Border-crossers at center of Tucson protest are deported

Border-crossers at center of Tucson protest are deported

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2013-10-12T16:31:00Z 2013-10-12T17:06:11Z Broder-crossers at center of Tucson protest are deportedPerla Trevizo Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star
1 hour ago • Perla Trevizo Arizona Daily Star

Up to 70 detainees who were on the buses blocked by a Tucson protest Friday have now been deported through Calexico, California and Del Rio, Texas, said Margo Cowan, a Tucson attorney and activist.

They had crossed the border into Arizona but were deported through other states under the Alien Transfer Exit Program, which is designed to make any illegal return trip into the United States more difficult and break the smuggling cycle.

The Mexican Consulate in Tucson declined comment and referred all calls to the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., which couldn't be reached Saturday for comment. The U.S. Border Patrol's public information office is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government.

More than 20 protesters were arrested or detained in Tucson Friday after they linked themselves together with plastic piping to block the federal courthouse parking lot and stop the two buses of detainees headed to court to be criminally prosecuted for immigration offenses.

It was the first time the program called Operation Streamline was canceled because of an act of civil disobedience since it started in Texas in 2005, organizers said. The fast-track program was created to discourage unauthorized migration by giving prison sentences and a criminal record to those apprehended at the border.

The protesters said they are frustrated that comprehensive immigration reform legislation has stalled in Congress.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/broder-crossers-at-center-of-tucson-protest-are-deported/article_35832061-a1e6-57ea-a5b7-bfbdd158e072.html

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Operation Streamline Detainees Deported Without Jail Time After Protest (UPDATED)

The Huffington Post | Posted: 10/14/2013 10:31 am EDT | Updated: 10/14/2013 12:26 pm EDT
The roughly 70 immigrant detainees traveling in the two buses blocked by immigration activists in Tucson on Friday have been deported, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

Citing attorney Margo Cowan, who also represents the DREAM 9 for their asylum cases, the paper reports that the detainees were deported through Calexico, Calif. and Del Rio, Texas. But there was a silver lining for activists -- none of the detainees received jail time because their protest disrupted Friday's court proceedings.

Two dozen protesters stopped two buses carrying detainees on Friday to protest a federal immigration program designed to slap undocumented immigrants with a criminal offense before deporting them. Launched in 2005, the George W. Bush administration argued that Operation Streamline would reduce illegal immigration by charging offenders with a criminal count of illegal entry and making them serve jail time before deporting them.

Activists livestreamed images of themselves chained around the wheels of the buses and linked into a human fence in front of the Tucson courthouse parking to lot to keep the buses from moving. The detainees were headed to the courthouse to face charges of illegal entry, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

But the protest delayed the detainees' arrival, making it impossible for them to meet with an attorney before facing court proceedings, KTIC Radio reports. By Saturday they had been deported, without trial.

Tucson police arrested 16 of the demonstrators and charged them with hindering prosecution in the first degree, a felony, according to the Phoenix New Times. They were released on their own recognizance within hours.

Immigrant rights activists have protested the Operation Streamline repeatedly over the years, arguing that the practice of convicting people en masse raises due process questions and criminalizes undocumented immigrants that are normally detained and deported under civil law.

Courts in Tucson convict up to 74 people in two hours under Operation Streamline, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Opponents of Operation Streamline also argue that the program siphons off resources better used to prosecute violent criminals.

This post has been updated to add reports that detainees did not receive jail time before being deported.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/operation-streamline-detainees-deported_n_4096894.html