Center for Immigration Studies

A Tale of Two Programs: Secure Communities vs. 287(g)

By Jessica Vaughan, March 12, 2010

Statistics recently released by the Harris County (Texas) Sheriff’s Office provide an interesting point of comparison for two of ICE’s programs that identify and flag criminal aliens for removal – Secure Communities and 287(g).

Harris is the nation’s third most-populous county; it includes Houston and has one of the largest concentrations of illegal aliens. It has implemented both Secure Communities and 287(g). Both programs identify and place detainers on aliens who have been arrested by local officers and deputies, putting these offenders on the path to removal rather than allowing them to remain here to commit more crimes. Secure Communities is an automated screening system that runs the fingerprints of everyone booked into participating jails through immigration databases and then forwards the hits to ICE technicians, who select criminal aliens for removal processing. Under 287(g), specially trained local officers screen and process aliens who have been arrested in that jurisdiction.

Over the period March 8, 2008, to September 30, 2009, local HCSO deputies identified and processed 12,247 removable aliens, the majority of whom had committed a jail-able offense. But only about 5,700 (47 percent) of those aliens were flagged (an average of four hours later) by Secure Communities.

Why the difference? Secure Communities can only flag those aliens whose prints or identifying information is already in immigration databases. The local 287(g) officers can determine the status of aliens who have not had contact with immigration agents – mostly recent illegal arrivals committing their first non-immigration crime, or people admitted on border crossing cards, who are not fingerprinted upon entry like visitors from most other countries. And, Secure Communities prioritizes which criminals will be subjected to immigration law, while the HCSO 287(g) officers try to process virtually every alien offender who is removable.

Whether this results gap for Secure Communities is due to conceptual problems, capacity limitations, the prioritization scheme, or something else, it represents underachievement on a large scale.

This year the Obama administration is asking for $146.9 million in new funding for Secure Communities. They have deployed it to 118 jurisdictions and have identified 111,000 criminal aliens so far. By way of comparison, the administration is expected to ask for $5 million for new 287(g) agreements. The government has spent about $114 million over the entire life of the 287(g) program, and it has produced over 130,000 arrests. However, no new agreements have been announced, and the program is currently leaderless. (See my previous blog on the embattled ex-police chief rumored to be under consideration to head the program).

Both programs are well worth having, since different communities have different law enforcement needs. But before throwing more money at Secure Communities, congressional appropriators ought to ask ICE what more can be done to achieve a better value for the taxpayers

HERE

CIS Testimony to Congress

Labor Market Effects of Immigration Enforcement at Meatpacking Plants in Seven States
By Jerry Kammer
November 2009
Testimony

Thank you, ranking member Smith and Republican members, for the invitation to testify about two reports on how local labor markets were affected by immigration enforcement at seven meat packing plants in seven states.

Six of those plants–in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado and Utah– are owned by JBS Swift. In 2006, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted raids that resulted in the arrests of some 1300 illegal immigrant workers at the Swift plants. The seventh plant is owned by Smithfield, in North Carolina. ICE agents conducted raids there in 2007, arresting several hundred workers..

In addition to losing those who were arrested, the companies lost many others who worked on a different shift, but who did not report for work because they feared federal agents would return.

The companies’ response to the raids provided an opportunity to test the claim, often heard in the immigration debate, that many American businesses have to hire illegal immigrants because Americans are unwilling to do the work.

First I’ll describe the post-raid situation at Swift. All six facilities resumed work on the day of the raids, though at a reduced pace. To replenish its depleted ranks, Swift launched a campaign to recruit American citizens, green card holders, and refugees. It raised wages, provided bonuses to new workers, and paid relocation expenses. As a result, all the Swift plants were able to resume full production within four or five months.

As I was frequently told by current and former Swift workers, these are jobs Americans are willing to do–if they are provided decent wages and working conditions. Unfortunately, the meat packing industry has lost its status as a source of well-paid jobs in the blue collar middle class that flourished in our country after World War II.

