Questions raised about deportees' re-entries

Some with criminal records manage to avoid U.S. prosecution

Fernando Marcos Bravo had already been sent back to Mexico seven times by the time Escondido police pulled him over on a routine traffic stop last month. Bravo, a 28-year-old Mexican citizen, had prior convictions in California for burglary and possession of a stolen vehicle, and was facing a car theft charge, police said, yet persisted in returning to the United States.

The arrests in Escondido in recent weeks of Bravo and two other Mexican citizens, both with U.S. criminal convictions and repeatedly deported, have raised questions as to how some deportees with criminal records can manage to avoid prosecution for returning to the United States.

Illegal re-entry is a federal felony that is punishable by up to 20 years behind bars, a charge faced by those who have been ordered out of the country by an immigration judge then caught in the country again.

The precise criteria for prosecution can vary over time and from district to district. Some areas on the Texas and Arizona borders have attempted to charge anyone caught the country illegally — even first-time offenders — under a program known as Operation Streamline. In San Diego, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said her office has focused on those with the most serious criminal records.

“We choose to do the ones that we feel present the greatest threat,â€