Illegal immigrant Uber driver raped passenger then fled to native Ghana, police say
6 hrs ago
By Lucia I. Suarez Sang | Fox News
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Frederick Amdo, an Uber driver from Ghana, was arrested in connection with a rape in Weymouth, Mass. He was released on $10,00 bail and has since fled the county. (Weymouth Police Department)
An Uber driver charged with raping a passenger earlier this month was able to walk free because officials failed to notify immigration agents about his arrest, authorities said.
Frederick Amfo, 30, an illegal immigrant from Ghana, was arrested after a female passenger said that on April 8 he forced her into the backseat of his car and raped her, police said. Hours after he was released from police custody, he fled to his native Ghana. He was supposed to surrender his passport but did not.
“A loss for words,” Emily Murray, the victim who insisted on being identified by the press, told Boston 25. “I was angry, I’m still angry. I’m confused.”
(video may be viewed at source link)
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Boston 25 that a federal immigration detainer should have been placed on Amfo. Weymouth police claimed it forwarded the detainer to Quincy District Court.
“The court chose not to forward the detainer to Norfolk County, allowing for his subsequent release on bail from custody,” the agency said in a statement. “This case highlights the potential dangers of policies that prohibit cooperation with ICE.”
The court told the Patriot Ledger that there was no record of an immigration detainer at the time of his arraignment.
A ruling last year made Massachusetts a sanctuary state – meaning illegal immigrants accused of a crime cannot be transferred to immigration officials.
Murray claims on April 8 she was trying to get home when Amfo allegedly locked the doors to his vehicle and sexually assaulted her in the backseat.
“Within minutes, I was in a situation I couldn’t control and I was assaulted,” she said.
Police said DNA collected from a rape kit and Amfo’s car led to his arrest days later.
Amfo was charged with sexual assault. On Friday, a Quincy District Court set bail at $10,000 and he was given a stay away order.
Court records show that Amfo was also given 24 hours to surrender his passport if he made bail. But he made bail later that afternoon without surrendering his passport.
Three days later, Murray was told that Amfo had fled to Ghana.
“If I went to Ghana and I committed a crime, I wouldn’t expect to be able to hop on plane and say sorry about that, here’s some money,” she said Tuesday. “I would expect to answer for it. Accountability. And there had been just zero.”
She told the Boston Herald that Amfo is a coward.
“He proclaims his innocence and then just leaves?” she said. “I feel hurt. … People get blamed for not coming forward and then get victimized more when they do.”
She said she doesn’t believe she will ever get justice.
“But I hope this shines a light and it won’t happen in the future,” she said, “because of me coming forward and me releasing my name and putting a face behind this whole situation.”
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/18...olice-say.html
'Culture of a Sanctuary State': Steyn Rips Massachusetts After Illegal Immigrant Cabb
'Culture of a Sanctuary State': Steyn Rips Massachusetts After Illegal Immigrant Cabbie Allegedly Rapes Woman, Flees to Ghana
April 18, 2018
Mark Steyn blasted the state of Massachusetts after an illegal immigrant working as an Uber driver allegedly raped a passenger, was released on bail and fled back to Africa.
As FoxNews.com reported:
An Uber driver charged with raping a passenger earlier this month was able to walk free because officials failed to notify immigration agents about his arrest, authorities said.
Frederick Amfo, 30, an illegal immigrant from Ghana, was arrested after a female passenger said that on April 8 he forced her into the backseat of his car and raped her, police said. Hours after he was released from police custody, he fled to his native Ghana. He was supposed to surrender his passport but did not.
“A loss for words,” Emily Murray, the victim who insisted on being identified by the press, told Boston 25. “I was angry, I’m still angry. I’m confused.”
A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Boston 25 that a federal immigration detainer should have been placed on Amfo. Weymouth police claimed it forwarded the detainer to Quincy District Court.
