Court revives lawsuit involving corrupt INS Officer

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently reinstated a portion of a lawsuit seeking to hold the federal government responsible for the conduct of an asylum officer who asked two Chinese women applying for asylum in the United States for sex and money in exchange for a favorable resolution of their cases. The officer was arrested, charged and convicted after one of the women, in cooperation with the Justice Department, wore a wire to her meeting with the officer, who sexually molested her and asked for $2000 bribe to approve her case. The officer later committed suicide in jail (the article from metnews merely says he died, but another article from the Daily Journal specifies it was a suicide). The facts of this story and the ensuing civil lawsuit are absolutely incredible. You can read the metnews article in its entirety here. The Ninth Circuit decision can be found here.

FBI uncovers largest human trafficking operation in US

CNN reports that 6 California-based job recruiters have been indicted in federal court for what basically amounts to importing slaves from Thailand by falsely promising them jobs under the H2 visa program. Not only were these unscrupulous individuals planning to detain these Thai workers and make them work for free but in some cases even demanded that they pay additional money to them or they would have them arrested. The FBI says this is the largest human trafficking ring they have uncovered to date in the United States. More on this story here.