Daily Archives: May 22, 2017

NEW HAVEN >> A department head for whom the Board of Alders rejected a $20,000 raise because of its tight finances two years ago was given it anyway, setting up a fight between the board and Mayor Toni Harp.

The salary for Jason Bartlett, who is director of youth services, has been $85,000 for the past several years, according to city budget documents. But the mayor in August 2015 approved an adjustment in his salary to $105,000, retroactive to July 1, 2015, despite the action of the alders.

In addition to Bartlett, there were some five other employees who were given raises that were not approved first by the alders, according to data sent to the board from the Human Resources office.

One of those individuals was then Labor Relations Director Marcus Paca, whom Harp fired the following spring. Paca has since sued the city over the firing and is now running for mayor.

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Budget Director Joe Clerkin, in answer to questions from the aldermanic Finance Committee, said the mayor had an arrangement with then-Superintendent of Schools Garth Harries that the Board of Education would cover the extra $20,000 as she had given Bartlett additional duties, namely to be her liaison with the school board.

Harp was elected president of the school board from September 2015 to January 2017. During that time, the mayor backed Harries, but others on the board wanted him out.

In September 2016, Harries reached an agreement to end his contract with the district two years early and was given some $200,000 in severance.

Will Clark, chief operating officer for the school system, and Interim Superintendent. of Schools Reginald Mayo both told the Finance Committee that they werent aware of any such arrangement over Bartletts salary, but promised to look into it.

Mayo wasnt interim superintendent at the time and Victor De La Paz, who was then chief financial officer for the schools, resigned in July 2016 to become the finance officer for Achievement First, a charter school organization.

The alders contend that both the raises and an arrangement for payment to cover Bartletts salary from both the city and the school board are charter violations.

They cite Section 2-386 of the charter, which states that aldermanic prior approval is needed for a budget transfer in order to increase the total annual salary estimate included in an appropriation for any reason.

They also cite Section 14, which covers conflict of interest and the code of ethics and says holding a dual position is prohibited.

It goes on to say: No person shall receive compensation for service on more than one board or commission or for more than one position in the city government.

There are instances where both the city and the school board will contribute to programs involving youths.

Clerkin said the $20,000 never came from the school board in fiscal 2015-16, nor has it been sent to the budget office for the current fiscal year.

The alders, as part of the Finance Committee deliberations last week, reminded city supervisors that all funding transfers have to be approved by them.

Whats the point of having a budget? Alder Anna Festa, D-10, said Saturday, if the alders dont know where the money is coming from to cover transfers.

She said one of the main functions of the alders is to make sure that the administration is being accountable to the charter.

Clerkin, in his memo to the alders, said Harp felt it was appropriate to increase his (Bartletts) salary to $105,000, to compensate him for his extra duties.

The mayor discussed with then-Superintendent Harries that the Board of Education pay Mr. Bartlett the $20,000 difference in his salary. At the time the superintendent agreed to this arrangement, but (then) left the NHPS (New Haven Public School) system. The city will endeavor to be compensated for the difference from the Board of Education and will seek to be compensated for this amount from the board going forward, Clerkin wrote.

The citys close-out report for fiscal 2015-2016, submitted on Oct. 7, 2016, shows the list of accounts with a surplus and those with a deficit. The Youth Services department ended with a deficit of $19,483.

It was covered when a total of $5.9 million in surplus money was transferred to cover all department deficits in order to end the year with a balanced budget. The biggest shortfalls were the accounts for police and fire service, as well as health benefits.

Laurence Grotheer, spokesman for the mayor, said he wasnt aware of the payment arrangement regarding Bartlett.

But, with that original request 18 months ago, the mayor made it clear that she thought that position with its added responsibility warranted that salary increase, Grotheer said of Bartletts raise given his assignment to work with the school board on issues.

Grotheer noted Bartlett was a big part of the reading commission, which recently issued a report on how to improve literacy in the Elm City from birth to adulthood.

He also said Bartlett works closely with Gemma Joseph Lumpkin, who is head of Youth, Family and Community Engagement for the school system.

Bartlett said he thought it was a resolved issue.