Beginning in the 1960s, the industry was transformed by a series of cost-cutting measures. Plants were moved from unionized urban areas to rural locations. Skilled butchers were replaced by less skilled workers who made the same repetitive cuts thousands of times a day on what became known as the disassembly line. The industry also relied increasingly on a workforce of illegal immigrants who came mostly from Mexico, but also from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Thus transformed, the industry employs a workforce whose standard of living has suffered severely. In 1960, meatpacking workers earned 15 percent more than the average manufacturing wage in the U.S.. By 2002, they were earning 25 percent less than the average in manufacturing. Government data also show that between 1980 and 2007 real wages in the industry, adjusted for inflation, dropped by a staggering 45 percent.

We have often heard from farmers in California and Arizona that if they improved wages enough to attract legal labor, Americans would be confronted with the $5 head of lettuce. But agricultural economist Philip Martin destroyed that myth by showing that since fieldworkers’ wages account for only six percent of the retail cost of lettuce and other crops, their wages could rise sharply without a major effect at the checkout counter. Similarly, the labor of meatpacking workers accounts for only seven to nine percent of the retail cost of beef and pork. So if wages were increased by a third, the cost at the grocery story would only rise by three percent, at most.

Time is limited, so I have just a few words about our second report, about the world’s largest pork processing plant, owned by Smithfield, in Tar Heel, North Carolina. In the early 1990s, most workers there were African Americans. But this changed during that decade, when foreign born Hispanics became the majority. There is strong evidence that the company had a preference for illegal immigrants because they were more likely to accept low wages and poor conditions and they were vulnerable to what a federal court called the company’s “intense and widespread coercion” aimed at defeating the union’s organizing efforts.

The 2007 raids at Tar Heel removed many illegal workers. Vacancies were soon filled by blacks, who were less subject to intimidation by the company and more likely to favor affiliation with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which the company fought for years. As local newspapers noted, the demographic shift in the workforce after the raids was a key factor in the 2008 victory of the union in a vote at the plant. The Charlotte Observer wrote that the “raids may have finally sealed the union’s victory.” The Fayetteville Observer reported that “the new black majority proved to be the difference.”

In conclusion, I would observe that the immigration raids were undoubtedly a profoundly traumatic experience for the families that were affected by them. But it is also clear that enforcement had a profoundly positive effect in the lives of American citizens and permanent residents who needed and wanted these jobs.

HERE

Jobs Americans won’t do? Really?
March 12, 2010

DEAR EDITOR:

As an African American, I would find it quite refreshing to hear “leaders” in the minority community and editorial writers acknowledge the damage done by illegal immigration. The Americans most and first affected by the crime of illegal immigration are native-born Hispanics and African Americans.

“I don’t believe there are any jobs that Americans won’t take, and that includes agricultural jobs,” says Carol Swain, professor of law at Vanderbilt University and author of “Debating Immigration.” “Illegal immigration hurts low-skilled, low-wage workers of all races, but blacks are harmed the most because they’re disproportionately low-skilled.”

A new Zogby survey finds that minority voters’ views are somewhat different than advertised by the “amnesty now” editorial writers. The poll of Hispanic, Asian-American and African-American likely voters finds that overall, each of these groups prefers enforcement and for illegal immigrants to return home. Moreover, significant majorities of all three groups think that the current level of immigration is too high. As Dr. Steven Camarota of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies notes, “These views are in sharp contrast to the leaders of most ethnic advocacy organizations, who argue for increased immigration and legalization of illegal immigrants.

The Zogby poll also exploded many of the myths of monolithic Hispanic views on illegal immigration and enforcement.

Most members of minority groups do not feel that illegal immigration is caused by limits on legal immigration, as many ethnic advocacy groups argue. Instead, members feel it’s due to a lack of enforcement.

Just 20 percent of Hispanics said illegal immigration was caused by not letting in enough legal immigrants; 61 percent said inadequate enforcement.

When asked to choose between enforcement that would cause illegal immigrants in the country to go home or offering them a pathway to citizenship with conditions, most members of minority groups choose enforcement. Fifty-two percent of Hispanics support enforcement to encourage illegals to go home; 34 percent support conditional legalization. Fifty-seven percent of Asian-Americans support enforcement; 29 percent support conditional legalization. Fifty percent of African-Americans support enforcement; 30 percent support conditional legalization.

We are endlessly bombarded with the worn out and absurd concept that the majority of Americans who demand border security and equal protection under the law – even immigration law – are somehow “anti-immigration.”

We admit more legal immigrants than any nation on the planet. Most can see that we don’t need even more “guest workers.” An unreported but true and amazing fact: The U.S. legally imports about 125,000 foreign workers every month.

