http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0225ashcroft25.html

"Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice are using an executive order signed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to override immigration judges' decisions and hold scores of undocumented immigrants from Brazil, despite acknowledging the detainees have no terrorism ties."

"While immigration attorneys argue the government is violating detainees' due process rights, Homeland Security officials say the practice cuts down on absconders, dubbed by some within the department as an "Achilles' heel" of national security."

"While about 99 percent of all undocumented immigrants caught crossing the Southwest border are Mexicans, the number of Brazilians arrested in Arizona skyrocketed from 97 in 2000 to 1,397 in 2003."

"Unlike Mexicans, who typically are returned across the border the same day, Brazilians and all "OTMs," or "other than Mexicans" as they are known within the Border Patrol, require additional paperwork and are housed in detention centers when space is available. When immigrant detention facilities reach capacity, many OTMs simply have been handed a slip of paper with instructions to return for a court date."

"Last year, about 95 percent of Brazilians did not show for their hearings, compared with 86 percent of those issued such notices from all the countries combined, according to ICE officials."

"Border Patrol union members say many Brazilians are released before an initial appearance because there just isn't any place to hold them."

"For years, the Border Patrol has employed a "catch and release" policy when detention centers, which have a capacity of about 1,940 in Arizona, overflow. Immigrants are fingerprinted, processed through a database to check for a criminal record and then told to return for a deportation hearing."

"They are turning them loose because of a lack of detention space," said Mike Albon, spokesman for Local 2544, which represents 2,000 agents in Southern Arizona. "Once someone is apprehended and not deported . . . they are on the ground and they can go wherever they want."

"The government has long had the ability to seek an "emergency stay" of an immigration judge's bond decision, but its discretion was greatly expanded after Sept. 11."

Thanks for the article. Some comments off the cuff:

Yes, there is a well-known people-smuggling "pipeline" from Minas Gerais thru Mexico to USA. Thru a concerted effort of Brazilian, Mexican, and US authorities, this pipeline was pretty much shut down in late 2003 - so this report is old news. Daily numbers of brazilians cuaght at the Mexican border have fallen from 20-odd to 4 a day. Part of teh change was simply a "meida blitz" on Globo TV, etc showing that the route thru Mexico is NOT a bed of roses, in fact many die as they cross the desert. Globo was pretty graphic about that.

Suprise, suprise, most released illegal immigrants don't show up for their deportation hearings. The 95% "abscond" rate for Brazilinas isn't significantly much higher than the 85% rate for non-brazilains when you consider teh size of the sample (3000 "bonded" brazilians as opposed to hundreds of thousands of others).

This is not US "retaliation" for the fingerprinting in Brazil as this all happend in 2003. Old news. But teh fingerprinting is, ot some extent, Brazilian "retaliation" to U.S. treatment of Brazilians. As I wrote before, it plays well politically within Brazil.

Bottom line of the story is you wouldn't believe the shit the INS does. To begin with, as admitted in the article, they release most of the people they catch at the border - Mexicans get shoved back across, non-Mexicans pay a bond and get released to the US! And the INS knows that at least 85% of those who post bond just stay illegal (I'm suprised it's not 100%... hell they're illegal anyway, so why should they worry about showing up for a deportation hearing? And if they can afford to post the bond, they came prepared to lose it). What the article doesn't mention is all the other shit that goes on - INS agents telling women that they will be released on bond if they "give it up", outright rape, agents "confiscating" anything of value that the illegals are carrying, and best of all, agents demanding bribnes to grant a release. Yeah, I know about 10 Brazilians here in the northeast US who are still paying off their bribes to INS officers back in Texas - about $20K each, the agents keep tabs on them locally (the agents arranged tehir trips to N.E. and somehwo have kept track since, I suspect thru the local INS office), and the guys send a monthly "payment" to the agents. And those who can afford it pay outright - hey why have the illegals pay a bond to the judge when he can pay a bribe to the
nice INS agent instead?