I feel that I have brought $1 million from the Burn (public safety) grant. I brought hundreds of thousands of extra dollars for youths from the state of Connecticut, from private foundations. We have tripled the capacity of what we have done within the department, he said. So I really feel I have the outcomes that justify what the mayor approved some time ago in terms of my salary. It is not a great feeling to be in the middle of whatever procedural fight. I think it is bad for my morale and I think it is bad for city employees.

The alders sought information from the human resource department on salary increase over the past three years and found several that went into effect allegedly without transfer approval at the direction of the mayor after the lower figure was approved by the alders as a budget line item.

The alders said their review is about the process and is not directed at the merits of the employees.

The documents showed a salary boost to $105,000 from $93,468 for Andy Wolf, who is director of Arts, Culture and Tourism, in August 2015, effective July 1, 2015 when the 2014-15 budget was approved at the lesser amount.

Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, the executive director of the Livable City Initiative, was in the fiscal budget for 2016 at $100,000 and received a raise to $110,000 in Oct. 2016, effective July 1, 2016; City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg had a salary of $103,372 approved for fiscal 2017 and also in October received a raise to $111,000 effective July 1, 2016.

Then Labor Relations Director Paca, who was budgeted at a $98,000 salary for fiscal 2016, got a raise to $105,000 effective July 1, 2015, also allegedly without transfer approval.

Harp fired him in April 2016, citing memoranda of understanding he and two other officials endorsed six months earlier with the fire union without sending a fiscal impact statement to the Board of Alders, according to the New Haven Independent.

She also listed the release of material a union had requested under the Freedom of Information Act the city claims was confidential. Those emails indicate the city had planned to fire then-Commission on Equal Opportunity Executive Director Nichole Jefferson before their investigation into charges against her began, as well as get rid of the staff. Jeffersons arbitration fight is wrapping up after more than a year of testimony.

Joanne Courtmanche, the executive administrative assistant in the labor relations office, got a raise to $65,368 from $57,368, according the paper work provided to the alders. The position was approved in the fiscal 2017 budget at the lower rate. Her raise was also approved by Harp in October 2016.

Read the rest here:

New Haven alders raising questions about raises they did not approve - New Haven Register

The Pew Research Center May 18 released information from a study that said more foreign graduates of U.S. colleges particularly from India and China are staying in the country to work.

The center said that a growing number of high-skilled foreign workers find jobs in the U.S. under the Optional Practical Training program, which allows foreign graduates from U.S. universities to work in the country on a temporary basis.

The federal government approved nearly 700,000 OPT applications in fiscal years 2008 through 2014, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data received through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Data suggests that the total number of foreign graduates using OPT may continue to increase in subsequent years: more than 1 million foreign students studied at U.S. higher educational institutions in the 2015-16 school year, a record high, the center said.

Foreign student U.S. college graduates with F-1 visas may apply for an OPT, and those approved may work in the U.S. for up to 12 months in their field of study. Foreign students majoring in a STEM field may work in the U.S. up to 36 months.

Unlike other U.S. visa programs, OPT has no cap on the number of foreign graduates who can participate. OPT is not subject to congressional oversight, though the program, which was created in 1947, can be changed by a U.S. president, according to the center news release.

Recently, a lawsuit filed by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers challenging the 24-month OPT extension granted by the Obama administration was dismissed in federal court.

In the lawsuit, WATW argued that the extension of the OPT program denied labor protections to American technology workers, allows increased and unfair competition in the U.S., among other concerns.

It said it violates procedural rights of American workers by failing to include the question of whether OPT should be expanded in the first place in the regulatory process by the Department of Homeland Security.

The DHS argued in favor of retention of the extended 24-month OPT, and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, which the court did in April.

The Pew Research Center news release said that the annual number of OPT approvals rose from 28,497 in fiscal 2008 to 136,617 in fiscal 2014, a nearly fivefold increase. During this time, the Bush administration extended the amount of time STEM graduates may work in the U.S. to a maximum of 29 months. In 2016, the Obama administration again expanded the work period for STEM graduates to its current 36-month maximum.

Nearly as many people are approved for the OPT program as receive H-1B visas, another main source of high-skilled foreign workers who work in the U.S. on a temporary basis, according to Pews findings.

