About 1 in 4 in California lack health insurance, a UCLA study finds

The jump in 2009 to 8.2 million adults and children from 6.4 million in 2007 stems largely from job cuts and the loss of employer-sponsored coverage amid the recession.

By Duke Helfand

March 16, 2010

Nearly 1 in 4 Californians under age 65 had no health insurance last year, according to a new report, as soaring unemployment propelled vast numbers of once-covered workers into the ranks of the uninsured.

The state's uninsured population jumped to 8.2 million in 2009, up from 6.4 million in 2007, marking the highest number over the last decade, investigators from UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research said.

People who were uninsured for part or all of 2009 accounted for 24.3% of California's population under age 65 -- a dramatic increase from 2007 driven largely by Californians who lost employer-sponsored health insurance, particularly over the last year.

Among those over age 18, nearly 1 in 3 had no insurance for all or part of 2009, the UCLA researchers found. The ranks of uninsured children also grew. The study was based on phone interviews from 2007, updated with current insurance enrollment data.

Adults over age 65, who are covered by the federal Medicare insurance program, were not included.

As a result of the insurance gap, many already strapped Californians have put off needed medical care and usually wound up crowding emergency rooms, receiving costly care on the run. Hospitals and insurance companies often pass on those expenses to customers with insurance, increasing the cost of healthcare and driving up rates for those who have coverage.

The new UCLA estimates arrive as President Obama and congressional Democrats scramble this week to finalize an agreement on healthcare reform. Democrats who are pressing the overhaul say it would expand health insurance to tens of millions of uninsured people across the country.

Yet even as leaders in Washington seek to expand coverage, California officials are wrestling with budget proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to cut or eliminate publicly funded insurance programs that critics say cover more than 2.5 million low-income children and their parents -- some of whom lost coverage because of layoffs.

California has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country, alongside Texas and other states with high unemployment. Because California's population is so large, however, it has more uninsured people than any other state.

The number of uninsured has swelled in tandem with California's unemployment rate, which rose to 12.3% in December from 5.7% two years earlier, and as employers shifted more healthcare costs to employees.

Bruce Kuhlmann of Santa Rosa was laid off in December 2008 from his job as a technology sales executive in Northern California. He has depleted much of his retirement savings to pay for care since he was diagnosed with cancer last month.

The father of three, including two college-age children, has found it difficult to buy insurance on the individual market.

Kuhlmann, 58, worries about affording an operation that he believes will cost about $30,000.

"I've spent a fortune of my own money," Kuhlmann said in a phone interview as he prepared to undergo a medical procedure at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. "I have a house mortgage. It's hard to get a job because I don't feel so good. Everything is negative."

UCLA researchers said they were surprised by the big jump in the uninsured population from 2007 to 2009. The director of the health policy center, E. Richard Brown, said the state's 8.2 million people without coverage was the highest number he had seen in nearly three decades of studying the issue.

"California's situation is pretty dire with respect to healthcare coverage," Brown said.

The numbers of uninsured are likely to climb as the state's jobless rate is expected to remain in the double digits well into next year.

"The shocking increase in people losing insurance spotlights the problem that . . . coverage may not be there for us when we need it," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a Sacramento consumer group. "This adds more urgency to the debate over the pending health reform proposals, which directly address the insecurity Californians are facing."

Researchers said federal subsidies for laid-off workers helped some people who lost jobs and coverage. Yet even so the loss of insurance affected young and old alike.

The percentage of uninsured children grew to 13.4% in 2009 from 10.2% in 2007. The increase would have been greater if not for insurance programs paid for by the state and federal governments. The number of uninsured children rose from 1.1 million to 1.5 million over the two years.

The study's lead author said that adults who lack the safety net face the most daunting prospects.

"Being uninsured has real human consequences. . . . It is costly for all of us," said Shana Alex Lavarreda, director of health insurance studies at the UCLA research center. "It makes reforms of the system absolutely essential."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-uninsured16-2010mar16,0,5324742,print.story

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South L.A. foster mother, boyfriend are under investigation in child's death

Kiana Barker and James Julian were arrested in the death of 2-year-old Viola Vanclief, who was struck with a hammer.

