Immigration dabate — how other countries handle it

With the US illegal immigration debate heating up I thought it would be interesting to see how other countries are handling illegal immigration. But first, a recap of what’s going on in the US.

The United States has seen increased numbers of illegals entering our country since granting amnesty in 1986.

The federal government has promised National Guardsmen to help secure the Arizona border. To date, 30 guardsmen have been dispatched, but the press failed to inform us that they have no law enforcement authority.

With the assurance from Homeland Security that our borders are as secure as ever, this aerial video of the border fencing along the Arizona border let’s you decide.  

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS):  As of January 2009 —  estimate 11 million illegal immigrants live in the United States.

View this hidden video of illegals coming across the Arizona border from BorderInvasionPics.com.

According to DHS: The illegal population grew 27% in this last decade with 62% of illegal immigrants coming from Mexico

View the video of what our neighbors to the south think of us

Office of Immigration Statistics: 1,130,818 immigrants saw Legal Permanent Residence (LPR) in the United States in 2009. Nearly half were relatives of US citizens; about 200K were refugees/asylees; and about 200K were family sponsored preferences.

Average LPR =  1 Million annually over last decade:
1970-1979 saw 4,248,203 LPR
1980-1989 saw 6,244,379 LPR
1990-1999 saw 9,775,398 LPR
2000-2009 saw 10,299,430 LPR

The total number of non-immigrant admissions to the United States for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 was 163 million  (Non-immigrants are foreign nationals granted temporary entry into the US. It’s estimated that about 50% never leave)

Inter-country adoptions for FY2009 = 12,753 (mostly from China, Ethiopia and Russia)

Nearly 1 in 4 children in America are born of foreign parents

October 30, 2009 President Obama lifted the US immigration ban on HIV patients. HIV-positive travelers and immigrants had been banned from entering or traveling through the US without a special waiver since 1987

Today in the foreign news:
Britain declares that student foreign numbers will be cut under new visa regime because student visas are “not sustainable.” …from 186,000 in 2004 to more than 300,000 currently.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced in July that he has begun to take stock in the Gypsy population and expel illegal immigrants.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he is “determined” to enforce new security rules making it easier to deport illegal immigrants and strip violent criminals with foreign origins of their French citizenship.

“South Africa calls time on undocumented Zimbabweans” — Zimbabwean migrants – sometimes thousands a day – flocked over the Limpopo River when the South African government said they were allowed to live, work and go to school or hospital in the country without official documentation. But now South Africa’s cabinet has announced that as of 31 December this year, the special dispensation will end, for reasons of regional security.

As a side note:
CBN News published a 5 min video filmed by a concerned citizen titled, “Islamization of Paris, a warning to the West”. His camera shows that Muslims “are blocking the streets with barriers. They are praying on the ground. And the inhabitants of this district cannot leave their homes, nor go into their homes during those prayers.”

British film
This BBC Panorama video is about 30 minutes long and documents the immigration problems within England. Could we be in the beginning stages of the same issues?

Presidents’ law-breaking Aunt Zeituni gets day in court

Although not highly publicized by the mainstream media, last week Barack Obama’s Kenyan Aunt Zeituni Onyango who has been in the United States illegally since 2004 went to court regarding her continued stay in the United States. For those who have never heard of Zeituni it’s an interesting story.

Recently, I touched on the illegal immigration issue when I wrote, “Needing immigrants to do those dirty jobs.” Some of the illegals work here while others …don’t.

Today I received a note (see bottom of this post) from one of my readers reminding me that the immigration issue is still polarizing.

Zeituni’s story:

Obama’s Auntie —  a Kenyan citizen — arrived to the United States in 2000 on a tourist visa at Barack Obama‘s invitation. She never went back to Africa. In 2004, her request for asylum was rejected, and she was ordered deported. She didn’t go.

