Free Republic

A Catalina High Magnet School student and his family were deported after school officials found marijuana in his backpack and called Tucson police, who notified the Border Patrol after learning the family was here illegally. The incident caused concern among immigrant rights advocates, but Tucson police officials say the officer acted appropriately in calling Border Patrol agents to the school. On Thursday, police responded to Catalina High after school officials found a small amount of marijuana in the backpack of a ninth-grader who appeared to be under the influence, said Chyrl Hill Lander, Tucson Unified School District spokeswoman. Police asked...

A convicted murderer who was deported earlier this year after serving more than two decades in prison was arrested Tuesday after trying to come back into the country. Juan Crisantos-Ramos, 46, a Mexican citizen, was taken in to custody at the Dennis DeConcini port of entry in Nogales after he attempted to enter the United States using an immigration document that belonged to someone else, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The incident occurred late Tuesday when an officer was screening people and began asking routine questions of a passenger in a car, the release...

<p>"I don't know what I'm going to do in Colombia," said Julio Cesar Gomez, speaking in Spanish. "I don't know where we're going to live."</p>

The federal government says it has steadily increased the number of illegal immigrants it removes from the country annually, but critics say the effort is still shackled by a critical lack of personnel and detention facilities. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently released its latest data on the number of illegal immigrants deported. In fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30, ICE deported 221,600 illegal immigrants, including 84,700 who were convicted of criminal offenses. In the previous fiscal year, 204,200 were deported, although a greater number — 89,500 — of immigrants with criminal convictions were deported. Critics say those numbers...

Mexican Consul Enrique Hubbard Urrea has issued an unusual warning to immigrants from his country: Avoid the city of Irving. Deportations in this city have skyrocketed in the last several months – from 262 in all of 2006 to 1,338 through mid-September. "In this city, one has to be extra careful," he told Al Día . "And if possible, avoid going through there, because we suspect, and with good reason, that people are being detained simply because of their appearance." At least 1,600 people have been turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement since June 2006 as part of the...

Mexican Consul Enrique Hubbard Urrea has issued an unusual warning to immigrants from his country: Avoid the city of Irving. Deportations in this city have skyrocketed in the last several months – from 262 in all of 2006 to 1,338 through mid-September. "In this city, one has to be extra careful," he told Al Día . "And if possible, avoid going through there, because we suspect, and with good reason, that people are being detained simply because of their appearance." At least 1,600 people have been turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement since June 2006 as part of the...

TIJUANA, Mexico - An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her American-born son was deported from the United States to Mexico, where she vowed Monday to continue her campaign to change U.S. immigration laws. Elvira Arellano, 32, became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her sanctuary. She announced last week that she was leaving the Adalberto United Methodist Church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers. She had just spoken at a Los Angeles rally when...

Deported: Church Sanctuary-Seeking Immigration Activist Sent Back to Mexico LOS ANGELES (AP) - An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son has been deported to Mexico, the church's pastor said.

(Babelfish) Flash: Elvira Arellano Already Has Been Deported To Mexico The activist pro immigrant Elvira Arellano already has touched Mexican soil. Towards the 10 p.m. was given by the agents of the Office of Control of Immigration and Customs (HOISTS) to civil employees of the Institute of National of Migracion (INM), revealed to La Opinion official...

Call nets immigrants Sheriff pulls over weaving SUV, finds it stuffed with 17 people July 26, 2007 BY JOHN R. CRANE | Journal Staff Writer A routine stop for careless driving turned into an immigration arrest Wednesday morning on U.S. Highway 491 north of Cortez. JOURNAL/BOB FITZGERALD ALLEGED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS make use of the little bit of shade around a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement van while waiting to be transported to Durango. Montezuma County Sheriff Gerald Wallace pulled a weaving Suburban over north of Cortez on Wednesday morning that contained 17 occupants, including the driver. Montezuma County Sheriff Gerald...

An 18-year-old man on Wednesday was deported to Mexico after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl at his family's daycare center. Reyes Salazar-Clara on June 13 was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Salazar-Clara is a citizen of Mexico who illegally entered the United States in June 2005, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The deportation is part of the agency's Operation Predator, a four-year initiative aimed at those who sexually exploit children. According to a criminal complaint, police were called to the Hennepin County Medical Center on Feb. 21, where they found a 3-year-old girl suffering from...

