Please visit our YouTube and Facebook pages.

1. DHS reverses position on arrests
2. CT imm. judge okays suit against ICE
3. Feds closing popular CA border park
4. RI prosecutors drop detention case
5. SC co. officials laud E-verify
6. MD co. lawmakers press for data
7. US atty.Touts local enforcement

1.
US says rule lifted limiting immigration arrests
By Ted Bridis and Eileen Sullivan
The Associated Press, January 26, 2009

Washington, DC (AP) -- The Homeland Security Department reversed itself Monday, saying that weeks after the presidential election it lifted a new rule requiring high-level approval before federal agents nationwide could arrest fugitive immigrants.

The Bush administration had imposed the unusual directive days before the election of Barack Obama, whose aunt was living in the United States illegally.

The directive expressed concerns about "negative media or congressional interest," according to a newly disclosed federal document obtained by The Associated Press.

The unusual directive from Immigration and Customs Enforcement made clear that U.S. officials worried about possible election implications of arresting Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father, who at the time was living in public housing in Boston. She is now believed to be living in Cleveland.

The directive was lifted at the end of November, after Obama's win, ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said Monday. Nantel previously had told the AP the directive was still in place, and the White House told the AP late Sunday that Obama would consider whether to overturn it. Nantel said she had been under the impression the directive was still in effect.

A copy of the directive, "Fugitive Case File Vetting Prior to Arrest," was released to the AP just over two months after it was requested under the Freedom of Information Act. It does not mention President Obama or any members of his extended family.

The directive originally was distributed Oct. 31 by e-mail to immigration officers by an assistant director at the agency. Obama was elected president five days later. Nantel said the directive called for close supervision over any cases that could be high profile. She said it was not specific to Obama's relatives.

The White House said late Sunday that the Obama administration wasn't briefed on why the directive was issued. It said Obama "has not contacted any government agency regarding Ms. Onyango's case, nor has any representative of the president."

Obama's aunt was instructed to leave the country four years ago by an immigration judge who rejected her request for asylum from her native Kenya. The East African nation has been fractured by violence in recent years, including a period of two months of bloodshed after December 2007 that killed 1,500 people.

Despite the deportation order, Onyango traveled to Washington last week for her nephew's inauguration. News organizations observed her attending an inaugural ball at Washington's Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, a historic luxury hotel, with her immigration lawyer, Margaret Wong.
. . .
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVVj5SjAgqpjIbqdmcOB74...

********
********

2.
6 allowed to pursue claims against ICE
By Mary E. O’Leary
The New Haven Register (CT), January 27, 2009

Immigration Judge Michael Straus recently issued a split decision in court challenges brought by 17 immigrants who charged that their arrests last year by federal agents were unconstitutional.

Straus, in an oral ruling, found that six of the 17 immigrants have made a prima facie case that constitutional violations took place, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have to testify under oath about the raids last summer.

Lawyers at the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale University are seeking to suppress evidence obtained by ICE when it arrested a total of 32 people in New Haven and North Haven in June 2007.

They allege that the officers conducted illegal searches and seizures, detained the 32 without reasonable suspicion and arrested them without probable cause.

Yale Law professor Michael Wishnie said Straus has ordered government attorneys to tell him on Feb. 12 which ICE agents will be testifying.

The government, in several hearings this fall, argued against calling ICE agents to testify, as unnecessary. ICE spokeswoman Paula Greiner Monday said it would be improper for her to comment at this point, as the case is still before Straus.

Wishnie said shifting the burden to ICE to justify its actions is unusual in immigration courts, although it has been happening more frequently since the federal government stepped up enforcement of immigration law since 2006.
. . .
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/01/27/news/a3-neice.txt

********
********

3.
In about-face, Border Patrol to bar public access at park
Agency cites security in halting longstanding practice
By Edward Sifuentes
The North County Times (Escondido, CA), January 24, 2009

Imperial Beach, CA -- In an about-face, the Border Patrol has decided to bar public access to Friendship Park, a neutral site on the U.S.-Mexico border where friends and families met to touch, exchange quiet greetings, even steal a kiss through a steel mesh fence.

As part of a larger project to secure the border, the federal government is building a second fence behind the current barrier that will keep people about 30 yards apart. Today, only the steel mesh fence divides the half-acre park near the Pacific Ocean.

"Our families meet here, we have cultural events, and a priest comes to give Mass," said Jose Rodriguez, a young man on the Mexican side of the border. "I sometimes bring my guitar and play."

That won't be allowed in the future.

Last month, Michael Fisher, the Border Patrol's chief agent in San Diego, said the agency was considering building a gate on the second fence. The gate would be open during the day to allow families to continue meeting each other at the park.

Now, Border Patrol officials say that keeping the gate open would be too risky.

"At this time, there is not projected to be any public access for national security reasons," said Jose Morales, a spokesman for the agency, during a recent tour of the border.

Morales and other border officials have said that criminals have taken advantage of the close contact allowed in the area.

People have been caught in the area selling drugs, smuggling illegal immigrants and trading in false documents, Fisher said in an interview last month.

"It's an area of vulnerability that we recognize we have to be able to shore up," he said.
. . .
http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/01/24/news/sandiego/z206b3...

********
********

4.
RI prosecutors: No charges over detainee death
By Eric Tucker
The Associated Press, January 27, 2009

Providence, RI (AP) -- Rhode Island prosecutors said Monday they would not bring any criminal charges in the cancer-related death of an immigration detainee at a detention facility where federal officials acknowledged the man was mistreated.

