Vol. 72/No. 28      July 14, 2008

Now virtually every worker who is caught “illegally” crossing along three stretches of the border—120 miles near Yuma, Arizona; 210 miles near Del Rio, Texas; and 171 miles near Laredo, Texas—faces at least minor criminal charges and an average of one month in jail followed by deportation.

Before “Operation Streamline,” as the program begun in 2005 is known, most Mexicans detained by immigration cops were deported without criminal charges.

Last March the number of undocumented workers facing charges was 3,746. This March an all-time high of 9,350 workers without papers were brought up on charges, more than half of 16,298 federal criminal cases nationwide. The next closest category that month was drug offenses: 2,674.

Government officials claim Operation Streamline and other federal anti-immigrant measures are responsible for a 20 percent drop in arrests in 2007 and an expected drop of 15 percent this year, by discouraging workers from trying to enter the United States. But the Washington Post points out in a June 2 article that the crackdown comes amid a “softening U.S. economy, which tends to decrease illegal immigration.”

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) adopted anti-immigrant legislation of its own. The European Parliament approved new rules June 18 giving the green light to detaining workers without papers for up to 18 months prior to expulsion.

The “return regulations,” set to take affect by 2010, also include fingerprinting and screening all visitors to the 27-nation bloc.

The legislation passed with 367 votes in favor, 206 against, and 109 abstentions. It was steered through the parliament by German Christian Democrat Manfred Weber and backed by Spain’s social-democratic prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

There are as many as 8 million undocumented immigrants living in EU member countries, the majority from North Africa, the former Soviet Union, and the Balkans. But there are also large numbers from Latin America, especially in Spain, where there are more than 2 million. Most are from Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Venezuela.  
 
 
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