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  1. #1
    Senior Member zeezil's Avatar
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    Jailed foreigner pleads for release

    Jailed foreigner pleads for release
    The Dominican, legally in the U.S., was charged with lying to a federal officer on the street
    Sarah Ovaska, Staff Writer

    RALEIGH - For more than three months, Maximiliano Mateo-Mendez has been held in Triangle jails, accused of lying to an immigration officer who approached him on the street in front of the federal courthouse in Raleigh to ask why he was there.
    Mateo-Mendez, 48, said his produce business in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, has fallen into shambles while he has been in jail more than 1,300 miles away from his home.

    "In the time I've been in custody, my business has been destroyed," Mateo-Mendez told U.S. District Court Judge Earl Britt through a Spanish translator Monday. "I want to go back as soon as possible."

    Mateo-Mendez, arrested and detained while in this country on a valid Dominican passport and visitor's visa, may eventually get his wish. But he's still being held in the Alamance County jail, facing more accusations that he violated the terms of his visa, according to a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    On Monday, Mateo-Mendez pleaded guilty to making false statements to a federal officer after a prosecutor from the U.S. Attorney's Office offered a plea agreement that gave Mateo-Mendez credit for the time he was jailed, avoiding a maximum punishment of six months imprisonment.

    Sworn statements from the immigration agent who arrested Mateo-Mendez said the Dominican citizen lied to him repeatedly about why he was in the United States. But Mateo-Mendez's defense attorney, Andrew McCoppin, said his client wasn't truthful only because Mateo-Mendez didn't want to worsen the situation for his two sons, who were appearing in court that day on criminal charges.

    Mateo-Mendez's case highlights the ability of immigration agents to question people on the street without the probable cause that limits other police agencies. Immigration lawyers and advocates worry this will help lead to greater levels of racial profiling and have a chilling effect on the willingness of immigrant crime victims and witnesses to talk to police and testify in court.

    "To allow immigration agents to come into the federal and state courthouse and questioning people is really going to pose problems," said Sara Dill, a Miami-based immigration and criminal lawyer.

    Dill is a co-chairwoman of the American Bar Association's committee on immigration law and said the group is studying the legal rights of clients, especially as more local law enforcement agencies work closely with federal immigration agents to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes.

    A fine line

    Although not related to Mateo-Mendez's situation, Wake became the seventh county in North Carolina to begin processing jail inmates for deportation. The practice is being hailed by the state's sheriffs as a way to flush out illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes. Latino and civil liberties advocacy groups fear that it could lead to racial profiling.

    Robin Zier, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said charging someone with lying to a federal agent isn't rare.

    "I'm not going to say it's fairly routine, but it's not out of the ordinary either," Zier said.

    And Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman, issued a written statement that said Mateo-Mendez was approached outside the courthouse only because of the connection to his sons.

    Unlike the protocols at county courthouse checkpoints, visitors to the federal courthouse are asked to give their name and show court security officers valid identification, said Rob Pettit, the chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Service's Raleigh office.

    But the reason for the visit is not asked, other than to direct people to the correct floor and make sure those going to courtrooms don't have cell phones, Pettit said. An immigrant's status in the country is not asked.

    Motivated by sons

    After Mateo-Mendez's sons were arrested by federal authorities, the father flew to Raleigh on May 3 using a valid Dominican passport and with a visitor's visa issued to him by U.S. authorities. Along with a number of other Dominican citizens, his sons, Maximo Mateo-Espinal and Wilkin Mateo-Espinal, had been accused of illegally using Puerto Rican identities. The group is also thought to be connected to a number of recent home invasions in the area, according to federal court documents.

    On May 7, the day his sons had their initial appearances in the federal courthouse, ICE agent Stephen Cardwell approached Mateo-Mendez and the girlfriend of one of his sons outside the courthouse on New Bern Avenue.

    In an affidavit filed in court documents, Cardwell initially said that court security officers told him that Mateo-Mendez and the woman had tried to get in the courthouse using insufficient identification.

    But the U.S. Marshals Services log shows otherwise, indicating that Mateo-Mendez was allowed inside the building after showing valid identification, according to Pettit. Cardwell's suspicions also were raised when a Raleigh police officer spotted a car a few blocks away from the courthouse that was thought to be connected to the home invasions, according to statements made by Cardwell at a May 29 bond hearing.

    Cardwell testified he took Mateo-Mendez, his son's girlfriend, and two other women who approached the group while the agent was there, in handcuffs back to an office to question the group further after he determined they were being untruthful.

    McCoppin, the defense attorney, questioned why Cardwell didn't call a number available to agents to check the validity of Mateo-Mendez's visa instead of taking the group away in handcuffs.

    Even while being questioned at ICE offices, Mateo-Mendez continued to deny that he was there to see his sons. But the three women said otherwise.

    "He stated to me that he did not know," the two men, Cardwell said, according to a transcript of a court hearing where Mateo-Mendez unsuccessfully asked to be released on bond.

    Mateo-Mendez didn't speak at length in court last week, his small frame dwarfed by the red jail jumpsuit he wore. He only told the judge he was motivated by allegiance to his family.

    "I'm doing this because those are my kids," he said.
    http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1172658.html
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Oh for heaven's sake. We went to a Temple Delaware football game several years ago in Philly. My car had a Delaware tag because that's where I lived. We got lost trying to find I-95 south after the game and ended up down by the docks on a business route that eventually leads to I-95. We were stopped, the driver was pulled out of the car and frisked at gun point. I got out of the passenger side and demanded to know "what in the hell is going on here". My sister and her boyfriend in the back seat were astounded.

    They not only asked "what are you doing here" they asked all types of questions. Finally, I had asserted myself and position enough to calm the officers down and then I asked them "what are you doing here"?

    Well, apparently this big motorcycle gang that was a short distance away from us down on the waterfront that we had slowed down to look at was the Pagans. We didn't know who they were but apparently they were a big drug dealing motocycle gang of some type and the police were staking them out. When we slowed down to say "look at all the motorcycles", the police thought we were there to buy drugs.

    Deport this moron and his two law-breaking sons.

    You come to our country illegally or legally and you're asked a simple question at the court house like "what are you doing here" you answer I'm here to attend the hearing of my criminal illegal alien sons. End of story. Just like when US Citizens were stopped in Philly after wandering into a police stake out, we answered "we've just left the Delaware Temple game and we're trying to find I-95 so we can go back home to Delaware, not that it's any of your business."

    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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