In 2008, during Obama’s run for the Presidency, a European news agency reported that Zeutini — in her mid 50’s — was living illegally in the United States. In hushed tones, the blogosphere went alive with reports that not only was Baracks favorite aunt living illegally in Boston – but she has been living in the US off of our tax dollars in public housing.

According to World Net Daily, Boston Housing Authority spokesman Bill McGonagle told the Herald she received a small stipend over the past year for working six hours a week as a volunteer resident health advocate in her complex.

Speaking with the UK Times Online outside her home in Boston, Zeituni confirmed she was Obama’s beloved “Auntie Zeituni” in his published memoir. However, she declined to answer most other questions about her relationship with the presidential contender until after the November 4 election.

“I can’t talk about it, I just pray for him, that’s all,” she said, adding: “After the 4th, I can talk to anyone.”

In November 2008 — immediately after the Presidential election — the now “lawyered up” Zeituni announced a legal fight against the 2004 deportation order.

In April 2009 Baracks’ Auntie appeared in a closed hearing in response to the two previous orders to leave the US. She was wearing a rust colored wig and using a cane.

The Judge gave her a 10-month reprieve (a stay of deportation) with a scheduled full hearing on her asylum set for February 4, 2010.

In July 2009 Zeutini told the Boston Herald in an interview that the pearls and dress she was wearing were gifts from her nephew Barack.

February 4, 2010 saw Zeituni arrive to the courthouse in a wheelchair for the closed hearing. Handicapped from the paralyzing consecuence of the autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome she is learning to walk again. The Boston Harold described the scene at the immigration hearing as an entourage of gray suits and ear pieces.

The judge gave attorneys 30 days to present final written arguments. Zeituni is allowed to stay in the US until a decision is made at the scheduled May 25 follow-up hearing.

May 14, 2010 saw the US Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro, in Boston award asylum to the disabled, public housed Aunt Zeituni. Asylum was granted on the grounds that Zeituni had a well-founded fear of being persecuted by some members of the Kenyan government if she were returned to Kenya.

August 17, 2010 under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) the court documents were released to the public regarding the asylum case. According to the 29-page report — which is posted on Scribd, the judge made mention of a government official who leaked information regarding the aunts’ status to the press prior to the Presidential election. (apparently, this too, was Bushs’ fault)

August 19, 2010 the Kenyan Government speaks out — view YouTube video below — against the US court ruling on Zeituni Onyango stating, “…the government us unhappy with the court ruling about the Zeituni Onyango asylum case. …the allegations made against the country are not only untrue, but unrealistic to any person who understands our country.” The press release went on to say that when one seeks residency in a country one should speak the truth. Additional comments were made regarding immigration in general.

By all accounts, it seems that the Kenyan Government is the one telling the truth. It’s common knowledge that many of President Obama’s relatives not only live peacefully in Kenya, but are now celebrities. The Kenyan government connected grandmother “Sarah” Obama’s home to the national power grid and made the road leading to her village more passable since Obama’s election win.

UPDATE: September 2010 – Zeituni grants a request for an interview to WBZTV-Boston.

Zeituni is not unlike others living in this country refusing to leave.

They’re called illegal aliens.

If you recall, amnesty for illegals is on Obama’s “to do” list.

Today I received an e-mail from one of my readers:

Let me see if I got this right

If you cross the North Korean border illegally you get 12 years hard labor.

If you cross the Iranian border illegally you are detained indefinitely.

If you cross the Afghan border illegally, you get shot.

If you cross the Saudi Arabian border illegally you will be jailed.

If you cross the Chinese border illegally you may never be heard from again.

If you cross the Venezuelan border illegally you will be branded a spy and your fate will be sealed.

If you cross the Cuban border illegally you will be thrown into political prison to rot.

