Four accused of selling bogus high-end goods at Kane Flea Market

Four accused of selling bogus high-end goods at Kane Flea Market
From Staff Reports May 3, 2011 09:40PM

ST. CHARLES — The suspects sold Prada — plus Coach, Gucci and other supposedly high-end merchandise at the Kane County Flea Market.

Except the stuff — thousands of items for sale at the flea market and also found at an Elgin-area storage facility — was all counterfeit, according to company and local police investigators.

Four people, including two from Elgin, were arrested Sunday on charges of violating the Counterfeit Trademark Act.

St. Charles police said in a press release issued Tuesday that investigators representing Tiffany and Co., Coach, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, and Dooney & Bourke contacted their department Sunday after buying various counterfeit items at the flea market, held at the Kane County Fairgrounds on Randall Road.

Police went to the fairgrounds about 2 p.m. that day and found the four suspects at three separate booths. Numerous purses, bags, sunglasses and jewelry were on display with trademarked logos that were known to be counterfeit, according to the press release.

Police said they subsequently learned that additional counterfeit items were located in a storage facility in an unincorporated area east of Elgin. About 5,000 counterfeit items were seized as evidence from the three booths and the storage lockers, police said.

Charged with violating the trademark act were Armila Santarromana, 47, of the 300 block of Weymouth Avenue, Elgin; Roberto Santarromana, 49, of the 400 block of Fremont Street, Elgin; Ying Fu, 46, of Chicago; and Jin Yue Qu, 50, of Corona, N.Y.

It was determined that Qu was not in the country legally, police said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was contacted and requested a detainer be placed on him for possible deportation, police said.

Bail on the felony trademark violation charge was set Monday at $50,000 for each suspect. Fu and the Santarromanas each posted $5,000 bond and were released with pending court dates. Qu was still being held Tuesday at the Kane County Correctional Facility in St. Charles Township.

US Immigration separates Palestinian mother from her 4 children (Palestine Telegraph)

US Immigration separates Palestinian mother from her 4 children

Monday, 02 May 2011 23:13
Sameh A. Habeeb

US Immigration separates Palestinian mother from her 4 children -- This is a story that embodies the Palestinian plight of the refugees displaced worldwide. Millions of Palestinians are scattered across the world. Huge numbers of them are denied their basic human rights of movement or family unification.

This story started 20 years ago when a female Palestinian refugee claimed a asylum in the US. That female, Faten Al Hakim, remained in the US where she married and gave birth of 4 children. The children were born American but the mother remained stateless Palestinian. The cruel American migration system captured the mother after 20 years, separated her from her kids before they deported her to one of South American countries. The mother was left alone away from her kids. She was like dying flower in a desert!

As a result of this separation Faten started to look for alternatives. She arrived to the UK a few month ago, early in 2011. Then 2 of her kids followed her, Sulaiman and Mohammed 16 and 13. They all claimed a asylum in March. UK Border Agency (UKBA) denied them asylum as Faten had failure case in the US. The family became scattered again. Her 2 kids were sent back to the US and she is due to be sent to South America again. The pain of the family continues with no mercy from either the US or UK.

I contacted Saba, daughter of Faten Haikm, who is in the US. She sounded to be a very American. Saba narrated her family's suffering and plight.

She spoke to me on the details of how American Migration authorities displaced her family:

On Friday April 13, 2010 ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) invaded my home at about seven thirty in the morning. My mother, Faten Hakim, was preparing her usual work on a normal day in Ramadan. A very loud noise like banging on the door had awoken me. I was surprised at the noise but brushed it off thinking it was one of our neighbors. All of a sudden my mother came into my room to wake me and said “Wake up the police is here to take me.” My heart dropped. What could they want from my mother? I was shocked. My mother had been in the US illegally for about 22 years. I never thought there would be a day where she would be asked to leave. Out of the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States, I never thought my mother would be caught. She gave birth to me and my three siblings in the United States. I, Saba Hakim, am 18 years old, my sister Janna 17, and my two brothers Sulaiman and Mohammed 16 and 13. We are American Citizens by birth.

