The Associated Press: Vermont dairy farmer talks about immigration probe

The Associated Press: Vermont dairy farmer talks about immigration probe

This AP story describes what generally happens during an I-9 audit when ICE comes to visit. Sounds like they are being a little kinder & gentler these days. If you are a business owner who gets audited don't count on it going this smoothly.

excerpt from the story...

He would like to be able to hire foreign farmworkers on temporary visas for several years at a time. Because their business is year-round, dairy farms aren't eligible for workers under the H2A temporary visa worker programs used by crop farmers.

With 950 cows that need to be milked three times a day, Gervais said he's struggled to find reliable workers. Many apply only when they can't find work elsewhere. They often have drug or alcohol problems or troubles at home, he said. He pays his staff $10 to $12 an hour, but said milking can be monotonous and not everyone enjoys it or is good working with animals.

"There's not enough people that want to do it. That's the real, true issue," Gervais said. "I mean there's good Americans that can milk, but there's not enough of them that can and want to."

He was irked that dairy farms — having endured a year of the lowest milk prices in memory — were targeted by investigators.

"With the situation the dairy industry is in, we really don't need this right now," he said. "We're got plenty going on just making a living."

But it could have been worse, he said.

Instead of rounding up workers, the inspector came to the milking barn looking for Gervais. She told him she was doing a random audit and asked for the paperwork. Immigration officials later went through the forms with a fine-tooth comb and found errors, which were largely clerical, Gervais said. They asked for the payroll a second time and eventually told him three workers were illegal. Gervais had talked to several lawyers and didn't know what to expect.

Why don't they just come here legally like my great-grandparents did?

Why? 1. Because it used to be a lot easier to come here "legally"; 2. Because it once was easier to legalize yourself even if you came here illegally; 3. Because it used to be easy to come back legally even if you had been here illegally in the past.

Here is some history of immigration law from the USCIS itself:

Act of March 3, 1875 (18 Statutes-at-Large 477)

Established the policy of direct federal regulation of immigration by prohibiting for the first time entry to undesirable immigrants. Provisions:


a. Excluded criminals and prostitutes from admission.

b. Prohibited the bringing of any Oriental persons without their free and voluntary consent; declared the contracting to supply “coolie” labor a felony.

c. Entrusted the inspection of immigrants to collectors of the ports.
 
Immigration Act of August 3, 1882 (22 Statutes-at-Large 214)

First general immigration law, established a system of central control of immigration through State Boards under the Secretary of the Treasury. Provisions:

a. Broadened restrictions on immigration by adding to the classes of inadmissible aliens, including persons likely to become a public charge.

b. Introduced a tax of 50 cents on each passenger brought to the United States.
 
Immigration Act of March 3, 1903 (32 Statutes-at-Large 1213)

An extensive codification of existing immigration law. Provisions:

a. Added to the list of inadmissible immigrants.

b. First measure to provide for the exclusion of aliens on the grounds of proscribed opinions by excluding “anarchists, or persons who believe in, or advocate, the overthrow by force or violence the government of the United States, or of all government, or of all forms of law, or the assassination of public officials.”

c. Extended to three years after entry the period during which an alien who was inadmissible at the time of entry could be deported.

d. Provided for the deportation of aliens who became public charges within two years after entry from causes existing prior to their landing.

e. Reaffirmed the contract labor law (see the 1885 act).

Immigration Act of May 26, 1924 (43 Statutes-at-Large 153)


The first permanent limitation on immigration, established the “national origins quota system.” In conjunction with the Immigration Act of 1917, governed American immigration policy until 1952 (see the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952).

Provisions:

a. Contained two quota provisions:

1. In effect until June 30, 1927—set the annual quota of any quota nationality at two percent of the number of foreign-born persons of such nationality resident in the continental United States in 1890 (total quota - 164,667).

2. From July 1, 1927 (later postponed to July 1, 1929) to December 31, 1952—used the national origins quota system: the annual quota for any country or nationality had the same relation to 150,000 as the number of inhabitants in the continental United States in 1920 having that national origin had to the total number of inhabitants in the continental United States in 1920.

