INS enforcement officials were engaged in a standoff with approximately 170 detainees at the immigration detention facility in El Centro, California. The incident reportedly occurred after detainees became angry over a routine search for drugs and weapons. The detainees demanded to be able to speak with members of the news media to state complaints about their treatment, though the FBI is not known to have granted any requests. This is the second incident of this nature this year at El Centro.
– Several large roundups of illegal aliens have been reported around the country in the last month. In the Memphis, Tennessee area, nearly 200 individuals were rounded up at various workplaces in the region and deported to Mexico. 71 workers in Bladensburg, Maryland working a at commercial laundry and a chicken processing plant were rounded up. In Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, 21 illegal Turkish workers were nabbed at a coffee shop and a tea house in the township. 48 allegedly illegal workers were caught in a raid on a house in San Antonio, Texas. And 171 illegal immigrants were caught riding in three vehicles near San Clemente, California.
– The US Coast Guard reports that its efforts to counter the importation of drugs has had the effect of also deterring illegal immigration. According the Coast Guard, in Fiscal Year 1997, the combined total of interdicted immigrants was the lowest since 1984. In the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the number of interdictions was down from nearly 14,000 in Fiscal Year 1996 to less than 4,000 in Fiscal Year 1997.
– Border Patrol agents found more than 100 smuggled illegal immigrants in the back of a hot trailer in Premont, Texas. Some were reportedly fighting for oxygen. And a truck with more than 50 illegal Mexican immigrants flipped over in the Arizona desert killing one and injuring at least ten.
– More than 1,000 additional Border Patrol Agents have been dispatched to the US-Mexican border. Most of the agents will be posted in Texas. The INS hopes to duplicate its successes in California by posting more agents in Texas. According to the INS, there is now a 17-year low in apprehensions in California.
– The man behind the 1993 venture of the Golden Voyage, a ship that attempted to smuggle nearly a thousand people into the US, has plead guilty.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.