Thread: Disabled man won't be deported — for now

Disabled man won't be deported — for now

omaha.com
By Cindy Gonzalez
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Published Sunday October 2, 2011

Federal officials have stopped the deportation of Luis Cervantes — a mentally disabled Omaha immigrant who was arrested while using a stolen grocery cart to collect recyclables from curbside trash cans.

The outcome is among the first signs that local officials are complying with a recent Obama administration directive to suspend removal proceedings against illegal immigrants who pose no risk to public safety. A goal was to clear up a backlog of cases that has some trial dates being set five years from now.

Omaha attorney Kristin Fearnow called the decision great news for Cervantes, an autistic and moderately mentally retarded 30-year-old who now can remain with his parents without the anxiety of a long court battle. His case and the shift in enforcement policy were revealed in an Aug. 28 article in The World-Herald.

"The family remains together," Fearnow said last week. "They have a house here. Luis doesn't have to worry about going to Mexico and what would happen there or if the family had to be separated."

The Omaha Immigration Court judge who halted deportation did not elaborate. In a one-page order last week, Judge Jack L. Anderson said that after considering facts and circumstances, including the government's support, removal proceedings were terminated.

The chief local Immigration and Customs Enforcement prosecutor did not return phone calls.

Fearnow thinks Cervantes was helped by the administration's directive. ICE director John Morton in June sent a memo guiding staff to use existing prosecutorial discretion. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano followed up by forming a working group to look at nearly 300,000 pending deportation cases across the nation with an eye toward sidelining low-priority cases.

Such cases were said to include students brought to this country as kids by their parents, immediate relatives of U.S. military personnel and mentally and physically disabled persons.

The policy shift rankled many, including Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who contend it amounts to "back-door amnesty," bypassing Congress and giving a pass to people who have broken immigration laws.

While prosecutorial discretion is "great in keeping families together," Fearnow said, it is far from a permanent fix. It does not convey legal status, so Cervantes is at risk if circumstances change. He could, for example, be thrust back into deportation proceedings if arrested again or if policy changed.

An overhaul of immigration laws allowing a path to citizenship would be necessary, Fearnow said, to remove that uncertainty.

Fearnow's employer, Peck Law Firm, recently received word that another deportation case — this one involving a minor from El Salvador — was put on hold indefinitely. She said it likely was due to the directive. The teenager's father had a special legal status granted temporarily to certain Central Americans, but that didn't automatically transfer to his son, who entered the U.S. illegally after his mother abandoned him.

Immigration officials initially rejected the request to let the teen stay. Fearnow said it later was granted after lawyers re-submitted paperwork in light of the policy change.

Neither Cervantes nor the teenager's case clears up a big question raised by the policy shift: how generous will the government be in distributing work permits to illegal immigrants whose deportations are suspended. The Salvadoran teen already had a temporary work permit. Cervantes was not formally employed; he earns money by collecting and selling recyclable materials.

Fearnow said Cervantes and his parents now have some peace of mind.

"For now, he is not going to be deported," she said.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1224, cindy.gonzalez@owh.com

http://www.omaha.com/article/20111002/N ... 0029902/-1

How could he know he has anxiety if he doesn't have both oars in the water in the first place??

Deport the whole clan.........

I see them around here. Homeless illegals lying in the park or on a bench somewhere; probably getting some welfare assistance from someone or at least free food..

Omaha attorney Kristin Fearnow called the decision great news for Cervantes, an autistic and moderately mentally retarded 30-year-old who now can remain with his parents without the anxiety of a long court battle

If he was with his parents and they were SO helpful, what was he doing pushing a grocery cart and dumpster diving? What a bunch of BS.