Thread: CA: 32 illegal immigrants taken away

32 illegal immigrants taken away
Arrestees had shown up for community service
Stephen Wall, Staff Writer
Article Created: 07/30/2008 08:31:14 PM PDT

DEVORE - More than two dozen illegal immigrants got an unpleasant surprise when they showed up to pay their debt to society.

Instead of doing community service, the Mexican and Guatemalan nationals ended up being handcuffed and taken into custody by federal immigration agents.

Most have been sent to their home countries or are in the process of being deported.

The 32 men arrested Saturday morning at the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center were participating in a county work release program as an alternative to serving time in jail.

The illegal immigrants were previously convicted of misdemeanor offenses in the United States, including driving under the influence, driving without a license, reckless driving and possession of drugs for sale, federal officials said.

Their arrests come as a result of a sweeping program in which local and federal authorities work together to find, apprehend and deport illegal immigrant criminals.

"We are seeking to expand our efforts to identify and remove foreign nationals who have been convicted of violations of law in the United States and are in the country illegally," said Virginia Kice, Orange County-based spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2005, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department entered into a partnership with federal immigration authorities to screen for criminal immigrants serving time in county jails.

Under that agreement, federal immigration agents were waiting Saturday morning at the back of the Glen Helen jail where people check in for the work release program.

"When they signed in to serve the time they were sentenced to, they were interviewed and found to be undocumented," said sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller.

It's the second time federal agents "conducted an audit of folks who were coming for work release," Miller said.

Immigrant-rights advocates say they are disturbed by enforcement actions that target low-risk, nonviolent offenders.

"One of the concerns with the current implementation of the agreement is they said it would be for hard-core criminals and felons," said Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, a nonprofit that helps people going through the deportation process. "Most of the people are being detained for misdemeanors."

The Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino also provides legal assistance to Mexicans arrested in the United States.

Miller said the degree of the offense doesn't make a difference to federal authorities.

"Anyone who goes into the jail facility, despite what their crime may be, they are possibly subject to being screened by Immigration and Customs Enforcement," Miller said.

Anyone in the country illegally - especially someone with a criminal record - is subject to immigration enforcement action, Kice said.

"Someone may say that misdemeanor violations should not be a priority, but there is a very real possibility they could go out and commit a more serious offense that has heartbreaking consequences for the community," Kice said. "What if a person who has a DUI conviction gets behind the wheel several months from now and has an accident that claims the life of several innocent victims? Why would we allow that to happen?"
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_10049572

NICE WORK!