Thread: Traffic citation against immigrant dismissed

Ozment is a ambulance chaser. HE won't get involved unless he smells money. He could care less about the illegals.

4 Anchor children , give us a break and deport here NOW!!!

(quote)


Advocates for immigrants speak out against treatment of pregnant woman

From NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>
Date Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:09:11 -0500

Advocates for immigrants speak out against treatment of pregnant woman

>Jul. 29, 2008

NOTE: Photographs and video are available at http://umns.umc.org.

>By Kathy L. Gilbert and Amanda Bachus*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)--Juana Villegas' trip to the doctor for a prenatal visit became a nightmare when, at nine months pregnant, she was stopped for a minor traffic violation, jailed and ended up giving birth to her son with two sheriff's deputies standing guard.

An illegal immigrant from Mexico, she recalled her childbirth experience of July 6 when local authorities prevented her from calling her husband after going into labor and then separated her from her nursing newborn for two days after his birth.

"I don't want to talk about this, I don't want to remember," she told United Methodist News Service. "But I want to tell my story for all women. I didn't deserve this, and I don't wish for it to happen to anyone else."

Villegas' story gained national attention after advocates for immigrants began circulating e-mails about her arrest. The advocates included members of Belmont United Methodist Church, which have united with Hillcrest United Methodist Church to form a Justice for Our Neighbors (JFON) program. Together, they operate a legal clinic in Nashville for immigrants.

"We must step forward and shout to the rooftops a wrong has been committed," said Katherine Dix Esquivel, a Belmont church member and local JFON leader. "The suffering for her, her newborn, her husband and her family was unnecessary and cruel."

Local authorities, however, insisted that they followed protocol in the case, and noted that Villegas had been deported from the United States in 1996, only to return and give birth to three of her four children--all of whom are U.S. citizens.

Villegas, 33, was stopped on July 3 for driving "carelessly." She was arrested and jailed when she could not produce a driver's license and presented a vehicle registration that was registered to another person. Her three children--ages 14, 12 and 2--were with her during her arrest by police in Berry Hill, a bedroom community of Nashville.

A night court commissioner reviewed the case and sent her to jail after a background check showed she previously had been deported.

Villegas went into labor on the night of July 5 and was taken to Nashville General Hospital, where she was handcuffed to the bed by her right wrist and left ankle until two hours before her son, Gael, was born on July 6. Six hours after the birth, she was shackled again, and a guard was with her at all times. Villegas returned to jail July 8 and was not allowed to take a breast pump, causing her breasts to become infected, according to her attorney. She did not see her baby again until her release on July 10.

>'A very bad situation'

Speaking in Spanish, Villegas was interviewed by UMNS on July 24 in her lawyer's office while 3-week-old Gael slept peacefully.

Through her tears, Villegas struggled to describe her feelings about her experience that included being guarded by two male sheriff's deputies during her two-hour labor.

"I wanted to call my family, but they said no and disconnected the phone," she said. "This was the fastest labor and delivery I have had. I have other children and was in labor for six to eight hours. I believe the quick delivery was brought on by the stress I was under."

She called her treatment "a very bad situation" that no one should have to go through. "I was treated like a criminal, and I didn't understand why I was being treated like that," she said.

Villegas came to the United States 14 years ago in search of a job and said she worked at a fast-food restaurant at one point. She lived in California for 10 years before moving to Nashville four years ago.

Nashville immigration attorney Elliott Ozment is working to keep Villegas from being deported and is considering legal action against local authorities. A hearing on the traffic violation is scheduled for Aug. 15 in Berry Hill Municipal Court.

Berry Hill Police Chief Robert Bennett said the arresting officer "followed proper procedure" and arrested Villegas after making "the determination that a reasonable likelihood existed that she would fail to appear in court."

Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said his department frequently has pregnant women in custody and that Villegas was not treated differently from others who are classified as medium-security inmates. He said she received this classification because she had been charged locally and was found to be wanted by the federal government.

"An important factor in this case is that this woman had been previously deported from this country and she ignored that order and came back. Federal immigration authorities don't look lightly on this," Hall said.

>Questioning the system

The United Methodist Church seeks justice for migrants worldwide and a reform of U.S. immigration laws that includes a pathway to gain legal status. The church also advocates for government policies that keep families intact.

Advocates for immigration reform said the Villegas case holds up a mirror to flaws in U.S. immigration law and procedures--and the need for the church to advocate for change.

