7 Additional Missouri Counties to Benefit from ICE Program to Enhance Identification and Removal of Aliens Convicted of a Crime (Digital Journal)

7 Additional Missouri Counties to Benefit from ICE Program to Enhance Identification and Removal of Aliens Convicted of a Crime

Jefferson City, MO (PRWEB) April 21, 2011

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday began using the Secure Communities program in the following seven Missouri counties: Douglas, Howell, Laclede, Oregon, Ozark, Pulaski and Texas. Secure Communities helps federal immigration officials identify criminal aliens in state prisons and local jails by running their fingerprints against federal immigration databases when they are booked into the system.

"Secure Communities enhances public safety by enabling ICE to identify and remove criminal aliens more efficiently and effectively from the United States," said Secure Communities Acting Assistant Director Marc Rapp. "As we expand ICE's use of biometric information sharing nationwide, we are helping to keep communities safe and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system."

With the expansion of Secure Communities to these seven counties, ICE is using this capability in 35 Missouri jurisdictions. Across the country, ICE is using this capability in 1,211 jurisdictions in 41 states. Since ICE began using this enhanced information-sharing capability in October 2008, Secure Communities has resulted in removing more than 72,000 criminal aliens - more than 26,000 of whom were convicted of violent crimes, such as murder, rape, kidnapping and the sexual abuse of children. ICE continues to work with its law enforcement partners across the country to responsibly and effectively implement Secure Communities and plans to reach complete nationwide deployment by 2013.

Prior to the implementation of Secure Communities, fingerprints taken of individuals charged with a crime and booked into state or local custody were checked for criminal history information against the Department of Justice's (DOJ) criminal history records. Once Secure Communities is activated in a jurisdiction, the fingerprints that jurisdiction submits to DOJ's biometric system to check for criminal history records are also automatically sent to DHS' biometric system to check against its immigration law enforcement records. When a match is discovered, ICE evaluates the specific case to determine the individual's immigration status and takes appropriate enforcement action. ICE prioritizes removing criminal aliens convicted of the most serious crimes such as major drug offenses, murder, rape and kidnapping. ICE also gives high priority to other threats to public safety, such as aliens with known gang affiliations, drunk driving arrests, or fugitives, or those who frequently try to game the immigration system.

The biometric systems are maintained by DHS's US-VISIT program and the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS).

‘’US-VISIT is proud to support ICE by providing comprehensive, reliable information to assist in the smart and effective enforcement of our immigration laws,’‘ said US-VISIT Director Robert Mocny. ‘’By enhancing the interoperability of DHS's and the FBI's biometric systems, we are helping federal, state and local government better protect our communities and our nation.’‘

‘’Under this federal information-sharing initiative, ICE will be utilizing FBI system enhancements that allow improved information sharing at the state and local law enforcement level based on positive identification of incarcerated criminal aliens,‘’ said Daniel D. Roberts, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division. ‘’Additionally, ICE and the FBI are working together to take advantage of the strong relationships already forged between the FBI and state and local law enforcement necessary to assist ICE in achieving its goals.‘’

ICE Raids in Arizona Lead to Arrests of Restaurant Workers and Owners (Fox News)

ICE Raids in Arizona Lead to Arrests of Restaurant Workers and Owners

Published April 21, 2011

| EFE

A total of 40 workers, presumably undocumented immigrants, and the owners of a Mexican restaurant chain were arrested Wednesday in raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At daybreak, ICE and IRS agents carried out synchronized raids on 15 restaurants of the Chuy's Mesquite Broiler chain, 14 of them in Arizona and one in California. Vincent Picard, the ICE spokesman in Arizona, told Efe that 40 workers were arrested in the operation.

"Some of them might serve as witnesses in the case," he said.

The spokesman said that ICE lends a hand to workers who have small children and no family member to look after them. In a press release, ICE said that Mark Evenson, son Christopher Evenson and their accountant, Diane Strehlow, face charges that include intentionally hiring undocumented immigrants in a conspiracy to cheat the IRS.

"For nearly two years, these defendants are alleged to have knowingly dodged hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes in order to maintain an illegal work force," U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke said.

"There should be no place in our economy for employers who cynically exploit and defy the U.S. tax code to take advantage of illegal labor," the prosecutor said.

According to the charge, the Evensons hired undocumented workers to work in their restaurant kitchens. The chain paid undocumented immigrants under the table without paying taxes to the IRS, while their legal employees were remunerated and their taxes deducted on the company payroll.

