1. Feds. bust Russian asylum ring
2. WWII hero awarded citizenship
3. Congress pressing ahead on probe
4. Mexico expects reduced remittances
5. Diplomats' domestic workers abused
6. Chicago leader to host seminar
7. NE city residents attend hearing
8. MA activists fret legislation
9. Iowa raid sparks Jewish debate

1.
Feds: Russian ring made $3 million on asylum fraud
By Maryclaire Dale
The Associated Press, July 30, 2008

Philadelphia (AP) -- A ring of Russian-born immigrants who live in the Philadelphia area made $3 million coaching asylum-seekers in how to lie to immigration officials, federal authorities charged Tuesday.

David Lynn, 33, advised at least 380 eastern European clients to claim they feared persecution based on religious, sexual orientation or other grounds, prosecutors said.

Lynn charged $8,000 per applicant or $10,000 to $12,000 per family, and took in so much cash he buried $560,000 and two 10-ounce gold bars in his basement floor, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.

Despite his seeming popularity within the Russian emigre community in Northeast Philadelphia and adjacent Bucks County, only a handful of his clients actually won asylum from 2003 to 2007.

"This fraud was about nothing more than money," said acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid, who charged that Lynn exploited "one of the cornerstones of the American immigration system."

Lynn who came to the U.S. from Israel and is also known as David Waisman ran a supposed translation service and claimed to be a lawyer, but was not, officials said.

Most of the clients were from Russia, while others were from Ukraine, Poland and elsewhere. The green card-seekers were coached to tell immigration officials they feared persecution in their homeland for being Baptist, Jewish, a Jehovah's Witness or gay, authorities said. One of Lynn's associates sometimes served as an interpreter at the interviews, they said.

Dissatisfied clients ultimately tipped authorities to the operation, Magid said.
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http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20080729_a...

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2.
Marine Raised Flag at Iwo Jima And Profile of Immigrants' Service
By Ben Hubbard
The Washington Post, July 30, 2008; B03

The 1945 photograph of six U.S. servicemen raising the flag over Iwo Jima won a Pulitzer Prize, served as the model for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington County and has become one of the most enduring images of World War II.

But until this year, the U.S. Marine Corps wasn't aware of the immigrant background of one of the men in the photograph, Marine Sgt. Michael Strank, thinking he was born in Pennsylvania. He was born in Czechoslovakia.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services tried to rectify the oversight yesterday by presenting Strank's younger sister, Mary Pero, 75, with a certificate of citizenship in a ceremony in front of the statue that bears his likeness. Pero accepted the certificate on his behalf, smiling proudly in front of the towering bronze statue.

During the ceremony, Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of CIS, said Strank hailed from "a long line of famous American immigrants who served their county in a time of war."

Strank was born in Jarabenia, Czechoslovakia, and immigrated to the United States in 1922, where he lived with his family in Conemaugh, Pa. Strank became a citizen when his father, Vasil, was naturalized in 1935, although the younger Strank never received a certificate. Strank's mother, Martha, was naturalized in 1941.

After graduating from high school and spending a year and a half in the Civilian Conservation Corps, Stark joined the Marines and served on various bases in the United States and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before sailing for combat in the Pacific in 1942.

Four days after landing on Iwo Jima, Strank, four other Marines and a sailor raised the flag atop Mount Suribachi. Strank's sister recalled seeing the image in her local paper, although at the time she had no idea her brother was one of the men.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR200807...

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3.
Democratic-led panels pressing ahead to air alleged Bush administration misdeeds
By Laurie Kellman
The Associated Press Writer, July 30, 2008

Washington, DC (AP) -- Across Capitol Hill, Democratic-led committees are considering punishments for past and present Bush administration officials for a range of alleged misdeeds, from discriminating against liberals at the Justice Department to blowing off subpoenas and lying to Congress.

The proceedings on Wednesday are the latest congressional review of the White House, a constitutionally mandated power that majority Democrats relish. But three months out from Election Day, a lame-duck Congress conducting oversight of a lame-duck White House produces mostly talk. There's little time and less willingness to spend the remaining five weeks of the congressional session doing more than holding televised hearings to try to convince voters that President Bush has abused the powers of his office.

