According to Sheriff Arpaio, his department was investigating additional employees for similar violations.

Arpaio told reporters gathered in front of the bakery: “People accuse me of arresting just dishwashers. These people are committing crimes to get their jobs. Stealing someone’s identity is a felony.”

To date, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has conducted 48 worksite enforcement raids, resulting in hundreds of arrests.

via Sheriff Joe Arpaio arrests dozens of illegal workers and answers his critics – National Immigration Reform | Examiner.com.

via Plan that flies immigrants to Mexico City resumes.

The U.S. Attorney’s office prosecuted Tomas Avila-Martinez after he was apprehended on November 23, 2010. During processing at the Nogales Station, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint System revealed that Avila was convicted in Los Angeles, Calif., on December 17, 1997 for possession of narcotics for sale of rohypnol in which he was sentenced to two years in prison. Rohypnol, also known as “roofies” is a controlled substance that can cause extreme drowsiness and amnesia and is commonly referred to as the date rape drug.

Records checks also indicated that Avila was previously deported from the U.S. Following initial processing, the Tucson Sector’s prosecution unit submitted the case to the U.S. Attorney’s office for re-entry of an aggravated felon. Following his incarceration for 51 months, Avila will be formally removed from the country.

All illegal aliens apprehended by the Border Patrol undergo criminal history checks using IAFIS. This vital tool accesses criminal records throughout the U.S., thereby assisting agents in quickly identifying violent criminals and wanted persons.

In January, the Tucson Sector Border Patrol implemented the Consequence Delivery System as an integral component of its enforcement strategy. The CDS centers on delivery a targeting consequence to illegal aliens and simultaneously seeks to disrupt the smuggling cycle and reduce recidivism rates by ensuring consequences are upheld to the full extent of the law. The CDS includes several different “impact” programs. Criminal prosecution is one of the impact programs which individuals with criminal records are criminally prosecuted and subject to jail time.

via Imperial Valley News – Illegal Alien Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison.

According to police, the teenage victim was sleeping when Perez entered her camper around 4:00 a.m. and began touching her. The girl pleaded with him to stop, but the Mexican national refused and continued touching her genital area.

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When detectives questioned Perez, he said that he was drunk at the time of the incident and only remembered grabbing her buttocks.

Perez readily admitted to being in the country illegally.

Perez has been charged with third- and fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault and is currently being held in the Worcester County Jail on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer.

via Illegal alien charged with sexual assault in Maryland – National Immigration Reform | Examiner.com.

Anthony DiBenedetto, 64, of North Branford, is an Italian immigrant who owned and operated Rocco’s Pastry Shop, which had locations in both New Haven and on South Meriden’s Main Street. According to a press release from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he knowingly employed at least 10 Ecuadorian illegal im-migrants at either location between 2000 and 2008.

The charge was filed after an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Se-curity Investigations. DiBenedetto waived his right to indictment before pleading guilty Thursday.

Lawyers for the Ecuadorians say DiBenedetto did not pay them fairly, threatened them with eviction if they complained, and physically, sexually and verbally abused female employees.

He is scheduled to be sentenced for one count of unlawful employment of illegal aliens on April 14, and will face a maximum of five years in prison or a $250,000 fine. He could also be ordered to forfeit money as resti-tution to the immigrants.

Five public colleges in Georgia have announced a new ban that will prevent illegal immigrants from being admitted into their schools. The state’s 30 other public institutions will adopt a policy that doesn’t allow undocumented students to be accepted into colleges or universities ahead of legal residents.

According to media reports, illegal immigrants will no longer be accepted to the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia State University in Atlanta and Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville. The list of schools may change over time.

The State Board of Regents states that only 501 of the 310,000 students within the university system are undocumented, and they currently pay out-of-state tuition. The new policies, which go into effect in the fall of 2011, will benefit academically qualified students with legal status who may have been rejected due to space constraints under old rules.

“Not enough Georgians graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary education,” said regents spokesman John Millsaps, quoted by CNN. “We need more [state residents] to pursue higher education.”

Last month, the U.S. Senate halted legislation that would have helped undocumented students gain citizenship. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act would have allowed certain immigrants to become citizens if they met specific requirements, which included attending college or enrolling in the military.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and the assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, cited the figure during a press conference here to tout progress made over the past 20 months under President Barack Obama.

Of the 392,000 people deported by ICE agents during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, more than half – 195,000 – had been convicted of criminal offenses, the officials said.

Those numbers represent increases of more than 23,000 and 81,000, respectively, over the totals for the 2008 fiscal year, meaning that deportations of convicted criminals have risen by more than 70% from levels during the Bush administration, Napolitano said.

“The regents were heading in the right direction, but I just wish they had taken it one step further,” Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, said. “A bill will be introduced this session that says no illegals in any public college. I have a hard time believing it won’t pass.”

The regents approved prohibiting illegal immigrants from attending any college that has rejected academically qualified applicants for the past two academic years because of space or other issues. The affected campuses are: University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Medical College of Georgia and Georgia College & State University. Officials could not say immediately how many qualified applicants had been turned away at those schools.

