November 30, 2006
The Latest on ICE’s Efforts
As part of its multi-year “Secure Border Initiative (“SBI”),
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE“) is still
aggressively pursuing criminal charges against employees who
egregiously violate U.S. immigration laws by either working or
residing illegally within the United States. It also continues
to investigate employers in various sensitive areas, such as
airports, power plants, oil refineries and military bases.
During fiscal year 2006 (FY 2006), ICE agents arrested more than
718 individuals on criminal charges in various worksite
investigations and apprehended another 3,667 workers on the
basis of immigration violations. In fact, between FY 2005 and FY
2006, ICE improved its successful removal of illegal aliens by
almost 20%. In furtherance of these efforts, on November 29,
2006, ICE special agents arrested six illegal aliens who
possessed security badges which would allow them access to
restricted areas in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport.
As part of SBI, ICE continues to work with local and regional
authorities to train and certify their personnel to perform
certain federal immigration enforcement. For instance, together
with the Mecklenberg (North Carolina) County Sheriff’s
Department, ICE recently announced that nearly 1,000 criminal
aliens in the County had been identified and charged with
immigration violations. 128 of those aliens have already been
deported. While Mecklenberg County is the only fully operational
local-ICE partnership in North Carolina, the federal agency has
established similar cooperative programs with other local law
enforcement agencies in Alabama, Florida, Arizona and
California.
GT continues to monitor such developments and will keep you
posted as additional information becomes available.
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