ICE to start “Self Deportations”, Applicants for Professional Licenses must give Immigration Status in Wisconsin, and A Traveler’s Laptop may be detained at the Border
âºICE to Start “Self-Deportations”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the launch of a new program, Scheduled Departure, which will begin in five cities: Santa Ana and San Diego in California, Phoenix, Charlotte, and Chicago. According to a press release from ICE, the new program allows fugitive aliens who have no criminal history and pose no threat to the community an opportunity to remain out of custody while they coordinate their removal with ICE. “An ICE fugitive is defined as an alien who has failed to depart the United States based upon a final order of removal, deportation, or exclusion from a U.S. immigration judge, or who has failed to report to ICE after receiving notice to do so,” the press release said.
“The Scheduled Departure Program will not alter a participant’s immigration status or provide any immigration benefit. The program is not a form of voluntary departure or voluntary return. Participants will continue to have a final order of removal, deportation or exclusion,” the press release said. Those with a criminal record are not eligible and may be arrested.
Critics like Tamar Jacoby, president of ImmigrationWorksUSA told Spanish language channel Univision that this will be a failure because “it does not give any opportunity to returning to the United States.”
âºNew Wisconsin Law Requires Immigration Status Checks for Professionals
A new law effective, Thursday, July 31st in Wisconsin will require state professional license applicants to verify that they have legal immigration status. Those who already have a license will have to prove legal status when they renew it. Those who don’t provide such information will not be issued licenses, spokesman for the Department of Regulation and Licensing, David Carlson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The department oversees credentials from manicurists to dentists.
Opponents like Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera tell the Sentinel that few undocumented people even apply for this and it’s an extra bureaucratic expense.
âºTraveler’s Subject to Losing Laptop
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently revealed that traveler’s including U.S. citizens may have their laptop taken or any other electronic device, as part of the department’s new border search polices. The Washington Post reports that officials may share what’s on the laptops with other agencies and private entities. DHS officials told the Post that these procedures have been in place for a long time but were made public. They say this reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism.
The policies cover “any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,” including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover “all papers and other written documentation,” including books, pamphlets and written materials commonly referred to as ‘pocket trash’ or ‘pocket litter,’” the Washington Post reported.
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with the department’s right to search laptops without suspicion of wrongdoing. Department of Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff wrote in an editorial to USA Today, “The most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices.” Searches have uncovered “violent jihadist materials” as well as images of child pornography, he wrote.
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