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1. ICE under scrutiny following sweep
2. Bill extends privileges to gay couples
3. Haiti refuses to accept deportees
4. MT lawmakers consider restrictions
5. Catholic leaders press for amnesty

1.
Conflicting Accounts of an ICE Raid in Md.
Officers Portray Detention of 24 Latinos Differently in Internal Probe and in Court
By N.C. Aizenman
The Washington Post, February 18, 2009; A01

The boss was not happy. His elite team of immigration officers had been raiding targets across Prince George's and Montgomery counties all night long in search of fugitive and criminal immigrants but had netted only a handful.

As the unit regrouped in its Baltimore office that frigid January morning two years ago, the supervisor warned members that they were well behind a Washington-mandated annual quota of 1,000 arrests per team and ordered them back out to boost their tally.

"I don't care where you get more arrests, we need more numbers," he said, according to one account in a summary of an internal investigation. The boss then added that the agents could go to any street corner and find a group of illegal immigrants, according to the summary, not previously made public.

About an hour later, the nine-person team went to a nearby 7-Eleven and arrested 24 Latino men. But most of the detainees were hardly the threats to the United States that the team was designed to focus on.

The officers were part of a special unit that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt suspected terrorists or dangerous criminals who are "fugitive aliens," meaning they have evaded a deportation order. And although many of the 24 Latinos detained at the 7-Eleven were found to have been in the country illegally, 14 were not fugitive immigrants. One, Ernesto Guillen, was merely stopping for coffee on his way to join his wife at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where their 4-year-old son was undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia.

The Jan. 23, 2007, incident, described in ICE documents and shown in security camera footage obtained by The Washington Post, offers a glimpse into how Washington's directives on arrest targets might have spurred officers in the field to stray from their mission and stage a random sweep for illegal immigrants, possibly in violation of ICE's stated practice.

Even as ICE's National Fugitive Operations Program has garnered more than $625 million from Congress since its launch in 2003, critics have long suspected that Washington's practice of setting goals for apprehensions has led teams to bring in tens of thousands of immigrants who have not evaded a deportation order or committed a crime -- as opposed to being in the country unlawfully, which is a civil violation.

Recently, researchers from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York and the Migration Policy Institute in Washington released a report revealing a dramatic leap in arrests of immigrants who were neither fugitives nor criminals in 2006 and 2007 after officers were permitted to count non-fugitives toward their goal if such detainees were encountered in the course of an operation.

When a reporter contacted ICE for this article, spokeswoman Kelly A. Nantel disclosed that as of Feb. 4, ICE leadership had altered the annual goal of 1,000 arrests for each team. Instead, each team must now identify and target -- though not necessarily arrest -- 50 fugitives each month, as well as 500 a year as part of operations with other teams.

Nantel cited new statistics showing that in the 2008 fiscal year, the share of non-fugitive arrests by the teams dropped -- from 40 percent to 24 percent of arrests nationwide and to 6 percent of those made by the Baltimore team. Meanwhile, the new secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, has requested a review of fugitive operations.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/17/AR200902...

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2.
Federal immigration bill introduced
By Lisa Keen
The Keen News Service, February 18, 2009

Saying that now there's a president in the White House who is not a “guaranteed veto” for the legislation, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler reintroduced a bill Feb. 12 that seeks to enable gay Americans to sponsor their foreign same-sex partners for legal residency in the United States.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy reintroduced the companion bill in the Senate.

Speaking to reporters on a telephone conference call, Nadler said it would be hard to say what the “odds” are for the bill—the Uniting American Families Act”—to pass.

Nadler's remarks to reporters were interrupted by a phone call from the White House but, when he came back on the phone, the Congressman said the call was about the stimulus package.

An Obama administration aide indicated the White House has not yet weighted in on the legislation.

But, as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, then-Sen. Obama told the Human Rights Campaign that he supported the bill. And Nadler indicated that the change in the White House—and “positive signals” from Democratic committee leaders—has prompted him to make a “serious attempt” at passing the legislation.

Read more story below....

Under the current Immigration and Naturalization Act, an American citizen can sponsor his or her opposite-sex “spouse” for a green card, representing legal residency.

