Thread: Judge advises rehab for immigrant teen

Judge advises rehab for immigrant teen

Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 14, 2006 12:00 AM

A Maricopa County Juvenile Court judge on Friday sentenced a 16-year-old to six months in a juvenile detention center and recommended that he receive treatment for his drug problem, against the wishes of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

Thomas says that because the boy is in the country illegally, that rehabilitation would be in violation of Proposition 200, voted into law in 2004, which denies social-service benefits to people in the country illegally.

Judge Jonathan Schwartz, who can only recommend but not order the rehab, admitted that the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections was free to make its own legal evaluation. And he said his order would include the information that the boy is an undocumented immigrant.

Everyone involved felt that Schwartz had ruled in his or her favor.

The boy's mother felt her son would finally get help.

"The state has wanted to keep this kid from getting treatment," said his attorney, Albert Duncan. "He (the judge) failed to order that this kid was not eligible to receive services."

But Thomas called the decision, "A complete and historic victory. We received the relief we requested."

And he suggested that the battle may now be moved to another day in another courtroom if Juvenile Corrections decides to put the boy in rehab.

The youth, a 16-year-old identified in court records only as M.B., was arrested in November for possession of heroin and marijuana. The boy's mother, Patricia Luna Fernandez, said that she had called police herself because the youth was beyond her control and she caught him with heroin.

She said that he had drug problems before he came to Arizona from Mexico.

M.B. was found to be delinquent in Maricopa County Juvenile Court, and his probation officer recommended that he be incarcerated in a juvenile facility where he could get drug rehabilitation in Spanish.



Thomas objected.

"That family in Mexico should not be able to export his drug problem so that taxpayers can foot the bill in violation of state law," he said.

But whether it is in violation of state law is a matter of contention. The Arizona Attorney General's Office has issued an opinion that it is not. Deputy County Attorney Anne Longo requested an evidentiary hearing to determine whether or not M.B. was in the country legally, which determined that M.B. was indeed in Arizona illegally.

"To me, that is the greater victory," Thomas said. "We now have the Superior Court conducting an immigration status hearing in a criminal case."

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clickt ... b1014.html

What about the boys mother, who is checking out her immigration status? If they are both illegal immigrants - ship 'em home immediately!

See, this is what never happens. They can even make TV appearances or be in the newspaper and ICE never pays them a visit.