Thread: Immigration cases being tossed by the hundreds

Houston: Has Amnesty already started?

Immigration cases being tossed by the hundreds
Docket review pulls curtain back on procedure by Homeland Security

By SUSAN CARROLL
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Oct. 15, 2010, 9:03PM

In the month after Homeland Security officials started a review of Houston's immigration court docket, immigration judges dismissed more than 200 cases, an increase of more than 700 percent from the prior month, new data shows.

The number of dismissals in Houston courts reached 217 in August — up from just 27 in July, according to data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which administers the nation's immigration court system.

In September, judges dismissed 174 pending cases — the vast majority involving immigrants who already were out on bond and had cases pending on Houston's crowded downtown court docket, where hearings are now being scheduled into 2012. Roughly 45 percent of the 350 cases decided in that court in September resulted in dismissals, the records show.

The EOIR data offers the first glimpse into Homeland Security's largely secretive review of pending cases on the local immigration court docket. In early August, federal attorneys in Houston started filing unsolicited motions to dismiss cases involving suspected illegal immigrants who have lived in the country for years without committing serious crimes.

News of the dismissals, first reported in the Houston Chronicle in late August, caused a national controversy amid allegations that the Obama administration was implementing a kind of "backdoor amnesty" — a charge officials strongly denied.

In recent weeks, some immigration attorneys reported the dismissals have slowed somewhat, while others reported they now have to ask ICE trial attorneys to exercise prosecutorial discretion in order to have their cases dismissed. Others, however, said they are still being approached by government attorneys seeking to file joint motions for case dismissal.

"They're still doing it," said immigration attorney Steve Villarreal. "They're just doing it quietly."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials declined this week to discuss specifics of the docket reviews and dismissals, which are also going on in several other cities, including Dallas and Miami.

In response to the Houston EOIR data, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Brigham noted that immigration judges can terminate cases for other than prosecutorial discretion, such as when ICE does not meet its burden of proof. The Houston immigration courts averaged about 38 case terminations each month in the 10 months prior to the DHS review.

Broad set of criteria

ICE has tried to downplay the docket reviews, suggesting in some media accounts that they were limited to cases involving illegal immigrants with pending petitions filed by U.S. citizen relatives.

However, EOIR's liaison with the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Raed Gonzalez, said he was briefed on the guidelines in August directly by DHS' deputy chief counsel in Houston and described a broader set of internal criteria.

Government attorneys in Houston were instructed to exercise prosecutorial discretion on a case-by-case basis for illegal immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least two years and have no serious criminal history, Gonzalez said. To qualify for dismissal, defendants also must have no felony record or any misdemeanor convictions involving DWI, sex crimes or domestic violence, he said.

Several dismissed cases examined by the Chronicle involved defendants without U.S. citizen relatives but with arguments for dismissal on humanitarian grounds, such as illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who have stayed out of trouble and are enrolled in college.

Supporters of the review called it a necessary, common-sense step to reduce the system's staggering backlog, which hit an all-time high this year. In June, the number of pending immigration cases nationally reached 247,922, including 7,444 in Houston.

By moving to dismiss cases for people who have stayed out of trouble, the agency will be better able to use its limited resources to more rapidly deport those with serious criminal records, supporters said.

"It makes all of the sense in the world," John Nechman, a Houston immigration attorney, said of the review, which has led the dismissals of cases for several of his clients.

Dismissed, but still illegal

The dismissals essentially mean that officials are no longer actively trying to remove defendants through the immigration court system, though they can refile such charges at a later date. The dismissals do not convey any kind of legal status, so recipients remain illegal immigrants and cannot work legally in the U.S.

But critics still charge that the dismissals show the government is not enforcing the law.

"When you have this kind of mass dismissal, it sends a very clear message to illegal immigrants, and to society at large, that the government is not serious about enforcing the laws," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that advocates for stricter border controls.

"This type of action muddles the message so both the public at large as well as illegal immigrants don't know what to think."

susan.carroll@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 49505.html

The dismissals essentially mean that officials are no longer actively trying to remove defendants through the immigration court system, though they can refile such charges at a later date. The dismissals do not convey any kind of legal status, so recipients remain illegal immigrants and cannot work legally in the U.S.