The Leahy-Nadler bills seek to amend that law to add the words “permanent partner” to those qualified to seek such residency.

“Permanent partner” is defined as an adult who is in a committed, intimate, financially interdependent relationship with another adult in “which both parties intend a lifelong commitment.”

“The promotion of family unity has long been part of federal immigration policy,” said Leahy, in a statement released Thursday, “and we should honor that principle by providing all Americans the opportunity to be with their loved ones.”
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http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=20535

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3.
Haiti Blocks US Deportations
The Voice of America News, February 17, 2009

Haiti is blocking the deportation of Haitians from the United States.

U.S. immigration authorities have ordered 30,000 Haitians to leave the country, but Haitian officials are refusing to issue the travel documents needed for the deportations.

They say the Caribbean nation needs time to recover from last year's devastating hurricanes and cannot handle the return of its citizens.

The action has been clogging U.S. immigration detention centers. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency says about 600 Haitian deportees are in detention centers and another 240 are under house arrest.
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http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-17-voa37.cfm

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4.
Immigration bill targets illegal workers
By John S. Adams
The Great Falls Tribune (MT), February 18, 2009

Helena -- A lawmaker from Park City wants lawmakers to pass a bill that would make it illegal for employers to hire unauthorized alien workers, but critics say the bill would encourage racial profiling and put a strain on law enforcement resources.

The House Business and Labor Committee took up Republican Rep. David Howard's House Bill 496 on Tuesday.

Howard said the federal government isn't doing enough to prevent employers from hiring unauthorized aliens, and it's time for the state to step up.

"Today, if you're an employer and you purposely hire unauthorized aliens to work for you, there is no penalty," Howard told the committee. "The advantage of hiring unauthorized aliens is you don't have to pay workers (compensation). You can many times pay them half what the going rate is, and you can hire twice the number of people to do the job."

Under the bill, employers who knowingly hire unauthorized aliens would lose their license to do business in the state for seven days. A second violation could result in up to a 30-day license suspension. A third offense could lead to a 180-day suspension.

Proponents of the measure said the bill is designed to protect unauthorized alien workers.

"This does happen in Montana," said Keith Allen of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 233."Thisbill does not target the people, but when an employer is abusing these people, they do not need to have the right to do business in this state of ours."
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http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090218/NEWS01/902180311

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5.
Nebraska bishops use input from laity to tackle immigration reform
The Catholic News Agency, February 17, 2009

Omaha -- With the input gathered from listening sessions which included both lay citizens and immigrants, the Catholic Bishops of Nebraska have released a statement on the difficulties and the potential generated by immigration to the state.

The statement, titled “Immigration: A Call to Be Patient, Hospitable and Active for Reform,” discusses the “profound challenges” of the issue and notes the opportunities immigration provides for spiritual enrichment, charity, hospitality, and a “strengthening of faith in God’s divine plan for all humanity.”

The bishops noted that a major workplace enforcement raid in Grand Island, Nebraska, and policy debates on the state and local levels had made immigration a topic of frequent discussion. The state’s percentage rate of immigrant population growth is also ranked among the top ten out of all U.S. states.

The bishops also described the input process they used in compiling the letter, explaining how they had sponsored information and dialogue sessions in eight locations around the state.

Participants received information about Catholic teaching relating to immigration and information about common concepts in media and public policy coverage of immigration.

“The overriding value of these sessions was the opportunity for participants to express and share their views, concerns and hopes regarding immigration in Nebraska and the nation,” the bishops wrote.

“We are grateful to the more than 100 persons who participated in these sessions and also to the 100 or so others who contributed written comments. The sincere and respectful sharing of viewpoints and experiences, as well as openness to the Church’s social teaching, proved to be an effective means for addressing such complex, challenging issues.”

Responses expressed a “broad spectrum” of views, the bishops reported. Some respondents focused on the rule of law and endorsed the deportation of illegal residents. Others said that their foremost concern was that first-generation immigrants in the U.S. should have access to the same rights, benefits and privileges available to citizens.
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http://catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=15124