Former Immigration Official Gets Prison Term for Harboring Illegal Immigrant

The Associated Press
Friday, March 7, 2008; 5:05 PM

A former top investigator in the internal affairs office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has been sentenced to one year in prison for harboring an illegal immigrant who also was his girlfriend.

Forty-nine-year-old Lloyd W. Miner, of Centreville, was convicted in December by a jury at the federal courthouse in Alexandria.

His 21-year-old girlfriend, originally from Mongolia, was sentenced to one month in prison for conspiracy to commit identification fraud.

Prosecutors said Miner met the woman in 2005, gave her a black Volkswagen convertible and allowed her to live in his home.

Miner had been the assistant chief of internal affairs investigations for Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Anti Illegal Immigration Effort Takes Hold in Md.

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 23, 2008; B01

Of all the communities in Prince George's County, tiny Mount Rainier seemed a fitting place to pass a broad sanctuary law for illegal immigrants. After all, the ethnically diverse city of 9,000 already prohibits its police force from enforcing federal immigration laws and inquiring about a person's citizenship status.

But when the five-member City Council sat down to consider sanctuary status, dozens of angry speakers from Mount Rainier and beyond crowded into public hearings to oppose the measure. The debate not only split neighbors but drew activists from across the state who are concerned about illegal immigration.

This week, the council tabled the resolution, citing the divisiveness. "I think it's pretty much dead," said council member Jimmy Tarlau, who lobbied for the proposal.

Maryland's nascent movement against illegal immigration, which began with protests over a day-laborer center in Gaithersburg, is moving beyond Montgomery County as advocates reach out more broadly, to African Americans and other groups and to rural counties.

"I have nothing against anyone who wants to come to America, but don't expect us to open our arms if you are not willing to do what it takes to become a citizen," said Natalie McKinney, a newly minted activist who hands out leaflets at her gym in Waldorf, at crowded bus stops and at a farmer's market in La Plata.

McKinney's message is new not only to Charles County, where she heads a fledgling chapter of Help Save Maryland, a group that opposes illegal immigration. It is also new to Maryland's African American community, which until now had been largely silent on the issue or had found common cause with the struggle of Latino immigrants.

In contrast with Virginia, where a fast-growing movement against illegal immigrants has prompted several counties in the past year to call for restricting services, Maryland has appeared more welcoming toward its Latino populace, now estimated at more than 500,000, including tens of thousands of illegal immigrants.

The core of Maryland's small movement against illegal immigration has been in suburban Montgomery, where members began organizing last year to oppose a day-laborer center in Gaithersburg that helps Latino immigrants find jobs regardless of their legal status.

Until recently, the groups were considered a fringe minority in a state with a tradition of liberal politics. Civil rights groups, labor unions and black church leaders across Maryland have embraced the immigrant cause as an echo of their own struggles.

"There are some who want to create a schism between African Americans and Latinos, but we need more black-brown coalitions. In one way or another, we are all immigrants," said the Rev. Jamila Wood Jones, an African Methodist Episcopal pastor in La Plata. "This is a land of opportunity, not a place where we want to make criminals out of people who come to make a better life for their families."

Recently, a group of Maryland lawmakers with family ties to a dozen countries launched a pro-immigrant committee called the New Americans Caucus, which they said was aimed at keeping national anti-immigrant sentiment out of Maryland politics and at fighting legislative proposals that target illegal immigrants.

In recent months, however, the movement against illegal immigration has gained altitude across the state, with groups such as Help Save Maryland recruiting members and forming chapters.

The surge has been driven in part by fears of immigrant flight from Virginia and in part by several controversial issues, such as a state proposal that would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain special driver's licenses. That plan was ultimately rejected by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).

"The epicenter is still Montgomery, but we are getting members in many other counties now," said Brad Botwin, a Rockville resident who heads Help Save Maryland and speaks at meetings across the state. "This is not like the Ellis Island time, when my grandparents came. We cannot afford to build schools and clinics and job centers for people who came here illegally."