"What happened to Juana just highlights we are not living up to our calling as Christians," said David Esquivel, also a member of Belmont United Methodist Church. "I don't think as a church the documentation status of anyone ought to be a dividing line. I see that the church has a witness on this issue."

Justice For Our Neighbors is a network in mission of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, along with the denomination's annual conferences, local congregations and ecumenical partners. The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries launched JFON in 1999 as a response to increasingly complex immigration regulations stemming from the U.S. immigration law of 1996, which brought harsher policies for illegal immigrants.

JFON is among faith groups that plan to stand in support for Villegas during her Aug. 15 court appearance.

"As Christians, we bear responsibility for what happened to Juana if we stand back and do and say nothing," said Katherine Dix Esquivel.

"As citizens, we should hold our representatives accountable for passing comprehensive immigration reform on the federal level. We should also hold our local, state, and federal officials and representatives accountable for treating the immigrants in our communities with dignity and respect."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. Bachus is director of Spanish Resources and editor of el Intérprete magazine, United Methodist Communications.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
(quote)

http://www.wfn.org/2008/07/msg00256.html

Ephesians 4:32

"What happened to Juana just highlights we are not living up to our calling as Christians," said David Esquivel, also a member of Belmont United Methodist Church. "I don't think as a church the documentation status of anyone ought to be a dividing line. I see that the church has a witness on this issue."

Obviously, this woman doesn't know scripture.

"As Christians, we bear responsibility for what happened to Juana if we stand back and do and say nothing

You have NO concept what a Christian is or you would realize that Christians were told to obey the laws and cooperate. "IF they ask you to go 1 mile, go two." It's no business of Christians to intefere in civil matters of law and support people who have broken the law. You are anarchists.

I've never seen any of these fine Christians in traffic court helping other unfortunates!!!

Lawsuit considered

What's new!! Deport this invader before she drops another anchor at our expense!!!

With more than 50 people in attendance, Villegas sat near her lawyer as the judge dismissed the careless driving charge on a technicality — the officer wrote the wrong arrest location on the citation.


One minor charge dismissed on a technicality is not any big victory and sure as heck not anything to get excited about no matter which side of the illegal immigration issue you're on.



The 14-year-old testified that the engine was shut off as he sat in the heat with his siblings, a 2-year-old sister and an 11-year-old brother.

Oh, and I suppose the object of this testimony was to somehow demonstrate that they were tortured for being hispanic?

When police officers pull someone over, the engine on the vehicle is shut off.....period.

Here in AZ it reaches 115. When someone is stopped does the officer take the chance of allowing them to leave the engine running? Nope. And it does not matter one iota what race or age the driver or passengers are either. If the heat becomes threatening to anyone, or they will be there for an extended period for some reason, they will allow them to be seated in the back of the cruiser and offer water. I would assume that the policy is similar in all other locales as well.

If this kid and his sibs experienced any discomfort, they have only their fugitive, criminal, baby mill of a mother to thank for that


He said the officer told them to hug their mother because she was about to be arrested.

And the point of this issss......what? I've seen my share of people arrested and it is not unusual for officers, taking a parent into custody, to tell the children to give mom, or dad, a hug and a kiss.

It is not meant to be snide, harassing, or tormenting in any way......unless, of course, it involves a latino illegal alien. In that case anything which is said is considered to be sinister in intent.







.

A 97 year old retired teacher was arrested in Highland Park -a wealthy Dallas suburb, for unpaid traffic tickets. She gave the tickets to her son, but he forgot to pay them. I personally feel the officer made a poor decision in arresting her -would you want the liability of having a near centenarian in custody of your police dept...
The officer in the case of Villegas acted properly, given this woman has been deported before only to return illegally again. She was treated as any person who had committed the same crimes would be -only Americans don't have any special interest groups to come to our aid and defense.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)--Juana Villegas' trip to the doctor for a prenatal visit became a nightmare when, at nine months pregnant, she was stopped for a minor traffic violation, jailed and ended up giving birth to her son with two sheriff's deputies standing guard.

An illegal immigrant from Mexico, she recalled her childbirth experience of July 6 when local authorities prevented her from calling her husband after going into labor and then separated her from her nursing newborn for two days after his birth.

"I don't want to talk about this, I don't want to remember," she told United Methodist News Service.


Then please.....shut up already. We don't want to talk about it either.


"But I want to tell my story for all women.


For someone who doesn't want to talk about it...........



I didn't deserve this, and I don't wish for it to happen to anyone else."