Preference quota status was established for: unmarried children under 21; parents; spouses of U.S. citizens aged 21 and over; and for quota immigrants aged 21 and over who are skilled in agriculture, together with their wives and dependent children under age 16.

b. Nonquota status was accorded to: wives and unmarried children under 18 of U.S. citizens; natives of Western Hemisphere countries, with their families; nonimmigrants; and certain others. Subsequent amendments eliminated certain elements of this law’s inherent discrimination against women but comprehensive elimination was not achieved until 1952 (see the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952) 
 
c. Established the “consular control system” of immigration by mandating that no alien may be permitted entrance to the United States without an unexpired immigration visa issued by an American consular officer abroad. Thus, the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service shared control of immigration.


d. Introduced the provision that, as a rule, no alien ineligible to become a citizen shall be admitted to the United States as an immigrant. This was aimed primarily at Japanese aliens.

e. Imposed fines on transportation companies who landed aliens in violation of U.S. Immigration laws.

f. Defined the term “immigrant” and designated all other alien entries into the United States as “nonimmigrant” (temporary visitor). Established classes of admission for nonimmigrant entries.
 
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RAD~
So in the old days if you showed up and you weren't a criminal or a prostitute (or sadly, Asian) you got in "legally". The US didn't even use visas until after the 1924 law. Similarly, if you were inadmissible but managed to get in you could stay anyway after the three year statute of limitations ran out.
 
In those days there were no real numerical limits on immigrants - when you decided to come to the US - you came to the US. You simply needed to be able to afford the trip and convince the inspector you would be able to support yourself.
 
Now there are seven million people waiting in line for less than 400K available visas. The waiting times are multiple decades for some categories. This doesn't even take into account the ten to twelve million people here already without legal status. Why does it surprise anyone that this system doesn't work and that some people try to go around the law? If your spouse was living in the United States legally and filed paperwork for you and the children to come live legally in the USA in six years - how would that sound? (click the title above to see the report from the National Visa Center in Portsmouth - courtesy of ILW.com)
 
In the 1990s the law changed so that people who were in the United States for one year out of status would be barred from returning legally for 10 years even if they qualified for a visa. After 2001, no new "adjustment of status" paperwork can be filed for people here in the US who entered illegally even if they have approved visa petitions from US citizen relatives and are willing to pay a $1,000.00 penalty fee.
 
So they can't stay and get legal and they can't leave to try to come back legally either. Where does that leave us as a country? With people who have no chance of getting here legally any time soon either waiting at home for years separated from their loved ones or finding an "extralegal" method of getting here and remaining here out of legal status.
 
In doing research on immigration and geneaology, I have noticed that immigrants in the 1790s - 1920s often would come here alone and spend a year or even two working and making a home before sending for the rest of the family. That was a necessary hardship that many families undertook - I cannot remember ever seeing people waiting 5 or 10 years to bring their families to the USA nevermind the 23 years currently forecast for Philippines 4th preference petitions. 
 
So the fact of the matter is...most of our immigrant ancestors would be turned away if they tried to get in here today. This system is not working and needs to be reformed. I believe immigration has historically contributed to the strength and vitality to this country. There do have to be reasonable controls on immigration - but our current system is anything but reasonable.

The Associated Press: AZ may criminalize presence of illegal immigrants

The Associated Press: AZ may criminalize presence of illegal immigrants

PHOENIX — Over the past several years, immigration hard-liners at the Arizona Legislature persuaded their colleagues to criminalize the presence of illegal border-crossers in the state and ban soft immigration policies in police agencies — only to be thwarted by vetoes from a Democratic governor.

This year, their prospects have improved. A proposal to draw local police deeper into the fight against illegal immigration has momentum, and even opponents expect the new Republican governor to sign off on the changes.

The proposal would make Arizona the only state to criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants through an expansion of its trespassing law. It also would require police to try to determine people's immigration status when there's reasonable suspicion they are in the country illegally.