By Garrett Therolf and Anna Gorman

11:17 PM PDT, March 15, 2010

A foster mother and her boyfriend are under investigation in the death of a 2-year-old child in their care who was beaten with a hammer, according to authorities and coroner's records.

Viola Vanclief's death March 4 is the latest in a series of troubles linked to United Care Inc , a nonprofit foster care agency that contracts with Los Angeles County to provide shelter for abused and neglected children.

Records show that United Care, which oversees 88 homes with 216 foster children, has been repeatedly cited in recent years after caregivers choked, hit and whipped their charges with a belt. In 2007, a foster child drowned while swimming unsupervised in a pool.

South Los Angeles residents Kiana Barker, 30, and her boyfriend, James Julian, 38 were arrested last week on suspicion of murder in connection with Viola's death, according to Los Angeles police records. They were released two days later, with no charges filed. Police are continuing to investigate the couple.

Barker was decertified as a foster parent last week, and state regulators posted a notice near one of the no trespassing signs outside her house saying that a child-care center license there had been suspended.

Barker told investigators that Viola was trapped in a bed frame when she accidentally struck the child with a hammer while trying to free her, according to coroner's records . Viola had multiple bruises on her body, the records say. The death was deemed a homicide.

It is unclear how the child came to be in the couple's care. Julian had been convicted in 1998 for felony robbery using a firearm -- a fact that should have barred him from living in a home with foster children, according to state records.

Trish Ploehn, director of the Department of Children and Family Services, declined to comment on details of the case, but said: "This child's death is extremely saddening for everyone."

In a prepared statement, Craig J. Woods, the executive director of United Care, also said he could not comment because the facts aren't fully known. "The entire United Care Foster Family Agency family . . . are all mourning the tragic and unfortunate loss of Baby Viola; and our thoughts, prayers and support remain focused on the families involved."

While the death is being investigated by Ploehn's department and the Los Angeles Police Department, all county social workers involved in the case have been placed on desk duty, and United Care is not receiving new placements.

The death comes as Ploehn's department is facing scrutiny in the deaths of children under its watch. All but two of the more than 30 cases to come to light in the last two years have involved children killed while in the custody of their own parents.

On Monday, Barker's grandmother, who lives next door, said that the day Viola died, she had been at a doctor's appointment. She returned to find Barker screaming.

"Grandma, she's not breathing," Claudia Barker recalled Kiana saying of Viola. "She was hysterical that the baby was not breathing."

Kiana Barker didn't say anything about a hammer, Claudia Barker said, but said the baby was diabetic and had low blood sugar. She said Julian tried to revive the infant while Kiana called 911.

Claudia Barker said her granddaughter has two biological children, a 6-month-old daughter and a 9-year-old daughter. Kiana also had two foster children, including Viola.

She said Kiana Barker and her boyfriend have been together about three years. Early in the relationship, she ran a child-care facility out of the house but stopped doing it because business was slow. She was licensed as a foster parent a year ago, records show.

"She has many children come through there until the mammas take their children back," Claudia Barker said.

Family friend Phillip Brown was standing nearby. He said he has known Kiana Barker for eight years. "She was more of a spiritual lady, not a violent lady," he said. "I don't know what happened."

According to records on file with the state's division of Community Care Licensing, Barker was a foster parent for United Care, an agency whose caregivers sometimes left children in dirty clothes or placed them in rooms without a single working light bulb. In the 2007 drowning, the foster mother was distracted during a family reunion, the records showed.

In addition, county auditors issued a 2007 report that uncovered financial irregularities at the agency. According to the report, United Care was paid $3,954,796 for the care of 232 children, but $274,608 in expenditures were determined "questionable" and was ordered to be repaid to taxpayers.

