13 suspected illegal aliens nabbed at Hamburg site (Buffalo News)

13 suspected illegal aliens nabbed at Hamburg site

11/03/08 08:22 AM

Authorities have taken into custody 13 people believed to be illegal aliens, following a series of incidents Sunday night in the Town of Hamburg.

Officers Jason Nappo and Robert Palmer were on patrol at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday when they noticed a suspicious vehicle at the construction site of the new Lowe's store on Southwestern Boulevard, near Sowles Road.

Police said that a further investigation revealed that the people at the site were illegal aliens employed by Vertigo Erectors Inc., a subcontractor working at the site.

The U.S. Border Patrol then assisted town police in finding another suspected illegal alien at a local hotel where the group was staying.

Later, at about 11 p.m. Sunday, town police also detained another person, who was involved in a one-car accident on Route 5 at the Route 179 overpass.

All 13 people were turned over to the Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Alien smugglers indicted in Miami (ICE c/o Borderfire Report)

Alien smugglers indicted in Miami
Saturday, 01 November 2008

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fl. - Two Cuban nationals were indicted on charges of conspiracy to smuggle aliens and encouraging and inducing 25 Haitian nationals to come to the United States following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led investigation. If convicted, both defendants face up to 10 years imprisonment. On October 24, defendants Osmin Nodarse, 31, and John Sosa, 26, were indicted on charges of conspiracy to smuggle aliens and encouraging and inducing twenty-five Haitian nationals to come to the United States, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv), and Title 8, United States Code, Section 1324(a)(1)(A)(v)(I). The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on November 7, 2008.

According to the allegations in the indictment and documents filed with the court, on October 10, 2008, a United States Coast Guard cutter observed two vessels traveling together in a westerly direction towards the United States in international waters between the Bahamas and the United States. The Coast Guard Cutter turned on its blue light and sirens and stopped the vessel closest to the cutter. The vessel's operator, defendant Osmin Nodarse, was questioned by Coast Guard personnel and claimed that he was the only person on board his vessel. A Coast Guard boarding team then boarded Nodarse's vessel and discovered 17 Haitian nationals hidden in the cabin of the vessel.

The United States Coast Guard notified U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Marine Unit to stop the second vessel. The second boat, captained by defendant John Sosa, was eventually stopped approximately five nautical miles east of the coast of Fort Lauderdale. Upon inspection of Sosa's vessel, CBP officers discovered eight Haitian nationals.

United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida R. Alexander Acosta commended the cooperation and investigative efforts of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Investigations, 7th Coast Guard District, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection - Field Operations, and Customs and Border Protection - Miami Air and Marine.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Geoffrey Brown.

Deported parents face a hard decision (Pioneer Press)

Deported parents face a hard decision
Leave U.S.-born children here, or return with them to their restive homeland

By Brady Gervais
bgervais@pioneerpress.com
Article Last Updated: 10/30/2008 10:54:19 PM CDT

Negussie Bussa and Leyouwerk Tsegaye must decide: Leave their two youngest daughters behind to an uncertain future when they are deported, or take them to the couple's native Ethiopia where they fear possible death.

The Roseville couple and their four daughters face the possibility of being split after federal courts rejected the parents' asylum claims. The Bussas and their two oldest girls immigrated in the early 1990s and settled in the Twin Cities. The two younger girls, Biftu, 13, and Habi, 11, are U.S. citizens and can stay behind.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Negussie Bussa said recently as he sat in the Sherburne County jail waiting to be deported. "I don't want them to be harmed, but I have no options for where to leave them."

The father, a member and current supporter of the Oromo Liberation Front, says back in his home country he had been jailed, mistreated and tortured, according to a petition in federal court. But the family's asylum request was rejected as implausible by immigration and federal judges, who ordered they be sent back to Ethiopia.

"There is no doubt in (Negussie's) mind he will be picked up from the airport and put in jail, maybe killed," said Israel Gobena, the family's attorney.

It is unclear when the couple and their oldest daughters Hawi, 18, and Alko, 17, will be sent back to East Africa. The fate of Biftu and Habi remains uncertain.

The friends the family has made since living in the United States are trying to help. Members of their church have taken in the three youngest girls since the rest of the family was jailed on Sept. 17. Others are seeking the help of Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman and Rep. Betty McCollum.