STEM graduates made up nearly half 49 percent of all those who were approved for OPT and were seeking employment in calendar years 2012 through 2015, it added. STEM degrees accounted for six-in-ten of the most numerous majors among OPT approvals, with the remaining four in business-related fields.

Those with STEM majors had a higher employment rate, of 73 percent, than non-STEM majors, 57 percent, in the OPT program from 2012 to 2015, the research found

Additionally, foreign students from India (72,151) and China (68,847) accounted for 57 percent of all those who were approved for OPT and found jobs from 2012 to 2015, accounting for 72,151 students from India and 68,847 from China.

The research also found that graduates in STEM fields accounted for at least 70 percent of OPT approvals from India, Iran, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from 2012 to 2015.

Of the 72,151 from India employed under OPT, 84 percent had STEM degrees, the highest percentage of any origin country.

Just 4 percent of those employed under the OPT program from 2012 to 2015 worked at the 10 largest tech companies in the Fortune 500, it said.

The 10 universities with the most OPT approvals accounted for 13 percent of all program participants seeking employment from 2012 to 2015, with the University of Southern California, 7,485 participants; Columbia University, 7,116; and New York University, 5,260, accounting for the most graduates in the program.

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More Indian Graduates of U.S. Colleges Staying in the Country to Work Under the OPT Program - India West

The 2017 Legislatures slow crawl reflects both complexity of intertwining bills on budget, tax and school finance, as well as the strategy of frustrating rank-and-file lawmakers with gridlock until they bend to the will of Republican leadership and Gov. Sam Brownback.

The session reaches the 100th day on Wednesday, and the clock is running out. Decisions by legislators have to be rendered by close of the fiscal year June 30.

Timing is important to Brownback, who delayed joining the administration of President Donald Trump to defend cornerstone pieces of a governorship that was to set the foundation for decades of GOP dominance. Brownback famously made Kansas a laboratory of supply-side economics. In 2012, his idea was to prove through political chemistry the power of reducing income taxes.

It didnt work out. Brownbacks approval ratings moved inversely to state budget deficits. Legislative allies retired or were defeated. After five years of experimentation, flames of revolution are flickering.

Finding members of the Legislature who believe Brownback will be Kansas governor at close of the second term in January 2019 is as hard as identifying folks eager for Brownback to pay tax-cut architect Arthur Laffer another $75,000 to make bold statements about magic of supply-side theory.

Heres a sample of Laffers pro-growth zeal: Cutting taxes can have a near immediate and permanent impact, which is why we have advised Oklahoma, Kansas, and other states to cut their income tax rates if they want the most effective immediate and lasting boost to their states economies.

When the Legislature wraps the 2017 session in the next couple weeks, Brownback will be compelled to drink a bitter concoction of school, tax and budget Kool-Aid to cover revenue shortfalls inspired by the Laffer-Brownback tax agenda.

And, then, one of the most conservative governors in Kansas history will be gone.

Dont be surprised if Brownback declares his vision of tax and education policy a success. He will point to his work on abortion, Medicaid, gun rights, welfare, the arts, government efficiency, technical education, water conservation, pensions and union busting.

His critics will respond with fervor.

The Atlantic and other publications devoted to figuring out Brownbacks next professional endeavor believe he will return to Washington, D.C., as Trumps ambassador of religious freedom. Brownback is well-suited for the role by virtue of deep personal conviction and familiarity with political life in the District of Columbia, where he served in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

I do not believe in removal of faith from the public square, said Brownback, who followed a deep calling and converted to Catholicism about 15 years ago.

Hes supported efforts in Washington and Topeka to infuse government with religion as a common-sense way to encourage the miraculous work of many highly effective faith-based charities.

Walking away from the governorship in Kansas carries no shame. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius resigned in April 2009 to join the administration of President Barack Obama. The remainder of her second term was filled by Mark Parkinson, who was her lieutenant governor.

If the Kansas Supreme Court finds legislators and Brownback failed to live up to the judicial branchs constitutional guidance on increasing K-12 funding, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer would make calling a special session of the Legislature one of his first substantive duties as governor. He would be at the helm as state lawmakers raised taxes, again, to bail out Laffer and his followers.