I left my room to see the officers that had come to take my mother away from me. To my dismay, I discovered 6 ICE officers in my house. Three were in my living room, two in my hallway, and one looking at my younger brothers as they were sleeping. They immediately asked me for my identification card. I asked why they were here, and they stated that there was some immigration business needed to be taken care of with my mother. They said that she would have to accompany them to their offices in Manhattan. They insisted she leave right away, I pleaded for her to at least change into some proper attire. They agreed upon request that an officer of their own accompany my mother while she was changing. The female officer that had accompanied my mom had told her to be calm and she will be home soon because she has young children. As my mother passed me to leave with tears in her eyes she begged me to take care of my younger siblings.

The next time I saw my mother she was behind a glass window wearing a uniform as if she was a criminal. She was detained at Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The hardest thing for me to do was see my mother in that condition. My mother was not a criminal. Why was she being treated like one? Because she stayed in a country where she thought she would have better opportunities for herself and her US born children? Last time I checked, that wasn’t a crime. She was in a bad state of mind. She could not eat or sleep. She could only cry, as we all did. For the next three months we would visit our mother as much as we could with hopes that she would be coming home.

We hired a lawyer immediately to take care of our mothers case. See, my mother’s case is not ordinary. She had once lived in Memphis, Tennessee where she was caught for having an expired visa. In 1992, she saw a judge who told her she would have to leave the country. At the time, my mother was pregnant with myself. She agreed to leave but did not. The lawyer we hired, Jennifer Oltarsh, was not very optimistic about my mother’s case. Because the previous judge from Tennessee had ordered my mother to leave the country and she did not, she now had a final order of deportation. The case was to be presented in front of a judge in Tennessee, who would decide the fate of my mother. On October 25, 2010, we received notice that the judge had decided to deny my mother a second chance. The lawyer immediately filed an appeal.

On November 4, 2010, I received a call from my mother’s cell phone. I became ecstatic, had they finally freed my mother? I picked up asking my mother if she had been let out. To my surprise my mother was crying asking me to promise her I would take care of my siblings. I didn’t understand what was going on. She finally told me they were about to put her on a plane and deport her. My heart dropped. Was the United States really going to deport the mother of four US citizens? Were they really going to leave us to be taken care of by our disabled father? I began to cry, I didn’t know what to do. I called the lawyer who was just as shocked as I was. She had promised that something like this would never happen. Even if they were going to deport her, we’d get a heads up. The lawyer tried to get a judge to approve a temporary stay before my mother’s plane had left but there just wasn’t enough time.

The last time I saw my mother was on October 31, 2010. It has been about six months and I miss her. My family misses her. Nothing has been the same. It’s not fair that the government has done this to us. I don’t know when the next time I will see my mother is. Life without her has been hard. We try to take care of each other but our strongest pillar is gone and we keep falling without her.
Story by Saba ends here.

The story of Faten Hakim's family shows how unfair and inhuman is the American migration authorities. It shows how ruthless and heartless is the International community in dealing with the Palestinian refugees. A family like Faten's is representing the whole Palestinian nation which is stateless and homeless.
Please offer any help you can to unite this family again. All you have to do is help bringing the mother back. She has the very human right to be united with her kids. Borders and states barriers shall not destroys our world humanity.

Contact your Member of Parliament or anybody could help in the US or a elsewhere.

U.S. agents raid suspected Anaheim illegal immigrant drop house (Orange County Register)

U.S. agents raid suspected Anaheim illegal immigrant drop house
BY CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Published: May 2, 2011

ANAHEIM – Federal agents raiding an Anaheim apartment arrested a man suspected of being the ringleader of a maritime illegal immigrant smuggling operation that stretches from San Diego to as far north as Los Angeles County, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials reported Monday.

On Friday afternoon, immigration agents discovered what they said was a drop house in an apartment complex in the 3400 block of Ariel Place in Anaheim. They found four men who are suspected of being part of a maritime smuggling operation and eight men and one woman– still in wet clothes and with sand caked onto their bodies -- who were smuggled into the country illegally, immigration officials said.

Some of those smuggled into the country illegally said they paid up to $6,000 to their smugglers, according to a federal affadavit.

'Model citizen' Nancy Romero, 18 years old, faces deportation (Florida Today)

Living in limbo
'Model citizen' Nancy Romero, 18 years old, faces deportation
12:33 AM, May. 1, 2011

QUINCY — It's hard to imagine there's a more enthusiastic cadet in Gadsden County's Junior ROTC program.

Nancy Romero, a high school senior who signed up four years ago when she was a ninth-grader at East Gadsden High, even attended a JROTC summer camp near Jacksonville, where she received special training, including riding in a Chinook helicopter.

