SISKIND'S IMMIGRATION BULLETIN - 01/99 (1/5) - Articles 1-7

[Gregory Siskind, Attorney at Law]

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Siskind's Immigration Bulletin

January 1999

E-mail subscribers as of December 28, 1998: 19,454 persons (50 states/125
countries)

Published by Greg Siskind, partner at the Immigration Law Offices of
Siskind, Susser, Haas & Devine, Attorneys at Law; telephone: 800-748-3819,
901-737-3194 or 615-345-0225; facsimile: 901-737-3837 or 615-843-0424,
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED], WWW home page: http://www.visalaw.com. SSHD
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______________________________________________________________________


1. A MESSAGE FROM SISKIND, SUSSER, HAAS & DEVINE
2. NEW WEBSITE FEATURE: SISKIND'S VISALAW DISCUSSION BOARD
3. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - ADVOCACY UPDATE CENTER
4. H-1B VISA QUOTA HALF USED FOR FISCAL YEAR
5. NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP UPDATE
6. TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS EXTENDED TO NICARAGUAN AND HONDURAN NATIONALS
IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE MITCH
7. BORDER AND DEPORTATION NEWS
8. PRESIDENT CLINTON SETS IMMIGRATION GOALS IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
9. SURGE IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION OVER CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY
10. YEAR END TOTALS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION TO U.S. 
11. GOVERNMENT PROCESSING TIMES
12. STATE DEPARTMENT VISA BULLETIN
13. NEWS BYTES
14. VISA SPOTLIGHT: DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ISSUES PROPOSED REGULATIONS FOR NEW
H-1B LAW
15. NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS IN U.S. ARMY RISES
16. FOREIGN DOMESTIC SERVANTS FOUND IN NEAR SLAVERY CONDITION
17. NACARA MOTION TO REOPEN DEADLINE EXTENDED
18. TOGO ACTIVIST SEEKS TO AVOID DEPORTATION UNDER UNITED NATIONS
CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE
19. U.S.-MEXICO BORDER ENFORCEMENT GOES HIGH-TECH
20. POLL REVEALS FEELINGS ON IMMIGRANTS AND PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
21. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT CRITICIZES INS TREATMENT OF YOUNG ILLEGAL
IMMIGRANTS
22. LAWSUIT CHALLENGES U.S. COMPANIES TREATMENT OF WORKERS IN SAIPAN
23. U.S., MEXICAN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS DISCUSS BORDER ISSUES
24. ADOPTION OF CHINESE CHILDREN BY U.S. COUPLES ON THE RISE
25. TENSIONS STILL PRESENT EIGHTEEN MONTHS AFTER WIDESPREAD ALIEN ROUNDUP
IN ARIZONA
26. NEW STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION
27. NEW INS ENFORCEMENT STRATEGY CRITICIZED BY IMMIGRATION EXPERTS
28. RUSSIAN POLITICIANS GIVE NEW VOICE TO ANTI-SEMITISM
29. NEWS FROM THE COURTS
30. NEW CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR FAVORS PRENATAL CARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MOTHERS
31. ILLINOIS LATEST STATE TO EXTEND ADDITIONAL WELFARE BENEFITS TO IMMIGRANTS
32. NEW RULE ON REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM PROPOSED 33. IMMIGRANT
CHILDREN FARE WELL IN CALIFORNIA'S ENGLISH ONLY SCHOOLS
33. BOSTON AREA STING OPERATION NETS MANY CAPE VERDEANS
34. UNSUCCESSFUL AMNESTY APPLICANTS STILL SEEKING GREEN CARDS
35. INS INVESTIGATES POSSIBLE FRAUD AT IMMIGRATION SERVICES COMPANY
36. U.S. DENIES ENTRY TO FORMER RUSSIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
37. WINTER FREEZE LEAVES MEXICAN CITRUS WORKERS IN UNCERTAIN STATUS
38. SIKH LEADER'S VISA REVOKED
39. EIGHT COUNTRIES ADDED TO THE VISA WAIVER PILOT PROGRAM
40. INS PREPARES TO CRACK DOWN ON MEAT PROCESSING EMPLOYERS
41. BORDER PATROL AGENT BEGINS SUIT AGAINST AGENCY FOR RACIALLY MOTIVATED STOP
42. IMMIGRATION AND THE INTERNET: INS WEB PAGE MISSES CUSTOMER SERVICE MARK
43. STATE DEPARTMENT REVISES LIST OF E-1 TREATY TRADER AND E-2 INVESTOR
COUNTRIES
44. NON-PROFIT CORNER: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

