Thread: Local low-level offenders low priority for immigration

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgaz ... 262598.htm

Posted on Sun, Aug. 13, 2006

Local low-level offenders low priority for immigration

By Rebecca S. Green
The Journal Gazette

As the population of illegal immigrants in the U.S. climbs to an estimated 12 million people, area courts and law enforcement find themselves dealing with a greater number of undocumented residents on the wrong side of the criminal justice system.

But they have found an immigration system increasingly less inclined to deal with the minor offenders who make up the majority of the defendants.

Even though they are not legal U.S. residents, undocumented immigrants are entitled to the same protections within the criminal justice system as legal residents and citizens, and the same punishments such as probation or prison.

But with immigration officials turning much of their attention to terrorism and violent crimes involving immigrants, local officials have seen a decline in the number of immigrants convicted of low-level offenses being returned to their native countries.

“Immigration enforcement is a farce,” said David Kolbe, a Kosciusko County defense attorney. “Somebody needs to step out and say we need to do this. It’s like a huge elephant in the room, and somebody needs to do something.”

But immigration officials often direct their attention to other, more menacing, areas.

Kolbe serves many Spanish-speaking clients in the Warsaw area, and is on the board of “Sus Amigos,” a non-profit organization working with area Hispanics.

A former prosecutor who speaks a “little bit of Spanish” in his work with Hispanic defendants, Kolbe said he has never seen officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement respond to any of his cases. And the majority of them have dealt with undocumented workers.

When he served as prosecutor from 1995 to 1999, Kolbe said he felt his office should advise undocumented defendants of the possibility they could be deported.

“That became pointless because we didn’t see that happening,” he said.

It’s not that officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are not receptive, said Ron Babcock, Kosciusko County chief probation officer.

If law enforcement or probation officials call immigration with any information on a foreign-born individual, the agency will take that information, he said.

But, he said, immigration and customs officials have their priorities – terrorists are first followed by immigrants who meet deportation standards because of the level of their crimes. Immigration officials are not going to bother with lower-level felons and misdemeanants, Babcock said.

Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Lt. Steve Knisple, who heads the county’s work release program, said the current situation is like having a tiger by the tail, but it is not a problem that came up overnight.

Area law enforcement is not out to enforce the federal administration’s will on immigration, he said, but it does look toward the federal government for direction.

But if current estimates of 12 million illegal immigrants are accurate, then the situation is going to be a major problem, Knisple said.

Knisple said it can be difficult to determine whether an immigrant is a legal resident. Officials in Noble County agree.

“We do the best we can do to determine it,” said Stacey Beam, Noble County’s chief probation officer. “But sometimes we’re not able to.”

Both Beam and James Hunt, Noble County probation officer, who handles all Spanish-speaking probationers, said probation officers’ main concern is to help the probationer complete the program successfully.

“Our job is to make sure they follow what they are supposed to do,” Beam said. “We don’t look at it and say we need to treat them differently than anybody else.”

Eric Zimmerman, Allen County’s chief probation officer, said his department used to have a process just a few years ago in which after an illegal immigrant was convicted, federal agents would come in and start the deportation process. He said that has backed off.

“We’re certainly seeing a lot more of undocumented or illegals in our court system on probation,” he said.

Gail Montenegro, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Chicago area, said the federal government is targeting many areas of illegal immigration, such as employers violating immigration laws, criminal networks that smuggle undocumented immigrants across U.S. borders and tracking down immigration fugitives throughout the country.

But dealing with the illegal immigrants who are here and break state and local laws is not always handled with the same focus as other immigration initiatives.

“Pretty much it’s on a case-by-case basis,” she said. “You take into consideration all our different priorities and we have leads coming in from many different sources.”

According to Montenegro, the Chicago office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which covers six states including Indiana, deported 6,300 illegal immigrants during the last fiscal year. Nationally, immigration officials deported 167,000.

Those are record numbers, more than any year in the agency’s history, Montenegro said.

“We are contacted by various probation offices, and if it is somebody that we’re interested in and we have the personnel available, we will show up when that person is to show up for probation and take them into custody,” she said.

Immigration officials will respond to “aggravated felons” – those who are convicted of violent crimes such as murder, rape, or other violent or drug offenses, Montenegro said.

However, because of the seriousness of these offenses, they would result in a legal resident being deported if convicted.

She said law enforcement officers can also call a 24-hour hotline to immigration officials, and if needed, immigration will tell law enforcement to hold the illegal immigrant to be picked up.

Babcock estimates there are about 10 illegal immigrants on probation in Kosciusko County, and those who have been on probation in the past complete the requirements of probation at the same rate of success as those who are legal residents or citizens.

He said they are not a “drain” on his department, but Kosciusko County judges are reluctant to sentence someone who does not speak English to probation because of the language barrier.

Babcock said they will often use suspended sentences without a term of probation, or jail.

Zimmerman said Allen County does see illegal immigrants on probation sometimes two and three times as repeat offenders.

His office will supervise them if the court orders them to serve probation, he said.

“Once they start the process, we still notify a federal agency that we have an illegal or an undocumented individual and we wait to see if they’re going to do anything,” Zimmerman said.

However, if those individuals violate their probation, it can be a frustration because they are sent to the Indiana Department of Correction, where they are housed at a rate of $55 a day to the Indiana taxpayers, he said.

Rosa Gerra, executive director of United Hispanic Americans, said the situation for illegal immigrants is a “sad and complex” one.

“This problem is across the country, and it’s not just going to jail,” she said. “It’s everything.”

Workers are drawn here by employers who want to hire them, Gerra said.

“There’s no way they can (all) be deported because they’re not running around with a brand on their forehead that says ‘I am an illegal,’ ” she said. “The problem has been here since day one.”

Kolbe, who serves on the board of directors at a Kosciusko County agency geared to aid area Hispanics, recognizes illegal immigrants can put a strain on the criminal justice system.

“They are costing and draining resources,” Kolbe said. “There’s no denying that, but there’s documentation that they are substantial contributors to the workforce and taxpayers, though I’m not sure how they work that. … They’re decent folks. How they got here is wrong, but they’re here.”

rgreen@jg.net

Eric Zimmerman, Allen County’s chief probation officer, said his department used to have a process just a few years ago in which after an illegal immigrant was convicted, federal agents would come in and start the deportation process. He said that has backed off.

“We’re certainly seeing a lot more of undocumented or illegals in our court system on probation,” he said.

Outrageous! The problem is worse than it has ever been, yet ICE is backing off. If the illegal alien is not a rapist or murderer, they don't have the time to bother with them. We need more ICE agents, and quick! I'm talking about a bunch more. How come everyone is screaming for more border patrol agents, but very few are screaming for more federal agents to perform interior enforcement?

Excuse me while I puke!