The 4-foot-10 dynamo, whose goal is to join the U.S. Army, proudly dons her freshly pressed, hunter green uniform and shiny black patent-leather shoes to march in formation at parades.

But there's a problem.

The 18-year-old who is willing to put her life on the line for her country has learned that her country apparently doesn't want her.

Romero, who fled a life-threatening situation in Honduras more than 10 years ago to join her mother in the United States, is an illegal immigrant facing deportation.

Unless Congress passes the Dream Act, legislation designed to keep young adults such as Romero in the U.S. (it was approved by the House but failed to receive a majority vote in the Senate in December), she must leave her mother and two younger sisters on June 1, 2012, and return to a country she barely remembers.

"I don't consider myself an illegal person," Romero says. "I feel a part of this country."

Yet it could be worse, she knows. Much worse.

Until last Tuesday, with an attorney from Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights lobbying on her behalf — along with countless high-profile Gadsden County officials and members of the local clergy — Romero was scheduled to be deported in less than five weeks, within days of her graduation from Carter Parramore Academy in Quincy.

That was when an official with the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office granted attorney Wendi Adelson's request for a stay.

"It was great news, but I don't know what's next," Romero says. "I'm still not secure."

Gadsden County rallies

If it takes a village to raise a child, Gadsden County has adopted that proverb and paid it forward in the case of Romero.

Sheriff Morris Young was among those who wrote letters to ICE on Romero's behalf.

Young has known Romero almost since she arrived in Quincy a decade ago. He was the school resource officer when she attended Stewart Street Elementary. They have remained close. She volunteered to campaign for him in the county's Hispanic community.

Young says he had no idea Romero is here illegally. He's friendly with her mother, Yesinia Romero, and knows she has temporary permanent status. Young is baffled that the government would devote resources to taking Romero away from her home and family.

"I understand our laws, but Nancy has molded herself to this community. She has done everything that a citizen in this country could do. She lives here. She grew up here. She deserves to be here," Young says.

Master Sgt. Jerome Kerrison, who runs the county's JROTC program, only recently learned of Romero's predicament. He too is bewildered. Romero has been a tremendous asset to the program, particularly for recruiting more Hispanic students.

"She wants to go into the service. When you look at the impact that she's making, it blows your mind," Kerrison says.

Rosalyn Smith, the principal at Carter Parramore Academy, was principal at Shanks Middle School when Romero was a student there. Smith notes that Romero, blessed with an easy, charming smile, recently placed third in the Miss Paramore Academy competition.

Romero moved last year from East Gadsden High to the academy because she needed a more intimate learning environment, Smith says.

"Nancy is an above-average student," Smith said. "She's one of those students you'd want your daughter to befriend. She believes in reaching out and helping other people.

"I think her patriotism and loyalty to the country can be seen when she puts on her uniform."

Coming to America

Yesinia Romero, 37, has spent most of her adult life in the U.S. She fled the poor Honduran town of El Progreso, located about 30 miles from the Caribbean coast, 100 miles west of the Guatemalan border, in 1996.

She had given birth to her daughter when she was still a teenager. She felt threatened by Nancy's father, whom she hadn't married. She made her way to California, leaving her only child in the care of her parents.

Three years later, in 1999, when an earthquake devastated much of the Central America country, Yesinia Romero and other Honduran nationals in the U.S. were granted TPS, or temporary protected status. She must reapply for it annually.

Meanwhile, life in El Progreso became increasingly dangerous for Nancy Romero and other members of her family. The notorious gangs MS-13 and MS-18 were running wild, and kidnappings were not uncommon. The gangs demanded ransom and didn't hesitate to use guns. Nancy, 7, had a pistol held to her head in front of her grandparents. The threats were constant.

Nancy joined her mother in Sacramento, Calif. She insists it was on New Year's Eve, 2000. Her paperwork says it was in January 2001. In either case, she was still 7. Within months, mother and daughter had moved to be with relatives in Gadsden County, where they have lived ever since.

While Nancy is comfortable in either English or Spanish, Yesinia prefers to have her daughter translate most conversations into English. Yesinia works at the Dolex Dollar Express in Quincy, a Hispanic version of Western Union that is owned by a relative. She has two younger daughters, Odalys Cruz, 8, and Yairi Cruz, 6.

"I'm the type of woman who goes by the laws and respects this country," Yesinia says, with Nancy at her side in their Burmah Heights neighborhood home, translating for her mother. "I've never been in any trouble.