The allegations certainly are serious.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday was to hear from Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, who reported this week that former department officials broke the law by letting Bush administration politics dictate the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers. The probe springs from Justice's firings of nine federal prosecutors that sparked congressional investigations last year and led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-lame-duck-o...

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4.
Mexican officials eye decline in remittances sent home by migrant workers
The Associated Press, July 29, 2008

Mexico City (AP) -- Half-year figures are expected to show the first sustained decline on record in remittances sent home by Mexicans working abroad, officials said.

The downturn in U.S. housing construction and stepped-up immigration raids have made it tougher for migrants to find jobs, and less able to send money home. Mexico's Central Bank is scheduled to release figures on the remittance flow on Wednesday.

Jesus Cervantes, director of economic measurement for Mexico's central bank, said remittances are expected to decline 1.5 percent to 2 percent for 2008 as a whole over the previous year.

Cervantes said that would be the first such sustained drop since a reliable tally has been kept.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-mexico-remitta...

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5.
Government Report Points to Diplomats’ Abuse of Workers They Bring With Them
By Kirk Semple
The New York Times, July 30, 2008

Every year, thousands of foreigners are brought to the United States, mainly to New York and Washington, to work in the homes of diplomats: cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and caring for the diplomats’ children.

For the envoys, such workers bring a knowledge of their traditions and customs and help provide them with a seamless transition to the United States.

For the workers, who arrive on special visas and are often poor and uneducated, the arrangement promises an opportunity to earn enough money to support their own families back home.

But immigrant and human rights advocates have warned for years that behind the veil of diplomatic immunity, some envoys have subjected their workers to hardships that range from underpayment and excessive hours to physical and psychological injury, creating conditions that can amount to indentured servitude or even slavery.

According to a report released on Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, since 2000 at least 42 foreigners brought to the United States to work as live-in workers have said that they were abused by their employers in some way.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/nyregion/30traffic.html

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6.
Chicago alderman to host immigrant rights hearings
By Sophia Tareen
The Associated Press, July 29, 2008

Chicago (AP) -- Activists and several Chicago aldermen are investigating dozens of claims that city and county authorities violated immigrant rights, including federal Immigration laws affecting jail inmates.

Officials announced Tuesday that the City Council will hear testimony from immigrants next week, a move which advocates have applauded, saying it promotes Chicago's historic reputation as a friendly city for immigrants.

"We understand the value that immigrants hold in our society, whether documented or undocumented," said Chicago Alderman Danny Solis, who is leading the hearings.

Solis and a newly formed commission are looking into at least 30 complaints of racial profiling by Chicago police officers and violations of federal Immigration law at Cook County Jail.

The allegations include that undocumented immigrants who have a detainer placed on them by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are being held longer than a required 48 hours. The time for federal agents to pick them up starts once they've been cleared for release from local law enforcement.

Last month officials at Cook County Jail -- where three ICE agents are stationed each day -- admitted that at least one immigrant inmate was held for ICE longer than 48 hours. Since then, the jail has established several reforms, including a hot line with updated information on the detention status of immigrants held on criminal charges, said Cook County Sheriff's Police spokesman Steve Patterson.

ICE officers who are stationed at the jail pick up about six to eight people each day, said ICE spokeswoman Gail Montenegro.

ICE does not racially profile and does not encourage jails to hold immigrant inmates longer than 48 hours, Montenegro said.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-immigrantrights-h,0,177310....

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7.
Fremont Immigration Hearing
By Alicia Myers
The KOLN News, July 29, 2008

1,000 people turned out in Fremont Tuesday night, voicing their opinions on a proposed illegal immigrant ban.

The Fremont city council has spent the past few weeks weighing in on the issue, that could outlaw things like hiring or renting to illegal immigrants.

Fremont business leaders say they worry a new ordinance targeting illegal immigration could hurt the community.

That is exactly how hundreds of residents feel.

