Thread: Illegal immigrants rarely face deportation

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readartic ... 842&z=3&p=

Illegal immigrants rarely face deportation
David Sutta
Last updated on: 7/7/2006 6:19:17 PM

LEE COUNTY: Many illegal immigrants committing crimes in Southwest Florida are arrested, convicted, serve time and then are released without being deported. Local law enforcement officials say there is nothing they can do about it.

Jail overcrowding in Lee County has become such an issue, that deputies chose not to book 9 johns arrested in a prostitution sting. Instead they we're given notices to appear.

A closer look at the arrest reports indicates many of those picked up are not citizens of the United States.

We combed over three prostitution stings done over the last six months by the Fort Myers Police Department and the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Of the 31 booking reports we looked at, only 14 of those arrested are citizens of the United States. Eleven are citizens of Mexico, Guatemala, and Brazil. The other six have an undetermined legal status.

Every day illegal immigrants are arrested in Southwest Florida. They are processed, many times convicted and then released.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement says illegal immigrants are supposed to be deported regardless of whether it is a misdemeanor or felony.{me- }

However, according to an internal policy memo, immigration officers "Will generally not be deployed to take custody of suspected aliens stopped by a FHP officer or sheriff's deputy."

Law enforcement is told to report only serious offenses that constitute deportation such as murder, trafficking of firearms, and money laundering.

If it's a misdemeanor, such as picking up a prostitute, or a traffic ticket, illegal immigrants won't be deported.

It happens everyday. For example: Nivaldo Damota who was charged with soliciting a prostitute has been ticketed four times in the last year for traffic offenses.

Diego Us, a Mexican national, who was also charged with soliciting a prostitute skipped his trial all together and is now a wanted man.

Neither is a citizen of the US but they're back on the streets.

We asked the State Attorney's Office for comment on this policy, especially since these arrests increase their case load. They declined to comment, only stating that they are frustrated with any cases involving people who re-offend.

Me Too! {oh shoot--can't get the little man to come up so use your imagination}

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement says illegal immigrants are supposed to be deported regardless of whether it is a misdemeanor or felony.{me- }

http://www.gallatinnewsexaminer.com/app ... 309/MTCN04

Saturday, 07/08/06

Illegals who do crimes not deported
Grand jury: No plan exists to expel repeat offenders

By SHEILA BURKE
and TRAVIS LOLLER
Staff Writers


Gustavo Reyes Garcia had been jailed at least 14 times before he was accused of driving drunk and smashing into a sedan in last month, killing a Mt. Juliet couple.

Ruben Hernandez Martinez was cited or arrested three times on misdemeanor charges before police said he began terrorizing women, committing a series of armed home invasions and rapes in south Nashville in 1997 and 1998. He was jailed in Nashville last month after being extradited from Mexico.

In both cases, the men were in the country illegally and federal authorities failed to deport them or take them into custody despite multiple previous contacts with law enforcement.

The cases point to a problem highlighted in a report by the Davidson County grand jury, which found that poor communication between local law enforcement and federal authorities was allowing some illegal aliens to commit crime after crime without being deported.

The report comes as the number of foreign-born people booked into Metro Jail each year continues to soar. The 4,173 foreign-born prisoners who moved through the Nashville lockup during the past fiscal year is nearly double the number booked five years ago, county figures show.

"Our concern is that there does not appear to be a clear plan of action to communicate their illegal status to the proper federal authorities," the grand jurors wrote in the report of their April-June term. "This is exemplified by the fact that in several cases, these individuals are repeat offenders."

For those who support a more lenient U.S. immigration policy, the cases are isolated incidents being used as political ammunition, but for those seeking a crackdown on illegal immigrants, the report offers another example of the U.S. government's failed policy for dealing with the estimated
12 million people in the country without proper documentation.

"I think they should be sent back to their home country," said Verna Wyatt of You Have the Power, a crime victims' advocacy group. "They break our laws. They don't respect our laws. And they're not here legally. They shouldn't be afforded the same consideration that our U.S. citizens would be afforded."

Jose Gonzalez, executive director of the Conexion Americas, which helps Midstate immigrants assimilate, worries that some politicians and activist groups are using some high-profile cases to "feed the ideology of hatred."

The legal system failed in cases such as Garcia's, he said, but not because he was illegal. It failed because it does not offer stiffer penalties for repeat traffic violators, he said.

"I support tough, tough laws for everybody for recurring traffic violations," Gonzalez said. "At some point, maybe deportation is the right thing to do. I'm not sure I'd oppose that."

Neither Metro Jail nor police officials track the number of illegal immigrants arrested in Davidson County. Instead, a computer program automatically informs federal immigration authorities any time a foreign-born inmate is booked into the jail, said a spokeswoman with the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail.

At that point, it becomes the responsibility of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to determine who is an illegal immigrant of interest and notify the jail to place an immigration hold on the prisoner.

