ICE Announces Indictment of Former Employees of Idaho Company

See below. It would be interesting to see what the "notices" provided to employer actually said….Unfortunately, the only real way of determining employment eligibility is to have a uniform national system which actually links all individuals (whether foreign or U.S.) with immigration and social security records (can you say "national ID card"…)

 

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

 

News Releases

 

December 12, 2008

 

Former employees of Idaho Truss face criminal charges

 

BOISE, Idaho - Sixteen former employees of Idaho Truss in Nampa, Idaho, have been indicted by a

federal grand jury on federal charges, including possession of counterfeit alien registration receipt cards,

misuse of Social Security numbers, and illegal entry or re-entry after deportation.

 

The indictments, which were handed down late Tuesday, are the result of a worksite enforcement

investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). All of those charged in the case are

Mexican nationals. The defendants are: Rafael Castillo-Tellez, 28; Antonio M. Garcia-Gomez, 32;

Hilario Leyva-Guzman, 31; Juan Sergio Juarez-Contreras, 25; Juan Vidal Lopez-Zaragosa, 36; Juan

Martinez-Gonzalez, 39; Juan Manuel Miramontes-Garcia, 25; Rafael Quezada Bejar, 30; Humberto

Quinteros, 24; Hubaldo Gorgonio Rojas, 22; Rodrigo Salinas-Cervantes, 33; Julio Vargas-Ortiz, 27;

Santos Lopez-Serratos, 36; Miguel Zamora-Urena, 40; Juan Manuel Diaz-Juarez, 36; and Gregorio

Villareal Ruiz, 36.

 

Of those indicted, 12 have already entered guilty pleas. They include: Castillo-Tellez, Garcia-Gomez,

Leyva-Guzman, Juarez-Contreras, Lopez-Zaragosa, Miramontes-Garcia, Bejar, Quinteros, Rojas,

Salinas-Cervantes, Vargas-Ortiz, and Lopez-Serratos. They all immediately pleaded guilty to illegal

reentry, were sentenced to time served and returned to ICE custody for removal from the United States.

Three defendants, Zamora-Urena, Diaz-Juarez, and Ruiz are scheduled to go on trial February 10, 2009.

Martinez-Gonzalez has not yet entered a plea.

 

"Identifying and documenting the use of fraudulent Social Security numbers and other fake identity

documents is a key piece of any worksite enforcement investigation," said Leigh Winchell, special agent

in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations that oversees Idaho. "In this case, ICE had previously

notified the employer that some of its workers had provided counterfeit Social Security numbers to gain

employment at Idaho Truss."

 

-- ICE --

Good Article – Immigration Reform

POLITICO:
Obama can't avoid immigration issue now
By: Gebe Martinez
December 8, 2008 04:07 PM EST

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=1870305C-18FE-70B2-A893265EB5EFD7A1
It is the issue few candidates were willing to discuss publicly before the election. Even in victory, the word "immigration" has barely left the lips of President-elect Barack Obama.

But in the presidential transition offices, immigration is cited as a top-tier issue that Obama will have to tackle early in his administration. It has also been assigned its own study group, one of seven working groups created by the transition team to examine high priorities.

Given that it intersects with the economy, health care, education and other key concerns, immigration is too complex a topic to ignore. As economic and health care initiatives are rushed out of the gate in January, proposed immigration reforms will likely be close behind.

And Obama and congressional Democrats can no longer avoid the issue that raises fears of hate speech and false arrests of citizens and legal immigrants at work sites while angering border control hard-liners. Immigration woes stand as a symbol of a broken government, and the onus is on Democrats to govern.

Backers of a broad bill that would combine border enforcement with expansion of visa programs will not forget Obama's campaign pledge to produce an immigration bill during his first year in office.

The heat is on.

"We are not forgetting about our promise with regard to the immigrant community," Melody Barnes, Obama's top domestic policy adviser, pledged during a forum last week that drew 2,000 community organizers to Washington. It was sponsored by the Center for Community Change and the Gamaliel Foundation, for which Obama was once an organizer.

