El Pasoan's lawsuit altered how immigration judges chosen

By Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso Times

Article Launched: 07/30/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

A national report that points to illegal appointments by the U.S. attorney general's office was influenced significantly by a lawsuit filed in 2005 by an El Paso woman who claims she was passed over because she was not politically connected.

Guadalupe Gonzalez, an El Paso lawyer and the chief counsel for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in El Paso, filed a discrimination lawsuit against the federal government three years ago alleging that immigration judges were being appointed based on their political ties and not on merit.

As a result of her lawsuit, in 2007 the federal government changed the way it filled immigration judge positions. And on Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General issued a report reaffirming that the way judges had been seated was illegal.

"I am glad that the public record is now clear that it was my lawsuit that forced the changes in the hiring practices," Gonzalez said Tuesday. "While I am glad that my lawsuit settled nicely, I wanted to make sure that we had done something to change the system. In some ways, it was an act of patriotism and I'm pleased that other lawyers can now apply and compete for the jobs."

According to the U.S. Department of Justice report, the system of hiring immigration judges was frozen after the lawsuit was filed. The freeze was lifted after Gonzalez's lawsuit was settled.

The Department of Justice report states, "With regard to immigration judges, as a result of the civil litigation over the unsuccessful candidacy of an immigration judge applicant, in April 2007, former Attorney General (Alberto) Gonzales approved a new process to fill immigration judge positions.

Appeals Court rules English-learner program deficient

by Mary Jo Pitzl - Apr. 18, 2008 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

Next stop in the legal battle over the state's English-learner program: The U.S. Supreme Court.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said Thursday that in the wake of a denial from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he intends to take the case to the nation's top court.

"Fundamentally, there's an issue of principle involved," Horne said.

It boils down to who should control the state's programs for teaching English to non-native speakers: The people, through their elected officials, or a judge, Horne said.

His comments came as the Appeals Court on Thursday denied state officials' request to reconsider its February ruling against the state's English-learner program. Horne, along with Republican legislative leaders, had asked the Appeals Court for an en banc review, in which a bigger appeals panel would review the case.

Judge, landowners giving feds a fight on border fence

The Associated Press

Published: 03.17.2008

McALLEN, Texas - Some resistant South Texas landowners and a deliberate federal judge have come between the government and its goal of nearly 700 miles of Mexican-border fencing by the end of the year.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen has ordered the government to negotiate with owners over the price of access to the land, an extra step that has slowed the project.

Most landowners in Arizona, California and Texas have allowed the government on their property, but some have refused, prompting the Department of Justice to sue.

Communities along the Rio Grande in South Texas have fought the most. They fear being cut off from the river and agricultural lands and bristle at the imposition of a plan hatched in Washington, D.C.

Officials want to determine which properties they need and whether they have to buy the land or seize it through eminent domain. They also want to determine whether alternatives, such as lighting, more Border Patrol agents or technology would work better in some areas.

Most of the nearly 500 property owners in the fence's path gave voluntary access to their land and more than 30 miles of fencing have been built.

Mistrial in case of Border Patrol agent accused of killing migrant

ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN

Published: 03.08.2008

A federal judge declared a mistrial Friday in the case of a U.S. Border Patrol agent charged with fatally shooting an illegal immigrant from Mexico.

Jurors who had been deliberating the fate of agent Nicholas Corbett since late Tuesday told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked.

Corbett was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide in the January 2007 death of 22-year-old Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera of Puebla, Mexico. Jurors could convict on only one charge.

Corbett testified that Dominguez was going to smash his head with a rock and he fired in self-defense.

Dominguez's two brothers testified that he was surrendering and was shot without provocation.

"I'm disappointed that the jury did not acquit him," said Sean Chapman, Corbett's attorney. "We are prepared to try it again, and I believe he's innocent. I believe another jury will acquit him."

No sanctions charges; appeal continues

SHERYL KORNMAN

Published: 03.01.2008

The Pima County Attorney's office won't file any charges next week against businesses that may have violated the state's Legal Arizona Workers Act, Deputy Pima County Attorney Dan Jurkowitz said Friday.

Three complaints against Pima County employers have been lodged since the law took effect Jan. 1, Jurkowitz said.

Jurkowitz said the complaints are still under investigation, and it could be weeks or months before decisions are made on whether to prosecute.

County attorneys around the state agreed to wait until March 1 to begin prosecuting cases under the new employer sanctions statute.

The delay was to give challenges to the law time to work their way through the courts.