RAD~ I worked on cases like this in New Hampshire back in 2005. The local police chiefs in Hudson and New Ipswich decided to arrest people who could not prove their lawful immigration status for trespassing. I believe this is a bad policy - it is also unlawful because the admission, registration and control of aliens in the United States is an area of legal responsibility reserved to the federal government. The legal doctrine of preemption, therefore, applies to actions by states and municipalities who attempt to create and enforce their own individual laws on immigration. I am born and raised in NH and don't like to think of my state this way but clearly it is more than a coincidence that the only two states that have tried to criminalize undocumented immigrants as trespassers (New Hampshire and Arizona)were also among the very last states to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

http://www.courts.state.nh.us/district/criminal_trespass_decision.pdf

Koch Foods Pays Immigration Fine - Cincinnati breaking news, weather radar, traffic from 9News | Channel 9 WCPO.com

Koch Foods Pays Immigration Fine - Cincinnati breaking news, weather radar, traffic from 9News Channel 9 WCPO.com

Koch foods the poultry processing company in Cincinnati was fined over half a million dollars resulting from an immigration raid conducted in 2007 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

RAD ~ As I have said before, the quickest way to get comprehensive immigration reform is to create pain for the many industries that utilize immigrant workers. They are the ones who have the political clout and the economic resources to make changes happen. Immigrant workers are essential in a number of industries (if you work in these industries you know this, but it really should not surprise anyone). So doesn't it make sense for the government to find a way to allow these workers to come in legally instead of playing games.

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson's character Colonel Jessup from A Few Good Men:

You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me in that poultry plant, you need me in that poultry plant.

Department of Homeland Security Estimate of Unauthorized Immigrants

OK this might not be the easiest thing in the world to read...to see the full report click the link.

Interesting LA Times Article on "Paper Sons" and the Chinese Exclusion Act

The Chinese Exclusion Act was one of America's most bigotted, but least remembered (here on the East Coast at least) moments of poor immigration policy. Bad laws set the stage for bad acts of course (think of prohibition for example) and the Chinese Exclusion Act is no exception to that rule.

When Asian people could find no legal avenue to come to America - they found illegal ways to do so...generations later their decendants (surprisingly to some perhaps) are no different than any other families in the neighborhood and they have not even destroyed America. 

Report: Number of immigration cases at record levels in US courts in 2009 - latimes.com

Report: Number of immigration cases at record levels in US courts in 2009 - latimes.com

MARK SHERMAN Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration prosecutions rose to record levels in 2009 as the Obama administration kept up aggressive enforcement that began under President George W. Bush.Nearly 27,000 people faced serious federal charges relating to immigration in 2009, according to Chief Justice John Roberts' annual year-end report on the judiciary. More than three-fourths were accused of illegally re-entering the United States after having been sent home before.Immigration cases increased by about a fifth over the previous year and made up a third of all new criminal filings in U.S. district courts in the government spending year that ended Sept. 30. The statistics were compiled by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.Wendy Sefsaf, spokeswoman for the pro-immigrant Immigration Policy Center, said she expects the number of prosecutions to remain high until Congress passes a law that gives the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants a way to remain in the United States legally."Can we really afford to be spending this kind of time and money locking up people who essentially have come here to work?" Sefsaf said.Roberts's brief report, with no commentary on the numbers, broke with a nearly 40-year tradition of chief justices highlighting the needs of the federal judiciary. Instead, Roberts said the courts "are operating soundly" and tacked on a summary of their caseloads.He also noted that increases in fraud, marijuana trafficking and sex crimes cases helped push the number of criminal cases to the highest level since 1932, the year before the repeal of Prohibition.The number of cases excludes less serious crimes that are handled by federal magistrate judges. In 2008, there were nearly 80,000 immigration cases in all, including those dealt with by magistrate judges, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a private group at Syracuse University.


RAD~Is anyone really surprised that many people return after being deported even if they face likely prosecution? You shouldn't be, often their home, job, spouse and children still remain in the United States? It is fitting that the author mentions prosecutions are now at prohibition levels. When upwards of twelve million people living in the U.S. are in violation of the law and cannot get right with the law except by giving up everything they value - it is a recipe for political and social failure on the scale of prohibition.

FY 2009 Federal Prosecutions Sharply Higher; Surge Driven by Steep Jump in Immigration Filings

FY 2009 Federal Prosecutions Sharply Higher; Surge Driven by Steep Jump in Immigration Filings

RAD ~ It is time for restrictionists like "FAIR" to stop complaining. When criminal prosecutions of immigration violations make up the majority of the federal trial docket (and the Circuit Courts are also flooded with petitions for review of immigration cases) you know it is time for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

America's Secret ICE Castles - The Nation

America's Secret ICE Castles from The Nation (Online)

"If you don't have enough evidence to charge someone criminally but you think he's illegal, we can make him disappear." Those chilling words were spoken by James Pendergraph, then executive director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of State and Local Coordination, at a conference of police and sheriffs in August 2008.