This message has begun to resonate in unexpected corners of the state. In Carroll County, the largely white farming community of Taneytown recently debated, then rejected, a resolution to keep out illegal immigrants. In Charles County, African American activists such as McKinney are beginning to solicit support from their neighbors.

In Prince George's County, a racially and economically diverse jurisdiction whose Latino population has grown rapidly in some neighborhoods, the issue of job competition from poorly paid illegal immigrants has aroused concern among some African Americans. Until recently, though, there were virtually no organized groups raising the issue.

When Mount Rainier proposed becoming a "sanctuary city," like Takoma Park in Montgomery County, Help Save Maryland joined some residents in lobbying against it.

Such a regulation, Botwin said, does not stop federal authorities from enforcing immigration laws. "It's irresponsible for our elected officials to put in policies like this," he said. "It's unnecessary."

Joe Robbins, a Mount Rainier resident who testified in favor of the law, saw the immigration issue differently. "Isn't it similar to the one that this country was founded on, that of 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free'?"

Elsewhere, Green Line riders are likely to encounter Pree Glenn-Grayves, a legal secretary, handing out leaflets at every stop on her commute home from the District. For Glenn-Grayves, the issue hit home the day her husband discovered that many customers of his home remodeling business had switched to firms that hired Latino workers, paid lower wages and were able to make lower bids on renovation jobs.

Angry and frustrated, Glenn-Grayves said she turned to the Internet and discovered the Web site of Help Save Manassas, which led her to Help Save Maryland. Nine months after signing on as a volunteer, she has become its county coordinator.

"You'd be amazed how many African Americans are incensed about this. A lot of them are still in the closet, but I am being flooded with e-mails," she said. "The black and Latino movements have nothing to do with each other. We want to help the civil rights of our citizens, not of the people who invade our country, take our jobs and drag themselves across the border so they can have U.S. citizen babies."

Pro-immigrant groups say the clout of Help Save Maryland and its allies is still minimal. They assert that the great majority of state residents, even if unhappy about problems associated with illegal immigration, are opposed to harsh measures against immigrants. Taneytown's City Council eventually rejected a proposal to make the community a "sanctuary" from illegal immigrants, and the General Assembly has routinely killed proposals to deny services or legal rights to illegal immigrants.

"If groups like Help Save Maryland exist now, we consider that a price of our success in retaining Maryland as a positive place for immigrants," said Kim Propeack, an activist with Casa de Maryland, a state-funded group that runs five day-laborer centers. "Most Marylanders are not comfortable with undocumented immigrants, and they believe we have a broken system. But they want constructive dialogue and solutions."

In trying to enlist public support, new activists such as McKinney and Glenn-Grayves seem to face an uphill battle. Most people accept their leaflets politely, and some express concern. But few seem eager to get involved. Last week, at the farmers market in La Plata, a woman selling vegetables told McKinney that she had mixed feelings.

"I don't want to see people be ostracized if they have been mistreated in their home countries," said Joan Bowling, who has lived in Charles County for 30 years. McKinney pointed out that many immigrants enter the country illegally, some commit crimes and many do not learn English.

"I see what you mean," Bowling said, tucking away the leaflet. "I'm with you on that. They should do it legally."

At the Branch Avenue Metro stop, where Glenn-Grayves often tries to start conversations, an assortment of commuters expressed concern about such issues as job competition from Latino workers and overcrowded rental housing. But they also expressed sympathy for hardworking immigrants trying to survive.

"I disapprove of people living 20 to a house, using public services and not paying taxes. There should be stronger laws," said Norman Brown, 57, who works for a firm that organizes trade shows. "But these immigrants do the jobs a lot of our younger people won't do, and once they settle down with families, it may be too late to send them back. I have strong feelings, but this is not an easy issue."

Staff writer Jackie Spinner contributed to this report.