It is up to the Bussas whether to leave their U.S.-born daughters behind or to take them with them, Tim Counts, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wrote in an e-mail.

"We understand that the arrest of an illegal alien may be disruptive to members of the violator's family," he wrote. Yet parenthood doesn't make one immune from having to comply with the law, he added.

By all accounts, the Bussas were a hardworking family.

Negussie Bussa was attending Century College in White Bear Lake with his daughter Hawi. They were studying to become nurses. Leyouwerk Tsegaye worked at a hospital as a nutrition aide.

They were "perfect" neighbors, said Dick Flesher, who lived next door to the family several years.

When Flesher fell ill a few years ago, Negussie Bussa shoveled his driveway. Flesher and his wife, Loretta, said the Bussas keep their home in top condition.

"I just feel absolutely that it's important for them to be together and stay here, particularly if there's a possibility their lives are in danger (in Ethiopia)," Dick Flesher said.

Should the Bussas leave their children in Minnesota, they have few options.

The girls could enter the child welfare system, or stay with someone willing to take them in.

The Bussas "have to find an adult who is willing to act as a parent and has the legal authority to do so," said Dianne Heins, pro bono counsel for the law firm Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis. Heins is not involved in the Bussas case.

A petition would be filed with the local family court seeking an order transferring custody to a responsible adult, she said. The parents wouldn't be stripped of their rights. They could resume custody should they return.

But the Bussas say they have no one to care for their children long term, said Gobena, their attorney.

They don't have much family in Minnesota, said Bula Atomssa, a cousin-in-law who recently visited the family in jail. It would be difficult and expensive to take in the two girls, he said.

They're bright students and can be "assets" if their family can remain here, he said.

CLAIMS REJECTED

Negussie Bussa moved to the United States about 17 years ago on a student visa to earn his doctorate at Iowa State University, he said. His wife and two oldest daughters followed one year later as dependents.

In 1994, Negussie Bussa filed for political asylum for his family. He fears persecution should he return to Ethiopia because of his role in the Oromo Liberation Front, his continued support for the group and his family's ethnic background. Although the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, they do not play a dominant political role in the country, according to the U.S. State Department.

A federal immigration judge rejected their petition and ordered the family to leave the country in 2000 after noting:

* The family's asylum application lacked details about Negussie Bussa's claimed abduction and detention.

* Doubts about Negussie Bussa trying to flee the government while he was employed at a government university.

* Leyouwerk Tsegaye claimed her hearing loss was a result of government abuse, though she tried to conceal she had prior hearing problems.

The judge's decision was appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Their case is still pending, though the court has denied repeated requests for a stay of deportation.

"I believe in the justice system of the United States," said Negussie Bussa. "I don't know why it didn't work for me."

There's a disconnect between the court system and what is happening in Ethiopia, the family's attorney said.

A 2007 State Department report on Ethiopia outlined several human rights abuses during the year. To name a few, abuses included: limiting citizens' rights to change the government; unlawful killings, and beating, abuse and mistreatment of detainees and opposition by security forces; poor prison conditions; use of excessive force by security services in an internal conflict, according to the report.

FAITH IN GOD

A Minneapolis church has rallied around the family.

The three youngest daughters — Alko, Biftu and Habi — are being cared for by members of the Our Redeemer Oromo Evangelical Church, senior pastor Melkamu Negeri said.

The church has raised around $4,000 to offset the costs of caring for the children, pay for food for the family at the jail and cover phone calls from the jail to the children, Negeri said. The congregation has also backed a petition requesting one of the parents be released to care for the children. Members regularly pray for the family, as well.

"Of course, we will do whatever we can to support them," Negeri said. "They really do not hesitate to support each other."

The family could despair given their situation, but their faith keeps them hopeful, Gobena said.

"These people are Christians, and they are treating the incident as good Christians would," he said. "They are not hopeless. They are still hopeful that God has a way to let them be freed."

The family still holds out hope they can remain in the United States, and together.

Hawi Bussa said she trusts God will not separate her family. And if they ultimately go to Ethiopia, she said, they "will be OK, somehow, some way. God will make a way."

3 migrants dead, dozens flee when freighter runs aground in Miami (Miami Herald)

3 migrants dead, dozens flee when freighter runs aground in Miami
Three migrants were found dead after a rusty cargo ship carrying a group of Brazilians and Dominicans ran aground near Miami Beach.

BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA, JOSE PAGLIERY AND ANDRES VIGLUCCI
aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com

As dozens of apparently illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic and Brazil scrambled off a grounded freighter early Friday morning in the waters between Fisher Island and Virginia Key, leaving three dead, U.S. authorities spent the day and night trying to piece together the mystery of the rusty vessel and its foreign passengers.

Officials say 21 people, most from the Dominican Republic but a small number of Brazilians, were being held after they were rescued from the water or detained on board the 40-foot freighter, which appears to have run aground in the shallow channel between the two islands.

Late Friday, a search for others who may have been on the boat was suspended.

40 REPORTED ON BOARD

People from the boat told investigators the freighter carried about 40 passengers. That would leave as many as 16 people unaccounted for, although it's unclear whether the passengers' figure was correct, Coast Guard Capt. James Fitton said.

''We've done a pretty extensive search. We're pretty confident we've done a thorough job,'' Fitton said at an afternoon news conference, but added: ``Right now we don't have a firm head count.''

Fitton said the Coast Guard canvassed the area with helicopters and boats until sunset.

By evening, authorities were still sorting out what happened. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were investigating whether the migrants were brought by smugglers, although no suspects had been identified, law enforcement sources said.

Coast Guard and local police were alerted to the freighter at about 8 a.m., when someone at Jimbo's, a fish shack and shrimper's camp on Virginia Key, called fire rescue.

''The boat ran aground,'' said Petty Officer 2nd Class James Harless, a Coast Guard spokesman. ``It came into too-shallow water, so it hit the bottom.''

It's unclear if passengers began jumping into the water because the freighter was stranded and how long it was sitting there before it was spotted. When rescuers reached the ship, the anchor was down, Fitton said.

As U.S. Coast Guard, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami Fire Rescue ships closed in, some passengers began swimming to shore, officials said.

Rescuers pulled three bodies from the water after they presumably drowned. Their names, ages and nationalities were not available.

Seven people were detained on board the ship. Most of the rest were picked up in the water, said Miami-Dade fire spokesman Lt. Arnold Piedrahita, although at least one man appears to have made it to shore, where fire-rescue was waiting.

Four people, none seriously injured, were taken to Mt. Sinai and Mercy hospitals.

UNTYPICAL CASE

The case differs from the typical smuggling operation more common in recent years in South Florida, in which people are brought in from Cuba using speedboats. Federal authorities have been cracking down on such smugglers, indicting dozens of people in the past two years, most for operations involving Cuban migrants.

On Friday, authorities unveiled the latest case: Two men, Osmin Nodarse, 31, and John Sosa, 26, were indicted on charges of allegedly attempting to smuggle in 25 Haitians on two speedboats on Oct. 10.

'RUSTY' FREIGHTER

In contrast, the ship in Friday's incident was described as a ''rusty'' freighter of the type used to transport cargo between Caribbean islands or around the Bahamas. Authorities weren't saying where they believe the trip to have originated.

''It's a typical island-type freighter,'' Fitton said. ``Very old, very rusty, but seaworthy.''

Elee Erice, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman, said the passengers had been at sea for ''probably several days.'' Erice said four were Brazilian. She could not provide a breakdown by age or sex.

Herald Staff writers Kirstin Maguire, Jay Weaver and Casey Woods contributed to this report.

Operation Devil Horns: Salvadorans Targeted in Anti-Gang ICE Raids (El Mensajero c/o New American Media)

Operation Devil Horns: Salvadorans Targeted in Anti-Gang ICE Raids

El Mensajero, News Report, Erika Cebreros, Translated by Elena Shore, Posted: Nov 01, 2008

Editor's Note: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)'s crackdown on the Salvadoran gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) has had a much broader effect on the Salvadoran community in the San Francisco Bay Area. A three-year investigation culminating in the Oct. 22 arrest of 29 indicted suspects -- 22 of whom were alleged members of MS-13 -- also resulted in the arrest of 11 undocumented immigrants who are now undergoing deportation proceedings, and affected numerous residents who were not affiliated with the gang. El Mensajero associate editor Erika Cebreros spoke with Eugenia García, a Salvadoran American mother of five, who awoke at 6:20 a.m. to find two ICE agents in her bedroom pointing guns at her.