Some council members say it is an issue that needs to be looked at for the sake of some supportive residents.

It was the length of a line you would normally see waiting outside a headliner concert.

Instead, this line was full of people fighting for their rights, as well as their community's well-being, at Fremont's Tuesday evening city council immigration hearing.
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http://www.kolnkgin.com/home/headlines/26083454.html

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8.
Bill adds rules for prepaid cellphones
Lawmaker wants names and numbers recorded
By John C. Drake
The Boston Globe Staff, July 30, 2008

A state lawmaker wants to require all buyers of prepaid cellphones to provide their names and other information for a statewide database to help police track down criminals, a proposal that is opposed by wireless companies as unwieldy and by an advocacy group as potentially unfair to immigrants.

State Representative John J. Binienda, Democrat of Worcester, said police often face roadblocks to investigations since a call made by a prepaid cellphone generally cannot be traced to the phone's owner.

Prepaid cellphones, which can be purchased off the rack at convenience stores and other retailers, do not require contracts or credit checks and come loaded with minutes that can be replenished using cash. The minutes typically cost more than packages purchased through conventional plans, and buyers have to pay full price for the phones since they're not committing to a contract. But prepaid cellphones are popular among buyers with no or poor credit histories who cannot qualify for a plan.

Binienda's bill, which is supported by Worcester police, is under consideration in the House and is not expected to pass this session, which ends this week. It will probably emerge again next year. It would require retailers to record the phone's serial number and phone number and the service provider's name, and to keep a copy of the driver's identification. The stores would be required to keep the information for two years and also supply it to the state attorney general's office and the wireless providers.

Legislation to require a photo ID to purchase a prepaid cellphone has been proposed in a few other states, including Michigan and Georgia, but has not passed.

"There has always been a concern that prepaid services in general enable anonymity in wireless usage and that's in part a concern because it lends to its use by criminals," said Fedor Smith, an analyst who monitors the prepaid cellphone industry for Boston-based consulting and research firm Atlantic-ACM. "If you're calling other prepaid wireless costumers, there's a completely anonymous network of people."
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http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/07/30/bill_adds_...

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9.
Raid sparks debate in Judaism over ethics and kosher food
Should socially conscious standards be wedded to religious tradition?
By Irene Sege
The Boston Globe, July 30, 2008

The friend who told Susan Cetlin earlier this summer that she loves Aaron's brand kosher chicken didn't get the nod of agreement she might have expected.

Instead, Cetlin, a psychologist whose Sharon home is kosher, listed allegations of unsafe working conditions and underpayment against Aaron's parent company, Agriprocessors, the nation's largest producer of kosher meat and the object of a large Immigration raid in May. Cetlin is boycotting Agriprocessors, and soon her friend was, too.

The raid on Agriprocessors' Iowa plant has sparked debate in the Jewish community about the role of ethical considerations in the production of kosher food and sets the backdrop against which the moderate Conservative movement will issue guidelines Thursday for an ambitious new "hekhsher tzedek," Hebrew for "certificate of righteousness." The additional stamp would identify producers of kosher foods that meet its standards regarding working conditions, treatment of animals, and the environment.

In rolling out the new certification, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly, two national umbrella organizations, join a wave of socially conscious buying that has led many consumers to seek fair-trade coffee and sneakers not made by children.

To Conservative Jewish leaders, the new certification symbolizes the embrace of tradition and modern social concerns that defines the denomination.

"Hekhsher tzedek reminds us that kosher is not just about rituals," said Rabbi Barry Starr of Temple Israel in Sharon, where Cetlin is a member. "That's a very powerful niche for the Conservative movement."

For Cetlin, who was raised in a nonobservant Jewish home and considers keeping kosher part of her spiritual journey, the allegations against Agriprocessors have violated her trust in a way that concerns about other products have not. Federal and state authorities are now investigating complaints of illegal working conditions at Agriprocessors, including allegations, detailed in The New York Times, that underage immigrants worked shifts as long as 17 hours.
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/30/jews_debate_the_eth...