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Janet Napolitano: Legalization a hard sell
By JOSH GERSTEIN | 5/19/09 6:52 PM EDT
Janet Napolitano acknowledges that the economic downturn has made legalization of illegal immigrants tougher to sell to the American public.
As immigrantsâ rights groups are pressing President Barack Obama to step up efforts at comprehensive reform this year, one prominent member of Obamaâs cabinet is acknowledging that the economic downturn has made legalization of illegal immigrants tougher to sell to the American public.
âWhen unemployment is up, anything that looks like youâre taking jobs away from â¦people who are lawfully hereâcitizens of the United Statesâis going to meet a lot of resistance,â Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said during an exchange with reporters Tuesday morning.
The homeland security chief and former Arizona governor said the economic slump may also have eased some anti-immigration feeling by decreasing the flow of illegal migrants into the U.S. âGiven that the numbers have gone down, some of the intensity of the debate seems to have dissipated,â she said.
However, Napolitano said the economic factors combined to put an additional hurdle in the path of immigration reform advocates. âIn balancing those things, I think it makes it more difficult,â she said.
Napolitanoâs concession was noteworthy chiefly because White House officials have declined in recent weeks to acknowledge that economic distress could undermine support for immigration reform.
In fact, the White House and immigration reform advocates been making a concerted effort to argue that changes to the immigration laws will actually aid the economy by boosting tax revenues.
âThere is little doubt that unauthorizedâthat is, illegal immigrationâ has made a significant contribution to the growth of our economy,â former Federal Reserve Chief Alan Greenspan argued at a Senate hearing last month.
On Tuesday, proponents of immigration reform held a conference call with reporters to highlight research disputing assertions that immigration undercuts the wages of American workers.
âThe culprit when it comes to unemployment is not immigration,â said Rob Paral of Immigration Policy Center, a research group which favors legalizing illegal immigrants.
In his Congressional testimony, Greenspan said the evidence suggests that illegal immigration slightly reduces the income of poorly educated Americans, but that the economic cost of such immigration is far outweighed by the economic benefits.
Napolitano, whose agency is responsible for securing the border with Mexico, said the economy-driven drop in illegal immigration is not a signal that the U.S. should scale back efforts to prevent unlawful border-crossing.
âBecause of the decline in the labor market, the number of those trying to cross illegally to work has gone down,â she said. âThis is exactly the time when you should be carrying forwardâ¦because you donât want to return to the situation we had in the middle of the last decade or the end of the last decade where, I think itâs fair to say, at least at the Arizona section of the border, they had lost operational control. You keep on ahead.â
In March, Obama told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus he would hold a high-profile White House event to draw attention to immigration reform within a couple of months. Some lawmakers said it would be modeled on summit meetings held to address health care and long-term fiscal responsibility.
Last month, the New York Times reported that unnamed administration officials said the high-profile immigration event would take place in May. An official who spoke with POLITICO about a week before the Times story appeared said the profile-raising event on immigration would take place âin the May neighborhood.â
However, Congressional aides and advocates said Tuesday they doubt any such event will take place this month. Obama may announce his Supreme Court pick next week and is scheduled to leave for Europe soon thereafter.
âDiscussions are ongoing,â one Congressional aide said.
Asked about plans for the high-profile forum, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said, "âThe President has consistently said that he wants to start the discussion later this year, because our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed.â
Napolitano, whose agency oversees immigration, made no mention of such an event on her schedule for next week, which includes a two-day trip to Canada to discuss issues related to the northern border.
âFrom a political perspective, the president has made clear that he wants to begin having discussions about immigration reform this year. When and what form that will take I do not know,â said Napolitano, who spoke with journalists Tuesday at a breakfast organized by the Christian Science Monitor.
In comments that were well received by immigrantsâ rights advocates, Napolitano indicated that she has given new marching orders to refocus workplace enforcement efforts on employers who knowingly profit from illegal alien labor.
âBefore you go in and arrest a bunch of workers, make sure youâve done what you need to do to prepare a case against the employer if thereâs a basis to believe that the employer has been intentionally and knowingly hiring illegally,â she said. âThe bulk of illegal immigration is because of labor demands. Youâve got to get at the pull factor here if youâre really going to have an impact.â
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This issue is heating up. Tomorrow there will be a small meeting at the White House between various parties about immigration and amnesty. Call the White House today and make your feelings known. Here is a NumbersUSA action note. Go to the site as well so that you can send your free faxes on this issue.
