Thread: FL-Cop killer was ordered to be deported

Cop killer was ordered to be deported
Campaign to raise $100,000 for Officer Widman's family is underway



Originally posted on: Sunday, July 20, 2008 by Amie McLain
Last updated on: 7/20/2008 11:44:04 AM


LEE COUNTY: Police killer Abel Arango should have been deported seven years ago. Instead, he stayed in the United States and committed more crimes.

NBC2's Amie Mclain asked I.C.E. workers tough questions as to how this could have happened.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it did all it could to get Arango deported back to his home country. We found out that the federal justice system made it very difficult to do.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office says Arango lived at a Naples apartment off Davis Boulevard.

Fort Myers police say he was convicted of 20 felony charges, including armed robbery, grand theft and cocaine trafficking.

26-year old Abel Arango came to Miami as a Cuban refugee.

In 2000, he was convicted for a felony and sent to a Miami detention facility. Four years later, I.C.E. released him.

A spokesperson for I.C.E. says they released Arango in order to comply with a Supreme Court ruling.

In the 2001 Zavydas vs. Davis case, the Supreme Court ruled that if an illegal immigrant cannot be deported within 180 days, the inmate must be released on an "order of supervision."

I.C.E. says Cuba wouldn't take Arango back.

Inmates released on an "order of supervision" are still supervised by deportation officers, according to I.C.E.

“This is definitely a tragedy, but we at I.C.E. need to comply with a Supreme Court ruling,â€

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it did all it could to get Arango deported back to his home country. We found out that the federal justice system made it very difficult to do.

Figures......seems they manage to complicate the simplest of things.

Fort Myers police say he was convicted of 20 felony charges, including armed robbery, grand theft and cocaine trafficking.

20 felonies? Whatever happened to that 3 strike rule? Seems crime really does pay when you can do all that and still be on the street to do more.