“The court chose not to forward the detainer to Norfolk County, allowing for his subsequent release on bail from custody,” the agency said in a statement. “This case highlights the potential dangers of policies that prohibit cooperation with ICE.”
"Why was Uber even employing this undocumented person?" immigration attorney Raul Reyes asked.
Steyn blamed Amfo's successful escape on "the culture in Massachusetts of a sanctuary state."
Reyes said that recently, the Bay State's supreme court ruled that local jurisdictions cannot hold illegal immigrants awaiting ICE detainers, citing Fourth Amendment protections.
Steyn said there is no way a Ghanaian national who is not an American citizen has any Fourth Amendment protections to speak of.
In 2017, Gov. Charlie Baker (R-Mass.) reportedly drafted a bill that would have somewhat neutered the court ruling and allowed local law enforcement to hold subjects who face deportation, according to Reuters.
http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/04/1...k-steyn-reacts
Ghanaian Illegal Alien Accused of Rape and Games the System to Evade Justice
By MATT O'BRIEN April 20, 2018
Frederick Amfo, an Uber driver was recently arrested in Massachusetts and charged with the rape of a passenger. That’s not particularly shocking. Sadly, sexual assaults by cabbies and rideshare drivers have become all too common. Uber is currently facing a class action lawsuit from riders alleging that they were abused by drivers. And at least one firm has begun offering legal services specifically marketed at victims of “Uber assault.”
What’s shocking about Amfo’s case is how the courts in the Bay State disregarded his immigration status when setting his bail. Amfo is a citizen of Ghana and was unlawfully present in the United States. After being arraigned, and paying his bail, he caught the first plane back to his homeland.
How did an accused foreigner evade the bar of justice so easily? Through the unfortunate confluence of progressive policies that improperly focus on the “rights” of illegal aliens, and foreign criminals, rather than the interests of American crime victims.
In the United States, incarcerating a criminal defendant prior to conviction is unconstitutional – unless the defendant is likely to flee the jurisdiction or to pose a danger to the community. However, high bail, or no bail, is perfectly acceptable if the defendant presents a significant flight risk. And illegal aliens are, by definition, a significant flight risk.
Nevertheless, the court that arraigned Amfo seems to have ignored his immigration status, imposing only $10,000 cash bail and giving him 24 hours to surrender his passport. This type of leniency is common in Massachusetts, which is a sanctuary state in all but name.
To make matters worse, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) promptly issued a detainer asking local police to hold Amfo for arrest on deportation charges. But, the district court appears to have chosen not to forward the detainer to the Norfolk County Jail, which released Amfo once his bail was posted.
The decision not to forward ICE’s detention request to the jail was most likely based on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts’ holding in Sreyon Lunn v. Commonwealth, which found that Bay State law enforcement officers have no legal authority to hold an alien pursuant to an ICE civil detainer. Although, the court claims that it never received any detainer from ICE. But that assertion seems highly suspect, in light of the state’s sanctuary stance and repeated judicial decisions thwarting local police efforts to cooperate with immigration authorities.
Forgotten in all of the excessive concern about potential violations of “rights” that illegal aliens do not actually possess is the complainant, Ms. Emily Murray, of Weymouth, Mass. Waiving protections available under rape shield laws, and press conventions regarding the identity of sexual assault victims, Ms. Murray has publicly addressed the system’s utter failure to preserve her interests. And no rational observer can help wondering whether Amfo was attracted to Massachusetts simply because of its sanctuary policies and extreme leniency toward immigration violators.
Let’s hope the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has finally taken Ms. Murray’s interests to heart and is coordinating with the Departments of Justice and State to secure Amfo’s return to America, to stand trial. The U.S. has had an extradition treaty with Ghana since 1931. And the Law Library of Congress indicates that Ghana generally responds to extradition requests. So, it’s possible that Amfo may yet be brought to justice.
https://immigrationreform.com/2018/0...evade-justice/