Efforts to block the implementation of the law so far have failed. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Thursday denied an injunction sought by businesses.

Kin's account of migrant's death conflicts, agent's lawyers contend

ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN

Published: 02.29.2008

Lawyers for a Border Patrol agent on trial in the shooting death of an illegal immigrant tried Thursday to point out contradictions in eyewitness testimony from the dead man's brother.

Under cross-examination by the defense, Jorge Dominguez Rivera testified that he didn't know whether Agent Nicholas Corbett had hit Dominguez's brother with a gun butt or his hand just before the fatal shooting in January 2007.

Defense lawyer Sean Chapman was trying to show that Dominguez's testimony differed from what he told Cochise County sheriff's investigators a year earlier. At that time, Dominguez appeared to say his brother had been hit with the gun butt.

Hazelton: Immigration's New Frontline

By Tom Fitton

FrontPageMagazine.com | 2/28/2008

You may recall that in July of 2007, a federal judge ruled against two City of Hazleton, PA, ordinances dealing with the employment and harboring of illegal aliens. But that was not the end of the story. The lawsuit is now on appeal. And, on February 14, 2008, we filed an amicus curiae brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in support of Hazleton. (By the way, want to take a guess at which organization is leading the legal campaign against Hazleton? You guessed it. The American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU].)

Here’s our argument in a nutshell: “…The regulation of the landlord-tenant and employment relationships – are well within the traditional police and licensing powers of the City. Because the ordinances do not seek specifically to regulate immigration, they are not preempted by federal immigration law,” Judicial Watch argued in its brief. “In fact, the ordinances work in harmony with federal law and are entirely consistent with purposes set forth by Congress in enacting legislation concerning immigration. They also fit comfortably within well-established case law authorizing local government actions.” (You can read the rest here.)

Witness: Agent shot surrendering migrant

ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN

Published: 02.28.2008

A man fatally shot last year by a U.S. Border Patrol agent was starting to kneel in the act of surrendering when he was hit in the back of his head or neck, pushed down and shot, his brother testified Wednesday.

Jorge Dominguez Rivera, 25, told a federal jury that his brother, Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, did not threaten agent Nicholas Corbett with a rock, contrary to what Corbett's lead attorney said in opening statements.

Sean Chapman told jurors that his client was justified when he fired the fatal shot because Dominguez was threatening to "crush his head with a rock," and that Corbett had made a split-second decision to act in self-defense, as he had been trained to do.

Now let me get this straight - the prosecution's chief witness against one of our nation's brave men defending and protecting our border against an invasion of drugs and people bent on violating our nation's sovereignty is the brother of the man who was shot while attacking this agent who has also violated our nation's sovereignty and is someone who stands to gain a whole lot of money through a resulting civil suit, even though he should have no right to do so as a criminal, if this border agent is convicted? What's wrong with this picture? -mm

Opening statements Wednesday in Border Patrol agent's trial

Associated Press
Feb. 27, 2008 07:01 AM

TUCSON - Opening statements and the first prosecution testimony kick off the trial Wednesday of an U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona charged in the shooting death of an illegal immigrant.

Eight men and five women jurors, including one alternate, were chosen Tuesday in Tucson, Ariz., to hear the case against agent Nicholas Corbett.

He is charged with second-degree murder, negligent homicide and manslaughter in the January 2007 death of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, 22, of Puebla, Mexico.

Jury selection to start in Border Patrol agent's trial

Associated Press
Feb. 26, 2008 06:23 AM

TUCSON- Jury selection starts Tuesday in the trial of a U.S. Border Patrol agent charged in the shooting death of an illegal immigrant.

Prospective jurors answered a questionnaire in advance and will face further questioning from U.S. District Judge David Bury.

Once jurors are seated, they'll hear Cochise County special prosecutors seek to convict agent Nicholas Corbett on a single charge of second-degree murder, negligent homicide or manslaughter.

English-learner case strains Arizona's coffers

Deadline creates dilemma for cash-strapped state

Mary Jo Pitzl
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 26, 2008 12:00 AM

State government, already strapped for money, could be staring down a bill for millions of dollars for failing to fund a program to teach English to students struggling to learn the language.

And the financial cost to the state will grow even more, as legislative leaders and the state schools chief indicated Monday that they will appeal the English-language issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

The latest developments in the case of Flores vs. Arizona underscore the financial and philosophical issues at stake.

On the one hand, lawmakers face a March 4 deadline to fund English-language programs adequately. That's a deadline they said Monday that they can't meet.

