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U.K. to scale back stop-and-detain policies
U.K. police and special branch officers have stopped about 70,000 people as they traveled through the United Kingdom by train, airplane, or ship; they were stopped – and some were detained for further questioning – under the under the Terrorism Act 2000; those detained have no right to a free legal advice from a public defender, cannot refuse to answer question (refusal is a criminal offense), and cannot object to strip-searches or DNA collection; critics charge the implementation of the act has been discriminatory toward minorities, and the Home Office said it would review the act with an eye to scaling it back
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New immigration policy separates families, loved ones
When DHS issued, on 15 June, an executive order which would defer, for two years, deportation proceedings against many illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children, it was a day of celebration for many young immigrants and their families; the order went into effect on 15 August; some illegal immigrants had a cause for celebration, but many do not – because they found out they were not eligible
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Janet Napolitano named in two lawsuits
DHS secretary Janet Napolitano is under fire for two very different reasons as she is named in two separate lawsuits; the first lawsuit charges that two women executives Napolitano brought to DHS have mistreated male employees at the department; the second suit, brought by several ICE agents, charges that the administration’s deferred deportation executive order, which went into effect 15 August, force the agents face difficult choices while performing their tasks
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House panel charges DHS overstates deportation figures
A House committee says the administration inflates the number of illegal aliens it has deported in 2011 and 2012; the committee says the administration is able to cite larger numbers of deportees by including numbers from the Alien Transfer Exit Program (ATEP) in the administration’s year-end removal numbers; if the number of ATEP-removed individuals is subtracted from ICE-deported individuals, then the annualized number of deportees in 2011 and 2012 would lower – rather than higher – than the number of deportees in 2008 and 2009
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Border Patrol kiosk detects liars trying to enter U.S.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using border crossing stations in Arizona to test new technology to detect liars as they attempt to enter the country; travelers are subjected to a 5-minute interview with the kiosk, while microphones monitor vocal pitch frequency and quality, an infrared camera monitors eye movement and pupil dilation, and a high definition camera monitors facial expression
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DHS seeks better ways to detect ultra light aircrafts used by smugglers
As the war on drugs continues with every sunrise and sunset, DHS has awarded a contract just short of $100 million for a specialized system which will be able to detect ultralight aircrafts which are used to smuggle drugs across the border
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Manned planes beating drones as the more capable tool in war on drugs
In the never-ending war on drugs, U.S. Navy planes are showing that technology does not necessarily mean improvement, as manned planes are outmaneuvering unmanned drones in catching cocaine smugglers traveling by sea; in 2011 the manned planes caught an average of $30 million of cocaine per day, and during the last five years they have detected more than 853,000 pounds of cocaine
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Obama’s sweeping immigration initiative goes into effect next week
On 15 August 2012 a sweeping new immigration initiative, the most significant easing of immigration policy since President Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to an estimated three million people in 1986, goes into effect; it would defer deportation action against, and grant a work permit to, illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria
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Critics charge Obama initiative is amnesty by executive order
Critics of the Obama administration’s immigration order charge that the administration is”legislating by executive edict”; they say that the Obama administration is set, in effect, to begin implementing the DREAM Act amnesty on 15 August, even though the legislation was defeated by Congress as recently as December 2010
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Deportation deferment executive order to cost between $467 million and $585 million
On 15 June the administration issues an executive order deferring deportation against illegal immigrants who were brought into the United States as kids by their parents, and who now go to school or have graduated from school; illegal aliens eligible to apply can begin to do so in August, and DHS estimates that in the first year of the program, about a million or so would do so; the processing cost would be as high as $585 million; each applicant will be expected to pay $465 in paperwork processing fee, but even if all do, there will be a shortfall
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Critics: Obama administration advancing amnesty by executive order
A new study by an anti-illegal group provides a detailed, 3-year timeline of what the groups describes as the Obama administration’s strategy of carrying out a policy of de facto amnesty for millions of illegal aliens through executive policy decisions
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Federal apprehensions for immigration violations declined, while arrests tripled, in 2000-10
Apprehensions for immigration violations peaked at 1.8 million in 2000 but dropped to 516,992 in 2010 — the lowest level since 1972, according to a report released last week by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS); between 2000 and 2010, arrests booked by the U.S. Marshals Service for federal immigration offenses tripled, from 25,205 to 82,438 arrests; immigration apprehensions resulted in about 16 arrests per 100 apprehensions in 2010, up from 2 arrests per 100 in 2002
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ICE agents say Obama’s 15 June executive order makes their job more difficult
Association of ICE agents complains that the 15 June executive order which deferred deportation action against certain classes of illegal immigrants makes it difficult for ICE to enforce immigration laws
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California passes “Anti-Arizona” immigration measure
The California State Senate last Thursday passed Assembly Bill 1081 — some call it the Anti-Arizona law — under which local police officers would be limited to refer only those individuals convicted of serious felonies to immigration agencies; police officers would no longer have authority to detain lower-level offenders on their undocumented status
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Deadline for ASIS Accolades Competition approaches
ASIS International 58th Annual Seminar and Exhibits will be held in Philadelphia on 10-13 September; one of the highlights of the show is the ASIS Accolades Competition, which is open to exhibitors in the event; Deadline for Submissions is 23 July
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