There's so much more to all this than meets the eye...

BS

Out here in the "wilds" of Southeast Arizona, trafficing in humans, drugs, booze (during prohibition) and even cuban cigars is part and parcel to the history of the region. So far the increased "crackdown" of the INS on illegals has resulted in more than 50 deaths of men women and even children as they try to cross the deserts here in my area during the summer months. During the winter months some even die of exposure crossing through the mountains.

About two years ago a neighbor walking his dog found human remains about 200 yards from where I live. Turns out she was a 19 year chica that didn't quite make it to my house for water. (I have given water, food and medical aide to many illegals over the years here, and do not call the INS or sheriff's) The sheriffs department ruled the death accidental, as they do most of deaths in the desert. I, OTOH, would rule them a homicide due to the nature of our immigration policies. I stood around and watched as the sheriff's after removing the remains, continued looking for personal items. One came up to me and showed me a wallet with a picture of a very sweet young girl, most likely the from the victim.

A few months later, I was walking my dog in the same area when I noticed a small shrine had been erected, marking the exact spot where presumably her soul left this life.

This is a terrible reminder to me every day on the stupidity of our current policies toward immigration. It does not stop them. Yesterday I passed a "small group" of mexicans on foot, as I rode my mountain bike near my house. I called to them and told them where they were, I wasn't going to turn them in, and the train tracks were only a mile away. (Many use the tracks and trains as guides to tucson) They thanked me and said goodbye.

Later that day I noticed that the INS checkpoint about 10 miles down the road was gone. So were the many INS patrols around the area. It seems that the quarterly INS "budget" for the region had been exceeded, and that "assets has been moved to other area. I once asked a local neighbor who worked for the border patrol what happens when the budget gets strained.

He replied was that if they were caught by a do- gooder or vigilante, they were taken into legal custody. If the alleged illegal can show any form of US ID i.e., drivers license, he is let go right there. Otherwise if it is near the budget crunch, they will not respond to "pickup" calls from the local police. Leaving many local police around here to let go of an alleged illegal should the INS not pick them up within 4 hours.

Our local newspaper reported last month that if you divide the number of illegals caught and processed by the budget for the INS in this region, the cost comes to around $30,000 dollars for each illegal apprehended. If you compare this with the figure pushed in california a few years ago that every illegal working/living in california was costing the taxpayer 5.000 a year, (and this was not counting income taxes, fica and SS taxes that the illegals paid but never collect) Then it stand to reason it make more economic sense to just let them in.

So if is really not economical to spend all this money to keep them out, why do we do what we do.

In one word : racism. Our whole immigration policy towards mexico is based on racism, but disguised as an economic rational., ie we are keeping them out to maintain jobs and to keep taxpayers rom "footing" the bill for these illegals.

Tomorrow, the california voter will go to the polls to select a democratic candidate, and also to vote on a MASSIVE bond measure that will indebt all californians for decades, and will not build one new school, educate one child, build one new road, or employ one new policeman,teacher,fireman or even build one new prison, or even catch one terrorist.

It will indebt californians with more taxes than it would for paying with medicaid for about 10 million illegals for 5 years.!

And not one dollar of this debt can be attributed to letting in or employing an illegal immigrant.

Just remember that when you vote.


OG

You are absolutely right bro!
Its about time someone stands up for these hard working people!!

INS and Customs are the asshole of civil service. My experiences living abroad, and having to deal with the US's INS were appalling. Ask six different people, get six different answers. They're the loophole Tom Ridge needs to seal up. I ended up using a KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN receipt to prove a car was made in the USA, once ... no lie ...

The deal is, that there is a "discretion" level at which most agents in most agencies are allowed some latitude of choice regarding any given case. The level of discretion SHOULD be based on the importance of the decision, and the intelligence of the officer. In INS and Customs it's evidently an inverse relation.