_______________________________________

THIS NEWSLETTER PART CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES:

1. A MESSAGE FROM SISKIND, SUSSER, HAAS & DEVINE
2. NEW WEBSITE FEATURE: SISKIND'S VISALAW DISCUSSION BOARD
3. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - ADVOCACY UPDATE CENTER
4. H-1B VISA QUOTA HALF USED FOR FISCAL YEAR
5. NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP UPDATE
6. TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS EXTENDED TO NICARAGUAN AND HONDURAN NATIONALS
IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE MITCH
7. BORDER AND DEPORTATION NEWS

________________________________________


1. A MESSAGE FROM SISKIND, SUSSER, HAAS & DEVINE

This month witnesses the convening of a new Congress in Washington, DC and
with it comes the introduction of a new set of immigration bills. Some are
extremely anti-immigrant and would virtually ban immigration. Others call
for a rollback of some of the toughest immigration laws. In this issue we
discuss some of the new bills as well as a new feature on our site where we
will track their progress.

Also this month we provide an extensive review of proposed new H-1B
regulations that implement last year's H-1B bill (as well as slipping in
many new items never called for by Congress). Comments to the Department of
Labor regarding the new regulations are due soon so be sure to weigh in
with your opinion.

There have been a number of interesting court decisions affecting
immigration recently and we've included a digest of some of the most
important cases. Check our News From the Courts feature.

And, as always, we include many of our regular features such as INS
Processing Times, the State Department Visa Bulletin, News Bytes,
Immigration and the Internet and more.

This month I am pleased to announce that Emilia Ballentine will be joining
our law firm and will be a contributing writer to Siskind's Immigration
Bulletin. Ms. Ballentine is completing her final year of law school at the
University of Memphis and has a bachelor's degree in English from Rhodes
College in Memphis. She is now working for the firm part time as a staff
writer and will assume the position of associate attorney after graduating
this spring. Welcome Amy!

As always, we remind readers that this publication is put out by Siskind,
Susser, Haas & Devine, an immigration law firm, and we are available for
telephone or in-person consultations to answer immigration questions and
discuss our representing individuals and employers in immigration matters.
If interested, please go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html.

Last month was another banner year for our newsletter. We saw our
subscriber numbers jump from just over 13,000 to nearly 20,000, an increase
of nearly 50%! We have more than twenty times the number of subscribers as
we did at the end of 1994, the first year we published our newsletter by
e-mail. We also added subscribers from 22 more countries and now distribute
this newsletter to more than 125 countries in all. Incidentally, we
recently reviewed where we do not have subscribers and it is an interesting
list that includes Cuba, Iraq, North Korea, a handful of African countries.
In the last year, however, we welcomed our first subscribers in the
Bahamas, Bermuda, Bosnia, Brunei, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
French Guyana, French Polynesia, Guyana, the Ivory Coast, Luxembourg,
Mauritius, the Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Portugal,
Spain, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uruguay and Uzbekistan.Finally, we
apologize to the many readers who have had problems receiving our
newsletter in its entirety in recent months. We are a victim of our own
success. Apparently, our list has grown so large (close to 20,000
subscribers receiving a six part newsletter), that it was too much for the
mail server to handle. Our mailing list provider believes it has the
problem solved, but the only way we will know is when we send this message
out. Please do not send requests for replacement parts if you do not
receive everything. Instead, go to http://www.visalaw.com/bulletin.html and
you can find the missing pieces. If we find that the problem was not
solved, we have another plan that is more difficult to implement but will
definitely solve the problem. Thanks for your patience.