No one can envy the job of groups such as the ACLU that are charged with convincing us that we need amnesty for 12 million to 20 million more workers or welfare recipients while Americans and real immigrants struggle.

Officially, national unemployment sits at almost 10 percent as a whole. The numbers are even worse for black males, who suffer an unemployment rate of more than 17 percent. Each time the federal government conducts raids on employers that employ illegals, formerly shut out poor Americans fill the job slots. Consequently, wages increase.

It’s not true that undocumented workers are doing the jobs that we won’t do.

Honesty on immigration is at a premium these days. Americans should make a decision on who to believe: The writers and ethnic-based groups with an agenda or the voice of the people who demand a fair chance at jobs and the promised notion of law.

Inger Eberhart
Acworth

Inger Eberhart is a proud member of the board of advisors of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society, which is opposed to illegal immigration. On the Web: www.TheDustinInmanSociety.org

The toughest thing in the world is separating the wheat from the chaff.

In political terms, it is separating the honest public servants and those who just play one on TV. Not all Republicans are good on opposing illegal immigration and not all Democrats are bad. However, my real anger is against those who pretend to be with us, but take money from interest groups who are leading the charge for Obama and other pro-Amnesty politicians.

A few years ago, a political committee called Georgia Employers for Immigration Reform was formed to push President Bush and Rino’s in Georgia to support amnesty. The group is not as active as it once was, but donations from their members are still having an influence in congressional campaigns.

For example, Georgia Employers for Immigration Reform members Fieldale Farms, Riverview Plantation, and Wayne Farms have senior employees who give money to Saxby Chambliss. Remember in Georgia it was Senator Saxby Chambliss who was given the Bronx cheer at the State Republican convention when he tried to defend President Bush’s pro-amnesty bill.

I was a member of the state GOP resolutions committee in that convention and we withheld our praise for Federal Republican officeholders that year because of their tentative support for an amnesty bill. In the last three years senior people at Wayne Farms gave Saxby Chambliss $2,500, senior people at Riverview Plantation gave Saxby Chambliss $1,750, and senior people at Fieldale Farms gave Saxby Chambliss $2,100. Wayne Farms has its own federal Pac that gave $1,000 to Senator Lindsey Graham, who today is negotiating with President Obama to open our borders.

What should concern us the most is that pro-amnesty businesses in Georgia are also giving money to candidates who claim to be conservative, yet whose supporters would never tolerate a pro-amnesty vote. Candidates for the 9th congressional district Bill Stephens and Tom Graves have both received money from senior officials at Fieldale Farms. In fact, Tom Graves received $3,000 and Bill Stephens received $1,000 just last year. We know Lindsey Graham is bad on immigration and we know Saxby waffled on the issue. We need to know that Bill Stephens and Tom Graves are not going to be Lindsey Graham Republicans. ( Note from the editor: Tom Graves campaign Website page on Border Security HERE – Bill Stephens’ HERE. Bobby Reese’s HERE dak)

Both of these men need to come clean on the issue of illegal immigration. Their association with a leader in the pro-amnesty business community should be a concern that they must be address. Conservative organizations that support them should ask questions before giving them their full support. It would be a mistake for newly energized grassroots activists fighting corruption in Washington to get mixed up with business interests that want to legalize currently illegal behavior for the sake of making more money.

A few years ago a national social conservative leader was disgraced and the movement he help founded all but destroyed when it was revealed that he took money from gambling interests to influence good Christian activists to support referendums in such a way to benefit his pro-gambling clients. I hope this does not happen to the other activist movements.

My primary sources are ww.fec.gov and The Florida Times-Union article “Businesses won’t let immigration reform die” By Walter C. Jones dated August 18, 2007

Associated Press

Obama backing of amnesty scheme ‘unwavering’

President Barack Obama on Thursday assured immigration advocates frustrated by the wait for a promised overhaul of U.S. immigration laws [read: amnesty] that he remains committed to fixing a system he has said is broken. — What remains unclear is whether Congress will send him a bill this year…

HERE

AJC

Masonry work didn’t meet specs on Cobb courthouse

AJC obtains records on construction work

By Mary Lou Pickel

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

March 9, 2010

The masonry contractor removed from the Cobb County courthouse project for not checking his employees’ legal work status also failed job inspections.

