Critics decry federal immigration arrests in South Bay
Immigration busts are called 'P.R. stunt'

insidebayarea.com
By Sean Webby and Tracy Seipel Staff writers
Posted: 12/19/2011 09:44:38 PM PST
Updated: 12/20/2011 06:31:10 AM PST

In an apparent end-around Santa Clara County's new immigration policy, federal agents swooped into the South Bay last week, arrested 63 undocumented residents recently released from jail and are now seeking to deport them.

The action comes two months after the county enacted a sweeping policy to reduce its role in aiding the federal deportation effort, and provoked outrage among community activists.

"This is a vindictive PR stunt that shows that ICE is perfectly willing to sacrifice San Jose and Santa Clara County's effort to build trust with immigrant communities just so they can save some face," said Raj Jayadev, director of Silicon Valley De-Bug, a community organization for young adults.

In a 3 to 1 vote, county supervisors in October said the county would agree to detain illegal immigrants who had a history of committing serious or violent crimes. But supervisors said the county would only do so if the feds paid for the cost to keep the inmates for an extra day or two until Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials picked them up at the jail. ICE officials balked at the request, so these individuals are released to the community once they finish their sentences.

While 18 of the 63 arrested in the four-day operation had DUIs on their records, some carried more serious offenses, including for child molestation, spousal abuse and cocaine possession. One also had a previous conviction for kidnapping.

The provocative operation potentially adds fuel to the burning debate over how aggressively to target illegal immigrants and has pitted local officials against each other. District Attorney Jeff Rosen and Sheriff Laurie Smith have criticized the new policy, saying it could endanger the public.

"Those convicted of serious and violent felonies, including convictions for child molestation and kidnapping, who are undocumented should be deported," Smith said.

Rosen said the 63 people arrested are "the kinds of offenders that represent a threat to the safety of our community and it's those kinds of offenders that I would like us to hold for ICE."

Federal law enforcement authorities said that last's week's action was not an end-run around the county's new policy and that they arrest people routinely for violating immigration laws.

The last time they enacted a similar "fugitive" operation targeting criminal aliens with serious criminal backgrounds in Santa Clara County was late September. But they noted that was part of a national operation done in conjunction with other Northern California counties.

In this most recent case, one official who asked not to be named, said, "we identified people recently incarcerated in Santa Clara County Jail and we determined that they met our enforcement priorities."

The official said federal authorities use a range of databases and sources to acquire more information about the arrestees' criminal and immigration arrest history to help determine if the person is a deportable alien and where that person might go after they've been released from custody.

"We develop the leads and seek to locate these people though those efforts," he said, adding that while last week's operation was successful, it would have netted more people if the county had allowed ICE to pick up the detainees at the jail.

"It's much harder to find these people once they're released," he said. "And if we have to go out and pick them up, there's a greater risk to the them, the officers and the public in general."

Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese, one of three supervisors who voted with Supervisors George Shirakawa Jr. and Ken Yeager to impose the policy, said the ICE arrests prove that the feds don't need the county's help.

"We've been saying all along that it's absurd for them to ask us to detain people 48 hours after they've done their time and are supposed to be released," Cortese said.

"They can pick people up whenever they want; they have their own arrest powers and I think the fact that they just arrested 63 people proves that."

Emphasizing the potential danger of those they are trying to deport, ICE officials said those picked up during last week's operation included:

A Mexican national convicted of felony possession of heroin for sale sentenced to six months in prison;

A 49-year-old male Mexican national convicted in 2011 of child molestation;

A 29-year-old male Mexican national with prior convictions for kidnapping and cocaine possession;

A 48-year-old woman from Mexico with 13 aliases who has prior felony convictions for forgery and misuse of an entry document. The woman, whom the Mercury News has learned is Rita Gonzalez Ramirez, has already been deported five times.

With the exception of Ramirez, who now faces a hearing for re-entry after deportation, those arrested during the operation are being processed administratively for removal from the country.

Those who have outstanding orders of deportation, or who returned to the United States illegally after being deported, are subject to immediate removal from the country. The remaining individuals will be scheduled for a hearing before an immigration judge, ICE officials said.

Santa Clara County's new policy was a reaction to the federal Secure Communities program, which the county tried to avoid but was forced to join in May 2010. The program requires local jailers to share with ICE the fingerprints of everyone booked.

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