Prosecutors estimate that Chuy's cheated the government out of $400,000 in federal taxes. ICE said that during fiscal year 2010, charges were brought against 180 business owners, managers and supervisors for breaking federal immigration laws.

8 NY counties join immigration fingerprint program (AP c/o Wall Street Journal)

8 NY counties join immigration fingerprint program
* APRIL 21, 2011, 3:40 P.M. ET

Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Federal immigration authorities have signed on eight more New York counties to the Secure Communities program.

The 2½-year-old program red flags potential criminal illegal immigrants by running the fingerprints of people arrested by state or local authorities against federal government databases.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say Thursday that Chautauqua, Niagara, Livingston, Ontario, Otsego, Seneca, Steuben and Yates counties are now part of the program.

From now on, when someone's booked there for a crime, their fingerprints will be sent not only to the Justice Department to check for criminal history, but to Homeland Security's biometric system to check against immigration law enforcement records.

There are now 22 counties in New York using Secure Communities and 1,211 jurisdictions in 41 states. The goal is for complete coverage by 2013.

Women sentenced for conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants (Fairfax Times)

Women sentenced for conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants
Falls Church salon used young Korean women as ‘hostesses,’ court records state
by Gregg MacDonald | Staff Writer
Tuesday April 19, 2011

Both the owner and the madame of a Korean room salon in Falls Church were sentenced Friday in federal court for conspiracy to both harbor illegal immigrants and to induce them to reside in the United States for commercial advantage and private financial gain.

Sang Bun Surh, 52, of Annandale was sentenced to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $2 million in illegal proceeds. Young Mi Kim, 41, also of Annandale, was sentenced to 16 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $2 million in illegal proceeds.

Both entered guilty pleas last December.

Both defendants will also be turned over to immigration officials to undergo deportation proceedings, according to Peter Carr, spokesman for the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to a statement of facts in the case, Surh was the owner of the Tomato Garden social club, or "room salon," located in the 1200 block of West Broad Street in Falls Church. The club is also known locally as High Society.

Court documents state the establishment catered to primarily wealthy men of Korean descent and provided young, Korean female servers and hostesses who would "sing and dance, flirt with, entertain and pour drinks" for the male customers in each of the salon's eight private rooms.

Customers typically paid as much as $300 for a bottle of liquor and received companionship free of charge from the female servers, according to court documents.

In her guilty plea agreement, Surh admitted to recruiting female Korean illegal immigrants to work at Tomato Garden.

Court documents state that Kim, who managed the club and was its "madame," also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants for commercial advantage and private financial gain. At least 25 female employees that investigators encountered at the salon were illegal immigrants recruited from South Korea during the past three years, documents state.

Surh said in her plea agreement that she and Kim used apartments in Annandale to harbor the women who worked at the salon and that they sometimes booked flights for them, bringing them to Falls Church and then requiring them to work off their airfare from South Korea.

Also in the plea agreement, Surh said Tomato Garden grossed in excess of $4 million since December 2007.

Late last year, William Won Hwang, chairman of the Korean-American Association of Northern Virginia, said that legal room salons are a part of Korean upper-class culture, catering to those who can afford, and choose, to patronize them. They are just like a café and there is nothing illegal about most of them, Hwang said.

ICE agents confirm immigrants arrested in Port Of Harlingen chase (ValleyCentral.com)

ICE agents confirm immigrants arrested in Port Of Harlingen chase
by Sergio Chapa
Posted: 04.19.2011 at 6:56 PM

Authorities have confirmed that seven illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central American are in custody following a chase near the Port of Harlingen.

It all happened off Cemetery Road on Monday evening.

U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said the incident started as part of a human smuggling investigation.

Pruneda said the suspect vehicle was driving on Cemetery Road between San Benito and the Port Of Harlingen.

The area of road is known locally as the "low-water bridge" due to a bridge that links the Port of Harlingen to San Benito.

Cameron County Sherff’s Office deputy initiated traffic stop but the driver allegedly took off and headed into some brush.

Pruneda said everyone bailed out of the vehicle.

Border Patrol agents, ICE agents and deputies caught seven illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America

No criminal charges have been filed but Pruneda said the case remains under investigation.

Authorities are not sure which one of the seven was the driver or how the immigrants got to the area from the border.