Thread: Man deported 3 Times before being shot

By Police in Sebastapol CA

Immigration officials confirmed Thursday that the man a Sebastopol police officer shot dead on Thanksgiving had been deported three times.

Pablo Perez Ramirez was shot after he pointed a revolver at Officer Dennis Colthurst, who had responded to a 911 call that Perez (the surname that authorities refer to him by) was pounding on his ex-girlfriend's door.

Perez, 25, was deported in 2007, 2008 and 2010, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE. He returned without authorization each time, she said.

"It's an illustration of the fact that people who have no respect for the law also have no respect for our borders," Kice said.

Each of Perez's deportations stemmed from arrests in Sonoma County, after which the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department referred him to ICE.

Details of all those cases were not immediately available, but Santa Rosa police said he was arrested in 2005 for carrying a loaded gun and in 2007 for driving under the influence.

It couldn't be confirmed Thursday, but it's likely that Perez's 2010 deportation resulted from his being identified as an illegal immigrant through the controversial federal Secure Communities program, which took effect in Sonoma County that year.

Under the program, fingerprints of people booked in the county jail are sent electronically to ICE databases. Immigrant advocates have campaigned against the program, which authorities describe as a way to corral dangerous felons, saying it snares people without criminal histories or who are guilty only of minor offenses.

Santa Rosa immigration attorney Richard Coshnear, of the Sonoma County Committee for Immigrants Rights, acknowledged Thursday that the Perez case may fuel sentiment in favor of Secure Communities and against immigrants here illegally.

"It doesn't help our cause," he said.

But, he argued, the Perez case doesn't diminish advocates' argument against programs like Secure Communities; rather, he said, it supports it.

"Deportation is not an effective way to prevent crime in the United States; Mexico is not a maximum security prison," he said. "People get across the border and particularly the more dangerous people seem to get across the border more easily."

In cases like Perez's 2005 arrest for carrying a loaded weapon, "what he should do, is do the time," Coshnear said.

In some circumstances, illegal immigrants who are captured after returning illegally to the United States, which is a felony, are prosecuted by federal authorities and imprisoned before deportation.

But Perez's brushes with the law involved only misdemeanors which did not bring that level of attention.

Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas on Thursday declined to comment, saying it wouldn't be appropriate because the Perez case was an open investigation being handled by another agency, the Santa Rosa Police Department.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.


http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20 ... l&tc=pgall

My Magic 8 Ball tells me he will not be returning for a 4th time in 2012.

Originally Posted by dsprtt

My Magic 8 Ball tells me he will not be returning for a 4th time in 2012.

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His ex-girlfriend is very happy to confirm your Magic 8 Ball