Immigration Laws: September, 1997 - Number #6

In August, the press made much of three sets of events related to immigration in New York City.

Deaf Mexicans. On August 20, 1997, 20 Mexicans were indicted on charges of smuggling deaf Mexicans into the US and forcing them to sell trinkets on the New York City subway, generating gross revenues of $1 million per year. The smuggling operation, centered in New York City and Chicago, attracted deaf people, who reportedly lived as virtual outcasts in Mexico, to the US with the promise of good US jobs. Some of those arrested were deaf and illegally present like the people who sold trinkets for them.

On August 27, 1997, two more Mexicans were indicted for operating a similar scheme in Sanford, North Carolina.

On August 3, 1997, it was reported that the INS would give some of the 55 deaf Mexicans who were smuggled into the US S-visas that permit them to remain in the US to testify against their smugglers. S-visas are valid for three years and permit conversion to immigrant status. The INS denied the report and asserted that no decision on visas for the deaf Mexicans had been made. On August 19, 1997, seven deaf Mexicans were returned to Mexico.

During the Mexico-Central America Forum on Migration in Mexico City on August 11, 1997, Mexico pledged to take action to reduce trafficking in illegal aliens and to protect Mexican nationals exploited by "human traffickers."

Palestinians. On July 31, 1997, two Palestinians were arrested in New York City, charged with making bombs that were to be used on New York City subways. One of the two men entered Canada in 1994, worked at odd jobs and was convicted of a crime, and was caught in 1996 and 1997 trying to enter the United States from British Columbia. He was detained in the US on a $15,000 bond after Canada refused to take him back.

In April 1997, one of the Palestinians asked for political asylum in the US, asserting that Israel wrongly considered him to be a member of Hamas. During a June 23, 1997 hearing before an immigration judge, he withdrew his asylum application and was given 60 days, until August 23, 1997, to leave the US. He went to New York. The second man arrested entered the US from Mexico with a tourist visa and did not leave when the visa expired.

Mayor Giuliani asked why "this person was allowed to come into the country announcing that he is accused of being part of a terrorist group?" The INS responded that: "This case illustrates the difficulty of providing someone with due process while still trying to provide security. We are looking at our policies and procedures, but based on what we know, we don't see anything we could have done differently."

The Justice Department inspector general, who is investigating how the two suspects entered and remained in the US, noted that only 11 percent of those ordered out of the US within a certain number of days actually leave by that date.

The New York Times on August 3, 1997 described the Atlantic Avenue area of Brooklyn, where the men were arrested, as an area in which "muezzins call worshippers to mosques, Arabic is spoken in many shops, newspapers and other publications in Arabic are available and dozens of restaurants offer Mediterranean and North African specialties."

Immigration and internal migration are changing the racial and ethnic make up of New York City. In 1970, non-Hispanic whites were 63 percent of New York's population; Blacks, 20 percent; Hispanics, 17 percent; and Asians, one percent. By 2000, according to the New York City Planning Department, non-Hispanic whites will be 35 percent of New Yorkers; Blacks, 26 percent; and Hispanics and Asians, 39 percent.

The New York Times on August 7, 1997 described the routes that foreigners use to illegally cross the 3,500 mile Canada-US border, with most of the illegal crossings concentrated in northwestern Washington. Immigrants smuggled into Canada often remain in safe houses in Vancouver until they can be taken to safe houses in Seattle, 120 miles south.

About 16,000 aliens are apprehended on the US-Canadian border each year, including 4,000 in northwestern Washington. By comparison, about 1.5 million are apprehended on the US-Mexican border.

Haitians. On August 16, 1997 thousands of demonstrators marched in Brooklyn to protest the August 9, 1997 beating and sexual assault of a 30-year old Haitian immigrant at a local police precinct. The Haitian, a private security guard, charged that he was arrested by police outside a club and attacked in the police station by two police officers. Mayor Giuliani twice visited the victim in the hospital, who filed a $55 million suit against the city.

Mayor Giuliani, elected in 1993, has anchored his administration on being tough on crime (zero tolerance for law breaking, and if in doubt, believe the police, with crime falling 50 percent since 1993) and supporting immigration. In this case, the two goals conflicted. In New York, 76 percent of the 38,000 police officers are non-Hispanic whites, and in 1996, 80 percent of civilian complaints against police were made by non-whites. One percent of these complaints have led to disciplinary action against police.

Roberto Suro, "Justice Dept. Probes Immigration Process," Washington Post. August 8, 1997. Timothy Egan, "Northwest Wilderness Provided Easy US Entry," New York Times, August 7, 1997. Robert McFadden," Suspects in Bomb Plot Took Two Paths From the West Bank," New York Times, August 3, 1997.