From a Florida colleague:
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Featured Presentations: Consecutive Interpretation: The Art of Note-Taking Patricia Michelsen-King; From Chile to Chihuahua: Recent Reforms to Criminal Procedure in Latin America; Katty Kauffman; Taking the Mystery Out of Forensic DNAEmily Booth Varan; Weaponology Edward Hart; 21 Days to Better Simultaneous InterpretingAgustin S. de la Mora. Additional information at http://www.interpreter-training.com/
International and Federal Criminal Defense
- Law Office of Linda Friedman Ramirez
- Tampa Bay, Florida, United States
- 727-551-0751 * Since 1981 * Representing Foreign Nationals: State and Federal Criminal Defense, Regulatory Matters, and Administrative Proceedings.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
White Collar Crime: CEO defendant asks court to suppress evidence in Postville raid
Update: Defendant asks Court to suppress evidence on basis that search was conducted pursuant to administrative warrant. July 7, 2009.
" Agriprocessors asks court to suppress evidence By Trish Mehaffey • The Gazette CEDAR RAPIDS — An Agriprocessors’ attorney claims the evidence seized during the May 12, 2008, immigration raid at the Postville meat plant should be suppressed because it was obtained illegally. James Clarity, attorney for Agriprocessors, argued during a motion hearing Monday the government used an administrative search warrant during the raid, which can’t be used for the purpose of criminal prosecution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney C.J. Williams said officials had an administrative warrant and a criminal search warrant when they entered and executed both simultaneously. The criminal warrant would cover arresting illegal workers and seizing documents and computers at the plant, he said.
Chief Judge Linda Reade told Clarity she didn’t think there was legal standing for his argument but said she would consider his argument and submit a written ruling. "
Previously posted:
The Government has now charged the CEO of the Postville meat packing plant, for violation of federal law. "Agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Sholom Rubashkin, who headed the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa, on various criminal immigration and fraudulent-identity charges outlined in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.
The charges include encouraging an illegal immigrant to reside in the U.S., aiding and abetting the possession and use of fraudulent identification and aiding and abetting the use of another individual's documents, which constitutes "aggravated identity theft," according to the court." Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2008.
" Agriprocessors asks court to suppress evidence By Trish Mehaffey • The Gazette CEDAR RAPIDS — An Agriprocessors’ attorney claims the evidence seized during the May 12, 2008, immigration raid at the Postville meat plant should be suppressed because it was obtained illegally. James Clarity, attorney for Agriprocessors, argued during a motion hearing Monday the government used an administrative search warrant during the raid, which can’t be used for the purpose of criminal prosecution.
Assistant U.S. Attorney C.J. Williams said officials had an administrative warrant and a criminal search warrant when they entered and executed both simultaneously. The criminal warrant would cover arresting illegal workers and seizing documents and computers at the plant, he said.
Chief Judge Linda Reade told Clarity she didn’t think there was legal standing for his argument but said she would consider his argument and submit a written ruling. "
Previously posted:
The Government has now charged the CEO of the Postville meat packing plant, for violation of federal law. "Agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Sholom Rubashkin, who headed the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa, on various criminal immigration and fraudulent-identity charges outlined in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.
The charges include encouraging an illegal immigrant to reside in the U.S., aiding and abetting the possession and use of fraudulent identification and aiding and abetting the use of another individual's documents, which constitutes "aggravated identity theft," according to the court." Wall Street Journal, October 31, 2008.
Immigration Policy: the Human Side of Deportation on NPR
For Illegal Immigrants, Jobs Down, Deportations Up
by John Burnett (Audio for this story will be available at approx. 12:00 p.m. ET)
Alyson Hurt/NPR
Weekend Edition Saturday, July 11, 2009 · At a ramshackle homeless shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, on the south bank of the Rio Grande, a group of men stand in the suffocating heat all day. From behind a low cement wall, they stare across at the country where, until recently, they lived, worked and raised families. But the sluggish river might as well be an ocean.
The distressed economy is squeezing illegal Mexican workers out of their low-wage jobs in the United States. And under pressure from Congress, federal agents are moving aggressively to remove illegal immigrants who have committed a crime.
On The Border
Manuel Cantero is among the men at the shelter. He's a 54-year-old laborer originally from Nuevo Laredo. For the past 29 years, he lived quietly in Miami, worked odd jobs, married and had three kids.
