S Folinsky

Recent news article: here

This is true even if a DHS officer is the one doing the encouragement.

Thanks to he who cannot be named in this forum.

No advice given nor intended.

nettlebed

Very interesting: thanks!

I love this bit most:

Henderson said that after Bitencourt confided to her that she had an immigration problem, she wrongly assumed that the housekeeper was a legal resident because she had given birth to a baby in the United States seven months earlier.

How lame is that? Taking $140K our our money every year in a high-level CBP position and claiming not to know about the anchor baby myth? Give me a frikkin' break!!!

jeffreyhy

Thank you, Mr Messenger and "he who cannot be named".

I liked this statement, "Henderson offered to talk to someone to find out what options Bitencourt had and told her, “Don’t leave . . . ’cause once you leave, you will never come back,’’ according to the recording. That same advice is frequently given here, to those who were inspected on entry as well as to the occasional EWI.

Regards, JEff

jmood

I returned to the forum after a long absence so I don't know who is being referred by "he who cannot be named".

But my opinion of this is that it is AWFUL. OK, it may be the strict reading/interpreting of the law, but come on, is it fair?
Everyone knows there are many illegal immigrants in the country. They work, some of them pay taxes and by working they serve. OK, I am NOT defending illegla immigration and don't want to even go into a discussion about its politics or the what/how/why. But from the very basic details reported in the story, it seems this woman was set up and stung.
OK, I do agree that given the position she held, she should have STOPPED employing the illegal immigrant, but I think this purely because it would have been the politically correct thing to do. But as a human being, what advice should she have given the woman? Is it not correct that if she left she couldn't have come back. She made a correct statement, and on face value it seems like she TRIED TO HELP this illegal immigrant by inquiring about her options. And then the illegal immigrant turns around and stings her. And this to someone who has been employing her for years. Unfair, nasty.

I'm sorry, but by my personal moral standards this is nauseating.

And it's interesting that this illegal immigrant now got legal resident status. I ownder how? Does immigration also have a policy to help people for "collaborating".

meauxna

Yes.

chrisfromusa

The only reason shy she was backstabbed by Bitencourt was that DHS offered her a deal that she'll be a legal resident if she cooperated. This happens a lot, law enforcement will usually give you a very generous deal if you have information to bring down a high profile target. Happens with arrested gang members a lot, police give them a deal to drop charges and offer protection if they rat out their gang's operations, etc. I heard of a case involving 2 illegal eastern European women on NatGeo being offered a similar deal.

nettlebed

S visa, which can allow adjustment of status.

Quote: S visa holders are allowed to adjust status to permanent resident under a special provision under Section 245(j) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If the information supplied by the alien has "substantially contributed" to a successful investigation or prosecution of a crime, they are eligible for adjustment of status.

chrisfromusa

Though it says that the program was set to expire in 2000

nettlebed

It was made permanent in the wake of 9/11.

Summary from that paper:

"In response to the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, Congress passed legislation
making permanent a provision that allows aliens with critical information on criminal
or terrorist organizations to come into the United States in order to provide information
to law enforcement officials. This legislation (S. 1424) became P.L. 107-45 on October
1, 2001. The law amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide permanent
authority for the administration of the “S” visa, which was scheduled to expire on
September 13, 2001. On November 29, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft
announced the “Responsible Cooperators Program” to reach out to persons who may be
eligible for the S visa. Up to 200 criminal informants and 50 terrorist informants may
be admitted annually. Since FY1995, almost 900 informants and their accompanying
family members have entered on S visas."

Ginblossom

Indeed so, and it may make an interesting case if the ISP and the site owners were ever tested in court on this matter. Especially if it was proven that third parties acted on said advice, and they subsequently suffered a financial loss as as a result.

Although what third party others do with information provided is no responsibility of the giver of said advice, though who wants to test that....cyber law is a nightmare.....