The New Illegal Amercian Immigrant

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:
Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.
They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

Here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

The Quiet Invasion: Illegals In Maryland - Part I

Reprint from the Last Reporter - First of a multi part report

August 19, 2007
Last Reporter - Chet Dembeck

Editor's note: This is the first part of a multi-part series where Last Reporter will explore Maryland's growing illegal immigration problem. The series will also examine the politicians, nonprofit advocates and businesses that are fostering this quiet invasion, and the economic conditions that are fueling it. Last Reporter will attempt to define the negative consequences of illegal immigration is having on Maryland and show what the average citizen can do to voice his or her opposition to this economic, cultural and legal threat to our state and country. The series will also explore some real solutions to this serious issue.

The Quiet Invasion

Illegal immigration and illegal aliens were two terms that never entered the minds of most Marylanders until the mid-1990s.

Unlike Western and Southwestern states such as California,Texas and New Mexico, Maryland had never experienced the massive influx of illegal aliens it has come to know, until the last decade.

At first, the average citizen didn't know what to make of the phenomena.

But soon, residents of towns throughout the state began to see large groups of Latino men gathering on their street corners running over to and surrounding the trucks of small and larger business owners, who would show up everyday to hire them.

As of 2000, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates Maryland's illegal population had swollen to 225,000 to 275,000 -- and growing.

Cheap labor for employers but costly for taxpayers

Local businesses hired and continue to hire this labor because it is cheap in so many ways.

In reality, it gives business owners a way to shift the cost of their operations onto taxpayers and their competitors, who are playing by the rules.

For example, employers hire illegals because they can pay them under the table and not withhold federal, state and FICA taxes, which is required by law when hiring legal immigrants or U.S. citizens.

In a recent study, the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C. think tank, found that illegal immigrants only paid 2 percent of the region's taxes, while they made up more than 4 percent of its households.

This simply means the vast majority of illegals pay no taxes.

It also means those hiring them do not have to pay workman's comp, or contribute toward the illegals' medical benefits or unemployment insurance.
For more:

So when an illegal worker gets injured on the job or becomes ill, he is often driven to the nearest emergency room and dropped off.

Since federal law forbids hospitals from refusing anyone medical care regardless of their ability to pay, illegals are treated in emergency rooms, which is the most costly and inefficient method of providing health care.

It also means that citizens, who may have a true emergency, are often faced with crowded emergency rooms, with doctors busy seeing illegal alien patients suffering from such minor ailments as colds or upset stomachs.

Since most illegals have no insurance and cannot pay, hospitals absorb the costs, and at the end of the year show these charges as unpaid bills.

Health insurance premiums raised

In some states, such hospitals with too many bad debts are forced to close their doors. But in the Free State, the Maryland Health Care Commission steps in and simply allows the hospitals with bad debts to raise their rates for all of us.

This is part of the reason, you and I face 20% to 30% health insurance premium increases every year.

In effect, you and I are subsidizing the health care benefits for the cheap labor unscrupulous businesses use to increase their profits and gain an edge against their more law abiding competitors.

This is no accident.

The oligarchy running the Mexican government offers no economic opportunity for its uneducated masses and encourages them to go North in an attempt to systematically transfer the cost of its citizens' health care to states such as Maryland.

In addition to depressing wages for entry-level, citizen workers, illegals cost Maryland taxpayers an estimated $331 million annually -- just to provide them basic services such as education and to cover incarceration costs, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

In 2010, FAIR estimates illegal aliens will cost Maryland taxpayers $551 million and by 2020 nearly $1 billion.

Cultural Cost

But aside from the dollars-and-cents issues, the quiet invasion of Maryland by illegals is exacting a major toll on the state's language and culture.

For example, all of our state agencies have been forced to hire interpreters for Spanish speakers, and in some areas, signs are now in English and Spanish.
In fact, Spanish has become the dominant language being spoken is large portions of Montgomery County and other parts of Maryland.
A new study by FAIR shows that limited English proficiency is rising in Maryland schools, as are the costs of teaching children in Spanish.

But it's just not our language that is suffering, it is our culture.

Unlike my great grandfather, who had to pass a physical, sign a statement renouncing his former country and its leaders, and be expected to speak English when he entered the state -- illegals have no such obligations.