Dismissing deportation proceedings against ANY KNOWN illegal invader is a violation of existing law. Obviously, there are way too many people within our judicial branch who believe illegal invaders should receive amnesty and are doing their part to make it happen!

This is disgusting!

this all Obama doing
he has the say in everything look at what they are doing to our country the muslin come over Bomb NYC he should have bomb them also . & them not let them In our country at all . & then they try to bomb . again & let them go sorry he In jail now Big s//// he should Have get the chair & now he said if became President he would have them get DR Lic . he did Obama don't live the American not all well he has the fight on his hand . this is our country . & we are going to fight SB & every one that in the WH get the hell Out we want some one that care about Our country . & it sure in hell Not you or yoru wife . hillary . Gov Jan
Joe. Or Donald T
Save Our Country
Thank you fro the News ALIPAC ICE do your Job Help the American

SPEAKING of HOUSTON,I'm shooting for a charter amendment to mandate E-Verify for all employers. Please visit my site: www.stopthemagnet.com
It's for the 2012 ballot & I need 20k CITY OF HOUSTON REGISTERED VOTERS. Volunteer opportunities are available.

It does not matter who you deport they will be back within a month. This is a waste of time and money until we literally seal the border. The criminals (above and beyond breaking the law of illegal entry) we deport are the ones who will definately be back so they can continue their molesting, drug trafficking, duis, and identity theft on the Amercain public. It is all a jokeand a massive waste of money. Seal the border first then deport all of them!!

added to homepage
http://www.alipac.us/article5748.html

We need to get behind the Ohio Sherif and sue MEXICO and the 11 other Latin American nations that filed against SB1070. We need to sue them for all the expenses incurred by their citizens and all the crimes they have committed and the expense of deporting them even. We need to sue them to build a fence to control illegal immigration just like Mexico is building on its' southern border.

http://www.journal-news.com/news/hamilt ... 78315.html

Lots of these so-called "educated" people have no common sense. I remember when they were trying to pass NAFTA and the news propaganda said that educated people understood and supported it while the un-educated were against it. Well golly gee. Turned out the un-educated were right. HUH? Same for most issues including health care reform. It's all about more money in their pockets and impoverishing us more - that is all it is. Our masters are so driven by greed and profit they they could really care less to farm us properly to get the maximum good usage out of us. It is very clear that we are a very cheap commodity to them but they just have to take care to maintain the facade so we don't wake up and do the right thing in unison. So tell that "educated" Shelly Bromberg to SHUT-UP. Mexico could care less about "harming" the U.S./Mexico relationship so we had better play by the same rules if we wish to survive. This is all a complicated dance to create more excessive wealth for the few and to hell with the rest of us peons they think.

Why should we have due process when it comes to illegals? Clearly they broke the law, so whats the need for immigration court hearings?

No wonder illegal immigration continues on our borders and by sea (as the increase we've seen in Southern CA) with news like this. Our government may as well put out the red carpet for them.
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700% Increase in Dismissed Cases in Houston Immigration Court

by Matthew Kolken October 16, 2010



The Houston Chronicle has reported that after Department of Homeland Security attorneys began a review of immigration cases in Houston, Immigration Judges dismissed more than 200 deportation cases, a 700% increase over the previous month.

Executive Office for Immigration Review data reveals that this August Houston Immigration Judges dismissed 217 cases. There were only 27 dismissals in July prior to the review. In September, Immigration Judges dismissed 174 deportation cases. It has been estimated that 45% of 350 cases decided in the Houston Immigration Court were dismissed by Immigration Judges in the month of September.

EOIR liaison Raed Gonzalez confirms that Government attorneys in Houston have been instructed to look at each individual case and consider moving to terminate proceedings if it is determined that the immigrant has lived in the U.S. for at least two years and has no criminal history. This includes having no felony or misdemeanor convictions involving DWI, sex crimes or domestic violence.

It will be very interesting to see if this trend spreads to immigration courts outside of Texas

www.groundreport.com

Originally Posted by JSealsx4203

Why should we have due process when it comes to illegals? Clearly they broke the law, so whats the need for immigration court hearings?

The liberal left has pushed politically correct BS so far down our throats it's accepted as REALITY!