The ban means Georgia is following South Carolina, which prohibits illegal immigrants from all public colleges.

Debate over illegal immigration and higher education resurfaced last spring after Jessica Colotl, an illegal immigrant attending Kennesaw State University, was arrested on campus for a traffic violation. College officials disclosed they had charged her in-state tuition.  State rules require illegal immigrants pay the more expensive out-of-state rates.

Charles Kuck, Colotl’s immigration attorney, said his client may have brought the issue to the forefront, but she didn’t cause the new rules.

“This was bound to come up again,” Kuck said. “The sad thing is they don’t know this won’t make a difference. They’re robbing children of hope and an education, that’s what they did. They won’t make people leave this country because it’s still better for them here than it is back at home.”

Regent Jim Jolly, who chaired the committee that recommended the new policies, said they are not “equipped to serve as immigration authorities” but the new rules will make sure students are classified properly for tuition purposes.

Of the 310,361 students enrolled, 501 are classified as “undocumented” and are paying out-of-state tuition, Jolly said. These students did not provide documentation to determine their tuition status. They may be in this country illegally.

“Clearly our institutions are not being inundated but undocumented students and Georgia taxpayers are not subsidizing the small number enrolled,” Jolly said.

Still, he said, the ban should alleviate concerns that these students take seats away from U.S. citizens. The five campuses enroll 29 undocumented students.

Regent Richard Tucker voted against the ban and a new verification rule, saying it would burden colleges.

The new rules require campuses to verify the “lawful presence” of students seeking in-state tuition. Colleges can use several methods, such as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement (SAVE) program, a federal database that typically charges 50 cents for each background check.

College officials said they need to figure out how to implement the new policy and make applicants aware of the changes.

“Georgia State admitted over 13,000 students this past fall, so it will be a large undertaking,” said Tim Renick, the college’s chief enrollment officer. “We plan to work with the other impacted universities to see if we can develop some common practices. This should help to reduce applicant confusion about the new rules.”

Eric Cuevas, a recruiter at Georgia Perimeter College, said some students already are confused about which campuses they can attend and wary that completing an applications could lead to deportation.

“We’re not purposely recruiting these students, it just happens,” Cuevas said. “Do you know how hard it is to get a Hispanic student to even consider college? This just made it a lot harder.”

Before the meeting, about 20 people protested the ban. They carried signs that read: “Education not deportation!” and “Board of Regents, do the right thing, please don’t ban me!”

“They are not taking seats away from American students,” said Eva Cardenas, a sophomore at Clayton State University. “They earned their seats.”

Other students said illegal immigrants are breaking the law and should not be rewarded with college.

“For every illegal person who is attending a public university, that’s another U.S. citizen turned away,” said David Bachman, a student at Middle Georgia College. “What is most astonishing is that our elected officials in Washington should be enforcing these laws instead of the State Board of Regents.”

Regents Vice Chairman Felton Jenkins voted against the ban, saying it was against the board’s mission, which is to promote education.

“I just think people who are qualified ought to get in,” Jenkins said. “They worked hard and earned their spot. They could help make the state a better place.”

Regents voting for the ban were: Jolly, Kenneth R. Bernard Jr., James Bishop, Frederick Cooper, C. Thomas Hopkins Jr., W. Mansfield Jennings Jr., Donald M. Leebern Jr., William “Dink” H. NeSmith Jr., Doreen Stiles Poitevint, Willis J. Potts Jr., Wanda Yancey Rodwell, Kessel Stelling Jr., Benjamin Tarbutton III and Larry Walker. Larry Ellis and Bob Hatcher were not present.

New rules

The State Board of Regents Wednesday approved four actions to help ensure that no illegal immigrants are charged taxpayer supported in-state tuition rates. The rules also seek to calm public concerns that illegal immigrants are taking seats away from U.S. citizens.  Here are the rules:

• Add a section to all applications explaining the legal ramifications for knowingly providing false information.
• Require applicants to state on the applications whether they are eligible and seeking in-state tuition.
• Order all 35 campuses to verify the “lawful presence” of any admitted student seeking in-state tuition.
• Deny illegal immigrants admission to any college that has turned away academically qualified applicants because of a lack of space or other issues. Next fall this will apply to: University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Medical College of Georgia and Georgia College & State University.

Source: University System of Georgia

The bakery’s president, Jesse Fadick, and three employees are charged with harboring illegal aliens. Immigration authorities said they arrested a total of 44 employees.

The federal court complaint says S&S bakery made deliveries to San Diego’s federal courthouse, military bases and prisons.

Court papers say a former employee tipped off federal authorities to the bakery’s illegal hiring practices.

The informant told authorities his boss directed him to get fake work papers. The informant is a legal resident and allowed to work in the U.S., but his boss didn’t know that.

This is the second bakery immigration officials have targeted in San Diego recently. The owners of the French Gourmet have been accused of knowingly employing undocumented workers and face millions of dollars in fines.