By Judson Berger

June 21, 2011

The Obama administration announced Tuesday that federal agents swept up 2,400 illegal immigrants in a nationwide raid last month, starting what will likely be a months-long process of figuring out what to do with them.

The sweep, the product of a seven-day enforcement operation called “Cross Check,” was described as the largest of its kind.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, in coordination with other federal agencies and local officials, tracked down illegal immigrant criminals in all 50 states and are now housing them in ICE jails across the country.

For some detainees, the next step will be a one-way flight to their home country. For others, the process could take much longer.

The illegal immigrants arrested in the sweep last month were divided into three basic categories: fugitives who had outstanding deportation orders against them, those who already had been deported and illegally re-entered the U.S., and at-large convicted criminals.

Those in the first two categories will once again be slated for deportation, though those in the second category could also face prosecution in the U.S. for the crime of illegal re-entry. The timing of their deportation would vary, depending on factors like travel documents, the availability of flights and whether their home countries will take them.

But those in the third category will be placed into removal “proceedings” before a federal immigration judge. That judge then has the discretion to order them deported or grant some form of relief to remain in the U.S.

“They’re afforded due process,” a federal immigration official said.

And that process can take a while. According to a report last fall by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, it took an average of 280 days for the immigration courts to act on cases in fiscal 2010, the last year for which data was available.

ICE could not provide a breakdown of what’s happened to the 2,064 convicted criminals and fugitives swept up in prior Cross Check arrests. However, the agency reported that more than 122,000 criminal aliens have been removed from the country since Oct. 1.

ICE officials touted the latest raid as a message to illegal immigrant criminals that they will get caught. Among those arrested were a Libyan living in Denver convicted of first-degree sexual assault against a child and a Filipino living in Orlando convicted of battery on a law enforcement officer.

“The results of this operation underscore ICE’s ongoing focus on arresting those convicted criminal aliens who prey upon our communities and tracking down fugitives who game our nation’s immigration system,” ICE Director John Morton said in a statement.

The operation also sends a message to states and cities that have lashed out against a separate federal-local partnership known as Secure Communities — through which FBI fingerprints are checked against Homeland Security Department databases to see if a suspect is in the country illegally. Some states, like New York, recently came out against the program, expressing concern that it is preventing people in the immigrant community from working with law enforcement.

But ICE stressed that in the Cross Check raid federal officials were only targeting serious offenders. It came after new guidelines were issued for Secure Communities to focus the screening efforts on dangerous criminals.

While the administration is narrowing its immigration enforcement to criminals and fugitives, others say that approach is not doing the trick.

Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors in Virginia, called the arrests announced Tuesday a “drop in the bucket.” He expressed concern that federal officials are still letting far too many illegal immigrants off the hook for minor crimes, which can lead to major crimes. In Prince William County, two illegal immigrants with prior records were charged in connection with deadly crimes in the span of just six months.

Stewart acknowledged that many of those swept up in the latest arrests will likely face deportation.

“They’re probably going to deport most of them. … These are very serious criminals,” he said. “But again, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

Tomatoes and Cheap Labor
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> CHEAP TOMATOES?
> This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent
>
> From a California school teacher – - –
>
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> “As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:
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> I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels
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> Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens , Huntington Park , etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.
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> Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I’m not talking a glass of milk and roll — but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten.
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> I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones . The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids.
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> I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing
> funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America …
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> I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students, here in the country less then 3 months, who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them “Putas” (whores ) and throwing things , that the teachers were in tears.
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> Free medical, free education, free food, free day care etc., etc, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?
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> To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.
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> Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases . For me, I’ll pay more for tomatoes.
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> Americans, We need to wake up.
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> It does, however, have everything to do with culture: It involves an American third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about ” political correctness ” that we don’t have the will to do anything about it.
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> If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know.
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> CHEAP LABOR? Isn’t that what the whole immigration issue is about?
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> Business doesn’t want to pay a decent wage.
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> Consumers don’t want expensive produce.
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> Government will tell you Americans don’t want the jobs.
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> But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase “cheap labor” is a myth, a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as “cheap labor.”
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> Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an ” earned income credit” of up to $3,200 free.
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> He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent .
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> He qualifies for food stamps.
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> He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.
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> His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.
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> He requires bilingual teachers and books.
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> He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.
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> If they are, or become, aged, blind or disabled , they qualify for SSI. If qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicaid. All of this is at (our) taxpayer’s expense .
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> He doesn’t worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.
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> Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.
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> He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.
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> Working Americans
> are lucky to have $5.00 or $6..00/hour left after paying their bills and his.
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>
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> Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT!
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> THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD BE ADDRESSING TO THE CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS OF EITHER PARTY. ‘AND WHEN THEY LIE TO US AND DON’T DO AS THEY SAY, WE SHOULD REPLACE THEM .
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> Please pass this on to as many as possible. Immigration legislation is to be considered in 2010. This is important to working Americans, our economy and our American culture and heritage. .
>

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