"I'm dedicated to my three kids. It's hard for me to understand that my oldest daughter has to leave. It's unfair to send her back to a place where she has no one."

Thousands of Nancys

There are countless young men and women in Nancy Romero's situation. They are in Gadsden County, across Florida and throughout the United States.

Jose Godinez-Samperio, a third-year law school student at FSU who has assisted Adelson with Romero's case, says there are "millions of students in her situation."

"Her case is very, very common," he said. "Unfortunately, it's not unusual at all."

Maria Pouncey, the Quincy-based migrant coordinator for the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium, notes that in many cases, youngsters aren't aware of their status.

"I have kids coming to me after graduating from school who didn't even know they were illegal. Just because the parent has temporary permanent status, the children aren't able to get it," Pouncey says.

"The system is broken, without a doubt," Pouncey adds. "A lot of these kids want to serve our country. They love the United States. These are kids who, through no fault of their own, are in this limbo."

A spokeswoman for the Florida office of the Department of Homeland Security said each appeal, such as the one made for Romero, is regarded on a case-by-case basis. All submitted evidence is given consideration, says Danielle Bennett.

The number of illegal immigrants deported from the United States. each year is staggering. The Miami field office, responsible for Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, "removed 15,345 aliens" in fiscal year 2010, Bennett said.

Homeland Security officials have said their focus is increasingly on removing immigrants who are convicted criminals, yet Romero has never been charged with so much as jay walking.

Adelson, with FSU, is relieved that Romero has received a one-year stay, which will allow her to get a work permit and a temporary driver's license — which recently had been revoked.

"I am extremely concerned about what might happen to Nancy if she had to go back to Honduras. There are gang members threatening to kill her if she goes back," Adelson says.

Yet the attorney finds herself getting frustrated, if not outraged, when she ponders Romero's precarious status.

"To me, it feels completely wrong," Adelson says. "Nancy gets this result because she was lucky enough to have an attorney? How many kids don't have this kind of access?

"This isn't fair. This isn't a solution. To me, this isn't justice."

Sheriff working to identify illegals (The Times-Herald)

Sheriff working to identify illegals
Published Monday, May 02, 2011 in Local
By Elizabeth Melville
The Times-Herald

The conversation about how to get a handle on illegal immigration is continuing on the local, state and federal levels.

Currently, Georgia House Bill 87 -- geared at cracking down on illegal immigration in the state -- is awaiting Gov. Nathan Deal's signature.

"The legislation would enhance our ability to ask more questions of people about their legal status," said Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager. "We want our community to know that we're not just sitting around waiting for HB 87 to be signed, we're already in the process of looking at other resources to help us identify people who are in the country illegally to speed up the process."

Yeager has long been vocal about his department's objective to remove illegal immigrants from Coweta County, though enforcement has, in the past, not been a consistent possibility, he says.

Last year, however, the sheriff's office applied to participate in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Secure Communities program -- ICE's comprehensive strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of aliens convicted of a crime from the United States. The program uses biometrics -- computerized fingerprinting -- to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the country, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime.

The sheriff's office went online with the program March 15. Coweta, Chatham, Glenn, Fayette and Troup counties are the most recent in Georgia to participate in Secure Communities, according to Sheriff Yeager. These counties are using ICE's capabilities in 21 Georgia jurisdictions.

"The jail clerk has daily contact with ICE," said Yeager. "Since we came online, a dozen or more people have been picked up by ICE. In 12 months' time, that will be a substantial move. This program has really enhanced our ability to move illegals and attract the attention of the feds."

Once ICE is notified, agents evaluate each case to determine the individual's immigration status and to take appropriate enforcement action. ICE will respond with a priority placed on aliens convicted of the most serious crimes first -- such as those with convictions for major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping.

"I think that this program is very beneficial," said Yeager. "We're heading in a direction that seems to be helping. Before, we were meeting one shut door after another with contacting federal agencies. This has opened some of those doors. We're building a good working relationship with this program in place.

"Now we'll be able to better look at everybody who walks through our doors," he continued. "We're looking at anyone who's not a U.S. citizen -- not just Hispanics."

Yeager is also still pushing for Coweta County's enrollment in the Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g) program, which permits designated officers to perform immigration law enforcement under the supervision of a federal agent assigned to the community.

Thus far, however, there have been no federal appropriations for the program. Yeager says that, for now, Secure Communities is the best alternative.