RAD - read the article if for no other reason than you don't hear references to the 1978 movie "Ice Castles" everyday.

Immigration officials visit Vermont farms - NashuaTelegraph.com

Immigration officials visit Vermont farms - NashuaTelegraph.com

Posted using ShareThis

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont Agency of Agriculture says federal immigration officials are serving subpoenas to dairy farmers asking them to provide payroll records and employee forms.

Spokeswoman Kelly Loftus says the agency heard from four farmers on Thursday who said immigration officials had visited their farms.

The group Dairy Farmers Working Together says as many as 100 dairy farmers could be subpoenaed.
Dairy farmers in Vermont and elsewhere have turned to imported help because of the difficulty hiring people locally to do the work.


~RAD - as if New England Dairy farmers didn't have enough trouble already. I'm sure with Northern New England having its highest unemployment rate in generations they should have no trouble finding US citizens to milk the cows and muck the stalls. Right? I guess we'll find out - hope you like paying $5 a gallon for milk. Senator Leahy now would be a good time to get going on Immigration Reform before Vermont loses any more one of this signature industry.

Why you shouldn't fool around with milk production -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal

Ruben Navarrette In Dallas watch your language - Press-Telegram

Ruben Navarrette: In Dallas watch your language-Press-Telegram


Today, at least 20 patrol officers of the Dallas Police Department - ranging from a rookie to a 13-year veteran - are in hot water after ticketing 38 motorists since 2007 for not speaking English. The problem - this isn't even a crime. Not in Dallas or anywhere else in the United States.

-----------------------------------------
I posted this not because of the DWM aspect and the racial bias that it presupposes - rather it was this passage that got my attention...

"During these turbulent times, you can tell by the way that people look at you," he said. "My wife has told me: `Have you noticed the difference in the way that they look at us these days?' And you have to admit there's something there that you just can't identify. Attitudes have definitely hardened because of the harsh debate over immigration and other things like that."


Yes, I think that is fair to say - attitudes have hardened.  Attitudes about immigration and alot of other things as well.  Sometimes it feels like this country is all about harsh attitudes on some issue or other and is about little else. 

I have worked in this field now for over a decade and I have noticed that if you want to treat people badly you have to objectify them, you have to name them so you don't have to think of them as actual human beings that you are being nasty to. So calling people "illegals" or "criminaliens" allows one to think it is OK to look down on them and consider them unworthy as people compared to we citizens.

Americans (possibly humans in general) seem to have a need to define themselves by figuring out who they don't like.  The man quoted above is a former Texas Police Officer not an illegal immigrant.  I hope that the people that are giving he and his wife the sideways glances might come to realize that all Latinos are not illegal immigrants.  Maybe someday those same people might come to the conclusion that people who immigrated here illegally are also people - not actual "aliens" to be feared and hated.

Even if people must return to their home countries - I think it would be better for everyone if America could do that without the becoming as mean, petty and racist about it as some government and media opinon leaders have proven to be recent years.

ICE Memo on Worksite Enforcement Strategy

Here is an excerpt from the new ICE for Worksite Enforcement Strategy (from ILW.com)

II. Criminal Prosecution of Employers

The criminal prosecution of employers is a priority of ICE'S worksite enforcement (WSE) program and interior enforcement strategy. ICE is committed to targeting employers, owners, corporate managers, supervisors, and others in the management structure of a company for criminal prosecution through the use of carefully planned criminal investigations.

ICE offices should utilize the full range of reasonably available investigative methods and techniques, including but not limited to: use of confidential sources and cooperating witnesses, introduction of undercover agents, consensual and nonconsensual intercepts and Form I-9 audits.

ICE offices should consider the wide variety of criminal offenses that may be present in a worksite case. ICE offices should look for evidence of the mistreatment of workers, along with evidence of trafficking, smuggling, harboring, visa fraud, identification document fraud, money laundering, and other such criminal conduct.