Ploehn said her department hadn't been able to begin collecting the money until late last year. But Woods, the executive director of United Care, said the delay was not his fault.

United Care was "a good faith partner" trying to resolve the discrepancies, he said, but was delayed by the county's inability to offer timely appeals.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-child-death16-2010mar16,0,4225561,print.story

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EDITORIAL

This app misses the point

A cellphone application that guides illegal border crossers to water sends the wrong message.

5:39 PM PDT, March 15, 2010

Almost 6,000 migrants have died in the Arizona desert since the mid-1990s, when border enforcement in California was tightened and migration routes shifted east into barren, deadly territory. Today, migrants are 17 times more likely to die while crossing the border than they were in 1998. Despite the difficulty of making a successful crossing, people take the "Devil's Path" because the mathematics of opportunity have not changed significantly: An immigrant with a job in the United States can earn in one hour what would be a full day's wages in Mexico.

Various groups have tried to address this dangerous new reality. Borstar, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency's excellent search-and-rescue program, saves hundreds of people -- including 351 since October -- as does Mexico's Grupo Beta, which patrols the Mexican side of the border. And civilian groups such as Border Angels and Humane Borders leave water along the most common routes. These efforts, which skirt the politics of illegal immigration, deserve praise and additional resources.

But aiding desperate migrants who already are in the desert is one proposition, and offering assistance before they begin their trek is another. That's why the creation of a new cellphone application that uses the global positioning system to guide migrants to caches of water that have been left for them is troubling. The Transborder Migration Tool, developed by three professors at UC San Diego and a colleague at the University of Michigan, will be installed on phones distributed by Mexican nongovernmental organizations and churches to those about to set out.

Our concern is that the new technology will give migrants a false sense of security about the horrors ahead of them. What will happen, for instance, if the cache is found, but there is no water left because another group got there first?

The best app would be one that warns migrants not to cross. It would tell them that when the temperature soars to 115 degrees, dehydration sets in within minutes. It would say that first the body stops producing urine, sweat, saliva and tears in an attempt to conserve water. Muscle spasms and nausea follow before the victim slides into a coma. It would say the body needs 1 liter of water an hour to survive. Already the migrants who dare the crossing often find that they have been deluded. A better way to save them would be to spend time, energy and resources on telling them the truth.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-water16-2010mar16,0,363574,print.story

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From Fox News

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Mexican Drug Gang to Blame for Killings of U.S. Consulate Workers

Monday , March 15, 2010

A suspected Mexican drug gang gunned down two cars carrying families with ties to the U.S. consulate on Saturday, killing an American couple and a Mexican man in the country's deadliest city.

Three young children survived the shoot-out in Ciudad Juarez, including the couple's baby, who was found crying in the backseat of their vehicle.

The pair were identified as consular employee Lesley A. Enriquez, 35, and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs, 34. Redelfs was a detention officer at the El Paso County Jail. The third person killed was identified as the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate.

The killings, which occurred in broad daylight, came amid a surge in bloodshed along Mexico's border with Texas and drew condemnation from the White House. Mexico's president expressed outrage and promised a fast investigation to find those responsible.

The State Department authorized U.S. government employees at Ciudad Juarez and five other U.S. consulates in northern Mexico to send family members out of the area because of concerns about rising drug violence. The cities are Tijuana, Nogales, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros.

"It is imperative that U.S. citizens understand the risks in Mexico, how best to avoid dangerous situations, and who to contact if victimized," the department said in a statement issued Sunday.

Authorities put suspicion on members of a gang of hit men allied with the Juarez drug cartel. That theory is based on "information exchanged with U.S. federal agencies" helping in the investigation, according to a statement Sunday from the joint mission of soldiers and federal police overseeing security in Ciudad Juarez.

While putting the blame on the drug gang, police offered no information on a possible motive in the slayings. U.S. State Department spokesman Fred Lash said only that the three dead people were at the same party before the attacks that occurred minutes apart Saturday afternoon.

