Briefs: O'Hare to fingerprint
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it's launching a security upgrade at O'Hare International Airport and has starting collecting 10 fingerprints from foreign travelers who arrive at the facility. Previously, security officers obtained two fingerprints from the estimated 5,100 foreign travelers who provide biometric data as they pass through the airport every day. O'Hare is the fourth major U.S. airport to receive the security upgrade. Federal officials say all major airports, seaports and land ports will begin collecting 10 fingerprints by the end of the year. Authorities say the additional fingerprints will increase security and allow federal officials to more accurately verify visitors' identities.
Restaurant owner gets jail
A former owner of a Springfield area Chinese restaurant has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for housing and employing more than two dozen undocumented workers. Xian Xi Ye has already spent 16 months behind bars, so he should be released soon to the custody of immigration officials for deportation proceedings, said Scott Sabin, his lawyer. Xi Ye appeared in court Monday through video conference from a South Carolina prison hospital where he has been treated for an undisclosed condition. The 41-year-old, who also is in the country illegally, was fined $2,500. Sabin had asked the court to take into account his client's illness and the fact that he has been separated for 16 months from his wife and four children, ages 2 through 7. Sabin also argued that additional prison time would hurt the family because Xi Ye was the predominant wage earner. Sabin said Xi Ye just wanted to have a nice life, but "he didn't want to play by the rules."
Deported woman speaks
A deported Mexican migrant who holed up in a Chicago church to fight for immigrants' rights rallied support Tuesday for another woman now seeking refuge in the same building. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Elvira Arellano said 28-year-old Flor Crisostomo's situation showed the need for U.S. immigration reform. "She has three kids who depend on her and what she sends from the U.S.," Arellano said. Crisostomo took refuge in the Adalberto United Methodist Church after the Board of Immigration Appeals ordered her to leave the United States by Monday. The single mother paid a smuggler to sneak her into the U.S. in 2000 and has sent money to her children in her hometown of Iguala in southern Guerrero state. Arellano, who sought sanctuary for a year, was deported to Mexico in August when she left the church to visit Los Angeles. She lives in a small town in western Mexico with her son, a U.S. citizen, and writes columns for U.S. newspapers.