"We will start making down payments on that agenda," Barnes added.

Those "down payments" are expected to come in the form of administrative rules changes advocated by a broad coalition of immigrant and civil rights groups, businesses, labor groups, and the faith community. The revisions could be ordered while Congress works on broader legislation.

Immigration activists are pushing for a moratorium on raids that have rounded up thousands of workers this year alone, traumatized and separated families, and violated basic civil rights.

While workers have become easy targets for authorities who want to portray stepped-up enforcement, the abusive employers who take advantage of the broken system and exploit undocumented workers have often been ignored.

The vast and inefficient immigration detention network also has deprived many of their legal rights. There have been reports of legal permanent residents dying while in custody.

In addition, immigration policy experts say the long bureaucratic delays on background checks and processing visas, and the ever-changing policy directives inside the Department of Homeland Security, require immediate attention from the new administration.

Notably, the agency does not have a person at the top to coordinate and streamline the procedures, and Obama has been urged to fix that, as well.

Meanwhile, business and labor groups won a federal court ruling this week that stops the Bush administration from accelerating rules that would prosecute businesses that fail to fire workers whose Social Security numbers do not match the Social Security database. Employers complain that the federal database is unreliable.

"Right now, we have an immigration strategy that focuses on fear. We need a policy that serves the national interest," said John Trasvina, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
In an effort to keep the pressure on the incoming administration, Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), an Obama ally, will be turning over to the transition team about 1,000 testimonials from citizens and family members who say they were torn apart by an ineffective and almost inhumane immigration system. This weekend, Gutierrez gathered more than 30 evangelical church leaders, representing 15,000 parishioners, at a forum demanding changes in immigration law. 

Outside Washington, the "279 votes" campaign for a broad immigration reform package is being readied in states such as Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Washington.

At the local level, community, church, business and labor leaders have been working for months on a revamped, pragmatic lobbying effort that is exploring which proposals can win the support of their hometown lawmakers to get the 218 House votes required to pass a comprehensive bill, plus the 60 Senate votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles, as well as the president's signature, for a total of 279 ayes.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently told Gannett News Service he did not expect "much of a fight at all" on immigration legislation. Perhaps, after having twice tried and failed to pass a bill in the current session, the prospect of having seven more Democrats in the Senate gave him a downhill view.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) acknowledged after the election that the immigration debate "is a path that we must go down."

The toughest argument facing civil rights groups comes from those who say bad economic times shrink the job market and add to the stress and competition with immigrants for jobs.

But without legalizing those who are now in the country illegally, the only winner is the bad employer who exploits workers. Improving the economy, health care and education helps all workers, the advocates maintain.

Even in a recession, there are still millions of jobs that only undocumented workers are willing to do.

"Comprehensive immigration reform is part of the solution, not the problem, with respect to our economic difficulties today," said Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

The new Obama administration and the stronger Democrat-controlled Congress should not be afraid of ending a fear-based immigration system, said Trasvina.

"I don't think [Obama] has much to learn," he said. "He does know the community, and he knows the immigrant workers."

Gebe Martinez is a longtime journalist in Washington and a frequent lecturer and commentator on the policy and politics of Capitol Hill.

Immigration News Week of December 12, 2008

 

This week was fairly "calm" on the immigration front. Among other, the Department of Labor has released an Advance Copy of the H-2A Final Rule, which is set to be published in the Federal Register soon. Also, on December 8, 2008, USCIS released an Advance Copy of an Interim Final Rule which amends regulations to permit aliens in lawful T or U nonimmigrant status to apply for adjustment of status to Lawful Permanent Resident.

On a grimmer note, on December 10, 2008, the Department of Justice published a final rule which directs federal agencies to collect DNA samples from individuals who are arrested, facing charges, or convicted and from non-United States persons who are detained under the authority of the U.S. subject to certain limitations and exceptions. This rule will require the collection of DNA from non-citizens that are detained by DHS.

