By: Allen E. Kaye
BALTIMORE - As part of its ongoing enforcement efforts to investigate worksites allegedly hiring illegal aliens, federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed federal warrants today at a Maryland painting company. The enforcement action is part of an 18-month-long, ongoing ICE investigation.
During the course of this operation, agents arrested 45 Annapolis Painting Services employees on administrative immigration violations. All of the individuals arrested will be placed in removal proceedings.
"Today's enforcement action, to include the execution of 11 search warrants, 5 seizure warrants for bank accounts, 11 seizure warrants for vehicles and 15 forfeitable properties, along with the administrative arrest of 45 undocumented aliens, is part of a multi-phased investigative approach utilized by ICE when investigating the employment of illegal workers," stated Scot R. Rittenberg, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for ICE in Baltimore.
The illegal alien workers identified during today's operation included foreign nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama. Everyone detained has been interviewed by ICE agents to determine if they have medical, caregiver, or other humanitarian issues. At several search warrant locations, ICE identified approximately five individuals who qualify for a humanitarian release. However, these individuals are still required to appear before a federal immigration judge who will ultimately determine whether they have a legal right to remain in the United States.
ICE has contacted local community groups to provide accurate information about the operation.
ICE received assistance with the case from the United States Attorneys Office in Baltimore, the Anne Arundel County Police Department, the Annapolis City Police Department, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Baltimore City Police Department. Since its establishment in 2003, ICE has dramatically enhanced its efforts to combat the unlawful employment of illegal aliens in this country. ICE's comprehensive strategy for worksite enforcement is aimed at promoting national security and public safety, protecting critical infrastructure, and ensuring fair labor standards.
As of May 2008, ICE has made more than 2,900 administrative arrests in connection with worksite enforcement investigations, including more than 850 criminal arrests. In fiscal year 2007, ICE secured more than $30 million in criminal fines, restitutions, seizures and civil judgments as result of worksite related enforcement actions. More than 4,000 administrative arrests were made, along with 863 arrests for criminal violations.
Alternatives to Detention
Rapid growth in the U.S. immigration detention system has resulted in the prolonged detention of thousands of individuals including vulnerable populations such as survivors of torture, families with small children and those with serious illnesses. To ensure that detention is used only when necessary, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) supports the creation of community-based alternatives to detention programs that allow individuals, including vulnerable populations, to be released from detention.1 Congress has appropriated funds to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pursue alternatives to detention programs and the Department has initiated a number of new programs. However, DHS has focused on the creation of programs that focus only on populations who are already eligible for release and the programs have focused almost exclusively on the most restrictive methods available to ensure program compliance including electronic monitoring and home visits. The unnecessary use of restrictive alternatives programs for people who are already eligible for release substantially reduces the cost-savings to the Department.
Even though DHS currently only permits individuals to participate in alternatives programs if the individual has already demonstrated that they are not a flight risk or danger to the community, the Department generally uses restrictive measures such as electronic devices to monitor participants. Electronic monitoring devices are very restrictive: a recent court decision found that electronic bracelets cause the loss of a ‘great deal’ of an individual’s liberty and require confinement in a specific space such as a private dwelling for approximately 12 hours per day. Moreover, program participants often complain that family members may be forced to move away from the home because they are frightened by the intrusive nature of current alternatives programs that require DHS ‘house visits’ and other forms of monitoring. Currently, all of DHS’s alternatives to detention programs rely heavily on electronic monitoring devices which seriously restrict an individual’s freedom of movement─ thereby converting the program into an alternative from of custody rather than an alternative to detention.
DHS’s current alternatives to detention programs have not yet taken advantage of community-based alternative programs run by non-governmental, state or local agencies that utilize less restrictive means to ensure program compliance. Community-based alternatives programs that provide case management services, legal orientation for participants and facilitate access to counsel have been shown to substantially increase program compliance without the extensive use of electronic monitoring.
Electronic monitoring devices should be reserved for individuals who would otherwise be
detained and who require additional monitoring to ensure compliance with the terms of the individual’s release. It is not necessary to electronically monitor all individuals who are paroled from detention or released on their own recognizance. DHS should pursue community-based alternatives to detention program that ensure program compliance through intensive case management, access to attorneys and education about U.S. laws.
The average cost of detaining an immigrant is approximately $95 per person per day, while alternatives to detention often cost as little as $12 per day. These alternatives to detention programs still yield an estimated 93 to 98% appearance rate before the immigration courts. Detention deprives individuals of their most fundamental right to liberty and for many immigrants and asylum-seekers, this extreme measure is often unnecessary. The creation of robust alternatives to detention programs that focus on case management through partnerships with community organizations rather than the use of restrictive electronic monitoring should help to reduce the numbers of individuals in detention and ensure that individuals with strong ties to the community are not needlessly separated from their families.
