Agents seize over 2 1/2 tons of drugs
Special to the Avalanche
MARFA - Drug smugglers continue to try to get past agents of the U.S. Border Patrol's Marfa Sector to little avail; recent seizures of marijuana have totaled more than 5,230 pounds.
The biggest load came about 1 a.m. Sunday, Dec, 2, when a Florida man driving an 18-wheeler tried to get through the Sierra Blanca checkpoint on Interstate 10.
A Border Patrol K-9 alerted to the trailer. When agents inspected, they discovered 2,328 pounds of marijuana in cellophane bundles among a load of lettuce.
The driver and a passenger were legal resident aliens from Nicaragua residing in Florida, according to the Border Patrol. The drug's street value was place at $1.86 million.
Friday afternoon, Alpine agents reported that they were alerted to footprints near Elephant Mountain south of town. Agents followed the footprints and other signs for about four hours before they spotted four men with large sugar sacks used as backpacks.
The men, citizens of Mexico in the country illegally, were arrested and over $170,400 in marijuana weighing 213 pounds was seized.
Sanderson agents reported seizing over 200 pounds of marijuana when they stopped a vehicle near Dryden after it reportedly dropped off some passengers.
The driver, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested when agents found 238 pounds of marijuana valued at over $190,000, the Border Patrol reported. The backpackers eluded the agents.
In another incident agents reported seizing 2,451 pounds of marijuana in the trailer of an 18-wheeler on Nov. 28 at the Sierra Blanca Station on Interstate 10.
While agents were conducting an immigration check on the driver, 44-year-old legal permanent resident from El Paso, a K9 alerted to the presence of people or narcotics in the trailer, agents said. The marijuana was valued at $1.96 million.
In all cases, the smugglers, the vehicles and the drugs were turned over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
http://www.alpineavalanche.com/articles/2007/12/06/news/news09.txt
December 6, 2007
December 5, 2007
Arrests of illegal immigrants double in Dallas-Fort Worth
08:58 AM CST on Wednesday, December 5, 2007
By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
New fugitive operations teams more than doubled their arrests of illegal immigrants in North Texas during the past fiscal year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Tuesday.
ICE officials said the teams made 1,635 arrests in the 2007 fiscal year, up from 606 arrests in the previous year.
But only 699 of those arrested – fewer than half – were people classified by ICE as "fugitives" – foreign-born people in the U.S. unlawfully who have failed to appear for immigration hearings or who fail to leave the country after having been ordered to do so by a federal immigration judge. The rest were illegal immigrants captured at locations visited by ICE. Arrested immigrants with criminal convictions numbered 168, according to ICE.
Tina Tucker, deputy field operations director for detentions and removal, attributed the increase in arrests to an increase in the teams. There are now 75 such teams in the nation, up from 50 a year ago. Three teams, up from one a year ago, are located in the Dallas regional office of ICE.
A year ago, an inspector general's report for the Homeland Security Department found that there were about 624,000 illegal immigrants classified as fugitives in the U.S. Since then, the backlog has been whittled to fewer than 595,000, ICE officials said Tuesday.
"This is the first year that we have actually shown a reduction in fugitives," Ms. Tucker said.
By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News
New fugitive operations teams more than doubled their arrests of illegal immigrants in North Texas during the past fiscal year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Tuesday.
ICE officials said the teams made 1,635 arrests in the 2007 fiscal year, up from 606 arrests in the previous year.
But only 699 of those arrested – fewer than half – were people classified by ICE as "fugitives" – foreign-born people in the U.S. unlawfully who have failed to appear for immigration hearings or who fail to leave the country after having been ordered to do so by a federal immigration judge. The rest were illegal immigrants captured at locations visited by ICE. Arrested immigrants with criminal convictions numbered 168, according to ICE.
Tina Tucker, deputy field operations director for detentions and removal, attributed the increase in arrests to an increase in the teams. There are now 75 such teams in the nation, up from 50 a year ago. Three teams, up from one a year ago, are located in the Dallas regional office of ICE.
