Thread: NJ-Immigration at issue in crash

Immigration at issue in crash
Saturday, August 16, 2008
By Pete McCarthy
pmccarthy@sjnewsco.com
WOODBURY An illegal immigrant locked up on a death-by-auto charge out of Franklin Township had been living and working in New Jersey for four months before last month's deadly crash.

Mijail Hernandes, 24, is married and has a daughter who both live in South Jersey, his attorney said as she tried to get his bail reduced in court on Friday.

Hernandes, who is from Mexico, will not run from the charges, defense attorney Kristina Bryant said.

"His intention is to resolve this as quickly as possible and serve whatever time we are able to negotiate," said Bryant.

Superior Court Judge Christine Allen-Jackson denied the application, and sent him back to the Gloucester County Jail in default of $250,000 bail.

Hernandes was arrested on July 24 after he was charged with causing the crash that killed Yvonne Pennewell, 51, of Deptford.

The two cars collided at the intersection of Main Road and U.S. Route 40 in Franklin Township when Hernandes allegedly ran a red light. Pennewell died shortly after the crash at Cooper Medical Center in Camden. A passenger was also injured.

Authorities say Hernandes was drunk and driving without a valid license. The car was registered to an address in Florida.

He was charged with death by auto, aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and related offenses.

Should he be able to post bail, Hernandes would immediately be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who would then seek to have the defendant deported.

Assistant Prosecutor Lloyd Henderson said that if Hernandes does post bail and gets picked up by immigration officials, he will be shipped back to Mexico and never return to face the charges.

A spokesman for ICE said his office would "cooperate with" the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office if Hernandes gets detained.

By law, the jail is required to notify immigration officials as soon as it can before Hernandes is released. What will follow is a hearing to have him deported, spokesman Mike Gilhooly explained.

Should an immigration judge rule that Hernandes be removed from this country, it would have to be done in 90 days.

"If another agency wants to keep that individual in the country to face their criminal charges, they simply need to inform ICE and we'll work closely with them and fully cooperate with that agency," said Gilhooly.

Gilhooly declined to discuss what options are available in this particular case, but indicated the deportation process is lengthy.

Hernandes lives in Hammonton and works at a local farm, according to his attorney.

Bryant said she did not know what her client had been doing prior to the crash. She also was unsure who owned the vehicle he was driving.



http://www.nj.com/gloucester/index.ssf? ... thispage=2

Just one more example of the "trashy illegals" that have cursed our precious America!