Greg Siskind

_______________________________________


2. NEW WEBSITE FEATURE: SISKIND'S VISALAW DISCUSSION BOARD

The Visalaw web site has been online for almost five years and has acquired
a monthly readership of several hundred thousand.  The readership is quite
diverse, including immigrants, lawyers, government officials, immigration
advocates, reporters and more.  With so much experience available, Siskind,
Susser, Haas & Devine though it would be helpful to include a discussion
page on our web site to enable our readers to share their wealth of wisdom
and answer various questions on immigration matters.  Lawyers at the firm
will try to answer a few questions each day, and readers (including lawyers
not practicing at our firm) are welcome to contribute responses.  If a
question is not answered, it may be because it is too complex to answer
quickly.  In that case, you might want to request a telephone consultation
with the firm by completing the form at http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html.

The address for the discussion board is
http://www.visalaw.com/cgi-bin/discussion.plaintiff/visalawboard.

_______________________________________


3. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE - ADVOCACY UPDATE CENTER

The 106th Congress was sworn in on January 6, 1999.  Although the trial of
President Clinton in the Senate will undoubtedly make legislation difficult
to pass over the next few months, the members of the House of
Representatives are proposing legislation as usual.  And in a new feature
on our web site, we will present information on pending legislation that
will have an impact on immigration. The Advocacy Updates page on our web
site is at http://www.visalaw.com/advocacy.html.Representative Mark Foley,
a Republican of Florida, along with eight other Republican representatives,
has proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would severely
limit U.S. citizenship.  The proposed amendment reads "No person born in
the United States after the date of ratification of this article shall be a
citizen of the United states, or of any State, on account of birth in the
United States unless the mother or father of the person is a citizen of the
United States, is lawfully in the United States, or has a lawful status
under the immigration laws of the United States, at the time of birth."  

This is not the only proposed piece of legislation that would narrow
citizenship.  There are two other bills that would do essentially the same
thing in the form of a law, not a constitutional amendment.  One, the
Citizenship Reform Act of 1999, introduced by Representative Brian Bilbray,
a Republican of California, makes citizenship of a child born in the U.S.
contingent on whether, if the child was born in wedlock, one of the parents
was a citizen or legal permanent resident, and if the child was born out of
wedlock, the mother is a citizen or legal permanent resident.  The other
bill, introduced by Bob Stump, Republican of Arizona, makes the citizenship
of the child depend on the status of the mother as a citizen or legal
permanent resident.

The Mass Immigration Reduction Act of 1999.  Representative Bob Stump
(R-AZ) has introduced an immigration moratorium bill that would reduce
immigration to one-third its current level.  The bill has support from most
of the anti-immigrant wing in the House, with 49 initial sponsors,
including two committee chairmen and four Democrats.  Under the proposed
law, immigration would be reduced to about 270,000 people.  This includes
25,000 refugees, 5,000 priority workers and an unlimited number of spouses
and minor children of U.S. citizens.  For five years, all other forms of
immigration would be halted.

There are two bills that would make English the official language of the
U.S.  One, the Bill Emerson English Language Empowerment Act of 1999,
introduced by Bob Barr, Republican of Georgia, states as its purpose "To
help immigrants better assimilate and take full advantage of economic and
occupational opportunities in the United States."  The bill would require
all naturalization ceremonies to be conducted entirely in English, and
imposes upon representatives of the federal government "an affirmative
obligation to preserve and enhance the role of English as the official
language of the Federal Government."  The other, introduced by Bob Stump,
Republican of Arizona, is essentially the same, but adding that the INS
"shall enforce the established English language proficiency standard for
all applicants for United States citizenship." It would also repeal the
parts of the Voting Rights Act that call for access to a bilingual ballot.

The Illegal Foreign Contributions Prohibitions Act of 1999.  This bill,
introduced by Douglas Bereuter, a Republican of Nebraska, would prohibit
anyone but U.S. citizens from making contributions to Federal election
campaigns.

