlie Deane said his department was committed to carrying out the policy in a fair and lawful manner, but added he was concerned with findings from the study that showed a drop in police satisfaction and trust from the county's African-American and Hispanic communities.
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http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Illegal-immigrants-total-3-perce...