Records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed Marietta inspectors last fall cited the contractor for not grouting cement blocks, spacing rebar close enough or installing enough wall anchors to strengthen door jambs. His crew didn’t lace concrete blocks together as required. These deficiencies turned up in the courthouse basement, where prisoners will be kept before trial. The county had wanted extra security features there.

“This didn’t meet the plans,” said Hal Cosper, Marietta building official. “I wouldn’t have expected to see this on the courthouse.”

In February, contractor Victor Candelaria and his crew were removed from the job after it was determined that Candelaria didn’t use a federal data base to confirm his employees were legally cleared to work in the U.S., which is a state law requirement for public contracts. Candelaria was a sub-contractor for Suwanee-based Zebra Construction Co., which did the masonry work for Turner Construction Co., the prime contractor on the $63 million project.

The contractor absorbed the costs for redoing the work and any delays, Cobb County spokesman Robert Quigley said.

Zebra Construction severed its ties with Candelaria and does not know where he is, Victor Cerda, a lawyer representing Zebra, said in a previous interview.

“Any issues identified during the course of the construction of the Cobb County Superior Court project have been fully addressed,” Cerda said in a written statement. “We have met the contract’s expectations in terms of quality, timeliness and cost.”

Candelaria’s job deficiencies were uncovered on Nov. 9 and Nov. 18, according to Marietta building inspection records.

The work on the concrete basement walls does not effect the structural integrity of the building because those are not weight-bearing walls, said Barry Roziewski, NOVA Engineering and Environmental senior project manager, a contractor who has inspected the courthouse.

Candelaria’s crew didn’t fully grout cement blocks that strengthen the basement wall and the work had to be redone, Cosper said. . The crew also didn’t install the necessary amount of anchor clips in the blocks to create an extra strong door jamb to hold steel doors in the cells.

HERE

TV Ad: High Immigration Impacts America’s Unemployed.

This is one of two ads combating the claims of the open-borders groups that America needs more foreign labor. The federal government imports more than 125,000 foreign workers every month, while 15 million Americans continue to look for work.

Here is the second ad.

Here are seven bills that will serve to protect jobs for Georgians, reduce the budget strain inflicted by illegal immigration, increase public safety and encourage illegal aliens to migrate out of Georgia. We need help.

House Bill 1164 ADDED 30 MARCH 2010 10:17 AM: THIS BILL IS DEAD. IT WAS NOT ALLOWED TO COME OUT OF RULES COMMITTEE FOR A FLOOR VOTE. CULPRIT: SPEAKER DAVID RALSTON.

Author: Representative Rick Austin (R-Demorest)
Sponsors: Reps. Tom Rice, Melvin Everson, Burke Day, Mike Coan,
Sean Jurguson

Revisits code created in the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

This bill clarifies procedures for compliance and would provide meaningful penalties for public contractors and official agencies, including local governments, that are in violation of the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (GSICA). That law requires all public employers and their contractors to use the no-cost federal E-Verify program to insure that tax dollars are not going to pay black-market labor. Since the law went into effect in 2007, compliance is described as “partial.”

Also provides language to provide for annual federal training of state law enforcement officers to assist ICE in enforcing federal immigration laws using the super- successful 287(g) program. Removes the exemption for verification of eligibility (using citizenship and/or immigration status) for applicants for public post secondary education. HB 1164 also provides strong penalties for local governments and official agencies that are now in violation of GSICA which also requires use of the federal “SAVE” system to verify eligibility of applicants for public benefits – including business licenses. The majority of local governments and agencies have chosen to ignore this law. Presently, there are no consequences for violation. Illegal aliens who escape capture at our borders are rewarded with a license to open a business in most counties and municipalities in Georgia.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to amend Code Section 35-2-14 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to peace officers and the enforcement of immigration and custom laws, so as to modify provisions relating to the designation of peace officers for training; to amend so as to extend the requirement to verify nationality to other persons confined in a jail; to amend Code Section 48-7-21.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to compensation paid by a taxpayer disallowed as a business expense for state income tax purposes, so as to provide for certain verification and reporting procedures; to amend and to provide for additional verification and reporting procedures; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Committee: House Judiciary

House Bill 1243 ADDED 30 MARCH, 2010: THIS BILL WAS ALLOWED TO DIE BY THE AUTHOR, MANY PROBLEMS WITH BANKING INDUSTRY WHICH PROGITS FROM FUNDS SENT OUT OF THE COUNTRY BY ILLEGAL ALIENS.