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From: Roy Beck, President, NumbersUSA
Date: Wednesday 24JUN09 11 a.m. EDT
White House needs ANTI-amnesty calls to counter 25,000 pro-amnesty calls
DEAR OPPONENTS OF AMNESTY,
Pres. Obama meets tomorrow with a bi-partisan group from Congress to "jump-start" plans to pass a giant amnesty for 12-20 million illegal aliens.
Your very short phone call to the White House is needed today.
The pro-amnesty forces are bragging this week that they have generated more than 25,000 pro-amnesty phone calls to the White House this month.
You can be sure that Pres. Obama will use these calls in his special White House amnesty meeting tomorrow to back his claim that the American people now support giving permanent work permits and U.S. citizenship to 12-20 million illegal aliens.
Please call and overwhelm the switchboards with a different message:
Main line 202-456-1414
Leg Affairs: 202-456-2230
You will encounter busy signals. You will also have to follow instructions to get to a recording device or a real person. But please be persistent and be counted.
Make one of these talking points:
* I'm calling about the amnesty meeting at the White House tomorrow. I oppose giving work permits and citizenship to illegal foreign workers.
* When the President meets with Members of Congress about immigration reform tomorrow, I hope they talk about suspending most immigration and foreign worker programs during the current jobs depression.
If you want to make a second point, choose from one of these:
* 14 million Americans are looking for a job and can't find one. Don't stab them in the back by giving work permits to 8 million illegal aliens.
* The two top principles of immigration reform should be: (1) take away the job magnet for illegal immigration by making E-Verify mandatory for all employers, and (2) greatly reduce the number of green cards given out each year.
* What the country needs more than anything is LESS IMMIGRATION.
Foundations have given the pro-amnesty forces millions of dollars to set up fancy phoning systems to generate all these calls to the White House.
We have to rely on just plain emails and the willingness of people like you to stop what you are doing and make a phone call right now. Please do.
Fortunately, the people's majority voice has been registered at the White House ever since Pres. Obama took over. NumbersUSA has processed:
# 58,798 faxes to White House in June
# 528,345 faxes to White House since January
THANKS FOR PHONING NOW,
Roy
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Awhile back the News Sun had an article about the remittances sent home from immigrants. Measures in the billions. Although small -there is a growing trend of immigrants asking those left at home to send money to the U.S. What a sign of the times... hock:
Immigrants in U.S. Now Begging for Money from Home
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:29 PM
FAIRVIEW, N.J. - For five years, immigrant day laborer Leo Chamale wired money twice a month from New Jersey to his family in Guatemala. Recently, he stepped up to the money transfer window for a different purposeâto ask that his family send some of his savings back to him.
"I hadn't worked for five months, and I was two months behind on rent, so I had them send $1,500," the 21-year-old Chamale said in Spanish. "My mother said, `That's a lot of money!'"
With the U.S. economy in a ditch, money transfer agencies have been reporting a decline in the wages immigrants are sending back to their home countries. Now, it appears some immigrants are going a step furtherâasking their relatives to wire them money back.
"We've never seen this before," said Marlen Miranda, manager of Peerless Travel in Fairview, which runs a money transfer service. "I mean, one or two people might receive money for a special reason, but not this quantity of people."
Miranda said she has seen her customer base dwindle from 200 people to 75 who regularly use her money transfer services each month. Of those 75, Miranda said, about 20 now come in to receive money instead of sending it home.
"They can't send them much, because the economy in their countries is so bad," Miranda said. "Sometimes people only receive $20 from home."
It is not clear how much money is being sent back to the U.S. or how widespread the phenomenon is. Large money transfer agencies, such as Western Union, said they do not disclose how much money is sent or received by their field offices. Banks in foreign countries often track only money sent into the country by their citizens living abroad.
But clearly, these "reverse remittances"âas the money wired back to the U.S. is calledâare extremely small when compared to the money immigrants send home.
Immigrants working in the U.S. sent more than $50 billion back to their native countries last year, according to the World Bank, which predicts the amount will drop 5 percent in 2009. Mexico's central bank said remittances sent to that country are down more than 18 percent in the past year, and registered their biggest decline on record in April.
Alejandro Tejada, manager of Tenares Communications, a Western Union office in Passaic, said he, too, has noticed money flowing in reverse, into the U.S.âa phenomenon he rarely, if ever, saw before.
It began around late March, Tejada said, after a tough winter in which construction projects and other ventures that usually employ immigrant day laborers ground to a halt.
World Bank economist Dilip Ratha said he devised his own measure of how much money is sent back to immigrants living in the U.S. and other countries. Analyzing foreign currency deposits in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and India from February 2008 to January 2009, Ratha found that immigrants from those countries tapped into their savings accountsâmoney they had previously wired homeâat an accelerated rate as the global economy worsened.
