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Lincoln County commissioners joined a chorus of lawmakers in criticizing federal policies regarding illegal aliens after a Somali national was released from custody following a border crossing and high speed chase last month.

Authorities remain on the lookout for Naseem Ali Saleh Mohammed, 22, following the Jan. 23 incident. Along with three others, Mohammed fled law enforcement after illegally crossing into the U.S. from Canada near West Kootenai Road.

U.S. Border Patrol, working with local law enforcement, detained the men after bringing the chase to an end outside of Whitefish. Three of the men were identified and kept in custody ahead of court proceedings.

But Mohammed, who gave authorities a fake name, was released. Officials only later learned that he was connected to gang violence in Canada and a suspect in several homicides in two provinces, according to the Daily Inter Lake.

They give him a ticket for crossing the border illegally and turn him loose in Whitefish, said County Commissioner Mark Peck (D-1). Im not blaming the border patrol. Im blaming the policy in this country.

Officials submitted Mohammeds fingerprints to IDENT, AIS and NGI, but turned up no criminal or immigration history for him. All three are systems federal agencies and law enforcement use to identify individuals.

U.S. law enforcement discovered Mohammeds criminal history after speaking with their colleagues across the border, according to charging documents. Mohammed is a Somali national and legal permanent resident in Canada, court documents said.

I think the local guys did their job, Peck said. They caught them coming across the border. How in the world could a guy like that get released because they cant prove hes not a U.S. citizen? If the guy is not a U.S. citizen youre not going to be able to find anything on him.

County Commissioner Jerry Bennett (D-2) said he suspected that Mohammed would not have flown under the radar very long in the U.S. given his track record.

Give him three months and you can bet he would be in the system somewhere, Bennett said.

The trio of commissioners joined U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) in criticizing the policies that led to Mohammeds release. In a statement, Rosendale revealed that, along with providing a pseudonym, Mohammed claimed U.S. citizenship.

The policies and procedures that allowed a criminal alien to be set free in our community need to be examined, Rosendale said. Im following up with the Border Patrol for more information to ensure that Montanans are protected against foreign criminal elements.

Daines described the situation as unacceptable.

We must work together with law enforcement to protect innocent Montanans and ensure that our laws are working for Americans, not illegal aliens, he said in a statement.

Both Daines and Rosendales offices said the lawmakers received briefings on the incident and were monitoring the search for Mohammed.

Sheriffs offices in northwest Montana have posted wanted posters for Mohammed on social media. Standing at 5-foot-5, Mohammed is described as having a medium build, black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a camouflage jacket, black pants and high cut boots. Authorities urged anyone who comes across Mohammed to call 911. They discouraged residents from approaching him.

According to the Vancouver Sun, Mohammed is a rapper with ties to the Brothers Keepers gang.

The three other men involved in the cross border incursion face criminal charges in U.S. District Court. Rastesfaye Neil is charged with transporting and harboring illegal immigrants. Afrah Ahmed Abdi is charged with improper entry by an alien. Christopher White faces a charge of being an alien in the U.S. after deportation.

Neil is a native U.S. citizen while Abdi is a Somali national but permanent resident of the U.S. White is a Jamaican national who was deported from the U.S. last year.

Abdi was on the run from second-degree murder charges after allegedly shooting an Ahtahkakoop First Nation man in Saskatoon last year.

The rest is here:
Western News - The Western News

I gave testimony on Jan. 26 via Zoom on House Bill 200 at the House Judiciary hearing. HB 200 prevents Montana cities from becoming sanctuary jurisdictions. Such jurisdictions prevent cooperation between federal immigration officials and local law enforcement.

The AP news story today (Jan. 27) misrepresented supporters of this bill by saying proponents voiced negative views of immigrants thus failing to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. All discussion at this hearing was related to illegal immigration and there was no discussion of legal immigrants here with visas or green cards.

What AP is really saying and without proof, is that those against illegal immigration are anti-immigrant. This is a political judgment and certainly not objective news.

To see what else is happening in Gallatin County subscribe to the online paper.

Continued here:
Letter to the editor: Supporters of HB 200 aren't anti-immigrant - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Shkumbin Lala, aged 22, was arrested after a police raid at a property on Rock Street, Burngreave, Sheffield, revealed a cannabis growing operation in the property, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

James Gould, prosecuting, told the hearing on February 3: Despite knocking on the door no one answered so entry was forced. As officers ran up the stairs the defendant was seen to exit an attic window and leave on the roof.

Lala was directed back to the property and arrested, according to Mr Gould, and the defendant claimed he had been in Sheffield a matter of weeks and the plants were not his but he was responsible for watering them.

Mr Gould added the cellar, attic and two bedrooms had been converted to cultivate cannabis and police found 147 plants with an estimated potential street value of 80,000.

Lala, who had an Albanian interpreter, initially told police he had agreed to pay 17,000 to enter the UK illegally in October 2019, he still owed 15,000 and he had worked in London in the construction industry but that stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The defendant, who has no previous convictions, told police he was paid to look after the plants and he had been told he would receive 25 per cent of profits from their sale.

Lala, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to producing the class B controlled drugs after the raid on August 5 last year.

Ayman Khokhar, defending, told the court Lala finally accepted he had willingly entered the county illegally after he made an agreement with people in Belgium despite a Home Office investigation having been launched into whether he had been trafficked or a modern slavery victim.

Mr Khokhar said: His end of the bargain was to work as a gardener to cannabis plants in residential properties.

He added Lala will be subject to immigration proceedings and it is unlikely he will remain in the UK after his sentence.

Judge Sarah Wright sentenced Lala to 30 months of custody.