But, if you cross the United States border illegally you get:
 A job
 A drivers license
 Social Security card
 Welfare
 Food stamps
 Credit cards
 Subsidized rent or a loan to buy a house
 Free education
 Free health care
 A lobbyist in Washington
 Billions of dollars worth of public documents printed in your language
 The right to carry your country’s flag while you protest that you don’t get enough respect

I just wanted to make sure I had a firm grasp on the situation. ~anonymous

The person who wrote the letter above overlooked two other  things offered to the cornucopia of new US residents.

HIV-positive travelers and immigrants have been banned from entering or traveling through the United States without a special waiver since 1987. The President announced in late 2009 that he would eliminate the HIV entry ban into the United States. Obama’s new immigration: hope, change and HIV

2009 saw a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Mexican citizen who gave his US employer counterfeit Social Security and alien registration cards containing his name but other people’s identification numbers. According to the ruling, the court has to prove a person knowingly used someone’s identification as opposed to making up a number and causing identity theft by chance. Supreme Court rules on identity theft

President lifts immigration ban on HIV patients

President Obama announced today the elimination of the HIV entry ban into the United States bringing hope and change to thousands of immigrants wanting entry into the United States.

Since 1987, HIV-positive travelers and immigrants have been banned from entering or traveling through the United States without a special waiver.

The ban has now ended.

At the dawn of government run healthcare licking at the pocketbooks of every American this new twist has been introduced by President Obama. In 2004 the average annual medical cost per HIV patient was $25,200.

People who have HIV and are not U.S. citizens will now be able to enter the U.S. for both travel and immigration reasons.

President Obama’s support for immigrants with HIV was evident in his support of the PEPFAR 2 bill when he was in the US Senate.

In an effort to protect the citizens of the United States the government had restricted entry of people with AIDS for the last 22 years.

Reason to restrict HIV infected immigrants was that HIV was considered to be a “communicable disease of public health significance.”

Another reason the United States government restricted HIV infected immigrants was because of the likely result the HIV infected person would become a public charge.

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed to remove “Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection” from the definition of “communicable disease of public health significance.”

HHS/CDC also proposed removal references to “HIV” from the scope of examinations in its regulations that state:

Aliens infected with a “communicable disease of public health significance” are inadmissible into the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

According to HHS/CDC, in 2004 the average annual cost per HIV patient was $25,200 with a range of $19,466 to $30,954.

The expenditure estimates could be an underestimate since as treatment options increase, the benefits such as quality of life and lifespan will increase but so will costs.

Condiser the onward transmission from HIV-infected immigrants to others in the United States.

The costs associated with onward transmission include:

Shortened lifespan and reduction in quality of life even with treatment,

The health care costs associated with treating HIV infection,

The costs of social services when individuals are unable to fully support themselves because of their illness, and

Decreased productivity when individuals become too sick to work

A 1.51% onward transmission rate was used in the model to represent the annual estimated number of new infections caused by HIV-infected immigrants to the U.S., or caused by U.S. person infected by HIV-infected immigrants (i.e., annually every 100 HIV-infected persons infect an additional 1.51 persons). The most recent estimate of average onward transmission, when limited to sexual transmission, in the United States is 3.02 per 100 HIV positive immigrants.

In terms of health care expenditures for immigrants, by Year Five there will be a cumulative total of 15,755 HIV-infected immigrants living in the U.S.

Read the full report

News of interest 10.21.09

News of interest – Chinese: Google violating copyrights, authors say (xinhuanet)

News of interest – China’s 2009 GDP growth revised up to 8.2% (xinhuanet)
 
Note of interest  – Real GDP for the US decreased 2.3 percent in the second quarter, compared with a decrease of 8.6 percent in the first.

