Thread: TN-Valid IDs may not keep immigrants out of jail

Valid IDs may not keep immigrants out of jail
Police often don't recognize nonstandard identification
By JANELL ROSS • Staff Writer • September 21, 2008

Read Comments(15)! Jose Estrada sipped chocolate milk outside a Madison coin-operated laundry just after sunrise, waiting for his boss to arrive and open the door.

Metro police Officer James Pearce patrolled the neighborhood along Dickerson Pike, one having trouble with break-ins.


Their chance meeting, Estrada's identification and Pearce's assessment of it led to Estrada's arrest on criminal impersonation charges and possible deportation.

The case brings to light the challenges immigrants face in proving their identity clearly enough to avoid an arrest. Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, Mexican voter registrations and consulate-issued cards aren't always enough to keep them out of jail. And a police spokesman admits not all officers can recognize valid ID outside what typical Tennesseans carry.

Juana Villegas, nine months pregnant at the time, was taken to jail in July after showing an officer her matricula consular — an ID issued by Mexican consulates and bearing the carrier's name, photo, and date and place of birth. Villegas made national news after giving birth while in custody.

What ultimately happened to Estrada raised enough questions that his attorney, the district attorney's office and a judge agreed two weeks ago to set aside Estrada's guilty plea. He'll face a new hearing on the criminal impersonation charges, and he'll also face an immigration judge because sheriff's officials at the jail alerted federal authorities that Estrada entered the country illegally. That office's participation in the 287g program, named for a section of federal law, gives it limited authority for immigration enforcement.

"This case is the perfect storm," said attorney Elliott Ozment, who is handling Estrada's and Villegas' cases. "It demonstrates the multitude of wrongs created by some wrong-headed policies about state ID and the litany of outrages that are just a regular part of the 287g program as implemented by the sheriff to remove so-called dangerous criminals from Davidson County."

Metro police spokesman Don Aaron said police have a responsibility to protect public safety, and that can include making arrests for what some consider minor crimes.

Estrada said he crossed the border illegally in 1996 and has used a government-issued tax ID number to pay taxes since 1999. He's been ticketed twice for driving without a license since coming to the U.S.

ID called insufficient
Sept. 2 started for Estrada much like many other workdays. His common-law wife — the only adult in the family with a driver's license — dropped him off at a work site identified by Estrada's boss around 5:45 a.m. Pearce approached him shortly afterward and asked to see some ID.

Estrada produced one card with his photo and address and a second laminated but tattered card, Aaron said. The laminated card included some information written in ink.

Estrada said Pearce then pulled up two records and photos for a Jose Estrada from a statewide database accessible in his cruiser computer. One record, Estrada said he told Pearce, was not him. The other record was his — he held a state-issued ID that expired in 2004.

Estrada, who speaks some English, said he also tried to explain that the laminated card was his decade-old Individual Taxpayer Identification Number card, issued to individuals not eligible for Social Security numbers but who need to pay income tax.

"I kept saying, 'This is my card, this is my tax ID number, this is my card. It's real,' " said Estrada, who gave his attorney the original Internal Revenue Service letter that came with the card. "I was waiting for work one moment, in jail and convicted the next. But I don't have fake documents."

In the middle of Estrada's conversation with Pearce, Estrada's boss and the boss's son arrived at the laundry. The men vouched for Estrada's identity, Estrada said. When a second worker — a Mexican national with a green card — arrived, Pearce asked that worker to also supply ID, Estrada said.

Pearce decided to arrest Estrada. On his arrest report he described the ITIN card as a "fake Social Security card." His report reads: "After being handed suspect's Social Security card (it was hand written) and there was name differences in the state D.L. records and the Social Security card, suspect was arrested because I was unsure who suspect actually was."

Cards not recognized
Aaron said officers are expected to understand the earmarks of a valid Tennessee-issued ID or driver's license but not those of another state, such as Iowa. Officers typically learn about the intricacies of other legitimate and fake documents with experience, he said.

Pearce has been a Metro police officer since 1996. He declined an interview through Aaron.

Aaron also said department policy calls for the officer to consider a wide variety of other documents — vehicle registrations, utility bills, work and school IDs, and others — when establishing a person's identity. If an arrest is made, the officer has to explain why what the person provided wasn't sufficient ID.

Immigrant advocates who have searched probable cause affidavits said a pattern emerged: Local officers don't understand or refuse to recognize ID issued by other nations.

"You will see over and over again that the person had 'a Hispanic ID card,' " said Stephen Fotopulos, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

He said moves to restrict giving state-issued ID to immigrants ineligible for driver's licenses aren't in the public's best interest.

"It is a compelling interest of the city for everyone who lives here to be able to identify themselves no matter who they are," Fotopulos said. "What makes this situation even more problematic is the fact that, one, many immigrants have limited access to (U.S.) government-issued ID and, two, law enforcement officers are largely uninformed about what a legitimate ID is."

After telling his public defender he needed to get home to his wife and self-injurious autistic son, plus he didn't have bail money, the attorney advised him the quickest way out would be to plead guilty to his criminal impersonation charge, Estrada said. He did.

But with that plea set aside, Estrada faces a new hearing Sept. 29. No matter the outcome on the state charge, Estrada will have to see an immigration judge at a yet-to-be-set court date and request a change in his immigration status.

"All of that because I was waiting for my boss," Estrada said.

Contact Janell Ross at 615-726-5982 or jross1@tennessean.com.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... /809210378

But with that plea set aside, Estrada faces a new hearing Sept. 29. No matter the outcome on the state charge, Estrada will have to see an immigration judge at a yet-to-be-set court date and request a change in his immigration status.

So looks like even if they come here illegally the immigration Judges can change their illegal status.

Also if they came to this country legally, they would have a passport or green card!