Several U.S. citizens have been killed in Mexico's drug war, most of them people with family ties to Mexico. It is very rare for American government employees to be targeted, although attackers hurled grenades at the U.S. consulate in the northern city of Monterrey in 2008.

Lash said the decision was based not only on Saturday's killings but also on a wider pattern of violence and threats in northern Mexico in recent weeks. The State Department noted the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City has advised American citizens to delay unnecessary travel to parts of the Mexican states of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua.

The consulate employee and her husband, both U.S. citizens, were shot to death in their car near the Santa Fe International bridge linking Ciudad Juarez with El Paso, Texas, said Vladimir Tuexi, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutors office.

The woman was shot in the head, while her husband suffered wounds in his neck and arm. Their baby was found unharmed in the back seat. Tuexi estimated the child was around 1 year old.

He said the baby was in the custody of Mexican social services.

The U.S. government did not give any details on Enriquez's job at the consulate, and Cason said he didn't know what she did there. A neighbor of Enriquez, Zonia Rivas, also didn't know.

"I do know she just went back to work about three months ago after having her baby," she said.

Ten minutes before that killing, police in another part of the city found the body of the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate.

Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, 37, a Mexican citizen, was shot to death in his car, while his two children, ages 4 and 7, were wounded, according to the state prosecutors office. The children were hospitalized.

Civilians have increasingly gotten caught in the middle of drug gang violence that has made Ciudad Juarez one of the deadliest cities in the world, with more than 2,500 people killed last year alone.

The three died during a particularly bloody weekend in Mexico, with nearly 50 people killed in apparent gang violence. Nine people were killed in a gang shootout early Sunday in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, one of Mexico's spring break attractions.

Ciudad Juarez has long been wracked by drug-related violence, but other stretches of the frontier with Texas that had been relatively quiet have seen a surge of killings recently. U.S. officials briefly closed the consulate in Reynosa because of violence, which Mexican authorities have blamed on the breaking of an alliance between two drug gangs.

The office of Mexican President Felipe Calderon's office said he "expresses his indignation" and "his sincerest condolences to the families of the victims" of Saturday's attack.

Calderon "reiterated the Mexican government's unwavering compromise to resolve these grave crimes," his office said.

President Obama was "deeply saddened and outraged" by the killings, the White House said.

"He extends his condolences to the families and condemns these attacks on consular and diplomatic personnel serving at our foreign missions," the statement said. "In concert with Mexican authorities, we will work tirelessly to bring their killers to justice."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said "these appalling assaults on members of our own State Department family are, sadly, part of a growing tragedy besetting many communities in Mexico."

"They underscore the imperative of our continued commitment to work closely with the Government of President Calderon to cripple the influence of trafficking organizations at work in Mexico," she added. "This is a responsibility we must shoulder together."

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,589304,00.html

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Flood Safety Awareness Week March 15-19, 2010

SEATTLE, Wash. -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is pleased to support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-sponsored 2010 National Flood Safety Awareness Week, observed March 15-19 (http://www.floodsafety.noaa.gov/). Flooding is a coast to coast threat in the United States and its territories in all months of the year, irrespective of local “flood seasons.” According to FEMA Acting Regional Administrator Dennis Hunsinger, flooding is the nation's number one natural disaster.

“We learn time and time again that you just don't need to live in a mapped floodplain to need flood insurance, and it just doesn't pay to quibble over what side of a line on a flood map one lives on,” said Hunsinger. “The fact is— twenty to 25 percent of all flood insurance claims are filed in low-to-moderate flood-risk areas where flood insurance premiums can be a real bargain.”

Property owners and renters need to know that they can take steps to protect their property and financial security before disaster strikes. However, many eligible residents are unaware that they qualify or that affordable flood insurance is available. Residents can begin to take steps now to protect their home and assets from rising floodwaters at any time.

• Make sure gutters and drains are cleared. Clean and maintain storm drains and gutters and remove debris from your property to allow free flow of potential floodwater.
  
  
• Move valuables and sentimental items to the highest floor of your home or business.
  
