Jamaican draws two years for assault on ICE agent

December 12, 2011 10:10 PM

By JACQUELINE ARMENDARIZ/ The Brownsville Herald

A Jamaican immigration center detainee received a sentence of more than two years after he was convicted of assaulting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent earlier this year, government officials announced today.

According to a press release, 23-year-old Kemar Ramon James slapped the hand of a Port Isabel Detention Center officer and cut an ICE agent’s face when he punched the agent during a dorm search in July 2010. James is convicted of assaulting and obstructing a federal agent.

The agent’s injury required two stitches, according to the press release.

James formerly had legal permanent resident status in the United States, the release said, and pleaded guilty to assaulting and obstructing an immigration agent, but later withdrew his guilty plea, the release said. He was convicted by a jury in October 2011.

James was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson and Deborah Achim, acting field office director of ICE – Enforcement Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) in San Antonio, said in a press release.

He appeared before U.S. District Judge Hilda G. Tagle, who noted James’s behavior while in immigration and federal custody, including other assaults and disruptive incidents, the release said.

At the time of the incident, James was in administrative custody pending removal proceedings set to take place before an immigration court, the release said. On the day of the incident, July 22, 2010, another detainee refused to follow agents’ directions.

"When detention officers and an ICE agent were attempting to escort that detainee out of the area, James approached the agent and stated that the other detainee was not going anywhere," the release said.

According to the release, one of the detention officers shifted his attention to James and gestured for James to move back from the ICE agent and the other detainee. When the detention officer placed his hand out, James slapped the officer’s hand away and punched the ICE agent when the agent attempted to make James step away, the release said.

According to the release, James then resisted being restrained.

"During James’ transport away from the area, James bragged to a supervisory ICE agent that he had knocked down an ICE agent and later threatened to attack another agent," the release said.

After completing his sentence, James will be on supervised release for three years with special a condition that he not illegally re-enter the United States, the release said. James has been ordered removed by an immigration judge and will likely be removed to Jamaica after his release from federal prison, the release said.

This case was investigated by ICE-ERO and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph T. Leonard

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