Thread: 3 sentenced under Border Patrol's No Pass program

3 sentenced under Border Patrol's No Pass program
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times

Two Mexican brothers and their cousin were the first three migrants to cross the border illegally within El Paso's new zero-tolerance zone and the first to be jailed, prosecuted and sentenced Friday under the new program.

José de Jesús Gutiérrez Ledezma, 36, his brother Armando Gutiérrez Ledezma, 35, and their cousin Juan Carlos Ledezma Velazquez, 24, pleaded guilty Friday to the misdemeanor "entry without inspection" and were sentenced to time served, which was 11 days. They were facing up to six months in jail and up to $5,000 in fines.

After their release, they will be formally returned to Mexico.

The trio was caught sneaking into the United States 1.7 miles west of the Paso del Norte Bridge on Feb. 25, the day the Border Patrol launched its "No Pass" program there. Immigrants caught between Mount Cristo Rey and the Paso del Norte Bridge are now jailed and prosecuted.

If the three men had crossed a few miles north or a few miles east of the No Pass zone, they would have been fingerprinted, and if they did not have a criminal past, they would have been returned to Mexico within hours.

Border Patrol officials said the success of the program prompted them to expand it to the Santa Teresa port of entry starting Monday.

"Times have changed ... . Things are not like they used to be," U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard P. Mesa told the three men at their sentencing.

The migrants, standing in front of the judge in green prison jump suits with their hands shackled, declined to speak.

"These cases are very common," their appointed lawyer, Andre Courtney Poissant, said before the hearing. "You're looking at people who come here to work. Some have relatives with medical needs. Some have family in the U.S. I have met the nicest people doing these cases."

Poissant said he didn't think his clients knew about No Pass. He said he had to explain to them that they weren't at an immigration hearing but at a criminal hearing.

In the first nine days of the pro gram, Border Patrol agents caught 34 adult undocumented immigrants and seven juveniles, all Mexicans, in the three- to four-mile No Pass stretch.

Of the 34 adults, 28 were prosecuted for entry without inspection, four were prosecuted for re-entry after deportation and two were sent back to Mexico under expedited removal.

The 34 apprehensions were a big drop from the 139 undocumented immigrants captured at the same spot at the same time last year, Border Patrol officials said.

"The publication of No Pass probably has a lot to do with that," Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero said.

Similar programs are also in operation in Arizona and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, under the name Streamline.

The idea behind these initiatives is that jail time will deter migrants from attempting to cross illegally.

But critics said prosecuting immigrants who have no criminal background is costly to the taxpayer and serves only to crowd jails and burden courts.

The cost to the taxpayers is hard to gauge, but Poissant, a Criminal Justice Act panel attorney who picks up indigent cases overflow from the public defender's office, said the government paid him $100 an hour for those cases.

The late Sheriff Leo Samaniego said in 2005 that it cost about $58 a day to house an inmate in the El Paso County Jail.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_8494822?s ... ost_viewed

The late Sheriff Leo Samaniego said in 2005 that it cost about $58 a day to house an inmate in the El Paso County Jail.

Which is ALOT less than housing their entire family!