The amount of foreign currency on deposit declined 7 percent in the Dominican Republic, 12 percent in India, and 6 percent in Mexico during the 12-month period, Ratha said.
Nevertheless, "people are sending far, far, far more back home than what they are taking out," he said.
Ratha said the surge in money wired back to the U.S. will not last long.
"The ability of, let's say, a Mexican family or a Nepalese family to be able to send dollar remittances to maintain somebody to pay for living expenses in the U.S. or in Europe is very weak, because they are very poor," Ratha said. "And the savings that are there of the migrants are also not very significant in most casesâso those savings will run out very quickly."
Standing on a street corner a recent morning in Palisades Park, looking for work, Chamale said he is now hoping to earn just enough for a plane ticket home.
"I was forced to ask for money from home during the winter months," he said. "After that, I said to myself, `That's itâI'm heading back to my country.'"
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Apparently this is a new move. If you own or know a business owner ask if they are using E-Verify. I'm sure we all know Americans and legal immigrants who need jobs. The program is easy to join.
Know any companies that need to be investigated?
Feds begin immigration crackdown at 625 companies
By Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON â The Obama administration launched investigations of hundreds of businesses around the country Wednesday as part of its strategy to focus immigration enforcement on the employers who hire illegal workers.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has begun notifying businesses of plans to audit their I-9 forms â employment eligibility documents that employers fill out for every worker â the agency told members of Congress in an e-mail Wednesday.
Immigration officers served "Notices of Inspection" to 625 businesses, the Homeland Security Department said. By comparison, 503 such notices were issued to businesses last year, the agency said.
Employers are required to keep the I-9 forms and must check the authenticity of documents provided by the employee. The Homeland Security Department said it would not release the names or locations of businesses being audited.
"ICE is committed to establishing a meaningful I-9 inspection program to promote compliance with the law," John Morton, Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, said. "This nationwide effort is a first step in ICE's longterm strategy to address and deter illegal employment."
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | Janet Napolitano | United States Department of Homeland Security | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement | Tamar Jacoby
President Obama has said his administration's strategy for stemming illegal immigration would focus on employers who hire illegal workers.
The Bush administration was criticized for deploying armed agents to raid businesses and arrest workers suspected of working illegally. Critics said the Bush administration did not do enough to go after the employers.
The Obama administration has been trying to build its credibility on immigration enforcement to boost the chances of Congress passing an immigration reform bill. The administration has doubted whether it has enough votes right now to pass immigration reform. But some members of Congress emerged from a meeting with Obama last week saying immigration reform could be done by the end of the year or early next year.
The I-9 audits are certain to cause concern among employers who have complained that identifying illegal workers is fraught with problems, from recognizing fake identity documents to the risk of violating anti-discrimination laws.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said investigations will focus on businesses that knowingly hire immigrants who cannot legally work in the U.S.
"Employers want the rule of law. They want a level playing field, but it has to be combined with being able to get the workers they need in a legal, reliable way. That's what we are looking for in immigration reform," said Tamar Jacoby, president and CEO of ImmigrationWorks USA, a national group of employers who support immigration reform.
The group wants lawmakers to craft immigration reform legislation that will make it easier for businesses to hire temporary workers.
ImmigrationWorks USA recently lobbied Capitol Hill on immigration reform. A handout distributed to attendees was called, "Don't Wait for ICE to Knock on the Door." It gave tips for preparing for immigration audits and work site investigations.
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I'm sure there are a few businesses in our area that could stand to have their I-9's audited. The unemployment report came out today and it's up to 9.5%. Jobs for Americans and legal immigrants NEED to be opened up.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_economy">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_economy</a><!-- m --> 467K jobs cut in June; jobless rate at 9.5 percent
I wonder which businesses will be audited in Illinois?
Workplace immigration enforcement starts
Updated: 7/2/2009 8:27:01 AM
Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) - The Obama administration is investigating hundreds of U.S. businesses as part of its strategy to focus immigration enforcement on employers who hire illegal workers.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is notifying businesses of plans to audit their I-9 forms. Those are employment eligibility documents that employers fill out for every worker.
The Homeland Security Department says immigration officers served "Notices of Inspection" to 625 businesses. By comparison, 503 such notices were issued to businesses last year.
ICE spokeswoman Gail Montenegro says 32 notices have been sent to businesses within the six states the Chicago ICE office oversees.
Those states are Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky.
Montenegro didn't have further details.
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I ask that our area businesses and local governments use E-Verify as well.
