Local immigration raids show little effect
Few face ouster, but DA defends his enforcement effort

By Riley Yates | Of The Morning Call
January 25, 2009

For years, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli has pursued illegal immigrants in efforts that have given him national status as a crusader on a hot-button political issue.

In interviews with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and on CNN's ''Lou Dobbs Tonight,''Morganelli has defended local raids against businesses hiring illegal immigrants as necessary, given a lack of action at the federal level.

But despite the high visibility, Morganelli has had little success, court records show.

At the federal level, deportations of illegal immigrants Morganelli arrested for false identification or fake Social Security cards were not the rule, a review of 94 cases from 2004 to 2007 by The Morning Call showed. At the local level, slim prison sentences -- if there was prison time at all -- were the norm.

The results demonstrate what Morganelli and other critics of federal immigration enforcement have long contended: that deportations, even for those arrested for crimes, are not guaranteed. They also raise doubts about how successful local authorities are in battling a traditionally federal problem.

''What you have is an unnecessary use of resources which could have been better used fighting real crime -- violent crime and other crime that affects society,'' said David Vaida, an Allentown attorney who has long been critical of Morganelli's policy.

Of the 94 cases reviewed, just one person was actually deported. According to Northampton County and federal court records, seventeen individuals left the country voluntarily, one case is on appeal and one person did not show up for federal court proceedings. No recorded immigration action was taken against the other 74.

On the local level, Morganelli's raids did bring guilty pleas for identity theft, tampering with records and similar crimes. But the charges did not produce hefty punishments: Only 7 percent led to prison sentences beyond time served, and the most severe was a five- to 23-month sentence for identity theft and tampering with records, court records show.

Morganelli defended his approach, regardless of its results in federal or county courts, saying he cannot control how immigration officials or county judges handle the cases.

The raids are about prosecuting violations of state law and making clear that Northampton County isn't a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, he said.

The results ''bother me, but there is nothing I can do about it,'' Morganelli said. ''It doesn't deter me from enforcing the law.''

Panic and fear

Morganelli compared the effort to police patrols aimed at speeding drivers. ''Not every speeder gets arrested, but that doesn't mean we aren't going to arrest speeders.

''When there's a raid in which 20 illegals were arrested, that deters illegals from coming here,'' Morganelli said. ''We're seeing after raids a lot of people who were living in the neighborhoods abscond. We see people pack up and leave.''

The raids have instilled fear in the Lehigh Valley's Hispanic community, said Erika Sutherland, a Muhlenberg College professor who runs an immigration support group.

Sutherland said she knows of immigrants who avoided reporting crimes against them because they worried they would be arrested and deported. Most often, she said, she sees that in cases of domestic violence, with women who won't seek protection from their partners.

Morganelli ''has really created a sense of panic among immigrants,'' Sutherland said. ''There's definitely a sense of panic and fear in Northampton County.''

An official with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Philadelphia disputed whether only about 20 of the 94 immigrants left the country, saying that others likely agreed to go without a court hearing. But he said he could not provide documentation to back the claim.

Spokesman Mark Medvesky also said that ICE's priorities have changed since Morganelli began his raids, with an added focus on deporting illegal immigrants convicted of crimes.

In 12 months ending Sept. 1, ICE's Philadelphia office filed immigration charges against 5,051 illegal immigrants who were in jail on criminal convictions, a 30 percent increase from the year before, according to agency data.

In December, ICE launched a system in two southeast Pennsylvania counties to automatically check the immigration history of anyone booked into jail. Bucks and Montgomery became the first Pennsylvania counties to be part of the program, which ICE says helps ensure greater numbers of deportations.

''As the agency has matured, so have its programs to work with and support local law enforcement with their investigations of illegal aliens,'' Medvesky said in a written statement.

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