Yes, you did so deserve this and the American people DO wish for this to happen to millions more illegal aliens just like you.



"The suffering for her, her newborn, her husband and her family was unnecessary and cruel."


And all brought on by no one but HER. Yep.....that's one wonderful mother right there

She did not see her baby again until her release on July 10.


Too damned bad. She didn't see the kid again for a whole two days......boo freaking hoo.

What about all of the parents who will never see their children AGAIN because they've been slaughtered by illegal aliens....many of them driving carelessly, recklessly, with no licenses, and/or drunk?

What of all the children who will never see their parents AGAIN for the same reasons?

I'm sure that I'm not alone in feeling NOTHING for this woman.....not one ounce of compassion, not one ounce of concern, caring, or sympathy.....but contempt and the desire to see her criminal, free loading rear end locked up and then run out of here on a rail as fast as humanly possible.


"This was the fastest labor and delivery I have had. I have other children and was in labor for six to eight hours. I believe the quick delivery was brought on by the stress I was under."


Oh PUH-LEEEEZE!!!

It is medical fact that successive children tend to come much more quickly than previous children. Further, this hag has a two year old child.....mothers whose children are born closely together also deliver much more quickly. This just goes to show how ignorant these people are.

And what in the heck is she whining and sobbing over a fast labor and delivery for anyway? There's not a woman on the face of the earth who doesn't hope and pray for a quick labor and delivery!!

Oh, wait......that's right. Hispanic illegal alien women are so much more special in their births than women of any other race that it WOULD, naturally, be unheard of that THEY would do things the same way as the rest of us.

"I was treated like a criminal, and I didn't understand why I was being treated like that," she said.


Because you ARE a criminal!!!

This is really odd. Usually IAs have all kinds of excuses as to why they came back illegally after being deported. This one keeps behaving as if she "honestly" has no idea what all of this about.

Is the defense going to be that she didn't understand that being deported meant she had to leave the country and not return again? That she thought deportation was tantamount to a "time out"?


Nashville immigration attorney Elliott Ozment is working to keep Villegas from being deported and is considering legal action against local authorities. A hearing on the traffic violation is scheduled for Aug. 15 in Berry Hill Municipal Court

Very obviously a ploy hoping to intimidate the PD and courts into dismissing the charges.........threaten a lawsuit and hope the authorities will run away

As we know, it didn't work.



Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said his department frequently has pregnant women in custody and that Villegas was not treated differently from others who are classified as medium-security inmates. He said she received this classification because she had been charged locally and was found to be wanted by the federal government.

An important factor in this case is that this woman had been previously deported from this country and she ignored that order and came back. Federal immigration authorities don't look lightly on this," Hall said.

And that's exactly why both she and her lawyer are making complete asses out of themselves.

This woman was a federal fugitive. She had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she could not be trusted to do anything but pack up and flee to continue living as a fugitive. Her own criminal actions guaranteed the loss of her freedom once the law inevitably caught up with her.

Yet, in typical fashion, she is being portrayed as somehow a special case who deserved special treatment not afforded other inmates, and because she didn't get it is blaming LE for her going into labor, even though she was due to deliver at any time, as well as delivering too quickly and developing a breast infection........NONE of which has a damned thing to do with being arrested and detained


The church also advocates for government policies that keep families intact.


We have government policies to keep families intact. It's just been confirmed that when IAs are picked up, the status of the rest of the family is investigated as well. Family members here illegally....as well as US born children the majority choose to take with them.....are all placed in detention, or under supervised release, and deported together. As a family.


"What happened to Juana just highlights we are not living up to our calling as Christians,"

Christians are called upon to break the law? To aid, abet, and advocate for criminals?

Christians, like Saint Juana here, are commanded by God to take part in invading a country not their own? Disobeying the orders of a judge? Living as a fugitive from justice? Using innocent children, entrusted to her care by God, for her own selfish financial gain and as human shields?

My , my........the qualifications for sainthood and martyrism have certainly deteriorated over the centuries

.

He said she received this classification because she had been charged locally and was found to be wanted by the federal government.

An important factor in this case is that this woman had been previously deported from this country and she ignored that order and came back. Federal immigration authorities don't look lightly on this," Hall said.

So there was a FEDERAL warrant out for her. A "time out"? I hope this judge socks it to her trying to plead ignorance. If she's that ignorant she wouldn't understand the rules for driving. Get her off the streets and out of the country, and whatever we do don't separate her from her family, let her take them with her.