News of interest – New video: ACORN sting in Philadelphia (Breitbart TV)

News of interest – More misuse of Federal money (WXVT)

News of interest – Mouse grounds plane at New York’s JFK (Telegraph.co.uk)

News of interest – Community service theme for over 100 television programs (LA Times)

Note of interest – Palin to appear on Oprah November 16

News of interest – Spike in Chinese illegally crossing Mexican border (Taiwan News)

News of interest – Newest voter fraud in New York (Fox News)

News of interest – Finland: first to make broadband Internet access a legal right for all its citizens (PC Mag)

News of interest – Obama eligibility: dig and suffer severe consequences (Canada Free Press)

News of interest – Medical malpractice lawsuit alternative proposed (Injury Board)

News of interest – First set of guidelines for network interoperability released (Defense News)

News of interest – US pig confirmed with H1N1 virus (CNN)

News of interest – H1N1 flu vaccine will arrive too late for most (Washington Times)

June 2 Obscure news

Volunteering opportunities – For volunteer opportunities in your community, check out www.volunteermatch.org or www.americorps.gov

Hacked public bicycle kiosk shows porn movie, extra benefits of public transport – A photo snapped as proof that a computer kiosk used to control public bicycle lending in Zamora, Spain wasn’t displaying the usual touch screen software, but rather, a full screen porn [read it at gizmodo.com]

‘New GM’ unveiled in breaking advert — A ‘New GM’ aims to educate the public about its reorganisation in the wake of filing for bankruptcy with 60-second advert to begin airing on Wednesday (June 3, 2009) . The ad has already appeared on Facebook and YouTube [read it at UTalkMarketing.com]

 State leads nation in confirmed swine flu cases – Unlike seasonal influenza, which affects large numbers of elderly people, only 1 percent of the swine flu cases have occurred in people 65 years and older. Approximately 75 percent of the confirmed cases are in persons age 19 and younger [read it at the Fond du Lac Reporter]

RFID (radio frequency identification) raises profits at plant nursery — After developing and deploying an RFID system to track trays of seedlings at its own greenhouse, Knox Nursery plans to market the solution to other plant growers as well [read it at RFIDjournal.com]

New rules to quiz blood donors over sex habits — tests showed that a large quantity of unused blood supply was contaminated by HIV and other infectious diseases in Thailand [read it at the BangkokPost.com]

Global body lifts age limit on beef trade with respect to BSE+ (mad cow) – The World Organization for Animal Health resolved to lift the 30 month cattle age limits for beef exports and imports with regard to mad cow disease [read the AP story at Product Design and Development]

New travel rules kick in June 1 amid concerns over RFID-tagged passport cards — Critics of the passport card maintain that those features that makes the card convenient to use also pose security and privacy risks [read it at computerworld.com]

World even closer to H1N1 pandemic, says WHO Chief — “Now we are not in phase 6 yet. But we are closer to phase 6 today than we were last week,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Margaret Chan said on Thursday, referring to the highest level of the WHO’s pandemic alert scale [read it at xinhuanet.com]

Chinese economists deem huge holding of US bonds “risky,” split on way out — On the first day of U.S. treasury secretary Timothy Geithner’s visit to China, the Beijing-based Global Times published a survey of 23 famous Chinese economists on Sunday, saying that the majority of them deemed the vast holding of U.S. bonds “risky.” [read it at xinhuanet.com]

US gives Vietnam protective bird flu equipment — The US will provide Vietnam with 4,000 sets of personal protective equipment and 100 boxes of biodegradable disinfectant powder to help cope with future bird flu threats [read it at Thanh Nien News]

Ariz. Official Says Politics Are Behind Federal Investigations of His Department — Driscoll wrote in his letter, referring to the sheriff’s office, “When one law enforcement agency becomes subject to three federal investigations in a matter of weeks immediately after a shift of political control in Washington, it is difficult not to speculate that politics played a role in the decision or that policy differences related to hot-button topics such as local law enforcement’s vigorous enforcement of immigration related crimes are being litigated through enforcement actions.” [read it at The Washington Post]

From Willnevergiveup archives: Editorial — Russian view of Obama

Fun fact: The US birth rate is 13.82 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

