Thread: Winston-Salem immigrant activist can be freed once bail paid

Winston-Salem immigrant activist can be freed once bail paid

Critics highlight what they view as the costs of illegal immigration — on schools, jobs and jails, for example — and say that allowing such immigrants to stay in the U.S. would incite more illegal immigration.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., doesn't see it that way. He contacted ICE officials to advocate for the three who were arrested.

Winston-Salem Journal
By: BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: March 14, 2012
Updated: March 15, 2012 - 12:09 AM

VIDEO: Uriel Alberto talks about the necessity of protest on... (Added: March 14, 2012)

In an interview at the Wake County jail, Uriel Alberto talks about the necessity of protest on account of immigrants' rights.

Uriel Alberto, the Winston-Salem activist who went on a hunger strike in the Wake County jail to raise awareness about U.S. immigration laws, can get out of jail once his bail is paid, attorneys said Wednesday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials set his bail at $7,500, said Beckie Moriello, a Raleigh attorney. Conditions of the bond will be set at a later hearing, possibly several months from now, but that would not delay his release.

Alberto still faces the possibility of deportation. ICE could try to remove him from the U.S. or it could drop the case, which would be in line with new enforcement guidelines.

President Barack Obama said last summer that priority would be given to serious criminal cases, and ICE Director John Morton said the agency would consider several factors, such as when the person entered the U.S., how the entry happened and whether the person has been pursuing an education.

Alberto, 24, was brought from Mexico by his parents when he was 7, but he doesn't have legal permission to be in the country. Immigration law does not allow him to apply for legal residency status without leaving the country and possibly being barred from returning to the U.S. for at least 10 years.

Alberto and two other protesters were arrested on misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges Feb. 29 after they halted a special state House committee on immigration issues to declare themselves "undocumented and unafraid."

The other two protesters were released shortly afterward, but Alberto was jailed because he has several traffic violations. All violations in Forsyth County have been resolved, said one of his attorneys, Jim Wilson, whose office is in Winston-Salem.

Out of the blue, Alberto called his sister, Alma Alberto, a day ahead of his scheduled bail hearing, to tell her that his bail had been set. Instantly, his mother, Samer Toledo, started crying and hugged Wilson.

"You must have been burning some candles," Wilson said, referring to prayer candles.

Alberto's friends and relatives were scrambling Wednesday to pay the bail. Martin Rodriguez, a member of El Cambio, an immigrant advocacy group based in Winston-Salem, said the group would contribute from its fundraising efforts.

Alberto's case gained national attention for what immigration advocates refer to as the plight of young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. They did not knowingly break immigration laws but live in fear of being deported to countries they hardly know.

Critics highlight what they view as the costs of illegal immigration — on schools, jobs and jails, for example — and say that allowing such immigrants to stay in the U.S. would incite more illegal immigration.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., doesn't see it that way. He contacted ICE officials to advocate for the three who were arrested, said his spokesman, Douglas Rivlin.

"Ultimately, we need immigration reform that recognizes people live here, gets them in the system and on the books, and creates legal avenues for immigration in the future. That is the only way we get control over immigration and move forward," Rivlin said.

source: Winston-Salem immigrant activist can be freed once bail paid | JournalNow.com

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Every time they refuse to prosecute or turn them loose on "bond" the stronger their sense of this:

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