"But work began to get scarcer; my wife got into drugs. They deported me. I lost my children. And here I am," he says.
Cantero was deported to Mexico last week. He's still bewildered at his reversal of fortune. He says he was simply walking down the street when they picked him up.
For decades, down-and-out Mexicans like these have gathered at the border trying to raise the money and the moxie to sneak over into el norte. But clearly, times have changed. There are more federal agents, more helicopters, more cameras and now, a border wall. Apprehensions along the Southwest border are down 27 percent in the past four years — a reflection, the government says, of how fewer people are trying to cross illegally.
And deportations are up. In recent years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been partnering with local police to find and remove illegal immigrants who commit crimes, even misdemeanors. Last year, 114,000 "criminal aliens" were deported. The largest number — 85,000 — were Mexican nationals, like Vidal Garcia.
'Trying To Change'
"I've been here several months," Garcia says. "But when they deported me, the situation was critical. Work was dropping a lot. In the old days, with a fake Social Security number you could get work. But for about a year, every company now checks your Social Security card and your green card."
Garcia, 29, is a landscaper from Oaxaca, recently of Gainesville, Ga. He, too, got caught in the tightening immigration dragnet. Garcia, with a crew cut and sad eyes, says he was deported for drinking and brawling.
"They're deporting people for whatever reason," he says. "I came from Georgia, and there's a law that they can grab you for not having a license, for drinking a beer, for whatever reason they'll deport you."
But he doesn't blame U.S. authorities for his woes; he blames himself.
"I'm here reading the Bible, trying to change because when I was in the U.S., I was an alcoholic. Now I'm in this church trying to change," he says.
Enthusiasm Fading
The Center for Christian Support is a cluster of scrap-wood structures built around a simple church. It's located on the site of a former garbage dump in Reynosa. There are 110 people here on this day, most of them men. Some of them have lost their enthusiasm to go north again, especially after a tragedy last week: The deportees watched as three men tried to swim the Rio Grande. Only two made it.
Cantero, the laborer from Miami, says they jumped in the river to save the third man, but they were too late.
Several men say they're picking up day labor around Reynosa — for around $13 a day — to earn bus fare to return to their homes in the interior of Mexico.
"Up there, there's almost no work anymore," says Francisco Sanchez, a friendly 24-year-old in a sleeveless T-shirt. "Maybe you can find two or three days of work in construction, but not like before."
Sanchez says he was arrested in Queens, N.Y., for public intoxication and deported to Reynosa in April. He left behind a wife and 5-month-old son.
After he was deported, he swam across again, was caught in McAllen, Texas, and sent back to Mexico a second time.
"Now I'm thinking about returning to my home in Veracruz," he says. "I want to go back to my wife and child in New York again, but I tried. It's not possible."
by John Burnett (Audio for this story will be available at approx. 12:00 p.m. ET)
Alyson Hurt/NPR
Weekend Edition Saturday, July 11, 2009 · At a ramshackle homeless shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, on the south bank of the Rio Grande, a group of men stand in the suffocating heat all day. From behind a low cement wall, they stare across at the country where, until recently, they lived, worked and raised families. But the sluggish river might as well be an ocean.
The distressed economy is squeezing illegal Mexican workers out of their low-wage jobs in the United States. And under pressure from Congress, federal agents are moving aggressively to remove illegal immigrants who have committed a crime.
On The Border
Manuel Cantero is among the men at the shelter. He's a 54-year-old laborer originally from Nuevo Laredo. For the past 29 years, he lived quietly in Miami, worked odd jobs, married and had three kids.
"But work began to get scarcer; my wife got into drugs. They deported me. I lost my children. And here I am," he says.
Cantero was deported to Mexico last week. He's still bewildered at his reversal of fortune. He says he was simply walking down the street when they picked him up.
For decades, down-and-out Mexicans like these have gathered at the border trying to raise the money and the moxie to sneak over into el norte. But clearly, times have changed. There are more federal agents, more helicopters, more cameras and now, a border wall. Apprehensions along the Southwest border are down 27 percent in the past four years — a reflection, the government says, of how fewer people are trying to cross illegally.