Author: Rep. Tom Rice (R- Norcross)
Sponsors: Reps James Mills, Jerry Keen, Edward Lindsey

The bill would require that a refundable fee of 2% be added to international wire transactions. Look for committee revisions.

First Reader Summary:

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 11 of Chapter 1 of Title 7 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to records and reports of currency transactions, so as to provide for a fee with respect to money received for wire transmission; to provide for procedures, conditions, and limitations; to provide for legislative intent; to prohibit certain conduct to avoid or evade such fee; to provide for powers, duties, and authority of the commissioner of banking and finance with respect to the foregoing; to amend Article 2 of Chapter 7 of Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the imposition, rate, and computation of income tax, so as to provide for an income tax credit with respect to wire transmission fees; to provide for applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

House committee: Banks and Banking

House Bill 1259 – The Georgia Employer and Worker Protection Act of 2010 ADDED 30 MARCH 2010: THIS BILL WAS DEEMED ‘TOO CONTROVERSIAL” BY HOUSE LEADERSHIP. IT NEVER SAW A COMMITTEE OR SUBCOMMITTTE HEARING. CULPRIT: SPEAKER DAVID RALSTON. MESSENGER: REP. MARK HAMILTON.
Author: Representative Bobby Reese (R- Sugar Hill)
Sponsors: Reps Tom Rice, Rick Austin, Don Parsons, Barry Loudermilk, James Mills

HB 1259 would require use of the no-cost federal E-Verify system as a condition of obtaining or renewing a business license/occupational tax certificate for all businesses with more than three employees. The goal being to protect jobs in Georgia by verifying work eligibility – using immigration status – of all newly hired employees. Presently,Georgia is one of thirteen states with E-Verify laws, this bill would expand required use from public employers and their contractors to all businesses. Mississippi, South Carolina and Arizona have such laws in place.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to enact the “Georgia Employer and Worker Protection Act of 2010”; to provide for a short title; to amend Chapter 60 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions applicable to counties and municipal corporations, so as to require participation in the federal employment eligibility verification system as a condition of obtaining a business license or occupational tax certificate; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date and applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes

Read the bill HERE

Committee: House Committee on Governmental Affairs (GAff)

Senate Bill 67 ADDED 30 MARCH 2010: WAIT FOR NEWS ON THIS BILL. THE ILLEGAL LAIEN LOBBY HATES THE IDEA OF ENGLISH AS OFFICIAL FOR ANYTHING IN GEORGIA.

Author: Senator Jack Murphy
Sponsors:Senators Chip Rogers, Chip Pearson, Jeff Mullis, Bill Heath, John Douglas

Would provide for all exams oral and written, for a permanent Georgia drivers license be administered in the official language of Georgia. English. The language of our road signs.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Code Section 40-5-27 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to examination of applicants for certain drivers’ licenses, so as to provide that such examinations shall be administered only in the English language; to provide for an exception; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Committees Senate: Public Safety – House, Motor Vehicles

Senate Bill 136 ADDED 30 MARCH: THIS BILL IS ALIVE AND WILL GO TO THE HOUSE FLOOR IF ALLOWED TO COME OUT OF RULES COMMITTEE BY SPEAKER DAVID RALSTON.

Author: Senator John Douglas
Sponsors: Senators Chip Rogers, Ronnie Chance, Cecil Staton, Lee Hawkins, David Shafer

Would codify into law the current Board of Pardons and Paroles policy of use of the federal REPAT program by which illegal alien state prisoners convicted of non violent crimes who are eligible for parole can voluntarily apply for deportation to reduce incarceration costs to Georgia taxpayers.

First Readers Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 42 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions pertaining to penal institutions, so as to require the Department of Corrections and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to participate in the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Rapid Removal of Eligible Parolees Accepted for Transfer (REPAT) Program or similar federal deportation program; to provide for conditions of parole; to amend Code Section 42-9-43.1 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to citizenship status of a prisoner and deportation, so as to authorize conditional deportation parole release; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Committee: House Judiciary (non-civil)

Senate Bill 385 ADDED 30 MARCH 2010: THIS BILL IS QUITE ALIVE AND WILL SEE A FLOOR VOTE IF SPEAKER DAVID RALSTON ALLOWS.