A year ago, an inspector general's report for the Homeland Security Department found that there were about 624,000 illegal immigrants classified as fugitives in the U.S. Since then, the backlog has been whittled to fewer than 595,000, ICE officials said Tuesday.
"This is the first year that we have actually shown a reduction in fugitives," Ms. Tucker said.
November 29, 2007
Half of Immigrants in Texas Are Illegal, Report Finds
Half of Immigrants in Texas Are Illegal, Report Finds
By BOB DART
Cox News Service
Thursday, November 29, 2007
WASHINGTON — Half of the nearly 3.5 million immigrants living in Texas are in the country illegally, the Center for Immigration Studies says in a report released Thursday.
Based on the latest Census Bureau data, the report said Texas has one of the fastest growing immigrant populations of any state. It said that 50 percent of the state's foreign-born population — slightly more than 1.7 million people — are illegal immigrants. Only Arizona at 65 percent, North Carolina at 58 percent and Georgia at 53 percent had a higher proportion of illegal immigrants in their immigrant populations.
Many people within the undocumented population are unskilled workers and tend to go to states where they can find those types of jobs, explained Flavia Jimenez, a senior policy analyst with the National Council of La Raza, a nonpartisan advocacy group for Hispanic Americans. And many go where there are already family members.
The influx of immigrants into Texas reflects the national trend, the report showed. The nation's immigrant population — legal and illegal — reached a record of 37.9 million in 2007. Nearly one in three of these newcomers is here illegally. Half of the immigrants from Mexico and Central America are in the country illegally and one-third of those from South America are illegal immigrants.
The report documents this surge of new arrivals and describes its impact.
"The last seven years have been the highest period of immigration in American history," the report concluded. "Immigrants and their young children (under 18) now account for one-fifth of the school-age population, one-fourth of those in poverty and nearly one-third of those without health insurance."
Immigration accounts for nearly all of the national increase in public school enrollment over the past two decades, the report said. In 2007, there were 10.8 million school-age children from immigrant families in the United States — about one in five of the nation's school-age kids.
In Texas, 26.7 percent of the school-age (5-17) population had immigrant fathers. About half of these immigrant children — 13 percent of the state's total school age population — were illegal immigrants or the offspring of illegal immigrants.
About one-third of all families nationally headed by an immigrant use at least one welfare program — compared to less than one-fifth for native households, the report said. The percentage in Texas exceeds the national average with 39.2 percent of immigrant households using at least one welfare program compared to 21.1 percent of native households.
"Setting aside the lower socio-economic status of immigrants, no nation has ever attempted to incorporate nearly 38 million newcomers into its society," the report warned.
The report is called "Immigrants in the United States, 2007: A Profile of America's Foreign-Born Population." It was written by Seven Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan think tank that advocates reductions in immigration. The data came from the March 2007 Current Population Survey collected by the Census Bureau.
"There is nothing surprising in the report. These are the same kind of findings we have seen with other research," said Jimenez. "This is further proof that, in our opinion, this country needs to fix its immigration system."
The report said immigrants and their U.S.-born children under the age of 18 now make up 21 percent of Texas' population. Children born in the United States are citizens even if their parents are illegal immigrants.
The number of immigrants in Texas has risen rapidly in a little over a decade — growing from 2.2 million in 1995 to 2.6 million in 2000 to nearly 3.5 million in 2007. Since 2000, the state's immigrant population has increased 32.7 percent.
The median household income for immigrant households in Texas is lower than the median household income for native households — $32,998 for immigrants compared to $46,332 for native households. Since the number of people in a household is 3.3 for immigrants compared to 2.5 for natives, the per-person median income is a more dramatic 46 percent higher for natives — $18,533 compared to $9,996.
In Texas, 48.4 percent of the immigrants age 18 or older did not have a high school diploma, compared to 10.5 percent of the native population. The report said 56.8 percent of the state's immigrants and their children lived in or near poverty, compared to 32.6 percent of the native population and its children.
In Texas, 61.1 percent of immigrants and their children are uninsured or on Medicaid, double the 30.2 percent of natives and their children in the same circumstances. As citizens, the children of illegal immigrants are eligible for Medicaid.