Secretary Napolitano Strengthens Employment Verification with Administration's Commitment to E-Verify
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Release Date: July 8, 2009
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today strengthened employment eligibility verification by announcing the Administrationâs support for a regulation that will award federal contracts only to employers who use E-Verify to check employee work authorization. The declaration came as Secretary Napolitano announced the Department's intention to rescind the Social Security No-Match Rule, which has never been implemented and has been blocked by court order, in favor of the more modern and effective E-Verify system.
âE-Verify is a smart, simple and effective tool that reflects our continued commitment to working with employers to maintain a legal workforce,â said Secretary Napolitano. âRequiring those who seek federal contracts to use this system will create a more reliable and legal workforce. The rule complements our Departmentâs continued efforts to strengthen immigration law enforcement and protect critical employment opportunities. As Senator Schumer and others have recognized, we need to continue to work to improve E-Verify, and we will.â
E-Verify, which compares information from the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9) against federal government databases to verify workersâ employment eligibility, is a free web-based system operated by DHS in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA). The system facilitates compliance with federal immigration laws and helps to deter unauthorized individuals from attempting to work and also helps employers avoid employing unauthorized aliens.
The federal contractor rule extends use of the E-Verify system to covered federal contractors and subcontractors, including those who receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. After a careful review, the Administration will push ahead with full implementation of the rule, which will apply to federal solicitations and contract awards Government-wide starting on September 8, 2009.
On average, one thousand employers sign up for E-Verify each week, totaling more than 134,000 employers representing more than half a million locations nationwide. Westat, an independent research firm, found that 96.9 percent of all queries run through E-Verify are automatically confirmed work-authorized within 24 hours. The figure is based on statistics gathered from October through December 2008. Since October 1, 2008, E-Verify has processed more than six million queries. In an April 2009 American Customer Satisfaction Index Survey of over a thousand E-Verify participants, E-Verify scored 83 out of a possible 100 pointsâwell above the latest federal government satisfaction index of 69 percent.
In addition to expanding participation, DHS continues to enhance E-Verify in order to guard against errors, enforce compliance, promote proper usage, and enhance security. Recent E-Verify advancements include new processes to reduce typographical errors and new features to reduce initial mismatches. In May 2008, DHS added access to naturalization database records which increased the programâs ability to automatically verify naturalized citizensâ status, reducing citizenship-related mismatches by 39 percent. Additionally, in February 2009, the agency incorporated Department of State passport data in the E-Verify process to reduce mismatches among foreign-born citizens. Other initiatives underway will bring further improvements to Federal database accuracy; add new tools to prevent fraud, misuse, and discrimination; strengthen training, monitoring, and compliance; and enhance privacy protections.
DHS will be proposing a new regulation rescinding the 2007 No-Match Rule, which was blocked by court order shortly after issuance and has never taken effect. That rule established procedures that employers could follow if they receive SSA No-Match letters or notices from DHS that call into question work eligibility information provided by employees. These notices most often inform an employer many months or even a year later that an employeeâs name and Social Security Number provided for a W-2 earnings report do not match SSA recordsâoften due to typographical errors or unreported name changes. E-Verify addresses data inaccuracies that can result in No-Match letters in a more timely manner and provides a more robust tool for identifying unauthorized individuals and combating illegal employment.
As Governor of Arizona, Secretary Napolitano signed legislation mandating all employers in the State use E-Verify. Implementation of this legislation has received high marks from employers across Arizona and the USCIS Ombudsman (in a December 2008 report).
For more information on E-Verify, visit <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.uscis.gov/everify">www.uscis.gov/everify</a><!-- w -->.
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Sen. Sessions Offers E-Verify Amendment to DHS Appropriations Bill
Updated Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 8:01 AM
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) introduced an amendment to the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations bill that would require federal contractors to use E-Verify and permanently reauthorize the workplace verification tool, which is set to expire this fall.
Senators Adopt Sen. Sessions' E-Verify Amendment
Senators passed Sen. Jeff Sessions' amendment E-Verify amendment by voice vote after failing to table it on a 44-53 vote. Thank you for helping to make this teriffic win a reality!
The Senate is currently voting on an amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) that would require that at least 700 miles of reinforced fencing along the Southwestern border be completed by December 31, 2010.
**DeMint's amendment appears to have passed. They had to pass an amendment to enforce a law they already had to finish the southern border fence!!
Now the senate is talking about the no-match notices. Will this be addressed today as well? It was a useful tool to keep employment for Americans and legal imimgrants -plus help fraud.
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Call if you want to keep the momentum going;
Tell Senators to Vote YES on Grassley's E-Verify Amendment & Vitter's No-Match Amendment - 202-224-3121
Senators will soon vote on an amendment (# 1415) by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that would allow employers using E-Verify to check the workplace eligibility of all employees, not just new hires. Under current law, E-Verify may only be used for new hires.
