Saturday, August 28, 2010

U.S. to stop deporting immigrants who may be eligible for green cards

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has decided to stop deporting foreign nationals who may be eligible for a green card and who have no criminal record, The Miami Herald reports. The policy shift might affect tens of thousands of those married or related to a U.S. citizen or a legal resident who has filed petitions for immigration.

The change was outlined in an Aug. 20 memo that ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton sent to the agency's principal legal adviser and to the head of enforcement and removal operations...

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370 immigrants arrested in Midwest bust

What immigration officials are calling the largest bust of its kind in the Midwest, 370 convicted criminal aliens and immigration fugitives have been arrested following a three-day sweep, including 60 arrests in Michigan.

Of those Michigan arrests, 28 took place in metro Detroit.

During the operation, which ended Thursday and included 11 states, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 347 aliens with prior criminal convictions, including nine gang members and 16 convicted sex offenders. More than 56% of those arrested had prior convictions for serious or violent crimes, including armed robbery, drug trafficking and child abuse...

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48 illegal immigrants with criminal records arrested in three-day sweep

For the seventh time since December 2009, agents rounded up illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in the United States.

A dragnet targeting illegal immigrants with criminal records -- drug dealers, rapists and other convicted felons -- resulted in 48 arrests in Minnesota and 370 throughout the Midwest, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Friday...

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Friday, August 27, 2010

Illegal charged with sodomy in Etowah County

A man in the United States illegally has been charged with sodomy involving two boys, according to a news release from Sheriff Todd Entrekin.

Alberto Cabral Collazo, 34, Boaz, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree sodomy, Investigator Carla Carroll said...

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La Raza: Deporting 12 Million Illegal Aliens ‘Not a Realistic Solution’ and U.S. Should Stop Trying

(CNSNews.com) – The United States cannot deport all 12 million illegal aliens in the United States and should stop trying, a spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) told CNSNews.com last week...

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EXCLUSIVE: DHS Caught and Released 481 ‘Fugitive’ Illegals from State Sponsors of Terror and ‘Countries of Interest’

(CNSNews.com EXCLUSIVE) - In the three fiscal years from 2007-2009, the Department of Homeland Security caught and released 481 illegal aliens from nations designated as state sponsors of terrorism and “countries of interest,” and those 481 aliens are now fugitives, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement database obtained by CNSNews.com as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request.

The four state sponsors of terrorism, as determined by the State Department, are Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. The “countries of interest” are those additional countries whose citizens have been subjected to enhanced screening on U.S.-bound flights by the Transportation Security Administration as a result of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Flight 253...

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Texas faces rising cost for illegal immigrant care

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The cost of keeping illegal immigrants in prison and providing them with medical care exceeded $250 million last year in Texas, according to state health and corrections officials.

The testimony before the House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday came as lawmakers faced a projected state budget shortfall of up to $18 billion...

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Texas officials estimate at least $250 million spent on illegal immigrants annually

AUSTIN – Texas taxpayers spent at least $250 million last year in state prison and health care costs for illegal immigrants, but figuring out the precise cost will be difficult, state officials testified on Wednesday.

The House State Affairs Committee solicited information about services and benefits provided to noncitizens – a preliminary review in preparation for a legislative session certain to see a push for tougher immigration laws similar to those enacted in Arizona...

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Educating illegal immigrants is costly

As the debate on illegal immigration rages in Washington and state capitals, it’s troubling to see both sides rely on emotional rhetoric to the detriment of facts. The impact of illegal immigration on public education is a case in point.

No one can deny that increasing numbers of children of illegal immigrants attend public schools in the United States and that U.S. taxpayers pay the costs. Those sympathetic to illegal immigration tend to remain silent about these costs, while illegal-immigration opponents often fall short on specifics. In the interest of more informed discourse, here are the numbers.

According to a study released last year by the Pew Hispanic Center, as of 2008, 11.9 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States, more than triple the 3.5 million who lived in the country in 1990.

Among the states, California has the largest number of illegal immigrants with 2.7 million, nearly double the 1.4 million in Texas. California’s illegal-immigrant population has swelled by 1.2 million since 1990, while Texas has added a million. A large proportion of illegal-immigrant households are families.

Nearly half, 47 percent, of illegal-immigrant households consist of parents with children. This proportion is more than double that of U.S.-born households, where just 21 percent are parents with children. Over the years, the number of children of illegal immigrants has increased significantly...

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