Thread: MA: State remiss in tracking illegal-alien inmates

State remiss in tracking illegal-alien inmates
By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com
Updated: 08/08/2011 06:35:54 AM EDT

AYER -- Before Michael Huskey pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property -- jewelry he later pawned -- Ayer District Court Judge Elizabeth Cremens gave him a warning.

Cremens told Huskey that if he is in this country illegally, he could face deportation with his guilty plea.

In courtrooms across the state, judges issue the same warning to thousands of defendants, but judges are prohibited from asking the key question: Are you in the United States illegally?

Based on an inquiry by The Sun, state officials don't have a grasp on the number of illegal-immigrant inmates serving time in Massachusetts' jails and prisons. Nor do they know the number of inmates being deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after they have served their jail sentence.

The state, by and large, takes a hands-off approach on illegal immigrants who are "guests of the commonwealth.''

According to State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Diane Wiffin said, "Inmates tell DOC their place of birth and citizenship, but ICE determines if they are here illegally."

Last fiscal year, it cost an average of $45,917 to house an inmate in a Massachusetts incarceration facility, according to Wiffin.

State Trial Court spokesperson Joan Kenney said the Trial Court does not keep statistics on immigration status, referring inquires to other law-enforcement agencies.

Middlesex District Attorney spokesperson Jessica Pastore said, "Our job is to prosecute the crime, not enforce federal immigration laws.''

She said the DA's office doesn't notify ICE, but if prosecutors are made aware of the defendant's immigration status, they may "flag it to the courts or the jail, if we know.''

At the county jails -- Billerica and Cambridge -- a "foreign-born'' person who comes into the system either to serve a sentence or be held in custody pending a trial has his or her information forwarded to ICE. If ICE officials determine that the person is of interest to them, the agency can issue a detainer.

Chuck Jackson, spokesman for ICE's Boston office, explained that by issuing a detainer, ICE requests that a law-enforcement agency notify ICE before releasing an alien and maintain custody of the subject for a period not to exceed 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, to allow ICE to assume custody.

"Detainers are critical to ICE achieving its mission to identify and remove criminal aliens and others who have no legal right to remain in the United States,'' Jackson said in a prepared statement.

The statement continued: "Individuals arrested for misdemeanors may ultimately be identified as recidivist offenders with multiple prior arrests, in addition to being in violation of U.S. immigration law. Likewise, these individuals may have been deported before or have outstanding orders of removal."

Since the start of the Secure Communities program in 2008, the "information-sharing capability" between local law-enforcement agencies and ICE has been expanded to 1,331 jurisdictions in 42 states, according to ICE statistics.

According to those statistics, 151,590 convicted criminal aliens have been booked into ICE custody through March 31, 2011, and 77,160 have been deported nationwide.

But last month Gov. Deval Patrick opted out of joining President Barrack Obama's Secure Communities program. Patrick cited a "lack of clarity'' and "inconsistent implementation of a national program that uses locally gathered fingerprinting information to verify the immigration status of those arrested in Massachusetts.''

At a Statehouse press conference in July, Patrick told reporters: "We run a serious risk of ethnic profiling and fracturing incredibly important relationships in communities that are necessary for law enforcement, so I think this is the right decision for the commonwealth."

Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan had harsh words for Patrick after his Secure Communities retreat.

"The fact of the matter is, there are criminal aliens allowed to walk the streets of the commonwealth and across our country because Massachusetts is refusing to enter into this memorandum of agreement," Sullivan said.

Boston has participated in Secure Communities' "pilot" program since 2008. Since then, there have been 2,928 "alien matches,'' of which 892 were booked into ICE custody and 345 were deported to their native country, according to ICE's statistics.

Patrick and other Massachusetts public-safety officials said they were led to believe by the Obama administration that participation would be mandatory by 2013 and hoped to help shape the implementation of the program.

But even Boston Mayor Thomas Menino now has second thoughts about Boston's involvement in the pilot program.

Menino announced last month he would withdraw the Boston Police Department from the program unless federal immigration officials restrict deportation to only those immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

Menino wrote in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security that the program has caused a breakdown of relations between residents and law enforcement because people picked up for relatively minor crimes can face deportation along with serious criminals.

Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadline ... z1UU2yfD4r

The state, by and large, takes a hands-off approach on illegal immigrants who are "guests of the commonwealth.''

Gov. Patrick receiving a statement from a DREAM Act seeker
The use of the expression is meant sarcastically in this context but the Governor Deval Patrick treats every undocumented as a guest of the Commonwealth.

..just dont get the contribution to this country,that would explain the mollycoddling etc that this country does for the illegals! GO HOME! PAY FOR YOUR OWN KIDS!( Im goin Sapper

Guests who take jobs away from citizens!

Free loaders of the common wealth.