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Agents arrest 61 in immigration sting


Roundups concern advocates



By Ruth Morris
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 20, 2006



Federal agents have arrested 61 immigrants in a statewide operation that targeted people who lost asylum pleas but remained in the United States against judges' orders, officials said Wednesday.

Most of the arrests occurred in South Florida, with 35 in Miami-Dade and 16 in Broward County, said Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those arrested included a convicted criminal whom federal officials identified as Glenn Zazim Khan, 34, of Trinidad and Tobago. In a statement, ICE said a jury convicted him on manslaughter and aggravated assault charges. An immigration judge last year ordered him deported, the statement said, and agents caught up with him in Orlando last week.

The arrests follow a federal initiative unveiled in April to detain illegal immigrants inside the United States, and not just at the porous Mexican border. It includes efforts to go after employers who "knowingly and recklessly" hire undocumented workers and to capture more candidates for deportation among the immigrants sitting in U.S. jails.

Federal officials also are pursuing so-called fugitive aliens, or absconders -- men and women who have ignored a judge's order to leave the country after losing an asylum claim. The Department of Homeland Security estimates there are more than 590,000 such fugitives living in the United States, and special fugitive operations teams have arrested about 31,000 since March 2003.

"Those who fail to comply with lawful orders of removal should know that we are looking for you," said Michael Rozos, field office director for ICE's office of detention and removal in Florida. "We are committed to restoring integrity to our nation's immigration system."

However, new cases are arising at a rate of about 40,000 a year, far outpacing deportations. By September, ICE will boost its 35 fugitive operations teams by 17 to combat the problem.

Absconders account for a large chunk of overall deportations from the United States, and targeting them has prompted protests by immigrant advocates. They say the government lumps absconders together with criminal deportees, including hardened gang members and rapists, when they usually have no criminal history.

"ICE has an obligation and every right to deport people here unlawfully," said Cheryl Little of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. "But we're concerned about the manner in which these roundups take place. They not only have a disturbing emotional impact -- families are dismembered -- but they're also having a widely felt economic effect" in lost remittances.

For advocates on the other side of the debate, the number of absconders in the United States points to gaping holes in the immigration system. With the exception of Haitian immigrants arriving here by boat, most are not detained while judges hear their asylum pleas. And only a small percentage of immigrants who receive removal notices show up for final processing.

ICE has reported steady increases in overall deportations, from 149,523 in fiscal 2003 to 156,988 in fiscal 2004 and 167,742 in fiscal 2005.

The government's enforcement drive inside the United States also aims to shut down rackets that produce fake identity cards for immigrants. In another announcement Wednesday, ICE said a grand jury sitting in Fort Lauderdale had returned an indictment against four suspects charged with selling false Social Security and green cards.

If convicted, Luis Mejia, Suarli Salazar, Bernardo Alvarado and Santos Ramos could be sentenced to 15 years for selling fraudulent documents out of Port Everglades, where Mejia ran a scrap metal shop, the agency said.

Ruth Morris can be reached at rmorris@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5012.


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