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Clock ticking on Brownback's time as governor - The Garden City Telegram

Taxpayers started footing the bill for housing Ivan Moreno Miranda shortly after a Border Patrol agent caught him on Jan. 14.

Moreno Miranda crossed the border illegally near Douglas after being deported in 2013, federal court records show. The U.S. Attorneys Office filed criminal charges against him and on Jan. 17 he was placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service while his case unfolded, at a daily detention cost of about $80.

The cost of detaining Moreno Miranda kept growing until Thursday, when federal Judge Raner C. Collins sentenced him to time served. After four months in the custody of the Marshals Service, the cost of housing Moreno Miranda came to about $9,600.

Those expenses can escalate quickly.

A similar, but longer and costlier, story played out with David Borrayo Fajardo, who was also sentenced Thursday. He was caught in October near Ajo, crossing the border illegally a month after being deported. He had a series of criminal convictions from the early 1990s, including aggravated assault when he was 19 years old, according to a sentencing memorandum.

His attorney needed more time to prepare and the proceedings lasted three months longer than Moreno Mirandas case, court records show. After seven months in marshals service custody, the cost to house Borrayo Fajardo came to about $16,800.

In the last decade, housing people on immigration-related charges in Southern Arizona cost taxpayers more than $1.8 billion, according to statistics obtained by the Arizona Daily Star through public-records requests.

The Marshals Service spent about $1.1 billion in Southern Arizona housing people on similar charges in fiscal years 2007-15, according to agency records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

More than 90 percent of those funds, or about $1 billion, went to the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence owned by CoreCivic, formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent $760 million detaining people for violating immigration laws in Southern Arizona in fiscal years 2007-16, agency records obtained through a public-records request show.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is housing 2,825 immigration offenders who were sentenced in Arizona, at an annual cost of $98 million, according to agency statistics obtained through a public-records request. Most of them are housed elsewhere in the country, while 266 are housed in Arizona at an annual cost of $9.2 million.

Arizona sheriffs departments spent $335 million in fiscal years 2009-16 housing illegal immigrants convicted of breaking state and local laws, according to statistics provided by Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, president of the Arizona Sheriffs Association.

In all, detaining illegal immigrants in Southern Arizona cost taxpayers well over $2 billion in the past decade, not including the costs of the Border Patrols holding facilities, where illegal immigrants are held for hours or days after an agent catches them near the border.

ICE saw its annual detention costs in Southern Arizona quadruple during fiscal years 2007-16 to $96 million. Detention costs for the Marshals Service grew by 50 percent to $141 million in fiscal year 2015, the most recent year for which the Star could obtain Marshals Service records.

Those costs could continue to rise as federal agencies put in motion the Feb. 20 directive from Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to end the policy of catch-and-release of illegal immigrants, in which authorities issue notices to appear at removal hearings, rather than take them into custody.

To keep pace with the expected rise in detainees, Kelly directed ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to allocate all available resources to expand their detention capabilities and capacities at or near the border with Mexico to the greatest extent possible.

In an April 11 memo, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed federal prosecutors in border states to prioritize a variety of immigration-related crimes and to develop guidelines for prosecutions to accomplish the goal of deterring first-time improper entrants.

A memo from the U.S. Attorneys Office describing new plea agreement policies indicates the federal court in Tucson will see more felony prosecutions of immigration-related crimes, such as crossing the border illegally after deportation.

From a defense attorneys perspective, its job security, lawyer F. Michael Carrillo said after a hearing in federal court in Tucson. From a human perspective, its a scam. Its heartbreaking.

These are the bad hombres? Carrillo continued. For many of his clients, their criminal history is a bunch of immigration violations.

Despite spending $760 million of taxpayer money, ICE declined to allow the Star to tour detention facilities, provide the number of ICE detainees in Southern Arizona, or provide the daily cost to house a detainee.

The Border Patrol did not respond to requests for information about the use of various enforcement tools; where illegal immigrants are sent after leaving Border Patrol custody; or statistics on the agencys prosecution programs.

The U.S. Attorneys Office did not respond to a request for information about how prosecutors decide to file criminal charges in immigration-related cases, how those decisions evolved in the last decade, and how new policies affect those decisions.