And deportations are up. In recent years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been partnering with local police to find and remove illegal immigrants who commit crimes, even misdemeanors. Last year, 114,000 "criminal aliens" were deported. The largest number — 85,000 — were Mexican nationals, like Vidal Garcia.
'Trying To Change'
"I've been here several months," Garcia says. "But when they deported me, the situation was critical. Work was dropping a lot. In the old days, with a fake Social Security number you could get work. But for about a year, every company now checks your Social Security card and your green card."
Garcia, 29, is a landscaper from Oaxaca, recently of Gainesville, Ga. He, too, got caught in the tightening immigration dragnet. Garcia, with a crew cut and sad eyes, says he was deported for drinking and brawling.
"They're deporting people for whatever reason," he says. "I came from Georgia, and there's a law that they can grab you for not having a license, for drinking a beer, for whatever reason they'll deport you."
But he doesn't blame U.S. authorities for his woes; he blames himself.
"I'm here reading the Bible, trying to change because when I was in the U.S., I was an alcoholic. Now I'm in this church trying to change," he says.
Enthusiasm Fading
The Center for Christian Support is a cluster of scrap-wood structures built around a simple church. It's located on the site of a former garbage dump in Reynosa. There are 110 people here on this day, most of them men. Some of them have lost their enthusiasm to go north again, especially after a tragedy last week: The deportees watched as three men tried to swim the Rio Grande. Only two made it.
Cantero, the laborer from Miami, says they jumped in the river to save the third man, but they were too late.
Several men say they're picking up day labor around Reynosa — for around $13 a day — to earn bus fare to return to their homes in the interior of Mexico.
"Up there, there's almost no work anymore," says Francisco Sanchez, a friendly 24-year-old in a sleeveless T-shirt. "Maybe you can find two or three days of work in construction, but not like before."
Sanchez says he was arrested in Queens, N.Y., for public intoxication and deported to Reynosa in April. He left behind a wife and 5-month-old son.
After he was deported, he swam across again, was caught in McAllen, Texas, and sent back to Mexico a second time.
"Now I'm thinking about returning to my home in Veracruz," he says. "I want to go back to my wife and child in New York again, but I tried. It's not possible."
Immigration Due Process: Immigration Judges Suffer from Insufficient Time to Consider Cases
July 11, 2009
Immigration Judges Found Under Strain, By Julia Preston, New York Times.
Surging caseloads and a chronic lack of resources to handle them are taking a toll on judges in the nation’s immigration courts, leaving them frustrated and demoralized, a new study has found. The study, published in a Georgetown University law journal, applied a psychological scale for testing professional stress and exhaustion to 96 immigration court judges who agreed to participate, just under half of all judges hearing immigration cases. The survey found that the strain on them was similar to that on prison wardens and hospital physicians, groups shown in comparable studies to experience exceptionally high stress.Surprising the researchers, 59 immigration judges wrote comments on the survey questionnaire elaborating on why they felt discouraged. In the comments, which were reported anonymously, the judges spoke of an overwhelming volume of cases with insufficient time for careful review, a shortage of law clerks and language interpreters, and failing computers and equipment for recording hearings. “We judges have to grovel like mangy street dogs” to win exemptions from unrealistic goals to complete cases, one judge commented. Another wrote of the “drip-drip-drip of Chinese water torture” from court administrators demanding more and faster decisions. A third judge cited “the persistent lack of sufficient time to be really prepared for the cases,” while still another said simply, “There is not enough time to think.”
Immigration Judges Found Under Strain, By Julia Preston, New York Times.
Surging caseloads and a chronic lack of resources to handle them are taking a toll on judges in the nation’s immigration courts, leaving them frustrated and demoralized, a new study has found. The study, published in a Georgetown University law journal, applied a psychological scale for testing professional stress and exhaustion to 96 immigration court judges who agreed to participate, just under half of all judges hearing immigration cases. The survey found that the strain on them was similar to that on prison wardens and hospital physicians, groups shown in comparable studies to experience exceptionally high stress.Surprising the researchers, 59 immigration judges wrote comments on the survey questionnaire elaborating on why they felt discouraged. In the comments, which were reported anonymously, the judges spoke of an overwhelming volume of cases with insufficient time for careful review, a shortage of law clerks and language interpreters, and failing computers and equipment for recording hearings. “We judges have to grovel like mangy street dogs” to win exemptions from unrealistic goals to complete cases, one judge commented. Another wrote of the “drip-drip-drip of Chinese water torture” from court administrators demanding more and faster decisions. A third judge cited “the persistent lack of sufficient time to be really prepared for the cases,” while still another said simply, “There is not enough time to think.”