Central American and Caribbean Refugee Adjustment Act of 1999.  This bill,
introduced by Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat of Illinois, and supported by 33
other Representatives, including 31 Democrats and 2 Republicans would amend
the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA).  The amendment
would eliminate the requirement that spouses and children of aliens
eligible for adjustment of status under NACARA be nationals of Nicaragua or
Cuba.  It would also extend NACARA adjustment of status eligibility to
nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti.  

Baseball Diplomacy Act.  This bill, introduced by Jose Serrano, Democrat of
New York, would prohibit the exercise of authority otherwise allowed to
prevent Cuban national from coming to the U.S. when the Cuban is coming to
the U.S. to play professional baseball.  Nor would any restriction be
allowed on the amount of earnings thus derived that could be sent back to
Cuba.  The visa allowed would be valid only for the duration of the
baseball season, and is valid without renewal in each subsequent year the
Cuban comes to the U.S. to play baseball for the team for which he played
in the previous season.

The Retiree Visa Act of 1999.  This bill, introduced by Bill McCollum,
Republican of Florida and supported by 2 Republicans and 1 Democrat, would
create a new form of nonimmigrant visa for certain aliens over the age of
55.  The length of the visa would be at least four years, and would be
indefinitely renewable as long as the renewal application is filed in the
nonimmigrant's country of citizenship.  In order to be eligible, the alien
must be at least 55 years old, be a citizen of Canada or a country that has
always been a member of the Visa Waiver Pilot Program (United Kingdom,
Japan, France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands),
and prove that they have adequate health coverage for the duration of their
stay in the U.S.  The alien must also demonstrate that they will have, for
each year they will spend in the U.S., and adjusted gross income equal to
two times the poverty level.

Bill McCollum also introduced a bill co-sponsored by eight fellow
Republicans and three Democrats that would authorize the Social Security
Commissioner to make improvements to the design and materials of Social
Security cards in order to ensure the best possible protection against
counterfeiting, forgery, alteration and misuse.  It would require the new
cards to be as difficult to counterfeit as a $100 bill and as secure
against fraudulent use as a U.S. passport.  The purpose of the bill is to
curb illegal employment by making it easier for employers to recognize
false work authorization documents.

Representative McCollum has also introduced a bill that would create an
Immigration Court, the United States Immigration Court Act of 1999.  The
new court, which would not be part of the federal judiciary, would consist
of trial and appellate levels.  The members of the appeals court would be
appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, and
would serve 15-year terms.  The chief immigration appeals judge would
appoint the trial judges.

McCollum introduced a private bill, petitioning for the suspension of the
deportation of the son of a political supporter.  Thirty-two year old
Robert Anthony Broley, a citizen of Canada has a criminal record dating
back to 1984, including convictions for burglary, drug possession, driving
under the influence, and forging $4,175 worth of checks belonging to the
Orange County Republican Party, where his father was treasurer.  McCollum
denies the political connection has any relation to the private bill,
citing instead the personal aspects of the case.  McCollum sponsored the
failed Criminal Alien Deportation Improvements Act of 1995, many portions
of which were incorporated into the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, the very law that ordered Broley's
deportation.

Next month: What's coming in the Senate.

_______________________________________
4. H-1B VISA QUOTA HALF USED FOR FISCAL YEAR

As of December 31, 1999, 59,108 of the 115,000 H-1B visas available for
Fiscal Year 1999 have been used, according to recent statistics released by
the INS. 19,431 of the visas were issued to applicants whose applications
were held over from the last fiscal year. 39,677 new cases were approved.
Extrapolating from these numbers, the remaining 55,892 visas are likely to
be used up before the fiscal year ends on September 30, 1999. In fact,
numbers could be used up as early as May or June. 

_______________________________________


5. NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP UPDATE


A special citizenship ceremony for 500 immigrants scheduled in Dearborn,
Michigan was cancelled because of disputes about one of the ceremony's
sponsor's immigration status.  Imad Hamad, a Lebanese national and the
regional director of the American-Arab Antidiscrimination Committee, has
been the subject of several deportation efforts.  The INS alleges he was a
member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and has sought his
deportation since 1990.  The INS first denied this was the reason for the
cancellation, initially blaming it on a procedural mix-up.  The INS is
currently appealing its failed attempt to deport Hamad.