The hold signals that the prisoner should be turned over to immigration once their case is adjudicated or their jail or prison sentences completed.

Metro officials said that holds are rare. During the fiscal year that ended June 30, local officials sent notifications of 4,173 foreign-born inmates. Of those, 844 were jailed on felony charges. Of those, federal officers requested immigration holds on 157.

It remains unclear precisely why no immigration action was taken after Gustavo Reyes Garcia's many arrests before the June 8 crash.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials refused to be interviewed for this report and instead issued a brief statement:

"ICE received four separate inquiries over a period of two years from officers with the Davidson County Sheriff's Office regarding the immigration status of individuals named Gustavo Reyes or Gustavo Garcia," the statement reads. "At the time of each of these inquiries, ICE was not aware that these appeared to relate to a single individual. Searches of ICE's database did not find immigration records that matched these names, however internal leads were generated."

An agency spokesman refused to elaborate.

Metro officials insisted this week that the notification would have been sent during each of Garcia's 14 previous arrests.

One person who shed some light on why Garcia and others may not have been taken into federal custody is Ron Kidd, who retired last year as head of investigations for the Nashville Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

He said the agency simply does not have the manpower to properly check out everyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant who is arrested. During his time at the Nashville office, just four investigators were assigned to cover 41 counties in Tennessee. In Davidson County, an estimated 300 to 400 foreign-born people were arrested each month.

Given that, someone such as Garcia, who was arrested numerous times but mostly for misdemeanor offenses, "wouldn't receive a very high priority," Kidd said.

The office tries "to focus on the worst of the worst," he said. That typically means people accused of serious and violent crimes.

"Obviously, it's a tragic situation and as law enforcement it makes you shudder, but there's really not a lot of blame to go around," Kidd said.

However, he said, that does not mean the county's automatic reporting system, which he helped put in place, does not work. Many times people who have been picked up for minor violations in Davidson County have been discovered to have committed more serious crimes elsewhere with the help of the agency's Law Enforcement Support Center, he said.

After the accident, agents placed an immigration hold on Garcia.

Too little, too late said one anti-illegal immigration activist, who believes that Garcia should have been sent home a long time ago.

Theresa Harmon, co-founder for Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policies, a group seeking tougher laws for illegal immigration, said the grand jury findings "hit the nail on the head" with its assessment of the problem.

Harmon said she was pessimistic the federal government has the will to dedicate the resources to solve the problem.

"You break any law and you're caught," she said, "and it's determined that you're here illegally, it should be automatic deportation."

Others hope the sensational cases of illegal immigrants running afoul of the law don't dominate the national debate.

"The vast majority of immigrants, documented and otherwise, are valuable members of our community," said Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition policy director Stephen Fotopulos. "They're working hard to contribute, just like the rest of us."

In Davidson County, an estimated 300 to 400 foreign-born people were arrested each month.

And how many of the 300 to 400 arrests are of illegal aliens? WOW that is a high number and just for 1 county...

The legal system failed in cases such as Garcia's, he said, but not because he was illegal. It failed because it does not offer stiffer penalties for repeat traffic violators, he said.

What an idiotic statement......."not because he was illegal".....if he had been deported, even after anyone of the first 16 offenses.....those people would still be alive. It took 17 to stop him. Makes you wonder just how many more are just like him and waiting for "death" to result for anything will be done. I live here and this whole city is disgusted, but our lovely democratic governor thinks they are all just great.

This is such an OUTRAGE! I can't believe they let this happen an no one of authority has stepped in to stop this. This makes me want to cry. This goes against everything they've ever told us even though I took it with a grain of salt. This is why we've had sooo many DUI deaths by repeat offenders.

I am just floored and can't believe that they tell us nobody has the power to do anything about it.

There is a Naval Ship yard in SW Florida. I wonder how long it takes to cross the Gulf. Load it up and ship them out! The Navy can practice amphibious invasion like Normandy. They can pull up on the coast of Mexico and Central America and let a load of them off. It think it is much needed practice.

mapwife,

I don't know about you but almost every person I encounter in my area has been injured by an uninsured illegal or has had a faimily member injured or killed. I'm sure the stastics are real high because there are way to many people talking to me about this and telling me personal experiences. I lost a car, to a Hispanic driver, in an unregistered and uninsured vehicle.

Dixie

Fortunately I haven't been a victim yet, but I've met others who have been.

Years ago, I worked in the booking area of the Sheriff's Dept. Any inmate that was booked, whether it have been a misdemeanor or a felony had a Border Patrol hold placed on them while in the jail so that even if they finished a sentence or were released by the judge on their initial appearance, they were held for Border Patrol to pick them up from the jail. I can't believe Border Patrol has gotten so lax that they don't even have this type of arrangements with the jail systems any more. I never did get a response I wrote to the Federal Atty for AZ about him only pursuing what he considered the more serious cases and letting the "minor" ones go uncharged.

"What a Country!" - Yakov Smirnoff