A continued push for a witch hunt

While Cheney and Gonzales are getting indicted by a Grand Jury, Houston's newspaper is focusing on getting rid of what it perceives as the "real criminals" --- undocumented people. This is not to say that the crimes committed by some of these people were not terrible. But as a DREAMer informed me a few days ago... a couple of young guys drinking outside their apt. in Pasadena were picked up (as criminals?) and are now being detained by ICE for probable deportation.

Why is it that the media would focus on the group that is the weakest? The Texas Governor will undoubtedly push the "criminals" to leave the country.... will he provide the same effort to prosecute Cheney and Gonzales?

Perry demands immigration action by feds
After a Chronicle investigation, governor urges steps to ensure criminals here illegally don't avoid deportation
By SUSAN CARROLL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Nov. 19, 2008, 5:20AM


Gov. Rick Perry and members of the state's congressional delegation called on the federal government Tuesday to take steps to help state and local officials ensure that illegal immigrants who commit crimes in Texas remain in custody until they are deported.

In a strongly worded letter to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, Perry said he was outraged to learn that many convicted illegal immigrants in Texas jails were released after they completed their jail sentences instead of being deported.

In a series of stories this week, the Houston Chronicle outlined gaps in the screening of inmates in local jails that allowed scores of violent criminals, including some ordered deported decades ago, to walk away from Harris County Jail despite the inmates' admission to Harris County jailers that they were in the country illegally...more

DREAMERS be careful in Galveston

photo: commercialappeal.com

In today's Houston Chronicle there is an article on how suburban jails may get overloaded because of ICE"s criminal alien program (funny I kept typing "progrom") - inside the article is an important piece of information:

Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, spokesman for the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, said Galveston deputies already report illegal immigrants whenever they are encountered during the course of a normal arrest

As thousands of students visit Galveston beaches every year - a good number of these students get arrested - for violations such as public intoxication or assault (if they got into a fight). DREAMERS go to the beach too.... and you know how sometimes you can get caught in a mess by just standing nearby.

Since Galveston now has a policy of checking immigration status - be careful if you are a DREAMER- and stay out of, if you see a problem erupting nearby - get away from the action. If you are no longer a DREAMER, be sure to carry your documents with you...

-----

May 25, 2008, 11:02PM
Effort by ICE could be strain on suburban counties' jails

By HARVEY RICE and ERIC HANSON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

As Harris County meshes into a Homeland Security Department program to accelerate the deportation of illegal immigrants locked up in U.S. jails, suburban counties fear it could overburden their smaller staffs.

The department's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already enlisted Harris County and the six adjacent suburban counties in its Criminal Alien Program, allowing jails to report each inmate's immigration status.

The more ambitious parts of the ICE effort are to train local law enforcement in immigration duties and equip county jails with sophisticated technology that would give them access to the ICE fingerprint database.

Harris County is waiting its turn to send deputies for immigration duty training in the 287(g) program, but suburban counties worry about the strain caused by having members of a smaller department absent for the training.

Houston-area counties are among 52 counties under the ICE Houston office, which reports that about 200 illegal immigrants with criminal records are taken into custody every week.

The number of illegal immigrants in suburban county jails varies, from 317 over the course of a year in populous Fort Bend County to less than 10 on any given day in smaller Chambers and Liberty counties.

ICE does not keep numbers for individual counties, but deportations from the 52-county area have risen steadily over the past three years, rising from 4,880 criminal deportations in fiscal 2005 — about 58 percent of all deportations — to 7,100 in fiscal 2007, about 53 percent.

Nationally, deportations of all types have risen from 178,177 in fiscal 2005 to 280,523 in fiscal 2007.

None has applied

Although most area counties are interested in the training, so far none of the suburban counties — Montgomery, Fort Bend, Liberty, Chambers, Brazoria or Galveston — has applied for the program.

"Taking people out of pocket for an extended period of time would be a problem," said Cpl. Hugh Bishop, spokesman for the Liberty County Sheriff's Office.