That will send attorney Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest back to a federal judge in Tucson to seek sanctions. Those penalties could be similar, if not identical, to fines that were imposed on the state two years ago for dragging its feet on the English-language issue: $500,000 a day, climbing over time.

On another front, state officials will appeal Friday's ruling from a three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court rejected their arguments that they have resolved the dilemma about English-language instruction and thus should be removed from the requirements imposed by Judge Raner Collins of U.S. District Court.

Murder trial begins in AZ for illegal immigrant shooting

Reported by: Associated Press
Last Update: 2/23 1:42 pm

A murder trial tinged with international controversy that begins this week will determine whether a U.S. Border Patrol agent was justified in shooting an illegal immigrant near the Mexican border.

Jury selection will start Tuesday in federal court in the case of Agent Nicholas Corbett, who is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide in the Jan. 12, 2007, death of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera.

Corbett's lawyers contend that he acted lawfully in self-defense after being threatened; prosecutors contend the shooting wasn't justified.

The case stands in contrast to that of El Paso, Texas, agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who are serving prison terms after a jury convicted them in 2006 of assault, obstruction of justice and civil rights violations in the wounding of a drug smuggler.

Border Patrol brass in El Paso supported that prosecution, after an internal investigation determined the agents had acted inappropriately.

Robert Gilbert, who became chief of the El Paso sector a few months before the agents' federal trial, said after the case that Ramos' and Compean's actions would not overshadow the agency's "long-standing tradition of honor, service and integrity to the country."

Now the Border Patrol's Tucson sector chief, Gilbert has attended Corbett's court proceedings in a show of support for the agent.

Again, with the persecution and prosecution of a Border Patrol agent who was defending our borders. Enough already! -mm

Language law will go to U.S. Supreme Court

BY HOWARD FISCHER, CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

February 23, 2008 - 9:53PM

Phoenix - The amount of money Arizona taxpayers have to spend to teach English will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The top Republican legislative leaders said Saturday they want to take the legal dispute to the nation's high court rather than make two changes to the 2-year-old law - changes the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated a day earlier likely would make the statute constitutional.

A federal judge ruled eight years ago Arizona is not complying with federal laws that require that all students have an opportunity to learn English. Prior legislative fixes all were rejected by the courts as inadequate. The 2006 law directed the state Department of Education to set up procedures it determines are the best to teach English to students who come to school speaking another language. Those "models,'' which include a requirement for four hours a day of immersion, were adopted last year.

It is nearly impossible to know how many students along the border, though crossing into the US legally, are attending school illegally because they are not residing in the USA but their parents have bought an address or a utility bill, fraudulently, in order to place their children in US schools illegally. -mm

Arpaio blasts courts over migrants serving probation

JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 15, 2008 12:00 AM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday accused judges of allowing undocumented immigrants convicted of felonies and sentenced to probation to "roam the streets" - a charge that the courts say is off base.

Arpaio leveled the charge during a news conference to hail the efforts of his own department, which in the past four months has used an 11-person unit to track down and arrest 110 of the convicted immigrants serving probation.

_____

ICE teams up with county sheriff, adult probation to target deportable criminals in Phoenix area

PHOENIX - More than 110 foreign-born criminals currently on probation in Maricopa County have been arrested and now face deportation as a result of a new operation involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), and Maricopa County Adult Probation (ADP). More arrests are anticipated.

Among those being targeted are illegal aliens with felony criminal records, as well as legal permanent residents of the United States whose criminal convictions make them subject to deportation. The arrests so far include people on probation for sex offenses, drug crimes, and aliens with prior convictions for violent crimes. The operation began in November 2007, using officers and deputies from all three organizations working throughout the county.

"The people we're targeting in this joint effort pose a potential public safety threat," said Katrina S. Kane, field office director of the ICE office of detention and removal operations (DRO). "Identifying and deporting criminal aliens encountered in our jails and in our communities is one of ICE's top enforcement priorities."

"We're not going to stand by and allow deportable criminals to victimize law-abiding members of this community," said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

'Unsafe rigs headed your way'

Court hears challenge to Mexican truck program
Posted: February 14, 2008 12:11 am Eastern
WorldNetDaily

Mexican rigs, sometimes with hundreds of safety violations, are headed your way, according to those who are challenging the legality of a Bush administration program to let those trucks, and their drivers, roam the U.S.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has heard arguments in a pair of lawsuits over the administration program that is supposed to be "testing" the procedures that eventually could be used to let thousands of Mexican rigs cruise U.S. roads.