An illegal immigrant deported a month ago after serving a prison sentence was arrested for peeking through a window to watch a 12-year-old boy shower and dropping his pants in front of a woman. Juan Gutierrez Bahena, 28, was deported May 26 after serving a prison sentence for drug possession but he returned to California and was arrested Monday. Authorities say Bahena also has several convictions for burglary and resisting arrest. An Orange County boy saw Bahena watching him shower on Monday and the youngster ran to his mother, who chased Bahena away and called authorities, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino...

Following a blistering barrage of protests from politicians, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the wife of a missing hero soldier from Queens can stay in the United States and apply for permanent residency. "The sacrifices made by our soldiers and their families deserve our greatest respect," Chertoff wrote to Democratic Sen. John Kerry, one of several pols who lobbied to keep officials from deporting Yaderlin Hiraldo Jimenez. She illegally entered the country from the Dominican Republic in 2001. Her husband, Army Spc. Alex Jimenez, 25, has been missing since his unit was ambushed by insurgents in Iraq on May...

Hamdi El-Hilu from Ramallah is expelled in police raid. One way or another I will come home, he says Roi Mandel Published: 02.08.07, 14:35 / Israel News "I cannot live without my wife and daughter. I will do anything to return to my family," said Hamdi El-Hilu after he was deported to the West Bank by Israeli police. El-Hilu, who lives in southern Israel, is married to an Israeli and has a three-year-old daughter. He was expelled after being arrested on Wednesday following a raid on the quarry at which he works. El-Hilu had previously requested Israeli citizenship on account...

Fawaz Damra, the longtime local imam convicted of lying about his links to terrorist groups, was deported to the West Bank Thursday morning, immigration officials said. "It happened Thursday morning about 4 or 5 a.m.," said Tim Counts, a spokesman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "He was flown into Jordan and from there crossed the bridge into the Palenstinian Territories." Damra had been locked up in a Michigan jail for more than year as immigration officials searched for a country willing to take Damra.

No sure bet for con 'No guarantee one way or the other' U.S. sex offender can stay in Canada Ottawa Sun Tuesday, October 24, 2006 By TOM GODFREY, SUN MEDIA TORONTO -- Border officers began investigating yesterday if a teacher exiled by a U.S. court to Canada for molesting a student at an all-girls' school should also be banished from Canada. U.S. citizen Malcolm Watson, 35, was sentenced by Cheektowaga town court to serve three years of probation in St. Catharines so he can be with his Canadian wife and their two children. Malcolm Watson, convicted of having sexual...

More than 100 people are deported, and schools are told to look for suspect surnames. MOSCOW — Russia deported more than 100 ethnic Georgians accused of entering the country illegally and ordered some Moscow schools to compile lists of children with Georgian surnames to detect illegal residents, officials said Friday. Russia and its fellow former Soviet republic have been locked in a bitter dispute since Georgia arrested four Russian officers last week on charges of spying. Despite their release, Moscow has imposed a variety of sanctions on Georgia.

The former SS guard kept her secret buried, even from her Jewish husband. Now exposed, the Bay Area widow, 83, is back in Germany. WASHINGTON — She lived alone in a tiny, top-floor apartment in one of the tougher sections of San Francisco. At 83, she was short and a bit stout. Diabetes took the sight in one of her eyes; arthritis left her leaning heavily on a cane. For long trips, she took a taxi. Her husband had died. He was the love of her long life, a short, dapper man who had worked as a bartender and waiter...

Man Facing 2nd Deportation Finds He's U.S. Citizen Prosecutors Still Fought To Keep Man In CustodyPOSTED: 7:18 am EDT August 23, 2006 ALBANY, N.Y. -- Duarnis Perez became an American citizen when he was 15, but he didn't find out until after he had been deported and then jailed for trying to get back into the country. He was facing his second deportation hearing when he learned he was already a U.S. citizen. Still, federal prosecutors fought to keep him in custody. Last week, a federal judge scolded prosecutors for the mistake. "In effect, the government is arguing that an...

Gabriela Pacheco was still deep asleep when her sister shook her shoulder. ''Gaby, the police are here and they need to see your ID,'' Maria Pacheco said. The prominent youth leader, immigrant advocate and honors college student faced her worst fears: Her family was being rounded up by immigration authorities. A Miami-Dade police officer and a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent were watching from Gabriela's bedroom door. Down the hall, other law enforcement officials waited, while several more surrounded the house. ''It was like Miami Vice, like something out of a movie,'' she said of the show of...