Author: Senator John Wiles
Sponsors: Senators Chip Rogers, Ronnie Chance, Don Balfour, Judson Hill, Johnny Grant

Would encourage local law enforcement to utilize federal programs which identify illegal aliens who are arrested for additional crimes with increased funding. Would increase funding to local law enforcement by 10% for use of the Homeland Security Department’s “Secure Communities” finger print sharing initiative and 20% for use of the 287(g) program.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 3 of Chapter 5 of Title 42 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to conditions of detention generally, so as to provide that counties that can demonstrate constant use of the federal Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities initiative or have entered into memorandums of agreement with the federal government under Section 287(g) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act shall receive additional funding for housing state inmates; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Senate Committee: Appropriations

Senate Bill 460 – The Georgia Public Works and Contractor Protection Act ADDED 30 MARCH, 2010: THIS BILL IS DEAD. LT. GOVERNOR CASEY CAGLE REFUSED TO ALLOW IT OUT OF RULES FOR A SENATE FLOOR VOTE. CULPRIT: LT. GOVERNOR CASET CAGLE.

Author: Senator Judson Hill
Sponsors: Senators Chip Pearson, John Wiles, Jim Butterworth, Bill Jackson, Jack Murphy

Clarifies and expands already required procedures for use of federal E-Verify system by public employers and contractors to protect jobs on public works projects. Provides clear and meaningful penalties for violation of law regarding E-Verify use created in the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act.

First Reader Summary: A BILL to be entitled an Act to enact the “Georgia Public Works and Contractor Protection Act”; to amend Code Section 13-10-91 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to the verification of new employee eligibility, applicability, and rules and regulations, so as to clarify certain provisions and requirements relating to public employers’ verification of employee work eligibility; to provide for penalties; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Read the bill HERE

Senate Committee: Regulated Industries and Utilities (RI&U)

“…The problem was that Higgins hadn’t registered for any of the courses, authorities said. Rather, dozens of foreign students — mostly from the Middle East — were paying him to sit in class, take exams and write papers for them so their student visas would remain valid, according to a charging document filed in the case. Students paid up to $1,500 for course assignments and finals and up to $1,000 for English and writing proficiency exams, the document said.

Investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the demand was so great that he hired employees, including a blond woman who they believe posed as an Middle Eastern man to take a test. Agents are continuing to investigate the case and believe Higgins had several co-conspirators.

On Monday, Higgins, 46, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Santa Ana to conspiracy to commit visa fraud. During the brief hearing, Higgins told the judge he wasn’t working. He faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted…”

Los Angeles Times

Man charged in sweeping student visa fraud case

Eamonn Daniel Higgins spent seven years attending college. — Between 2002 and 2009, he attended 10 different schools in Southern California, including Cal State Los Angeles, Irvine Valley College and Santa Monica College, according to federal prosecutors…

HERE

NRO online THE CORNER

March 08, 2010

Sending a Message with the Census [Mark Krikorian]

John: I haven’t gotten my letter from the Census Bureau yet asking me to make sure I fill out the questionnaire. But when I do fill it out, I’ll use it to send a message.

Fully one-quarter of the space on this year’s form is taken up with questions of race and ethnicity, which are clearly illegitimate and none of the government’s business (despite the New York Times’ assurances to the contrary on today’s editorial page). So until we succeed in building the needed wall of separation between race and state, I have a proposal. Question 9 on the census form asks “What is Person 1’s race?” (and so on, for other members of the household). My initial impulse was simply to misidentify my race so as to throw a monkey wrench into the statistics; I had fun doing this on the personal-information form my college required every semester, where I was a Puerto Rican Muslim one semester, and a Samoan Buddhist the next. But lying in this constitutionally mandated process is wrong. Really — don’t do it.

Instead, we should answer Question 9 by checking the last option — “Some other race” — and writing in “American.” It’s a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes. In fact, “American” was the plurality ancestry selection for respondents to the 2000 census in four states and several hundred counties.

So remember: Question 9 — “Some other race” — “American”. Pass it on.

HERE