  
• Install backflow valves in waste lines to keep water flowing in one direction.
  
  
• Protect your well from contamination.
  
  
• Anchor or elevate fuel tanks and elevate the main breaker or fuse box and the utility meters above the anticipated flood level in your home or business, so that floodwater won't damage utilities.
  
  
• Make sure you have the right insurance: Review your insurance policies and find out what they do and do not cover. Learn the difference between replacement cost coverage versus standard coverage, which only pays the actual cash value of insured property. Be sure that you have enough insurance to cover recent home renovations or improvements.
  
  
• Know that most homeowners insurance policies do not cover flood damage, so be sure to consider flood insurance for both your structure and its contents. There is typically a 30 day waiting period for a flood insurance policy to take effect. Learn more by visiting FloodSmart.gov and www.Fema.gov .
  
  
• Learn your flood risk. Properties that are not located within high-risk areas can also flood. Find out your flood risk right now by entering your address at FloodSmart.gov “Assess Your Risk.” Insurance agents can also help check your risk.
  
  
• Purchase a flood insurance policy. If you already have a flood policy, remember: your policy needs to be renewed each year.
  
  
• Plan and practice a flood evacuation route, ask someone out of state to be your “family contact” in an emergency, and make sure everyone knows the contact's address and phone number.
  
  
• Build an emergency supply kit: Food, bottled water, first aid supplies, medicines, and a battery-operated radio should be ready to go when you are. Visit www.ready.gov for a complete disaster supply checklist.
  
  
• Inventory your household possessions: For insurance purposes, be sure to keep a written and visual (i.e., videotaped or photographed) record of all major household items and valuables, even those stored in basements, attics or garages. Create files that include serial numbers and store receipts for major appliances and electronics. Have jewelry and artwork appraised. These documents are critically important when filing insurance claims.
  
  
• Store copies of irreplaceable financial and family documents in a safe place, preferably one that is protected from both fire and water. Documents include automobile titles, tax records, stock and bond certificates, deeds, wills, trust agreements, birth and marriage certificates, photos, passports and insurance policies. Keep originals in a rented safe deposit box. And don't forget the household inventory file!
  

Flood insurance is available through nearly 100 insurance companies in more than 21,000 participating communities nationwide. Everyone can purchase flood insurance – renters, business owners, and homeowners. Nation-wide, the average flood insurance policy costs around $563 a year. And in low- to moderate-risk areas, lower-cost Preferred Risk Policies (PRPs) start at just $119 a year. Individuals can learn more about their flood risk and how to protect their property by visiting www.FloodSmart.gov or by calling 1-800-427-2419.

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=50606

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From ICE

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Former ICE "Most Wanted" predator sentenced to 40 years in prison

LAKE CHARLES, La. - A Louisiana predator, who had been on the run, was sentenced in Lake Charles Louisiana March 11 to 40 years in prison, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Leesville Police Department (LPD).

Christopher Comeaux, 34, was indicted in August 2005 and fled from Louisiana to avoid prosecution. Comeaux, who had been added to the ICE "Most Wanted" fugitive list, was subsequently arrested in August 2009 near Houma, La.

He was found guilty on Dec. 8, 2009, of production and possession of child pornography. U. S. District Court Judge Patricia Minaldi sentenced Comeaux to 30 years for the production count and 10 years for the possession count to run consecutively. He was also ordered to a term of supervised release for life.

Comeaux was under investigation by the LPD for aggravated rape and aggravated incest involving a 10-year-old victim. A search warrant executed at Comeaux's residence resulted in the discovery of thousands of images of child pornography on his computer. Also discovered on Comeaux's computer were numerous images of Comeaux and a 10-year-old victim displaying sexually explicit conduct.

"This monster had caused irreparable harm to an innocent 10-year-old child," said Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., acting special agent in charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in New Orleans. "While we cannot undo the damage that he has done, the victim will at least live knowing that he will be locked up for a very long time. Predators who think that they will fly under the radar are mistaken. We're looking for you and will put you behind bars where you belong."