View archived news on this site

Obscure news unearthed for May 28, 2009

My daily jaunt on May 28 brings these interesting articles:

Chinese gov’t offers 120 bln yuan in tax cuts in Q1 — China’s tax payers have enjoyed tax reductions of 120 billion yuan (17.65 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, as the country offered cuts to stimulate the slowing economy …read it here

RED ALERT: Did anti-Obama campaign contributions dictate which Chrysler dealers were shuttered? — The 789 Chrysler dealerships that were terminated, while still being investigated by the public, seem to have a common link. Because a list of the affected dealerships was not issued, the public created the list, one dealership at a time. As the list grows, the common denominator seems to be that each dealership donated money to Obama’s competition. Apparently, Chrysler didn’t make the decision to close the dealerships, but rather, was pressured from the Obama’s automotive task force. See list of dealerships here. …read it here

Fast-track screening for illegal immigrants launched – The San Diego Sheriff’s Dept. will be the first California law agency to streamline identification and deportation of criminal illegal immigrants. Instead of checking fingerprints solely in the Justice Departments database the fingerprints will be simultaneously run in the Justice Department and Homeland Security databases. The program is currently being used in seven other states. …read it here

US National Regulatory Commission contemplates the next step on imported waste — Federal regulators want to know if the time is right to think about allowing a Utah company to import radioactive waste from Italy. A ruling by the US District Court indicated a regional radioactive waste organization has no authority over where waste may come from. A Utah company is now open to receive waste from multiple states and foreign nations …read it here

No more smiling for your driver’s license picture –Nevada is one of about thirty states using a facial recognition system and one of four not allowing folks to smile … read it here

Merrick Bank Seeks $16M for Hacking – The bank claims it lost $16 million after hackers compromised as many as 40 million credit card accounts. Claims that Savvis, an information technology firm, erroneously assured it that the bank’s processor, CardSystems Solutions, complied with Visa and Mastercard’s security regulations. …read it here

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) threat as scientists develop edible tag for pills –American scientists at an Hawaii-based company (CBI) have revealed an affordable (one cent) edible tag (TruTag) using silica that can be used to track and trace and authenticate individual pills without effecting the efficacy. The tag can be used to track many other products as well …read it here

Eitel Withdraws Nomination to Head National Service Agency — President Obama’s choice for CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service Agency has declined the nomination. The withdrawal of the 46 year old president of the Nike Foundation, Maria Eitel has left the White house surprised and “very disappointed.” With questionable management skills, Eitel would have been in charge of a federal budget of about $6 billion which funds Obama’s major project, AmeriCorps …read it here

IRS lax in destroying sensitive tax papers …read it here

California’s new budget proposal slashes welfare, releases inmates …read it here

Hundreds of aircraft mechanics may have been improperly licensed …read it here

Ongoing worldwide statistics for swine flu reported on this site …read it here

American Airlines pilot fails breath test …read it here

Obama Administration sparks battery gold rush …read it here

Defense Dept., industry join to protect data …read it here

Mobile phone location technology fights card fraud …read it here

Report: New twists on credit scams …read it here

Three Calif. men charged in $200 million scam …read it here

A/H1N1 confirmed cases continue to rise across world …read it here

Korean man caught selling U.S. weaponry …read it here

Viral epidemics poised to go mobile …read it here

Cell phone recall …read it here

Defense contractor pleads guilty to wire fraud in connection with the procurement of a bullet-proof vest contract in Iraq …read it here

U.S. Expected to Own 70% of Restructured G.M. …read it here

RFID tagging: Chips with everything — Building an ‘internet of things’ could be the next crucial step in the march towards a truly digital age …read it here

From Willnevergiveup archives Constitutional change for marriage

View archived news on this site

Immigratation: testing more than just Americans

This BBC Panorama video is about 30 minutes long and documents the immigration problems within England. Could we be in the beginning stages of the same issues?

Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., (D-IL) has proposed an Amendment to the US Constitution for all persons – irrespective of citizenship – to have a RIGHT to decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable housing. The right shall not be denied or be abridged by the United States or any State.

HJ 32 IH

See the daily obscure news here

Former Nazi Death Camp Guard John Demjanjuk Deported to Germany

Department of Justice Press Release May 12, 2009

WASHINGTON – John Demjanjuk, a former Nazi death camp guard and a resident of Seven Hills, Ohio, has been removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Germany, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and ICE Acting Assistant Secretary John P. Torres announced today. Demjanjuk was removed through a court order of removal obtained by the Department of Justice. On March 10, 2009, a German judge issued an order directing that Demjanjuk, 89, be arrested on suspicion of assisting in the murder of at least 29,000 Jews at the Sobibor extermination center in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. In addition to serving at Sobibor, Demjanjuk served the SS as an armed guard of civilian prisoners in Germany at the Nazi-operated Flossenbürg Concentration Camp in Germany and at Majdanek concentration camp and the Trawniki training and forced labor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Demjanjuk was first tried on allegations of participation in Nazi persecution in a civil denaturalization (citizenship revocation) case decided in 1981. Relying principally on witness testimony, a federal court found at that time that Demjanjuk was a notorious gas chamber operator at the Treblinka extermination center known to prisoners as “Ivan the Terrible.” He was extradited in 1986 to Israel, where he was tried and convicted. However, after the Israeli Supreme Court found that reasonable doubt existed as to whether Demjanjuk was Ivan the Terrible, he was released and returned to the United States in 1993.

In 1999, the Department of Justice initiated a new denaturalization case against Demjanjuk, relying in large part on captured Nazi documents that came to light following the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union. In revoking his citizenship in 2002, the district court found that, in addition to serving at Sobibor, where approximately 250,000 Jewish men, women, and children were murdered, Demjanjuk had served as an armed guard at Majdanek, a concentration camp and extermination center at which at least 170,000 victims perished. The court also found that Demjanjuk served at

Flossenbürg, where t housands of prisoners, confined solely because of their race, religion, national origin or political opinion, died as a result of the inhumane conditions , or were murdered.

The removal of Demjanjuk to Germany was effected through close cooperation between the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and State. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in this matter. Demjanjuk’s removal is part of OSI’s continuing efforts to identify, investigate and take legal action against participants in Nazi crimes of persecution who reside in the United States. Since OSI began operations in 1979, it has won cases against 107 individuals who participated in Nazi crimes of persecution. In addition, attempts to enter the United States by more than 180 individuals implicated in wartime Axis crimes have been prevented as a result of OSI’s “Watch List” program, which is enforced in cooperation with the Departments of State and Homeland Security.

“The removal to Germany of John Demjanjuk is an historic moment in the federal government’s efforts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer.  “Mr. Demjanjuk, a confirmed former Nazi death camp guard, denied to thousands the very freedoms he enjoyed for far too long in the United States.  Now, finally, Mr. Demjanjuk has been held accountable in one small way for his part in one of the most horrific chapters in history.”

Demjanjuk, a retired auto worker who was born in present-day Ukraine, immigrated to the United States in 1952 by concealing from U.S. immigration authorities his true whereabouts during World War II and his Nazi camp guard service. As a former Sobibor guard, Demjanjuk is only the second person to be removed from the United States after having served at one of the four Nazi camps constructed solely to murder civilians. In 2002, the U.S. District Court in Cleveland revoked Demjanjuk’s naturalized U.S. citizenship after a two-week trial prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI). Chief Judge Paul R. Matia found that Demjanjuk participated at the Sobibor extermination center in “the process by which thousands of Jews were murdered by asphyxiation with carbon monoxide” in the camp’s gas chambers. In December 2005, then Chief Immigration Judge Michael J. Creppy ordered Demjanjuk removed from the United States to Ukraine, Germany or Poland. In May 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Demjanjuk’s petition for review.