Without information from official sources other than the Marshals Service, the Star used interviews with defense lawyers, agency reports, and court records to sketch the outlines of how the immigration detention system works in Southern Arizona.

Illegal immigrants take a myriad of paths through the detention system, but they can be divided roughly into two basic paths: criminal and administrative.

On the path that involves criminal charges, a federal prosecutor decides whether to charge a detainee at a Border Patrol station with illegal re-entry, the legal term for crossing the border illegally after being deported, or another immigration-related crime.

If criminal charges are filed, defendants are taken into custody by the Marshals Service which Fidencio Rivera, chief deputy U.S. marshal in Arizona, described as the federal sheriffs office while their cases are prosecuted.

About one-third of the people apprehended by the Border Patrol in the Tucson Sector are charged criminally. For fiscal years 2011-16, about 580,000 apprehensions resulted in about 205,000 prosecutions, according to the Border Patrols annual sector profiles.

While Moreno Miranda and Borrayo Fajardo went through a monthslong process of prosecution, thousands more immigration-related cases are handled through fast-track prosecution programs, such as Operation Streamline, and usually are resolved in a matter of days.

After Borrayo Fajardos sentencing Thursday to one year in prison, with credit for time served, the Marshals Service will take him to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility, court records show. The judge recommended he be placed in an institution in or near Arizona.

On the administrative path, Moreno Miranda was sentenced to time served and will not be taken to federal prison. Instead, ICE likely will place him in a detention center while he is processed for deportation.

ICE also takes custody of illegal immigrants when they are released from county jails or after federal prosecutors decline to file criminal charges.

During fiscal years 2007-15, ICE handled 110,000 administrative arrests in Arizona, according to the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Immigration Statistics.

Detainees can remain in ICE custody for a few days or for many months, depending on whether they choose to appeal their removal order, apply for asylum, or if their country of origin delays in issuing travel documents.

In a separate administrative path, Border Patrol agents use expedited removal, which allows for deportation without involving an immigration court.

A recent report by the Migration Policy Institute on the Border Patrols consequence delivery system showed about half of the Tucson Sector apprehensions researchers could track in fiscal year 2014 resulted in expedited removal, 26 percent were prosecuted and 12 percent led to voluntary returns and notices to appear.

Statistics provided by ICE showed where detention dollars were spent in Southern Arizona for fiscal years 2013-16, but for previous years the agency provided only annual spending totals.

For the four years with detailed information, ICE spent a total of $167.3 million at the agency-owned facility in Florence, $136.2 million at CoreCivics facility in Eloy, $66.8 million at CoreCivics facility in Florence and $15.5 million at the Pinal County Sheriffs Office.

The Marshals Service guarantees payment for 3,420 beds at CoreCivic facilities, Rivera said. The agency also uses 293 beds at the Federal Correctional Institution-Tucson, but does not pay for those beds.

The marshals service also paid $48.6 million in fiscal years 2007-15 to the San Luis Regional Detention Center, near Yuma, operated by Emerald Cos. LaSalle Corrections now owns the facility.

Rivera declined to provide the daily bed rate charged by CoreCivic, citing concerns about competition for the government contract.

However, the Marshals Services detention budget submission for fiscal year 2017 showed the average daily jail costs at private facilities was $79.24 in fiscal year 2015, up from $72.88 in fiscal year 2011. The agency expected that rate to have risen to $80.67 in fiscal year 2016 and $82.22 in fiscal year 2017.

The daily cost at the Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities comes to $88, according to calculations included in presentence reports in immigration-related cases.

CoreCivic has come under fire for 15 in-custody deaths at the Eloy Detention Center since 2003 and immigrant-rights activists decry a profit-making motive behind incarceration.

CoreCivic did not respond to a request for comment. But Rivera said the companys facilities are the only places that can handle the volume of detainees handled by the Marshals Service.

We couldnt do our jobs without them, Rivera said.

The company also saved the agency money by building a medical facility, Rivera said, which helped avoid the costly practice of sending deputy marshals to guard inmates at local hospitals.

See more here:

Border detentions in Southern Arizona cost $2B in last decade - Arizona Daily Star