Few illegal immigrant victims helped by law

Few illegal immigrant victims helped by law

LOS ANGELES — A 2000 federal law promised visas to illegal immigrants who were crime victims if they came out of the shadows to help police catch their attackers. More than 13,000 people took the government’s offer, but so far only 65 — just 0.5 percent — have gotten their reward.

The figures, provided by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, outrage immigrant advocates. They say the problem with the so-called “crime victim visa” has been twofold: The government took years to come up with rules, and now that they’re in place many law enforcement agencies are reluctant to provide the required written support so victims can apply.

“There’s no rational reason why it should take the federal government eight years to implement a law other than there’s a callous disregard for the rights of crime victims Congress intended to benefit for cooperating with law enforcement,” said Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles.

Kurdish official criticizes troop movement in Iraq

IRBIL, Iraq — The prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdish region accused the Arab-dominated national government Saturday of trying to use troops to seize control of the disputed city of Kirkuk, escalating tensions between Iraqi Kurds and the Arab leadership in Baghdad.

U.S. officials consider the growing Arab-Kurdish rift as one of the major threats to Iraq’s stability as President Barack Obama’s administration maps plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

Kurdish officials, close American allies who have jealously guarded their self-governing territory in the north since the U.S. helped set it up in 1991, have in recent months stepped up their criticism of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, accusing him of trying to re-establish a strong centralized state similar to Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Food banks taking a hit from national peanut recall

CLEVELAND — The nationwide peanut recall is taking a heavy toll on food banks, where granola bars and peanut butter crackers have been dumped and donations have stalled as organizations comb through their inventories in search of tainted products.

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks in Columbus, says food supplies are short while demand grows every day at unsustainable rates.

The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, one of many in the state, says it has tossed about 3,500 pounds of food.

Nearly 600 people have become ill nationwide because of a salmonella outbreak linked to a Georgia-based peanut processing plant. There have been at least 70 confirmed cases in Ohio.

Electronic highway sign displays odd message

LUBBOCK, Texas — A hacked electronic highway sign in northwestern Texas carried an international message that seemed to predate, well, the use of electricity.

The sign Friday briefly flashed: “OMG The British R coming. They R watching you.”

KCBD-TV reported that the sign was in a construction area in southwest Lubbock.

A statement from Austin Bridge & Road says someone “with a questionable sense of humor” accessed the password on the message board. The portable sign that was hacked has since been removed, since a permanent exit sign has been installed.

No word yet on the culprits. Similar pranks in other states have transportation authorities worried that drivers may miss important information about upcoming road conditions.

Medical board investigates octuplet fertility doctor

LOS ANGELES — The spotlight on the mother of octuplets is turning to the fertility doctor who helped her give birth not once but 14 times by implanting Nadya Suleman with fertilized embryos.

The Medical Board of California is investigating the doctor — whom it did not name — to see if there was a “violation of the standard of care,” board spokeswoman Candis Cohen said.

She did not elaborate.

Suleman, 33, of Whittier, already had six children when she gave birth Jan. 26 to octuplets. The births to an unemployed, divorced single mother prompted angry questions about how she plans to provide for her children.

But the backlash seems to have extended as well to Suleman’s doctor.

In a portion of an NBC interview, broadcast Friday, Suleman said she had six embryos implanted for each of her in vitro pregnancies, using the same sperm donor and fertility specialist.

Associated Press