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) also is offering an amendment (#1375) that would prevent furhter delays in the implementation of the "no-match" rule, which allows the Social Security Administration to send letters notifying employers that the Social Security number and personal data of certain employees don't match SSA records (almost always because they are illegal aliens).
Please call Senators NOW and ask them to vote YES on the Grassley and Vitter amendments - 202-224-3121.
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All four of the amendments, which would help the employment situation for Americans and legal immigrants, were approved this week in the senate. Now keep your eyes open as to where this goes in committees and the house.
Senate Adopts Vitter and Grassley Admendments -- 4th Victory in a Row!
Yesterday, the Senate adopted two immigration-reduction amendments through a voice vote, marking our third and fourth victories this week. Sen. Charles Grassley's (R-Iowa) E-Verify amendment to the Homeland Security spending bill allows federal contractors to check the workplace eligibility of all employees, not just new hires. Sen. David Vitter's (R-La.) No-Match amendment prevents further delay in the implementation of a Bush Administration rule allowing the Social Security to send No-Match letters to employers.
The Bush Administration adopted a rule that would allow the Social Security Administration to notify employers when an employee's social security number and name don't match. Often, a no-match signals the hiring of an illegal alien who used falsified documents during the hiring process. The rule has been delayed, and on July 8, the Obama Administration announced they were rescinding the Bush rule altogether. But the Vitter amendment ensures the No-Match letter program is enacted.
Sen. Grassley's amendment allows federal contractors to verify the eligibility of all employees since current law only allows the use of E-Verify with new hires.
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Update on 287g -11 more added to the program
Secretary Napolitano Announces New Agreement for State and Local Immigration Enforcement Partnerships & Adds 11 New Agreements
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Release Date: July 10, 2009
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced today that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has standardized the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) used to enter into â287(g)â partnershipsâimproving public safety by removing criminal aliens who are a threat to local communities and providing uniform policies for partner state and local immigration enforcement efforts throughout the United States. Additionally, today ICE announced eleven new 287(g) agreements with law enforcement agencies from around the country.
âThis new agreement supports local efforts to protect public safety by giving law enforcement the tools to identify and remove dangerous criminal aliens,â said Secretary Napolitano. âIt also promotes consistency across the board to ensure that all of our state and local law enforcement partners are using the same standards in implementing the 287(g) program.â
The new MOA aligns 287(g) local operations with major ICE enforcement prioritiesâspecifically, the identification and removal of criminal aliens. To address concerns that individuals may be arrested for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings, the new agreement explains that participating local law enforcement agencies are required to pursue all criminal charges that originally caused the offender to be taken into custody.
The new MOA also defines the objectives of the 287(g) program, outlines the immigration enforcement authorities granted by the agreement and provides guidelines for ICEâs supervision of local agency officer operations, information reporting and tracking, complaint procedures and implementation measures.
âThe 287(g) program is an essential component of DHSâ comprehensive immigration enforcement strategy,â said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton. âThe new agreement strengthens ICEâs oversight of the program and allows us to better utilize the resources and capabilities of our law enforcement partners across the nation.â
DHS and ICE will begin working with their current 287(g) partner agencies to re-sign the standardized agreements âultimately, only those agencies with newly signed agreements will be permitted to continue enforcing immigration law. A âsunset clauseâ will keep the MOA in effect for three years from the date of signing unless terminated by either party.
To date, ICE has trained more than 1,000 officers operating under 66 local 287(g) agreements between DHS and law enforcement agencies nationwide. Since January 2006, these 287(g)-trained officers are credited with identifying more than 120,000 individuals, predominantly in jails, who are suspected of being in the country illegally.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) of 1996 added Section 287(g) to the Immigration and Nationality Act, which authorizes the DHS Secretary to enter into agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies to perform immigration officer functions. Pursuant to these MOAs, designated officers who receive appropriate training and function under the supervision of sworn ICE officers are permitted to perform immigration law enforcement duties.
The eleven new agreements are with the following jurisdictions: Gwinnett (GA) County Sheriffâs Department.; Monmouth (NJ) County Sheriffâs Office; Rhode Island Department of Corrections; Delaware Department of Corrections â Sussex Correctional Institution; Houston Police Department; City of Mesquite (NV) Police Department; Morristown (NJ) Police Department; City of Mesa (AZ) Police Department; Florence (AZ) Police Department; Guilford County (NC) Sheriff's Office; Charleston County (SC) Sheriff's Office.
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