OSI Director Eli M. Rosenbaum stated, “John Demjanjuk’s actions helped seal the fate of thousands of innocent people during the Holocaust. He has at last received his summons from history.”

“Millions have sought refuge from persecution in this country under liberty’s mantle. We will not suffer persecutors and mass murderers tarnishing her image by staking such a claim for themselves,” said John P. Torres, ICE Acting Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security.  “The U.S. government is dedicated to preventing the cynical exploitation of our nation’s immigration system by the worst of the worst. With John Demjanjuk’s removal, we reaffirm our commitment to protection of the oppressed, not the oppressor.”

–30–

Check out the new addition to this site. The News tab at the top of the page.

Supreme court rules on identity theft

May 4, 2009

A major Supreme Court ruling regarding identify theft came down today in the case of FLORES-FIGUEROA V. UNITED STATES.

A federal statute forbidding “[a]ggrivated identity theft” imposes a mandatory consecutive 2-year prison term on an individual convicted of certain predicate crimes if, during (or in relation to) the commission of those other crimes, the offender “knowingly … uses, without lawful authority a means of identification of another person.”

The petitioner, Flores-Figueroa, a Mexican citizen, gave his employer counterfeit Social Security and alien registration cards containing his name but other people’s identification numbers, he was arrested and charged with two immigration offenses and aggravated identity theft.

According to the ruling, the court has to prove a person knowingly used someone’s identification as opposed to making up a number and causing identity theft by chance.

See the question presented and court opinion of the US Supreme Court.

Department of Homeland Security employee arrested and convicted

This week an employee of the Department of Homeland Security was convicted of alien harboring, taking a bribe and computer intrusion.

The 54-year-old Hasmukh Patel, who earlier worked with Citizenship and Immigration Services has been convicted of conspiring to encourage and induce aliens to come to and reside in the United States.

Patel’s position enabled him the power to decide whether some foreigners could receive the benefits of permanent residency and, ultimately, citizenship. For his own financial gain, Patel received bribe money in return for committing fraudulent statements to the US Dept. of Labor and the Dept. of Homeland Security. Authorized access on his government computer was also exceeded.

Witnesses testified that Patel, an Indian-American,  took actions to bring an Indian couple to this country based on fraudulent work visas. Patel was paid $100,000 to bring the married couple into the United States. The visa application stated the foreign national woman would work in his home – but she never did. Although Petal wrote checks to the female visa recipient she and her husband were actually working at the family convenience store in Georgia.

Witnesses from the US Consulate in Mumbai, India, testified that Patel had called, identified himself as an employee of the Dept. of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Service and vouched for the veracity of the visa application, Officials alerted investigators that he was attempting to bring in another couple.

According to evidence, his DHS computer had been accessed to see if he or a visa recipient were under investigation.

The abuse of power may yield Patel a possible maximum 49 year prison term and $1.750,000 fine. He will receive his sentence June 23. Read entire press release here.

In 2008, according to the Annual Flow Report released by the Office of Immigration Statistics more than 3.6 million foreigners came to the US on resident non-immigrant visas. Mexico topped the list with 440,099 followed by a close India with 425,826 admissions.

The leading countries of citizenship for resident non-immigrant admissions to the United States in 2008 were Mexico (12%), India (12%), Japan (7%), South Korea (5.9%), and the UK (5.9%).

These five countries accounted for more than 40% of resident non-immigrant admissions to the US.

Even though Mexico has taken the number one spot, in actual figures, there has been an increase in the number of Indians coming to the US on resident immigrant visa status.

As the US is having a tough time in filling up its annual quota of 65,000 H-1B work visas for highly skilled categories, an official report in India has said that the Indian nationals accounted for the 38% of the total H-1B visas issued by the United States last year.

To see persons obtaining legal permanent resident status by region and country of birth for years 1999 to 2008 click here.