The investigation of this case was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to identify, investigate and arrest those who prey on children, including human traffickers, international sex tourists, Internet pornographers, and foreign-national predators whose crimes make them deportable. Launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested almost 12,000 individuals through Operation Predator.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1003/100311lakecharles.htm

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Office of Detention and Removal (DRO)

The Office of Detention and Removal (DRO) is a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

DRO is the primary enforcement arm within ICE for the identification, apprehension and removal of illegal aliens from the United States. The resources and expertise of DRO are utilized to identify and apprehend illegal aliens, fugitive aliens, and criminal aliens, to manage them while in custody and to enforce orders of removal from the United States. DRO is committed to enforcing our nation's immigration laws in a fair, effective, and professional manner.

Mission

DRO promotes public safety and national security by ensuring the departure from the United States of all removable aliens through the fair and effective enforcement of the nation's immigration laws.

Ten-Year Vision

Within 10 years, DRO will have the capacity to meet all presidential and congressional mandates.

Making this happen will require:

• Visionary leadership at all levels of the organization;
  
  
• An effectively trained and educated professional workforce;
  
  
• The right levels of critical resources, e.g., personnel, facilities, infrastructure; and
  
  
• Effective, responsive, and accurate command-control-communications-computer-intelligence (C4I) systems that advance the DRO mission.

Program and Activity Information

Removals

The primary responsibility of DRO is to identify, apprehend and remove illegal aliens from the United States. This requires DRO to facilitate the processing of illegal aliens through immigration courts, and to enforce their removal from the United States.

Key elements in exercising those responsibilities include: identifying and removing all high-risk illegal alien fugitives and absconders; ensuring that those aliens who have already been identified as criminals are expeditiously removed; and to develop and maintain a robust removals program with the capacity to remove all final order cases - thus precluding growth in the illegal alien absconder population.

Simply stated, DRO's ultimate goal is to develop the capacity to identify and remove all removable aliens.

Generally, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) grants aliens the right to a removal proceeding before an immigration judge to decide both inadmissibility and deportability. Aliens can be removed for reasons of health, criminal status, economic well-being, national security risks and other reasons of public concern that are specifically defined in the Act.

Immigration judges, employed by the Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) weigh evidence presented by both the alien and ICE, assesses the facts and renders a decision that can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

If the immigration judge issues a decision ordering the alien removed from the United States, DRO is responsible to enforce the removal order. The process includes coordination and liaison with foreign government officials and embassies to obtain travel documents and country clearances, coordinating complex logistical and transportation issues to repatriate the alien and, if required DRO officers escort the alien to his or her foreign country.

Fugitive Operations

The removal of criminal aliens from the United States is a national priority. To address this priority, DRO designed the National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP). Its mission is to identify, apprehend, and remove from the United States aliens who have failed to surrender for removal or to comply with a removal order. NFOP teams work exclusively on fugitive cases, giving priority to the public safety concerns of criminal aliens cases.

The "Absconder Apprehension Initiative" uses the data available from National Crime Information Center databases as a virtual force multiplier. As part of the Alien Absconder Initiative, DRO developed and coordinated the "ICE Most Wanted" program. This program publicizes the names, faces and other identifying features of the 10 most wanted fugitive criminals by ICE. If you have comments or questions about the Most Wanted list, the Absconder Apprehension Initiative or the National Fugitive Operations Program, please contact us at:

Report Suspicious Activity -1-866-DHS-2-ICE

MOST WANTED Criminal Aliens

Intelligence Operations Unit

The Intelligence Operations Unit (IOU) manages the collection and dissemination of law enforcement information and intelligence within the DRO Program. The IOU ensures that all intelligence, developed or received, is evaluated and disseminated to the appropriate ICE operational entity as it pertains to homeland security, criminal activities, infrastructure protection, and the illegal movement of people, money, narcotics, and cargo entering, transiting, or operating within our national borders.