Read the original here:
Illegal immigrant is jailed after he was caught with 80,000 worth of cannabis plants at a Sheffield house - The Star

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Two freshman Republican state representatives want to stop undocumented immigrants from being able to pay in-state tuition at Texas public universities, they announced Friday. Immigrant advocacy groups immediately criticized the plan as insensitive and dehumanizing.

State Reps. Jeff Cason of Bedford and Bryan Slaton of Royse City said the bill they are co-authoring will allow colleges to determine a students residency status and decide if they then qualify for in-state tuition.

In 2001, Texas became the first state to allow undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition. There have been multiple attempts to repeal the law since then, but each has failed in the Republican-dominated Legislature. Most recently in 2019, state Rep. Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredericksburg, filed a similar measure, but it did not make it past the House Higher Education Committee, which was chaired by a Democrat.

The 2021 committee chairs have not been appointed yet. That could determine whether such a bill will advance to the full chamber this year.

Texans tax dollars should not be used to reward and encourage illegal immigration to our state and nation, Cason said in a statement.

Juan Manuel Guzman, state and local advocacy strategist for United We Dream, said if a bill like this were to pass in Texas, it would be devastating for immigrant youth who want to go to school and improve their chances in life, as well as their families.

Guzman said the rhetoric Republican lawmakers often use in reference to undocumented immigrants can be very divisive and dehumanizing. Even with in-state tuition, Guzman said, the pathway to higher education for undocumented students is extremely difficult because they do not have access to all the financial aid and scholarship opportunities that other students have.

Why would you end a policy that works? Why would you stop young people from going to school? Guzman said. [The policy has] been a blessing for a lot of undocumented students, just the possibility of having a first shot and going to school.

Cason and Slaton did not respond to requests for comment.

If the bill were to become law, it would make tuition prices unaffordable for many students. Out-of-state tuition rates are typically three times higher than in-state rates, on average.

In his statement, Cason called in-state tuition rates for undocumented students handouts from the Legislature that frustrate Texans whose property taxes are rising. Property taxes do help fund community college districts. But voters typically approve the creation of such districts.

In Texas, property taxes dont subsidize four-year public universities. And property taxes also do not go to the state government, so they are not a revenue stream that lawmakers can directly tap when writing the state budget.

Under current state law, undocumented students who have lived in Texas for at least three years, graduated from a Texas high school and pledged to apply for legal status as soon as possible are eligible to pay in-state tuition rates.

In a statement, Slaton said the GOP-controlled Legislature shouldnt allow taxpayer-funded magnets for undocumented residents to exist while ignoring issues like property tax relief. But that comment comes after Slatons party successfully championed a landmark property tax reform bill in 2019 that limited when local governments can increase tax collections without voter approval and demystified the property appraisal and tax processes.

Fatima Menendez, legislative staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said access to higher education is not a reward, but it does allow the state to reap the rewards of an educated workforce. Any attempts to take that access away will harm the states economy and well-being, Menendez said.

Increasing access to higher education improves the earning potential of each student and allows each student to contribute more to our states economy, Menendez said in an email. Avenues that allow for more students to access an affordable post-secondary education are crucial to Texas meeting its objective of having sixty percent of Texans ages 25-34 earn a certificate or degree by 2030.

As of February 2019, the income of college graduates who benefited from the current law totaled $19.7 billion, and without these graduates, Texas would lose hundreds of millions in wage earnings in just one year, according to research by New American Economy. If the bill becomes law, many undocumented students will not be able to graduate.

Original post:
Texas lawmakers want to block in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants - The Texas Tribune

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi denied House Democrats requests to include amnesty for illegal immigrants who served as essential workers during the pandemic in President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.

President Biden proposed comprehensive immigration reform, which includes protections for frontline immigrant workers, separate from his Covid relief plan, and we expect that to therefore have separate consideration, a House Democratic leadership aide told Politico.

Pelosis brisk response follows a letter from 100 Democratic representatives urging the speaker and other House leaders to consider slipping in a faster path to citizenship for the more than 5 million Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status recipients, and undocumented immigrants who have helped keep Americans healthy and safe during the pandemic and are critical for our economic recovery.

As we continue to confront a public health and economic catastrophe that will soon have claimed the lives of more than 450,000 Americans [and] exacerbated deep racial, gender, and economic inequities, it is vital that we include protections for immigrant workers to secure the health of our nation and lay the foundation for a robust and dynamic economic recovery, the letter from the Hispanic Caucus read.

Just a month before the Hispanic Caucuss letter, hundreds of progressive immigration organizations issued a similar plea to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, asking the congressional leaders to offer permanent protection and a path to citizenship to all undocumented essential workers and delivering this provision to the presidents desk for his signature.

Last year, House Democrats recognized the important contributions and sacrifices of undocumented essential workers by including in both versions of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act a provision offering temporary protection from deportation and work authorization to these individuals. The 117th Congress can and must do better, the letter stated.

Pelosis reluctance to include a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant essential workers, though, is not to be confused with a lack of eagerness to pass sweeping immigration reform. Since day one, the Biden administration, in conjunction with top congressional Democrats, has promised to reverse the Trump administrations actions and make it easier for undocumented migrants to take advantage of benefits reserved for U.S. citizens.

In addition to the new presidentssix executive orders concerning Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the addition of illegal immigrants in U.S. Census totals, immediate cessation of construction on the southern border wall, and the suggestion to replace the word alien with noncitizen in U.S. immigration laws, members in the blue chambers of Congress have begun to workshop legislation focused on carrying out Bidens goal to offer amnesty to approximately 11 million illegal immigrants.

Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.

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Dems Tried To Use COVID Relief Bill To Pass Amnesty For Illegal Aliens - The Federalist