***

Immigrants who filed applications for citizenship in large numbers this
month, trying to file their applications before the new rate change took
effect on January 15th. The filing fee for Form N-400, the Application for
Naturalization increased from $95 to $225, an increase of 137%. It is hoped
that the increased revenue will allow the INS to process citizenship
application more quickly and reduce the backlog, which currently stands at
1.8 million.  However, critics maintain that the price increase may work to
deter eligible immigrants from applying for citizenship.  They also point
out that it is unfair to pay more and yet get their applications processed
no quicker.  According to the INS, the average waiting period around the
country is now 24 months, down from a high of 27 months in October 1997.
The Service hopes to cut the waiting period down to 12 months by late 1999
and by the end of 2000, down to less than six months.***The INS has
released a new naturalization handbook for the public. We have linked the
booklet in the Documents Collection on our web site. Go to
http://www.visalaw.com/docs. 

_______________________________________


6. TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS EXTENDED TO NICARAGUAN AND HONDURAN NATIONALS
IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE MITCH


On December 30, 1998 INS Commissioner Doris Meissner announced that
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) would be extended to Nicaraguan and
Honduran nationals for eighteen months as a result of the hurricane
disaster in Central America.  TPS allows people to legally remain in the US
and makes them eligible for work papers. Such status is made available by
the INS to nationals of countries who would be in danger if they had to
return to their home country. Civil wars and environmental disasters are
two common reasons for granting TPS for a country. The period of TPS is
from January 5, 1999 to July 5, 2000, and as many as 150,000 eligible
nationals are in the United States.  Registration is from January 5, 1999
to July 5, 1999.

The required application documents for TPS can now be downloaded from
Siskind's Immigration Forms Center at http://www.visalaw.com/forms.The
reason for the decision is the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch, the
most destructive hurricane in the Western Hemisphere in over 200 years.
Over 9,000 people were killed, over 2 million were left homeless, and
property damage is estimated at over $5 billion.  With current conditions,
Central American countries cannot bear the increased burden of accepting
nationals deported from the U.S.  Furthermore, the affected countries
desperately need the $400 million that nationals working in America send
home each year to aid in recovery efforts.

To qualify for TPS, eligible nationals must prove they were in the U.S. as
December 30, 1998.  Necessary forms are Application for Temporary Protected
Status, Form I-821, with a $50 filing fee and $25 fingerprinting fee, and
Application for Employment Authorization, Form I-765 with a $100 filing
fee.  These forms are to be filed with the appropriate Service Center.
Aliens who have been convicted of a felony or two or more misdemeanors and
those who would be denied asylum are not eligible.

TPS is a two-edged sword: while protected illegal immigrants are protected
from deportation, they must come forward and identify themselves.  And when
the period of TPS is over, the normal rules of deportation apply. However,
it is not unusual for TPS periods to be extended several times. The INS has
set up a toll-free hotline where information on eligibility and filing for
TPS is available.  The number is 1-888-557-5398, and information is
available in both English and Spanish.

TPS has also been extended to nationals of Guatemala and El Salvador, but
only for a period of two months, which is due to expire on March 8, 1999.
Armando Calderon Sol, President of El Salvador has said he will ask
President Clinton to extend TPS for El Salvadorans in the U.S. for the
maximum 18 months.

An internal INS report discovered by the Copely News Service warns U.S.
officials to brace for a "mass influx" of migrants from Central America.
Many people had left their homes in the fall of 1998, and the number grew
after December 30, 1998 when the INS announced it would extend Temporary
Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months to Nicaraguans and Hondurans in the
U.S. as of that date.  

TPS allows immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally to avoid deportation
and grants them work authorization for the covered period, but only to
those in the U.S. on the date TPS was announced are eligible.
Unfortunately, it seems that many news agencies in Central America reported
that TPS meant that the U.S. was giving work permits to all people who had
been effected by Hurricane Mitch.  