The cases have been brought by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and a coalition of the Sierra Club, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Public Citizen.

"It makes no sense that while safety and security laws are continually being ratcheted up on U.S.-based drivers and companies, the DOT wants to allow their Mexico-based counterparts to get by with lower standards," Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA, said.

Judge grants access to records in BP shooting

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

BISBEE — A federal judge signed an order giving prosecutors access to files from an FBI investigation into the fatal shooting of an illegal immigrant by a Border Patrol agent.

Attorneys with the U.S. Attorney's Office had filed a motion asking the court to deny a prosecution request seeking the files.

They said federal privacy laws precluded FBI personnel from disclosing information concerning an individual without consent or a court order.

Judge David Bury's order allows the release of the materials.

The FBI conducted its own investigation into the January 2007 shooting of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera by Agent Nicholas W. Corbett because of the possibility of civil rights violations.

Corbett faces trial Feb. 26 in U.S. District Court. Corbett, 40, has pleaded innocent to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide.

Corbett told a supervisor that he shot Dominguez near the border after the man had threatened him with a rock.

But the three people who were with Dominguez, including his two brothers, told investigators that he was shot without provocation.

No prosecutions under sanctions law until March

Mary Jo Pitzl

The Arizona Republic
Jan. 17, 2008 12:00 AM

There will be no prosecutions under the employer-sanctions law until after March 1, under an agreement reached in federal court Wednesday, while a federal judge promised to rule on the landmark hiring law by early February.

The agreement buys another month before any employer could be charged with knowingly or intentionally hiring an illegal worker, and buys more time for U.S. District Court Judge Neil V. Wake to weigh the merits of the two-week-old law.

But because it still applies to any complaints filed as of Jan. 1, it gives "cold comfort" to the business and civil-rights groups that are fighting the law, said attorney Jonathan Weissglass, representing a trio of Hispanic civil-rights groups.

State wants FBI to turn over documents in border shooting case

Associated Press
Jan. 15, 2008 04:40 PM

TUCSON - Lawyers prosecuting a Border Patrol agent charged with fatally shooting an illegal immigrant have asked a federal judge to compel the FBI to provide subpoenaed materials it refused to turn over.

The FBI conducted its own investigation into the January 2007 shooting of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera because of the possibility of civil rights violations.

Agent Nicholas W. Corbett faces trial Feb. 26 in U.S. District Court after Judge David C. Bury denied a defense motion to delay its start. Corbett, 40, has pleaded innocent to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide.

Illegal-worker court ruling yields odd paradox

Employers must deal with unions that represent the undocumented

By Michael Doyle

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — Federal law prohibits hiring illegal immigrants, but it also requires companies to bargain with unions that represent them.

That's the result of a recent court ruling that showcases the unresolved paradoxes posed by U.S. immigration law.

While Congress remains stalemated, judges keep interpreting how current immigration law works. The latest ruling, by what lawyers consider the nation's second-highest federal court, reveals how the results can appear to be confounding.

"It seems somewhat peculiar indeed . . . to order an employer to bargain with a union representing employees that the employer would be required to discharge under the Immigration Reform and Control Act," acknowledged Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Henderson nonetheless concluded that an agricultural- processing company had to bargain with a union even though most of the union's local members were in the United States illegally.

Henderson joined Judge David Tatel in the 2-1 appellate panel decision. Implications from the ruling, issued without fanfare on Friday, could spread to any state with large numbers of illegal-immigrant workers.

Judge denies delay in Border Patrol agent's murder trial

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A trial for a U.S. Border Patrol agent charged with second-degree murder is set to begin as planned on Feb. 26 after a federal judge this week denied a request by the agent's lawyers to delay the proceedings.

On Jan. 2, agent Nicholas Corbett's attorney, Sean Chapman, formally requested at least two additional months to prepare for the trial. He cited difficulties in finding and consulting with experts and reviewing more than 1,000 pages of disclosure information from the state.

"The defense needs additional time, however, to consult with these experts prior to disclosure of their opinions," Chapman wrote in the request. "One expert in particular will likely not have a report available for at least a month, possibly more."

He said the prosecutors had been advised and didn't object.

But on Monday, without citing reasons, U.S. District Judge David C. Bury denied the motion. That means Corbett, 40, is set to stand trial on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide, starting at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 26, at the federal courthouse in Tucson.

The defense and prosecution said they will be ready for trial.

"We're aware of the judge's decision and we're going to be ready to try the case in February," said Chapman Tuesday.