Attorney General Patrick Lynch said the state police investigation had focused primarily on whether Hiu Lui "Jason" Ng had been denied access to medical care before his death in August of late-stage liver cancer. He said Ng received medical attention, but troubling questions remain about the quality of care.

"The fact that no criminal charges will be filed should not be misinterpreted as an endorsement of the treatment that Mr. Ng received," Lynch said in a statement.

"As well as the physical pain he suffered, the erosion of the dignity to which he was entitled and the anxiety no doubt felt by his family are extremely troubling to me," he added.

Ng, 34, a Chinese immigrant and computer engineer detained for allegedly overstaying his visa, died at a hospital within weeks of arriving at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. He was not diagnosed with cancer until shortly before his death.

A report issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month concluded that Ng was mistreated at the privately run detention center, including being dragged by guards down the hall even though he had a doctor's note authorizing the use of a wheelchair.
. . .
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i1AbYR9TNu9BRajYH0Mm7P...

********
********

5.
E-Verify system works, Pickens County officials say
By Vince Jackson
The Independent-Mail (Anderson, SC), January 25, 2009

Pickens County, SC -- Some legal measures that took effect Jan. 1 in South Carolina place added restrictions on illegal workers, because employers now are required to use E-Verify or other federal work authorization programs.

A state law now requires all public employers and public contractors employing more than 500 people to electronically check and verify the employment eligibility of new employees by accessing a federal database.

The Pickens County Council voted last year to require that all new county employees be documented as legal workers. The county also required that all vendors doing business with Pickens County certify that they are not knowingly using illegal workers on any county projects.

Margaret Thompson, a Pickens County resident who supported the state law, said information she has received from county officials indicates that it works.

“Pickens County decided last summer to go beyond the state requirements and immediately require anyone working for and doing business with this county refrain from using illegal workers,” Thompson said.

Jennifer Woods, human resources director for Pickens County government, said, “E-Verify is phenomenal. I don’t know why anyone would not want to use it. It is free, and you can get results in 30 seconds.”
. . .
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2009/jan/25/e-verify-system-works-pi...

********
********

6.
Battle heats up over immigrant student tally
Part 1: Counting illegals
By Nicholas C. Stern
The Frederick News-Post (MD), January 26, 2009

Several Frederick County Commissioners have been trying for more than a year to halt what they believe is a strain on government services created by an increase in the local population of illegal immigrants.

Most efforts by commissioners John L. Thompson Jr. and Charles Jenkins, for example, have focused on cutting funds for education and social services.

A Jan. 12 letter from the county attorney to the state board of education marked the latest move in Jenkins' and Thompson's attempts to count the number of illegal immigrants who attend the county's public schools.

An accurate count of the local illegal immigrant population is not available, though the number of Latinos and Asians is on the rise.

Between July 2006 and July 2007, Frederick County's Latino population grew by 14.1 percent, to 12,900, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The area's Asian population grew by 8.1 percent during the same period.

Jenkins has suggested asking for proof of citizenship from students enrolled in the county's English as a Second Language classes.

Thompson wanted to withhold a portion of the Frederick County Board of Education's fiscal 2009 operating budget until the school board provided the number of illegal immigrant students.

Jenkins recently announced his intention to run for state delegate in District 3B, which covers the southern part of Frederick County and a portion of Washington County.

He has said illegal immigration will a top issues in his campaign.
. . .
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=85643

********
********

7.
ACLU, U.S. Attorney debate local policing for immigration
By Karen Lee Ziner
The Providence Journal, January 27, 2009

Providence -- Entrusting local and state police agencies with the enforcement of immigration law can lead to racial profiling and the undermining of trust between the police and communities of color, the head of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union said during a debate yesterday with the United States Attorney for Rhode Island.

Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU affiliate, and U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente exchanged views at a Providence Rotary Club luncheon at the Marriott.

Brown read part of a policy statement from the Major Cities Chiefs Association that said allowing local police to enforce immigration laws “will likely negatively affect and undermine [the] local level of trust and cooperation between police and local immigrant communities.”

The association, which comprises the heads of the 64 largest departments in the United States and Canada, said such a divide would increase the number “of silent victims” and eliminate potential witnesses to crimes.

The other problem, Brown said, is racial profiling. He said data collected in Rhode Island and analyzed by Northeastern University supports the assertion that blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be stopped by the police than whites and are twice as likely to be searched, even though the data show they are less likely to be carrying contraband.

Corrente said immigration “is a highly charged, highly emotional issue that really cries out for a national solution.” Absent that, however, Corrente said enforcement issues “are too big for the federal government to deal with,” and that has resulted in “a patchwork of state solutions,” including Governor Carcieri’s executive order that seeks, in part, to deputize local and state police with immigration powers.

Corrente said that there are “well over half a million people sneaking across the border” into this country every year, “with no checking whatsoever,” but there are too few federal immigration and Border Patrol agents to deal with the problem. Hence, he said, state and local police must step in.

Corrente also said that since Carcieri issued his executive order cracking down on illegal immigration last year, “if you ask state police, they are doing the same now as they did then.” In the course of an investigative stop, “as permitted by U.S. case law,” they may inquire of a person’s immigration status, “and if they are out of status, they will be reported to ICE.”

Carcieri’s order, in part, seeks an agreement between the state police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deputize state troopers with some immigration powers, under a so-called 287(g) program. Training is required before troopers can be vested with those powers; federal authorities said a backlog could delay approval, and training, for up to a year or more.
. . .
http://www.projo.com/news/content/ACLU_CORRENTE_01-27-09_4RD3HQ1_v13.371...