Thread: NY-Paterson creates panel to pardon legal immigrants

Paterson creates panel to pardon legal immigrants
By Tom Precious

Updated: May 03, 2010, 5:02 pm / 2 comments
Published: May 03, 2010, 4:37 pm


Paterson acknowledged his plan is "a challenge" to federal immigration policies during a Law Day event today at the Court of Appeals in Albany.



ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson entered the swirling waters of immigration policies today, creating a new panel to recommend pardons to him of legal immigrants who face deportation because of minor or old offenses.

"It's a challenge" to federal immigration policies, the governor acknowledged, though he insisted the timing was not in response to a new law getting tough on illegal immigrants in Arizona.

The Paterson administration could not say how many people could be pardoned under the new plan, but said there could be thousands of people in New York caught up in retroactive changes to federal law made in the last decade that could force them to be deported even if they entered the country legally.

"We are not happy to see productive citizens who actually initiated their own detention by trying to become citizens, which is basically what we would like them to do," Paterson said.

The governor cited the case of Quig Hong Wu, who came to the United States with his parents at age five and three years ago, at age 27, disclosed to immigration officials when applying for citizenship that he had served three years in a youth detention facility for robbery convictions when he was 14. Under federal immigration law, the convictions require deportation, but Paterson blocked it in Wu's case by pardoning him.

"How can you have a situation where a person applies for citizenship? Now, a simple "no' would have done. But instead, they take the person into custody like they just committed a crime when they committed the crime when they were a teenager, for which they already served and were released. Then, are detained indefinitely and then are scheduled to be deported to a place they haven't seen in 25 years," Paterson said.

The Paterson administration said existing resources would be used to create the panel to recommend cases for Paterson to pardon. They cautioned that governors pardon very few people in a year, though the number who have sought Paterson's help since he announced he will not run again has sharply grown.

Governors can pardon certain crimes, though not, for instance, drug cases, to keep someone from being deported. The governor's office said the cases include people who entered the country legally but are facing deportation for crimes that would not have previously led to deportation at the time of conviction. The administration said such people are detained for deportation when they apply for citizenship or to renew their permanent resident status.

In an address at the state's highest court today, Paterson said he would limit such pardons to individuals "who are contributing members" of society. He called it a "small example of how we can lessen the blow of those caught up in the web" of what he described as national immigration laws badly in need of reform.

The move by Paterson comes less than two weeks after Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law the nation's strictest set of laws on illegal immigration. The measure, giving police new powers to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally, has set off protests around the country and jump-started discussions in Washington over immigration policies.

The new panel will be composed of officials from the governor's staff and state agencies. It will not necessarily continue after Dec. 31, however, which is Paterson's last day on the job.

The governor said his move is also meant to send a signal "that our national immigration laws are in serious need of reform."

tprecious@buffnews.com


http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/05/03/1 ... ardon.html

Great,
They can all go New Jersey.