One of the most important ICE mandates is the enhancement of public safety and the security of the American public. The broad authority of ICE allows for the identification and removal of dangerous, often recidivist, criminals engaged in crimes such as murder, predatory sexual offenses, narcotics trafficking, alien smuggling, and a host of other crimes that have a profoundly negative impact on our society.

A largely untapped source of information resides in the ICE detainee population. The IOU seeks to dedicate personnel to gather information in detention facilities, organize information, provide information locally, as needed, to avert possible detention riots or other illegal activities within the ICE detainee population and provide the information to the ICE Office of Intelligence for further analysis and assimilation into the "big picture."

The information obtained from aliens can also provide more raw information to:

• provide real time information on particular terrorist threats or organized criminal activities,
  
  
• enhance the development of a foreign informant network strategy utilizing alien removals, and
  
  
• provide a source of information that can provide the ICE Office of Intelligence with criminal trends and patterns that will allow for the effective use of ICE investigative resources.
  

In addition to exploiting available intelligence information, the IOU is working in conjunction with other DHS entities to coordinate border security intelligence in achieving the recommendations of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI).

The IOU also provides guidance, direction and accountability for DRO intelligence initiatives and exercises oversight over intelligence efforts by all DRO field offices.

Detention

The aliens (non-citizens) who are apprehended and not released from custody are placed in detention facilities. Those that cannot be legally released from secure custody constitute DRO's "nondetained" docket. Every case, whether "detained" or "nondetained," remains part of DRO's caseload, actively managed until and unless it is formally closed. DRO processes and monitors detained and nondetained cases as they move through immigration court proceedings to conclusion. At that point, DRO executes the judge's order.

Primary healthcare for alien detainees is managed by the Division of Immigration Health Services (DIHS). The DIHS is located within the Bureau of Primary Health Care of the Public Health Service of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

DRO has defined policy and procedures regarding the proper handling of unaccompanied alien juveniles taken into federal custody as a result of their unlawful immigration status. DHS' juvenile guidelines address the responsibilities related to unaccompanied alien juveniles who enter the United States illegally, violate their legal status or commit a deportable crime. As part of the restructuring of INS, the responsibilities related to the care and custody of unaccompanied alien juveniles has been transferred to HHS, Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Division of Unaccompanied Children Services.

Immigration Detention Facilities

2008 Performance Based Standards

2000 Detention Standards

DRO secures bed space in detention facilities, and monitors these facilities for compliance with national Detention Standards. The standards specify the living conditions appropriate for detainees. These standards have been collated and published in the Detention Operations Manual . This Manual provides uniform policies and procedures concerning the treatment of individuals detained by ICE.

ICE operates eight secure detention facilities called Service Processing Centers (SPCs). They are located in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; Batavia, New York; El Centro, California; El Paso, Texas; Florence, Arizona; Miami, Florida; Los Fresnos, Texas; and San Pedro, California. The newest SPC, the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility, is unique because in addition to its 300 beds for detained aliens, it has 150 beds for use by the U.S. Marshals Service.

ICE augments its SPC's with seven contract detention facilities. These facilities are located in Aurora, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Laredo, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Elizabeth, New Jersey; Queens, New York; and San Diego, California. ICE also uses state and local jails on a reimbursable detention day basis and has joint federal facilities with the Bureau of Prisons, the Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, Louisiana, and the contractor owned and operated (with the Bureau of Prisons) criminal alien facility in Eloy, Arizona. In addition, major expansion initiatives are underway at several SPCs' to enhance DROs detention capabilities.

Immigration Bonds

Detainees in ICE custody who do not pose a threat to public safety and national security may be eligible to obtain release on bond while they await their removal proceedings. The immigration bond process is overseen by DRO's Bond Management Unit (BMU). To download a copy of Immigration Bond Form I-352, please visit the "Forms" page .

The BMU reports regularly on average posted bond amounts for all DRO field offices. Review the most recent average bond amount report .

http://www.ice.gov/pi/dro/index.htm

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