In many cases, they have no desire to assimilate, and since they came to our state by breaking the law, they have no respect for it.

No, from the get go, they have and are being taught that obeying the law is an inconvenience, which does not apply to them and it keeps them from getting what they want.

So, it is not surprising that some illegal aliens are joining dangerous street gangs, doing nothing to assimilate into our culture, and only want to make money and wire it to destinations South of the border.

That is not to say that all illegal aliens fall into these categories, but the fact is -- at the very least -- they are guilty of jumping in front of hundreds of thousands who have been patiently waiting in line for years to get a chance to migrate to Maryland legally.

How did it happen?

How we reached this point in the quiet invasion of Maryland is similar in many ways to the non-fiction story "The Perfect Storm," depicting the horrific storm in 1991 that formed off the coast of Gloucester Massachusetts and was responsible for the demise of many fishermen.

*We will continue this discussion in Part Two of "The Quiet Invasion." *

The Propaganda of Hate

Friday, August 17, 2007

The following letter was posted on Stand With Me
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wednesday, August 15, 2007DATELINE: ROCKVILLE, MD 8/1/07Why is it that whenever Mr. Torres, of CASA, is questioned about his operations that the 'H' or 'R' word is used with such profusion. He finds fault with our Freedom of Information Act only when it is his information in question.

Recently the Help Save Maryland organization sought details as to the use of public funds dispersed to CASA with no strings attached. This, or any, group has an obligation to its constituents to find out how our tax dollars are spent and to make certain it is used to support legal operations. I hope that Mr. Torres would agree.

It does not surprise me that neither Big Ike Leggett nor his mouthpiece Mr. Lacefield cannot provide evidence of lawful activity and the proper use of my money by CASA or any organization that might come hat in hand for a public dole. If our County Executive cannot provide such answers then why do we have a county executive? Mr. Leggett, as his predecessor Doug Duncan, has put themselves above such things as accountability and credibility.

Mr. Leggett's perceived ignorance and Mr. Torres reaction would have me believe that our money has not been well spent. Is our money going to aid legal immigrants, as Mr. Torres claims, or did our dollars become a another payoff to unregistered agents of foreign governments?Mr. Torres should be now understand that words like 'hate' and 'racists' are fast disappearing as a method of distraction. Words like these are used to hide the facts from public view. If Mr. Torres' books are in order then he has nothing to hide.

YANKEE INGENUITY

An outstanding Idea

I have a friend who is president of his homeowner's association in a Washington, D.C. suburb. They were having a terrible problem with litter near some of his association's homes. The reason according to my friend is that six very large, luxurious new houses are being built right next to their community.

The trash was coming from the Mexican laborers working at the construction sites and included bags from McDonald's, Burger King and 7-11, plus coffee cups, napkins, cigarette butts, coke cans, empty bottles, etc.

He went to see the site supervisor and even the general contractor, politely urging them to get their workers not to litter the neighborhood, to no avail. He called the city, county, and police and got no help there either.

So here's what his community did. They organized about twenty folks, named themselves the "Inner Neighborhood Services" group, and arranged to go out at lunch time and "police" the trash themselves. It is what they did while picking up the trash that is so hilarious. They bought navy blue baseball caps and had the initials "INS" embroidered in gold on the caps. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand what they hoped people might, mistakenly, think the letters really stand for.

After the Inner Neighborhood Services group's first lunchtime pickup detail, with all of them wearing their caps and some carrying cameras; 46 out of the total of 68 construction workers did not show up for work the next morning-- and haven't come back yet. It has been ten days now.

The General Contractor is madder than hell, but can't say anything publicly because he could be busted for hiring illegal aliens. The homeowner's association can't be accused of impersonating federal personnel, because they have the official name of the group recorded in their homeowner association minutes along with a notation about the vote to approve formation of the new subcommittee--and besides, they informed the real INS in advance of their plans and the INS said basically, "Have at it"!


Proviede by a friend of HSM