The ICE training takes officers away from their departments for at least a month, ICE spokesman Greg Palmore said. Jailers receive four weeks of training and field officers five weeks, Palmore said.

Bishop said cost is another hurdle to participation. Although ICE pays for the training and provides housing, departments must continue to pay salaries for the absent officers.

Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo, spokesman for the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, said Galveston deputies already report illegal immigrants whenever they are encountered during the course of a normal arrest, and the department is leery of doing more...

for complete article click here

The Menacing Sound of the ICE Criminal Alien Program

Oct. 9, 2007, 12:11AM
Localized immigration enforcement on rise
Federal inaction means more than ever, nation's law agencies take issue into own hands
By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Local and state law enforcement agencies throughout the country are taking unprecedented steps to police illegal immigration, a responsibility historically reserved for the federal government.

So far this year, officers from 23 county and state agencies from Virginia to California have been trained under a 1996 federal law that allows them to make immigration.

...But the push toward more local enforcement raises concerns in many quarters. Nestor Rodriguez, director of the Center for Immigration Research at the University of Houston, said using local police to enforce complex immigration laws can lead to abuses, including racial profiling and unlawful detention.

''The worst consequence is not what the police do, but how the people begin to feel," Rodriguez said. ''Latinos who are U.S. citizens begin to feel the police are after them."


Texas rejects enforcement

The tool driving some of the enforcement shift can be attributed to a federal program that sounds more like an IRS tax form: Called 287 (g), this section of the 1996 immigration law authorizes jailers and police officers to conduct immigration arrests and process deportation paperwork under ICE supervision.
Since the program began in 2002, 33 state and local agencies have entered into agreements with ICE, and 597 local officers who received training have made 26,000 arrests, said Carl Rusnok, an ICE spokesman.

In Texas, no department has signed up for the federal cross-training. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger said there are no plans to undergo the training in the future. "Our stance has always been that we don't enforce immigration policy," Vinger said...

Harris County assistance

Beyond 287 (g) and new state laws, local authorities are also employing the ICE Criminal Alien Program to help police immigration.
As part of the program, Harris County officials say they began asking county jail inmates in September 2006 if they were in the country legally.

So far, the policy change has resulted in jail officials making 5,556 referrals to ICE agents, said Lt. John Martin.

After the county makes the referrals, ICE can place detainers on the immigrants, preventing their release.

...The same Criminal Alien Program has ignited protests in recent weeks in Irving, the Dallas suburb where ICE agents are working closely with city jailers and deporting more than 300 illegal immigrants a month. Local activists complain Irving police are targeting immigrants in raids on apartment complexes, but city officials say they are only arresting people who have committed crimes.

On the Texas border, sheriff's deputies are using federal funds to take part in security operations designed to crack down on border crime. Gov. Rick Perry's office dispersed $9.8 million in federal grants to pay overtime for Operation Linebacker in 2005 and 2006 and is funding Operation Border Star, the state's latest effort to increase the number of patrols along the border.

''This isn't an operation to target illegal immigration," said Krista Moody, a spokeswoman for Perry's office. ''These operations are focused on deterring crime, drug smuggling and human trafficking in our border communities."

Activists Like Iliana Holguin, an attorney at the El Paso Catholic Diocese, say the operations overstep their mission.

'''These border law authorities want the money to combat border crime, but in the end it's being used to go after individual undocumented immigrants and their families, many who are U.S. citizens," Holguin said.


Harassment alleged

Activists say that happened last month in Chaparral, a border community in New Mexico near El Paso, where 28 undocumented migrants were deported after they were detained.

''It just goes beyond even what we've seen here in terms of harassment," said Briana Stone, an attorney with the Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project, who is investigating the Chaparral operation.

Residents there say officers forced their way into homes after saying they were responding to 911 calls or complaints about barking dogs or investigating code violations, Stone said.


for complete article click title to this post