The number of people coming from Central America into Mexico has grown so
great that Mexican authorities are considering allowing them to pass
unhindered, without any effort at deportation.  In December alone, Mexican
authorities captured 5,800 Central Americans, compared to 2,700 in an
average December.  If Mexico decides to make this official policy, the
number of people migrating north would certainly increase.  The INS is not
equipped to deal with the expected numbers - 4,000 in January alone.
Already it has run out of detention space and is releasing illegal
immigrants into the U.S.  

Hugo Ayala, the national coordinator of the Grupo Beta, a Mexican
government division dedicated to protecting migrants, indicated his
organization handled 3,000 cases in December, compared to less than 500 in
an average December.  He also notes that unlike traditional immigrants, who
are prepared for their journey, these people are refugees from a storm that
destroyed everything they had.  Often, during their journey through Mexico
they fall victim to bandits who lie in wait for them, robbing them of what
little they have. 

INS Commissioner Doris Meissner says the Service is trying to clear up any
confusion in the meaning of TPS in Central American countries.  She is
scheduled to meet with immigration officials from Mexico, Canada, and
Central America in late January.

_______________________________________


7. BORDER AND DEPORTATION NEWS

Deportations for fiscal year 1998 were up 50% from 1997.  In 1998, 171,154
immigrants were expelled from the U.S.  Of these, one-third, or 56,011 were
deported because of drug-related convictions.

The INS Border Patrol in Florida captured 1,063 illegal immigrants on the
shores of Florida during 1998.  About two-thirds of these were from Cuba,
and most of the rest were from Haiti.  During 1998 the Coast Guard, which
patrols the waters off the coast of Florida, picked up 1,025 Cubans and
1,206 Haitians, more than double the numbers of 1997.  Three attempts at
illegal entry result in the loss of life.  The most recent, on December 17,
1998, was one of the worst on record with at least eight dead and six still
missing.

Fidel Castro has said he will turn over several U.S. citizens arrested in
Cuba for attempting to smuggle people off the island, but only if the U.S.
agrees to prosecute them.  The move is in part motivated by Cuba's need for
prison space.  In the same speech Castro also called for a crackdown on
crime.  He blamed the introduction of market reforms following the 1991
collapse of the Soviet Union for the increasing levels of crime on the island.

Operation Greenback, a ten-day program in south Texas during which
officials checked the immigration status of all travelers from the U.S. to
Mexico, uncovered 1,100 undocumented aliens.  The operation came just three
months after Congress issued a reprieve to the controversial practice of
checking the immigration status of all people leaving the U.S.  Also seized
were 52 stolen vehicles, $500,000 in undeclared cash and 800 rounds of
ammunition.

A massive Border Patrol buildup is underway in Nogales, Arizona in an
attempt to seal a section of the border from illegal immigrants and drug
smuggling.  Called Operation Safeguard 99, the plan has added 85 agents and
4 helicopters.  The plan is part of the implementation of an attempt to
deter people from even trying to cross the border.

A Chinese man was sentenced to eighteen months in prison and ordered to pay
$2000 in fines after being convicted of bribing immigration officials in an
attempt to smuggle up to 1000 Chinese nationals into the U.S.  Twelve other
Chinese nationals were indicted, most of who have either been deported or
are awaiting deportation.

Three Cuban men were released from federal detention on Christmas Eve after
spending over two years in federal custody.  The men were twice acquitted
of charges of hijacking a plane to the U.S. after their plane crashed off
the coast of Florida.  The week before Christmas they were granted asylum
but were not released until two Florida Representatives, Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, lobbied for their release.

INS Detainees at a facility in Manhattan say a fellow detainee died after
two days of illness during which he did not receive adequate medical care.
The death was the first at the facility in 10 years, but comes as the INS
is under increasing pressure from human rights organizations and immigrant
advocacy groups to improve conditions at detention facilities.  Federal
officials say he died in the infirmary in the presence of a doctor, but
Russell Bergeron, an INS spokesman in Washington, D.C., said only nurses
attended him.