Employment Authorization Documents Extended for Nationals of El Salvador

See below regarding USCIS' announcement today of an automatic extension of the validity of Employment

Authorization Documents (EADs) for eligible Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries for six months through

Sept. 9, 2009, to allow sufficient time for eligible TPS beneficiaries to re-register and receive an

EAD without any lapse in employment authorization. This is a nice change………………

 

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USCIS Update Dec. 12, 2008

 

Employment Authorization Documents Extended for Nationals of El Salvador

Six-Month Extension for Eligible Temporary Protected Status Beneficiaries

 

WASHINGTON – USCIS announced today an automatic extension of the validity of Employment

Authorization Documents (EADs) for eligible Salvadoran TPS beneficiaries for six months through

Sept. 9, 2009. This will allow sufficient time for eligible TPS beneficiaries to re-register and receive an

EAD without any lapse in employment authorization. Initially, the expiration date for Salvadorians EADs

was March 9, 2009. USCIS has automatically extended EADs validity period to allow for the agency to

process and re-issue new EADs for such beneficiaries.

 

USCIS announced Sept. 24, 2008 that it will extend TPS status for nationals of El Salvador who have

already been granted TPS through Sept. 9, 2010. Salvadoran nationals (and people having no nationality

who last habitually resided in El Salvador) who have been granted TPS must re-register for the 18-month

extension during the 90-day re-registration period that began on Oct. 1, 2008 and ends Dec. 30, 2008.

TPS does not apply to nationals of El Salvador who entered the United States after Feb. 13, 2001.

 

TPS beneficiaries must submit the Application for Temporary Protected Status Form I-821without the

application fee and the Application for Employment Authorization Form I-765 in order to re-register for

TPS. A separate biometric service fee, or a fee waiver request, must be submitted by re-registrants, 14-

years of age and older. If the applicant is only seeking to re-register for TPS and is not seeking an

extension of employment authorization, he or she must submit Form I-765 for data-gathering purposes

only and is not required to submit the I-765 filing fee. All applicants seeking an extension of employment

authorization through Sept. 9, 2010 must submit the required application filing fee with Form I-765.

Failure to submit the required filing fees or a properly documented fee waiver request will result in the

rejection of the re-registration application.

 

Further details on the automatic extension of the EADs, including the application requirements and

procedures, will appear in a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication on Dec. 15. More

information can also be obtained from the USCIS National Customer Service Center toll-free number 1-

800-375-5283. TPS forms are available from the toll-free USCIS Forms line, 1-800-870-3676, or from

the USCIS Web site, www.uscis.gov.

 

-USCIS

New Visa Bulletin for January 2009

VISA BULLETIN FOR JANUARY 2009

The Visa Bulletin for January 2009 was just posted. The dates have not changed dramatically since the December bulletin.

On the charts below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed (see paragraph 1); "C" means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified applicants; and "U" means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available.  (NOTE:  Numbers are available only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below.)

FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

First:  Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens: 

Second:  Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent
Residents: 

1. Spouses and Children:  B.  Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older): 
   

Third:  Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens: 

Fourth:  Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens:            

Fam-ily	All Charge- ability Areas Except Those Listed		CHINA-mainland born		INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPP-INES
1st	15JUN02		15JUN02		15JUN02	01OCT92	15JUL93
2A	15MAY04		15MAY04		15MAY04	15AUG01	15MAY04
2B	22MAR00		22MAR00		22MAR00	01MAY92	01SEP97
3rd	01AUG00		01AUG00		01AUG00	01OCT92	22MAY91
4th	08FEB98		22AUG97		01NOV97	08MAR95	01MAY86

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EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCES

First:  Priority Workers: 

Second:  Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability: 

Third:  Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers: 

Fourth:  Certain Special Immigrants: 

Fifth:  Employment Creation

	All Charge-ability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIP-PINES
Employ-ment -Based
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	08JUL04	01JUL03	C	C
3rd	01MAY05	01JUN02	15OCT01	15NOV02	01MAY05
Other Workers	15MAR03	15MAR03	15MAR03	15MAR03	15MAR03
4th	C	C	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
5th	C	C	C	C	C
Targeted Employ-ment Areas/ Regional Centers	C	C	C	C	C

USCIS Publishes Proposed Final Rule for U & T Visas

See below for a Fact Sheet issued today by USCIS on U&T visas. The full rule can be accessed through the USCIS web site.