Absent exigent circumstances, ICE offices should obtain indictments, criminal arrest or search warrants, or a commitment from a U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO) to prosecute the targeted employer before arresting employees for civil immigration violations at a worksite. In the absence of a timely commitment from a USAO, ICE offices should obtain guidance from ICE Headquarters prior to proceeding with a worksite enforcement operation.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'to cut immigrant detention'

BBC NEWS Americas US 'to cut immigrant detention'


US officials are expected to announce plans that would allow illegal immigrants not considered a threat to be taken out of jails, reports say.

The new policy would list immigrants according to the risk they may pose, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Health Insurance for Immigrants -- even "Illegal" Immigrants?

I can promise my readers that I will jump into the icy waters of the mighty Merrimack river in the dead of winter in a penguin costume if the Congress of the United States ever votes to allow "illegal" immigrants to purchase government subsidized health insurance. Nevermind these studies from the Immigration Policy Center that show we would probably save tax payer money by doing so and would certainly have a healthier, more productive workforce.

Here's the link
http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/

Conservative disagreement over illegal immigrants in California

The Great Rift Valley is in Africa.  However, maybe Great Rift junior should be the nickname for California's San Fernando Valley.  It appears California's population of illegal immigrant workers is beginning to cause a split between Social Conservatives who believe they are a blight on the economy and Economic Conservatives who think they enhance upward mobility for US born citizens.  I don't link to the Cato Inst. very often but here it is...

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/08/26/have-mexican-dishwashers-brought-california-to-its-knees/

Why NY/NJ ICE is not abbreviated NICE

This story should not surprise anyone who remembers the news photograph of Elian Gonzalez. Still it is a story that the average American probably hasn't heard.

From the NY Times:
Report Says Immigration Agents Broke Laws and Agency Rules in Home Raids

By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: July 21, 2009
Armed federal immigration agents have illegally pushed and shoved their way into homes in New York and New Jersey in hundreds of predawn raids that violated their own agency rules as well as the Constitution, according to a study to be released on Wednesday by the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

click the title to go to the full story in NYT

or click here for the NY Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2009/07/23/2009-07-23_study_shows_immigration_and_customs_enforcement_raids_leave_dissenters_cold.html

Selective Service Registration for Male Illegal Immigrants

This is from the Selective Service Website:

ATTENTION, UNDOCUMENTED MALES & IMMIGRANT SERVICING GROUPS!
If you are a man ages 18 through 25 and living in the U.S., then you must register with Selective Service. It’s the law. You can register at any U.S. Post Office and do not need a social security number. When you do obtain a social security number, let Selective Service know. Provide a copy of your new social security number card; being sure to include your complete name, date of birth, Selective Service registration number, and current mailing address; and mail to the Selective Service System, P.O. Box 94636, Palatine, IL 60094-4636.
Be sure to register before your 26th birthday. After that, it’s too late!
Selective Service does not collect any information which would indicate whether or not you are undocumented. You want to protect yourself for future U.S. citizenship and other government benefits and programs by registering with Selective Service. Do it today.
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The weirdest thing about this is that illegal immigrants cannot join the US military. If they could, I suspect many young men and women would because they would be on a fast track to US citizenship. Still, men under twenty-six who think they might become legal residents and someday citizens should know that failure to register for Selective Service can be a set back to gaining US Citizenship.

Illegal Immigrants about the same as average Utahns when it comes to crime

I found a mention of this Sutherland Institute study on the ImmProfBlog. It caught my eye because the first paragragh:

[The debate surrounding Utah’s immigration law (SB 81) is driven in part by a more fundamental question: are undocumented immigrants criminals? Some quickly respond to this question with another one: "what part of illegal don’t you understand?" For those that view murder and rape in a different league than illegal border crossings and document fraud, however, such simple and often emotion-driven reactions fail to satisfy.
Utahns do not consider themselves criminals when they regularly break traffic laws or trespassing laws, and rightfully so. These actions do not prey upon society in ways that merit the term "criminal," even though they are often not victimless offenses.]

Sounds familiar to me...yet this is a Conservative Institute. How very interesting...demographics apparently do mean something in electoral politics.