Thread: RI- Cases proceeding against suspected illegal immigrants

Cases proceeding against suspected illegal immigrants / Video

11:39 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 2, 2008

BY KAREN LEE ZINER
Journal Staff Writer

Legal cases are proceeding on different fronts for the 31 janitors arrested during last month’s immigration raids at state courthouses.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the janitors –– from Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico –– on July 15, and detained them on administrative charges of being in the country illegally. All 31 worked for either TriState Enterprises or Falcon Maintenance, which had contracts to clean more than four dozen state buildings, including the courthouses.

Four of those detainees have since been criminally charged with document fraud. A fugitive warrant was issued for one of those four detainees after she failed to show up for a court hearing, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

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More on The Immigration Debate The remaining cases are being handled by different attorneys: some pro-bono, and some private.

Many will seek voluntary departure, which allows detainees to leave the United States voluntarily and report to their consulate upon return to their home country. If they fail to do so, fugitive warrants are issued for their arrest.

Voluntary departure generally shortens the waiting period for a person to apply for a valid re-entry visa. However, if an immigration judge orders a person deported, the person is generally removed from the country quickly and prohibited from re-applying to return legally to the U.S. for at least 10 years.

Nancy J. Kelly, senior attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services, said that agency is representing four detainees on a pro-bono basis.

All four were bonded out of detention, “and they’re in proceedings, and court hearings are scheduled in September,â€

Good to hear. I long for the day we start to go after their families as well.

[quote]“We’re going to be requesting voluntary departure,â€

So you commit document fraud and get a free ride home. I wonder what or penalties as citizens would be.