Thread: Union City man being held by immigration authorities was convicted twice in 1980s

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
Updated: Monday, January 23, 2012, 9:36 AM


Jose Pereira, of Union City, was arrested by immigration officials on December 1. Essex County Department of Corrections photo

UNION CITY – Federal immigration officials are citing two convictions up to three decades old as their reason for continuing to keep a married Union City father of three behind bars at the Essex County jail in Newark for almost two months.

Both convictions from the mid- to late-1980s are part of their case against Jose Pereira, according to his lawyer.

The first conviction was drug-related, and the other was for hindering arrest, said attorney Elissa Steglich, who added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will not let her see Pereira’s “rap sheet.” Steglich said she believes the convictions are minor incidents that should not affect Pereira’s plea to remain in the United States.

“Whatever errors in the past and as a young man he may have made ... since he’s had a family that he’s responsible for, he’s completely placed them as his priority,” she said.

Pereira, 50, entered the country illegally from El Salvador nearly three decades ago, and was arrested Dec. 1, 2011, at the Secaucus warehouse where he worked.

Pereira’s wife, Carmen, said last week that she was unaware of the two convictions until Steglich brought them to her attention. The arrests occurred before she met her husband, and he himself has forgotten what they were, she said.

The drug arrest was for “probably one bag of weed,” she said.

Last year, President Obama implemented a new immigration policy suspending deportation proceedings for many illegal immigrants who don’t pose a threat to national security or public safety. Carmen Pereira said that her husband’s two prior convictions do not qualify as either.

The couple’s oldest son, Jose Pereira Jr., 20, is frustrated at the lack of progress in his father’s case, and angry at the notion that a 30-year-old drug arrest may lead to his father’s expulsion from the country.

“It happened so long ago,” he said. “For one bag of marijuana, you’re going to deport somebody and ruin their chances?”

Meanwhile, the family struggles.

Carmen Pereira has delayed hernia surgery, hoping that her husband may be home soon to help tend to the family while she recuperates, while the latest progress report for the couple’s 10-year old son, Nelson, is filled with marks indicating the boy is distracted in class and frequently absent from school.

“My son just totally gave up,” she said.

Steglich, who works for the nonprofit American Friends Service Committee, said ICE denied her request to have Jose Pereira released into the custody of his family. She hopes that she can get him transferred to a less restrictive facility while she waits for an immigration judge to decide whether to reopen Pereira’s case.

“The law’s thwarting our efforts to have family reunification,” she said.

Union City man being held by immigration authorities was convicted twice in 1980s, lawyer says | NJ.com

Arrest or not, all illegal immigrants are eligible for deportation. I'm sick and tired of the Obama administration pretending their policies are law!