 

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Dec. 8, 2008

 

USCIS PUBLISHES NEW RULE FOR NONIMMIGRANT VICTIMS OF

HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND SPECIFIED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today an

interim final rule that will allow "T" and "U" nonimmigrants to adjust their status and become

lawful permanent residents. The interim final rule implements the provisions of the Victims of

Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, and will take effect 30 days after publication in

the Federal Register.

 

"The action we are taking will further humanitarian interests by protecting victims of human

trafficking and victims of other serious crimes," said USCIS Acting Deputy Director Mike

Aytes. "We also believe that law enforcement's ability to investigate and prosecute crimes is

enhanced when we can provide important immigration benefits to victims."

 

The "T" visa is a nonimmigrant classification for people who are victims of a severe form of

human trafficking. The "U" visa status is a nonimmigrant classification for victims of certain

crimes who are willing to assist government officials in the investigation of the criminal activity.

 

In order to apply for an adjustment of status, a nonimmigrant currently within the "U" visa status

must have been physically present in the United States for a continuous period of at least three

years since the date of admission. Nonimmigrant individuals in the U.S. under a "T" visa status

are required to have three years of continuous presence in the United States or a continuous

period during an investigation or prosecution of the acts of trafficking. Nonimmigrant

individuals holding a "T" visa will also need a certification from the Attorney General stating

that the investigation or prosecution is complete.

 

Both "T" and "U" nonimmigrants must be in valid nonimmigrant status at the time of

application. USCIS can adjust the status of up to 5,000 "T" visa holders annually. This cap does

not apply to family members of the principal "T" nonimmigrant status holder. There is no

numerical cap on adjustment of status for "U" nonimmigrants.

 

The interim final rule is currently available for public review at www.uscis.gov and has been

submitted to the Federal Register for publication. The public may submit comments at

www.regulations.gov for 60 days following publication. USCIS will address comments in the

final rule.

 

– USCIS –

Recent Immigration News

See below for recent immigration news. Hopefully, Congress will work together soon to accomplish immigration reform……

• On December 3, 2008, USCIS updated the count of H-2B petitions received and counted towards the H-2B cap on the USCIS website. As of December 1, 2008, 12,371 petitions have been counted towards the 33,000 cap for the second half of FY 2009.
  
• CBP recently announced that 15,000 airline personnel have been trained through its Carrier Liaison program to identify improperly documented passengers destined for the U.S.
  
• On November 24, 2008, USCIS updated the count of H-2B petitions received and counted towards the H-2B cap on the USCIS website. As of November 21, 2008, 10,265 petitions have been counted towards the 33,000 cap for the second half of FY 2009.
  
• On November 17, 2008, the Department of State announced the launch of a website devoted exclusively to intercountry adoption, with information such as who is eligible to adopt, from which countries Americans adopt children, what protections the Hague Adoption Convention provides families, and more. You can find the web site at http://adoption.state.gov/.
  
• Also on November 17, 2008, a DHS final rule added the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Korea, and the Slovak Republic to the list of Visa Waiver Program countries.
  
  • In addition, the DHS has reminded ESTA applicants that any passport issued by a Visa Waiver Program (VWP) country after October 26, 2008, must be an e-Passport in order for VWP travelers to be eligible to enter the U.S. without a visa. For more information about ESTA, go to: http://cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/esta/.
    
• On November 13, 2008, the Department of Defense released an advance copy of a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to require certain contractors and subcontractors to use the E-Verify system to verify employee work authorization.