Immigration Enforcement: DHS standardizes Agreements with Local Law Enforcement, Adds Requirement
Secretary Napolitano Announces New Agreement for State and Local Immigration Enforcement Partnerships & Adds 11 New Agreements
Release Date: July 10, 2009.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has standardized the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) used to enter into “287(g)” partnerships—improving public safety by removing criminal aliens who are a threat to local communities and providing uniform policies for partner state and local immigration enforcement efforts throughout the United States. Additionally, today ICE announced eleven new 287(g) agreements with law enforcement agencies from around the country.
“This new agreement supports local efforts to protect public safety by giving law enforcement the tools to identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens,” said Secretary Napolitano. “It also promotes consistency across the board to ensure that all of our state and local law enforcement partners are using the same standards in implementing the 287(g) program.”
The new MOA aligns 287(g) local operations with major ICE enforcement priorities—specifically, the identification and removal of criminal aliens. To address concerns that individuals may be arrested for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings, the new agreement explains that participating local law enforcement agencies are required to pursue all criminal charges that originally caused the offender to be taken into custody. "
According to the Wall Street Journal, " Opponents said the program, known as 287g, was intended to identify criminal aliens but instead has led to racial profiling; it allowed local police to identify and arrest illegal immigrants for such minor infractions as a broken tail light. Program supporters said it has been an effective tool for combating illegal immigration.
The new guidelines sharply reduce the ability of local law enforcement to arrest and screen suspected illegal immigrants. They are intended to prevent sheriff and police departments from arresting people "for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings," according to Homeland Security. The program will instead focus on more serious criminals."
Release Date: July 10, 2009.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has standardized the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) used to enter into “287(g)” partnerships—improving public safety by removing criminal aliens who are a threat to local communities and providing uniform policies for partner state and local immigration enforcement efforts throughout the United States. Additionally, today ICE announced eleven new 287(g) agreements with law enforcement agencies from around the country.
“This new agreement supports local efforts to protect public safety by giving law enforcement the tools to identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens,” said Secretary Napolitano. “It also promotes consistency across the board to ensure that all of our state and local law enforcement partners are using the same standards in implementing the 287(g) program.”
The new MOA aligns 287(g) local operations with major ICE enforcement priorities—specifically, the identification and removal of criminal aliens. To address concerns that individuals may be arrested for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings, the new agreement explains that participating local law enforcement agencies are required to pursue all criminal charges that originally caused the offender to be taken into custody. "
According to the Wall Street Journal, " Opponents said the program, known as 287g, was intended to identify criminal aliens but instead has led to racial profiling; it allowed local police to identify and arrest illegal immigrants for such minor infractions as a broken tail light. Program supporters said it has been an effective tool for combating illegal immigration.
The new guidelines sharply reduce the ability of local law enforcement to arrest and screen suspected illegal immigrants. They are intended to prevent sheriff and police departments from arresting people "for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings," according to Homeland Security. The program will instead focus on more serious criminals."
Friday, July 10, 2009
Immigration Crimes: Third Circuit Reverses Conviction for Faciliting Illegal Aliens 8 USC 1324
Case in Brief: USA v Cuevas-Reyes , Third Circuit July 10, 2009. Evidence insufficient.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Immigration Detainers: NJ Supreme Court Okays Increase in State Bail
Associated Press: New Jersey's Supreme Court has ruled that bail can be set higher to prevent illegal immigrants facing deportation from escaping justice.The state's attorney general has supported efforts by Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi to have bail set higher for suspects who face serious charges and deportation. Bianchi says a loophole allowed a Honduran immigrant to be released from jail and deported before he could face sexual assault charges in Morristown.An appeals court rejected the prosecutor's bid to increase another suspect's bail in a similar case in August. The high court ruled Wednesday to reverse that appellate decision and reinstate the higher bail. http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/supreme/A-82-08%20State%20v%20Manuel%20Fajardo-Santos.pdf
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