"For state governments, Medicaid is a particular concern because between one-third to one-half of the program's costs are typically borne by state taxpayers," the report said.
By BOB DART
Cox News Service
Thursday, November 29, 2007
WASHINGTON — Half of the nearly 3.5 million immigrants living in Texas are in the country illegally, the Center for Immigration Studies says in a report released Thursday.
Based on the latest Census Bureau data, the report said Texas has one of the fastest growing immigrant populations of any state. It said that 50 percent of the state's foreign-born population — slightly more than 1.7 million people — are illegal immigrants. Only Arizona at 65 percent, North Carolina at 58 percent and Georgia at 53 percent had a higher proportion of illegal immigrants in their immigrant populations.
Many people within the undocumented population are unskilled workers and tend to go to states where they can find those types of jobs, explained Flavia Jimenez, a senior policy analyst with the National Council of La Raza, a nonpartisan advocacy group for Hispanic Americans. And many go where there are already family members.
The influx of immigrants into Texas reflects the national trend, the report showed. The nation's immigrant population — legal and illegal — reached a record of 37.9 million in 2007. Nearly one in three of these newcomers is here illegally. Half of the immigrants from Mexico and Central America are in the country illegally and one-third of those from South America are illegal immigrants.
The report documents this surge of new arrivals and describes its impact.
"The last seven years have been the highest period of immigration in American history," the report concluded. "Immigrants and their young children (under 18) now account for one-fifth of the school-age population, one-fourth of those in poverty and nearly one-third of those without health insurance."
Immigration accounts for nearly all of the national increase in public school enrollment over the past two decades, the report said. In 2007, there were 10.8 million school-age children from immigrant families in the United States — about one in five of the nation's school-age kids.
In Texas, 26.7 percent of the school-age (5-17) population had immigrant fathers. About half of these immigrant children — 13 percent of the state's total school age population — were illegal immigrants or the offspring of illegal immigrants.
About one-third of all families nationally headed by an immigrant use at least one welfare program — compared to less than one-fifth for native households, the report said. The percentage in Texas exceeds the national average with 39.2 percent of immigrant households using at least one welfare program compared to 21.1 percent of native households.
"Setting aside the lower socio-economic status of immigrants, no nation has ever attempted to incorporate nearly 38 million newcomers into its society," the report warned.
The report is called "Immigrants in the United States, 2007: A Profile of America's Foreign-Born Population." It was written by Seven Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan think tank that advocates reductions in immigration. The data came from the March 2007 Current Population Survey collected by the Census Bureau.
"There is nothing surprising in the report. These are the same kind of findings we have seen with other research," said Jimenez. "This is further proof that, in our opinion, this country needs to fix its immigration system."
The report said immigrants and their U.S.-born children under the age of 18 now make up 21 percent of Texas' population. Children born in the United States are citizens even if their parents are illegal immigrants.
The number of immigrants in Texas has risen rapidly in a little over a decade — growing from 2.2 million in 1995 to 2.6 million in 2000 to nearly 3.5 million in 2007. Since 2000, the state's immigrant population has increased 32.7 percent.
The median household income for immigrant households in Texas is lower than the median household income for native households — $32,998 for immigrants compared to $46,332 for native households. Since the number of people in a household is 3.3 for immigrants compared to 2.5 for natives, the per-person median income is a more dramatic 46 percent higher for natives — $18,533 compared to $9,996.
In Texas, 48.4 percent of the immigrants age 18 or older did not have a high school diploma, compared to 10.5 percent of the native population. The report said 56.8 percent of the state's immigrants and their children lived in or near poverty, compared to 32.6 percent of the native population and its children.
In Texas, 61.1 percent of immigrants and their children are uninsured or on Medicaid, double the 30.2 percent of natives and their children in the same circumstances. As citizens, the children of illegal immigrants are eligible for Medicaid.
"For state governments, Medicaid is a particular concern because between one-third to one-half of the program's costs are typically borne by state taxpayers," the report said.
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