SAN FRANCISCO — Eugenia García was awakened by loud shouting at about 6:20 in the morning. She opened her eyes, a little dazed and frightened, and the first thing she saw was two guns pointed at her.

Two Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were in her bedroom.

Minutes earlier, ICE agents had knocked on the door of the house where Eugenia lives with her husband and three of her five children in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. Eugenia’s husband, Alejandro Revelo, says he let the agents in after they showed him a court order. The order, however, did not specify a name or address, according to the family.

The raid was part of an investigation dubbed "Operation Devil Horns" that focused on finding “one of the most ruthless gang cliques currently operating in the Bay Area," according to Marcy M. Forman, director of the ICE office of investigations, in a press statement released by the agency. They were looking for members of the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.

The agents who showed up at the Revelo-García house on the morning of Oct. 22 were looking for the Salvadoran immigrant couple’s son-in-law – the husband of one of their older daughters. Alejandro says that even though he told them the person they were looking for did not live with them and they had no information on his whereabouts, the agents did not suspend their operation.

They continued to inspect the house and paid particular attention to one of the couples’s sons, 22-year-old Alexander, who the agents kept handcuffed for 30 minutes on the street, shivering in the cold.

Like his 18-year-old sister, Laura, and his nine-year-old brother, Roberto, Alexander was born in the United States. His parents became U.S. citizens a couple of years ago.

Eugenia has several grievances. According to Eugenia, the agents told her, “‘I don’t understand why you don’t speak English if you’re a citizen.’”

She complains that they never gave her the glass of water she asked for when she felt faint. She suffers from diabetes.

She also didn’t like the fact that they left her house in a mess and took mail out of her mailbox. “They took a PG&E bill – I hope they pay it,” she jokes.

But what most infuriated her was that they treated her son Alexander “like a criminal,” she says.

Alexander, who has no criminal record and is not affiliated with any gangs, describes what happened. “They asked me if I was a gang member, if I knew what the Mara Salvatrucha was, and if I had any tattoos or a bad record,” Alexander says. The agents weren’t convinced by the young man’s answers and asked him to take his clothes off to prove that he didn’t have any tattoos.

When they left, the ICE agents took with them some of the young man’s belongings, including his computer, his iPod and his cell phone. They also took photos of him, his bedroom and his ID card.

The young man says that when the agent promised to remove his handcuffs, the agent asked him: “But you’re not going to run, right?”

“I’m not a criminal,” Alexander stresses.

“If he were a gang member he wouldn’t be here,” adds his mother, standing outside the ICE offices in downtown San Francisco, where demonstrators gathered on Oct. 23 to protest the agency’s recent actions in the city.

Eric Quezada, candidate for supervisor in San Francisco’s District 9, was among the demonstrators at the rally organized by the Alianza Latinoamericana por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes (Latin American Alliance for Immigrant Rights) and other immigrant rights groups.

The local politician believes arrests like those recently conducted by ICE should be left to the local police. He thinks these kinds of actions “put the whole comunity at risk” by making people reluctant to go to the police for fear of immigration authorities.

Quezada says Operation Devil Horns “connects immigration to crime and (San Francsco’s) Santuary City (status) in order to turn it into a political problem.”

Quezada and other activists believe ICE is targeting Mara Salvatrucha gang members in order to send a message to conservatives who oppose illegal immigration -- that the current administration is doing something about it.

It’s no coincidence, they say, that the operation is taking place right before the presidential elections when the Republican candidate is behind in the polls.

“It’s a tremendous political push for (John) McCain,” says Quezada.

“It isn’t fair that you come to this country to work hard and they treat you like this,” Eugenia, who works as a housecleaner, says on the verge of crying.

Her husband, Alejandro, was upset about the way ICE carried out the operation. He thinks that “they should do a really thorough investigation first” of the people they are looking for so they go to the right place and don’t affect people who have nothing to do with gangs.

Eugenia says she never imagined that she would experience a raid firsthand. “When I didn’t have papers, I never ran into (ICE),” she says with a smile.

“If they tell you once, they tell you a thousand times here in this country that a lot of other countries violate people’s human rights, but with this (the raids), they are doing the same thing in the United States,” adds Eugenia.

“No wonder they’re called ‘ICE’ –- they are frozen and have no heart,” she says, making her sons Alexander and Roberto laugh.