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06-13-2006, 12:33 PM #1
Drunken drivers and lower-level criminals are not always pic
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 26,00.html
June 12, 2006
Drunken drivers and lower-level criminals are not always picked up by immigration agents.
Background
Only crimes that are "aggravated felonies" as defined by federal immigration law merit deportation for legal immigrants. These include murder, rape, drug crimes and most other state felonies. Though U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can deport any illegal immigrant, officials say they lack the detention space and resources to take less-serious offenders, preferring to refer them to immigration court without using up a valuable detention bed. Drunken driving, for instance, isn’t considered an aggravated felony in Colorado under immigration law because it is a misdemeanor offense.
What prosecutors say
Even repeat DUI offenders are ignored by ICE until someone is killed or injured, prosecutors and sheriffs say. "So after we have a dead body, they put a hold on him to deport him," said Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck.
What ICE says
Many drunken drivers bond out and are never referred to ICE or are not in the jail by the time ICE agents arrive to interview foreign-born inmates.
"One problem is DUI isn’t a felony (in Colorado). It is has to be a felony prosecution to be deportable," said Jeff Copp, special agent in charge of investigations for the Denver ICE office.
ICE is deporting the worst offenders, Copp said.
CASE IN POINT
DAMIAN CAMPOS
1 immigrant, 7 DUI arrests, 13 aliases.
By 2003, Damian Campos, a Mexican immigrant, had seven arrests for driving under the influence in northern Colorado and used 13 different names. Immigration officials never tried to deport him — not until he rolled a vehicle last year, killing Marcos Martinez, one of his softball teammates.
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