Thread: Protester gets a lesson on the law, leaves as a free man

Protester gets a lesson on the law, leaves as a free man
http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/gets_1 ... eaves.html

Comments 28 | Recommend 2
July 31, 2008 - 5:43PM
Keren Rivas / Times-News
GRAHAM - Jose Duarte came to the Alamance County Sheriff's Department expecting to be arrested. Instead, he received a lesson on the inner workings of the sheriff's department.
TV cameras, reporters and photographers from media outlets throughout the Triangle were waiting for Duarte to show up at the sheriff's department Thursday at noon.
Duarte, 36, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had contacted the media in advance to let them know of his plans to turn himself in as a protest for the recent arrest of a Graham library worker who was working in the country illegally.
"I want to bring attention to the Marxavi (Angel) Martinez situation," he told the Times-News before he showed up at the department.
Earlier this month, and at the petition of Sheriff Terry Johnson, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began investigating 23-year-old Martinez. She was eventually charged with aggravated identity theft and other felonies for using the Social Security number of a dead person to gain employment in a county library. She is currently under a federal detainer and faces deportation.
To have her arrested, Duarte said, "is completely arbitrary." In Duarte's view, he and Martinez are no different. Both had Mexican parents and both grew up in this country. The only distinction, he said, was that unlike him, Martinez did not have government-issued documents.
To show his discontent, and to make a point, Duarte decided to protest at the sheriff's department.
"I'm Mexican and I don't have any documentation on me so I am turning myself in," Duarte told a very baffled receptionist at the sheriff's department.
"If they are going to arrest the librarian they can arrest me because I like books," Duarte commented as he waited for an answer to his request.
But as Duarte soon discovered, federal agents - not local deputies - are responsible for enforcing immigration laws.
"I guess the appropriate place would be to go to an immigration office," Maj. Tim Britt told Duarte after he was told of his request.
"You don't want to book me?" Duarte asked.
"No sir, we don't arrest on immigration violations," Britt answered. "That would be the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (office). I'd be glad to get you a number for them."
After a short exchange with Britt and Sheriff Johnson, Duarte left the department a free man.
"He was surprised that we didn't arrest him," Johnson said of Duarte during an impromptu press conference after the man left the sheriff's department. "Had he violated the law, certainly we would have arrested him."
Johnson said he was surprised to come into the office to find Duarte surrounded by the media. But, he said, that doesn't change the way his department operates. He said he explained to Duarte that it is not his department's duty to arrest people on immigration violations. He said his department does not make a distinction between legal or illegal residents when it comes to violating the law. In Martinez' case it was identity theft.
"What if this Social Security number that our librarian had taken had been reissued," he said. "She would have been making money going on that Social Security and possibly prevented whoever got that Social Security back from receiving benefits that they so rightfully paid for as American citizens."
He said his department was tipped by a reliable source that Martinez had lied in her employment application, something he could not have ignore or "sweep under the rug." He added that the information did not come from medical records, though Department Spokesman Randy Jones said the information came as a result of the probe into the writing of aliases on doctor's notes by Alamance County Health Department employees.
"I don't have a choice as sheriff to enforce the law. I cannot selectively enforce the laws of this state and nation," he said. "As long as I am wearing the Alamance County Sheriff's Department's badge ... I am going to enforce the law straight across the board."
He added, "I don't care if it was the president of the United States if he didn't have diplomatic immunity and he come to Alamance County and violated the law he better be charged by one of my deputies."

DUARTE SAID LATER THAT he understood the position of the sheriff and that he does not know all the details of the investigation. However, he still thinks something needs to be done about cases like Martinez's.
"Maj. Britt and Sheriff Johnson are very committed to the enforcement of the law - any and all laws, and as law enforcement agents they're tasked with simply reinforcing the law, not with making it so that is understandable," he said. But, he added, "what many Americans don't seem to understand about the law is that it is unreasonable to expect people to suffer unjust laws."
Martinez didn't violate any laws by being Mexican in this country or by working in a library, Duarte said. "Her problem was that she didn't have a government number because her parents brought her here when she was two or three years old, an action which any American can never lay on her or hold her responsible for," he said. "Without that government number she couldn't work, she couldn't secure benefits."
He continued, "The problem here is that we are keeping people in the shadows ... It is just outrageous for someone who came here as a child and was raised here and was an honor student who is looking at years in prison ... simply because she used someone else's government number. She was forced to do that."
He said that while he understood that people need to follow all laws, "at some point we have to make sure we make distinction between what is legal and what is right. What is legal is not always right," he said.
"The problem is bad laws," he said. "Certain laws need to be changed to make legal for people to come to America and to work in America. Those are peaceful activities."
Johnson said there was more to Martinez's case than just the story of a young girl who came to America and who should be allowed to stay. He said there is much more information that will not be revealed until the case is over.
He said that as a result of the original tip, there are two more identity theft investigations involving the SBI and ICE, though he declined to comment on whether those investigations involved county employees.

