Thread: Border Agent to be Sentenced Today on Immig Fraud

http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 00327/1001

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Border agent convicted of immigration fraud to be sentenced
Louie Gilot
El Paso Times

A judge will decide today the fate of Noe Aleman, the former Border Patrol agent who was convicted of immigration fraud after he adopted his three Mexican nieces.

Aleman, 41, said he acted in good faith but followed bad legal advice. The government said that he lied and asked his nieces to lie about their ages and that he let them live and go to school in El Paso without the proper papers.

"I deeply apologize for this mess. I should have done more research on international adoption," Aleman said Tuesday in federal court. "I wanted to give our three adopted daughters a better life, things that people in this country take for granted, like going to school, seeing a movie at the theater, new clothes and to have a father, someone to protect them and watch over them."

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone said she would sentence Aleman today.

Aleman faces 10 to 27 months in prison, according to sentencing guidelines for conspiracy to defraud the United States and alien smuggling. But since a Supreme Court decision in January, sentencing guidelines are no longer mandatory, and Aleman's lawyer, Mary Stillinger, hoped he would get probation.

Aleman's oldest adopted daughter has returned to Mexico. The two younger girls, ages 15 and 16, are locked up at the juvenile immigration detention center in Canutillo. They were ordered deported and filed an appeal last month, officials said.

Aleman lost his job as a Border Patrol agent after his conviction and owes $65,000 to credit card companies for legal expenses, he said.

Whether the judge is lenient on him rests partly on whether she feels Aleman abused his position as a government employee when he tried to get visas for the girls.

Defense lawyer Stillinger said that "he was not flashing his badge." But Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy Gardes argued he was doing just that -- flashing his badge and showing up in uniform.

"He was seeking professional courtesy" from the immigration officers, she said, requesting "special favors."

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.

Well...that's good news!!!

A good precedent I would say. Hopefully that will send a message of: NO MORE FUNNY BUSINESS in Border Patrol.

Illegal means Illegal...for everybody.

They need to get the other two girls out of detention and back home in Mexico so they can start school on time....in Mexico!! I wonder if school starts the same time there as it does here? They need to hurry up or they'll miss their first two weeks and be behind all year.

But, I'm sure some "immgration lawyers" want some money, so the girls are sitting in a detention center and about to miss school so someone can get some money for some "hearings".