U.S. Border Patrol officials in Arizona announced that apprehensions for
the last quarter of 1998 were double those for the same period in 1997.
This is a result of tightened enforcement of the border in California.
Officials also report an increase in the number of illegal immigrants who
are also smuggling marijuana.  From 1997 to 1998 the amount of marijuana
agents seized increased six times, from 964 pounds to 6,270 pounds.

Two men were arrested at the Canadian border for allegedly kidnapping and
trying to force a woman into marriage.  The men, Wahid Nader and Jamal
Nassar Aziz, both from Afghanistan, were stopped at the Canadian border,
where agents found the woman inside the trunk of the car.  Authorities
believe the motive for the kidnapping was to force the woman into an
arranged marriage with Nader.

A federal grand jury in Kentucky has indicted two men on charges of
smuggling illegal immigrants into the state to obtain Kentucky driver's
licenses with false documents.  The men face a fine of $1 million and up to
30 years in prison.

A federal grand jury in Colorado has indicted two men on charges of
transporting illegal immigrants.  When the van in which they were
transporting the immigrants overturned on a Colorado highway, two of the
twelve passengers died.  Because of the deaths, the men face the death penalty.

A federal judge in Florida set bond at $100,000 for Pedro Julio
Guevara-Lopez, one of two men charged with leading an alien smuggling
operation.  He must raise $10,000 to gain release.  His suspected
accomplice, Francisco Gomez, was denied bond. The two men were arrested
after the speedboat Gomez was piloting capsized off the Florida coast.  The
two are charged with masterminding a smuggling operation in December that
resulted in the deaths of 14 people.  Both men face sentences of up to life
in prison.

Two fishing boats carrying 60 Chinese nationals were intercepted off the
coast of Guam.  During 1998 over 200 Chinese nationals were caught trying
to sneak into Guam, and officials believe as many as 200 more may have
arrived undetected.  Because Guam is a U.S. territory and follows U.S.
immigration laws, many immigrants seek asylum as soon as they land in Guam,
but many others obtain false documents there and then travel on to the
mainland U.S.

During a raid in Raymondville, Texas, Border Patrol agents uncovered 63
undocumented aliens.  The raid was the culmination of a two-year
investigation, and resulted in the arrests of five people on charges of
harboring undocumented immigrants.  A raid of the same area in January 1997
resulted in the discovery of over 300 undocumented immigrants.

A Cuban born legal permanent resident, Jorge De Cardenas, is seeking a
retroactive one-day reduction in his 365 day sentence.  De Cardenas, a
lobbyist, was sentenced to prison for obstructing justice in attempting to
cover up an illegal kickback scheme.  When De Cardenas finished his
sentence in December, he was turned over to the INS under the 1996 law that
allows the Service to detain criminal aliens pending deportation.  Because
the U.S. has no deportation agreement with Cuba, and because Cuba refuses
of accept criminals, he is subject to either indefinite detention or
deportation to a third country.

Authorities have indicted two men in a widespread document fraud ring based
in Brooklyn, New York, and are searching for two other men believed to be
involved in the scheme.  For between $600 to $800, an immigrant would be
provided with fake Social Security cards and other papers that showed the
person was eligible to work in the U.S.

Crewmembers of a barge bound for Mobile, Alabama found four stowaways from
the Dominican Republic while at sea.  The crew notified the U.S. Coast
Guard who took the stowaways to the Metro County Jail in Mobile.  The Coast
Guard said it is rare for Caribbean natives to attempt to enter in Mobile.  

An illegal immigrant from Mexico has pled guilty to charges of smuggling
women into the U.S. and forcing them into prostitution.  In his plea
agreement, in which he pled guilty to conspiring to violate civil rights
and using a gun in the commission of a crime, he admitted to being the
leader of a group of smugglers that ran prostitution rings in five Florida
cities.  The women were told that if they tried to escape, harm would come
to their families in Mexico, and those who did escape were captured and beaten.