The kid is a dumb liberal fool....maybe when he starts paying taxes he'll understand the difference between a legal immigrant and an illegal immigrant. Actually as a first generation immigrant I am offended by people like this dumb kid that say we are the same.

"The problem is bad laws," he said. "Certain laws need to be changed to make legal for people to come to America and to work in America. Those are peaceful activities."

We can't take every person that wants to come here. It's not going to be till his job is taken by a flood of people, that he will understand the need to protect the citizens of a country as well. Citizens have the right to work and live as well.

He continued, "The problem here is that we are keeping people in the shadows ... It is just outrageous for someone who came here as a child and was raised here and was an honor student who is looking at years in prison ... simply because she used someone else's government number. She was forced to do that."



How was she "forced"? As an adult, being aware of her status of an illegal alien in this country, she could have at any time, returned to Mexico and applied to come here legally.

Instead, she stole someone's personal information......a felony.......and used it to repeatedly misrepresent and lie about her true identity, even going so far as to obtain a coveted county position with all of the perks and benefits of such a job.

I am sick to death of hearing about how these grown children, brought here by their parents, cannot be held responsible. As soon as they reach 18 years old they are no longer minors under the control of their parents, and if they fail to correct the wrong, they are no less criminals than their parents are.

I am sick to death of hearing about how these grown children, brought here by their parents, cannot be held responsible. As soon as they reach 18 years old they are no longer minors under the control of their parents, and if they fail to correct the wrong, they are no less criminals than their parents are.

Exactly.

"...what many Americans don't seem to understand about the law is that it is unreasonable to expect people to suffer unjust laws."

Pro-illegal definition of "unjust laws": ANY laws that impede the illegal's ability to steal American jobs and reap taxpayer funded benny's.

We are not angry with her for being brought here we are for not leaving and stealing the ID of another person as an adult.

A cursory Google search on Mr. Duarte revealed the following:
Duarte, José
Graduate Student 322 Davie Hall
Psychology Dept. UNC-CH
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270
Areas of Research: Authentic happiness and free will; the sublime positive emotions;
mindfulness; authentic self-esteem; neuroscientific methods of investigating these areas.
Primary Advisor: Dr. Fredrickson

He also appears to have served as secretary of a group called PAPS from 1998-2000. Interestingly this group (The Portuguese American Post-graduate Society ) would appear be comprised of people of Portuguese descent. Are there Portuguese Mexicans? Just wondering...

"The Portuguese American Post-graduate Society is an independent, non-profit organization, with no political affiliations. Its objectives are:
To stimulate the development of strong relationships between the Portuguese postgraduate community in North America and universities and companies in Portugal.
To promote the interaction between the Portuguese postgraduate community in North America and the Portuguese-American community.
To strengthen the influence and representation of the Portuguese academic community in the North American society.
PAPS was founded in 1998 and currently has approximately 400 members.

Anyone feel like Mr. Duarte is not exactly who he presents himself to be?
I wonder if the reporters do such cursory examinations before they publish, or simply jump on a story becasue it looks juicy?

I'm betting Mr. Duarte has a few other affiliations we don't know about as well...

Oh and what about the bank robber who lost his job and just needs to feed HIS family, you see he can't get a job because their are so many illegals in OUR country willing to work for hardly nothing....

So does this excuse let him off the hook? are we going to change the laws to accommodate him also?

Let's look at this from another perspective. What if Martinez would have been O'Rielly from Ireland? Would Durate have bothered to show his butt then?

On another note, there could be more to this case than meets the eye. Remember, the case is still pending trial. For obvious reason, every detail of a pending case isn't divulged to the news media.