Thread: TX: 2 Sisters Benefit from Shift in ICE Policy

2 sisters benefit from shift in policy
Clean records got deportation orders dismissed
By SUSAN CARROLL
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 26, 2010, 10:27PM

Maria del los Angeles Rodriguez is a UH student who was brought to the U.S. when she was 6. She's happy but says she's "not celebrating until I have papers."

Last week, Maria De Los Angeles Rodriguez walked through the double doors of Houston's immigration courthouse, heading upstairs to a cramped courtroom for her third immigration hearing.

The 28-year-old University of Houston student was trying not to get her hopes up too much. She had good reason to be optimistic. A week before, the government had terminated her younger sister's deportation proceedings in a separate case. But still, she thought, it might not happen to her.

As she sat quietly in the courtroom, the government's attorney asked the judge to dismiss her case. The judge agreed, and within minutes her case was terminated. The judge told her she would not have to come back unless she committed a crime, she said.

"It happened so quickly," said Rodriguez, an illegal immigrant whose parents brought her to the U.S. when she was 6 years old.

She felt a huge sense of relief.

"OK, good, it's over," she thought at the time. "I don't have to come back here anymore."

For the past month, the Department of Homeland Security has been systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases in Houston and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria, including living in the U.S. for more than two years and having no felony convictions. Immigration officials said on Thursday that they could not provide statistics on dismissals stemming from the review.

Wide range of cases
So far, the beneficiaries include illegal immigrants in a wide range of deportation cases, including an asylum seeker from El Salvador, a mother of two from Mexico and an elderly woman from Cameroon. Several college students from the University of Houston and University of Texas at Austin also have received notices that their cases have been dismissed. Many were related to U.S. citizens who filed immigration petitions on their behalf, but others were not.

Since the Houston Chronicle first reported about the reviews this week, DHS has taken a beating for creating what some critics are calling a "backdoor amnesty."

Richard Rocha, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, stressed on Thursday that the agency is not offering any kind of legalization in connection with the case dismissals. DHS also is not considering for removal anyone with a felony record or misdemeanors involving DWI, family violence or sex crimes.

By culling non-criminals from the nation's clogged court system, immigration officials said they hoped to be able to better target criminals for removal. So far this fiscal year, Rocha said, the agency has removed more than 167,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records, a record number.

The new policy aims to "expedite the removal of criminal aliens and those who pose a danger to national security by ensuring these cases are heard," Rocha said.

Still, the efforts have caused consternation among some members of Congress.

"The administration is picking and choosing which illegal immigration laws it wants to enforce," said Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus. "What part of illegal does President Obama not understand?"

But supporters of the effort say DHS' review of pending court cases is long overdue.

"This is what they should have been doing all along," said Raed Gonzalez, a Houston immigration attorney.

'A wave of relief'
Rodriguez, the UH student, and her younger sister, Elvia Rodriguez, came to the attention of immigration officials after their father filed paperwork with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services seeking to adjust his immigration status.

The two daughters were put into deportation proceedings in 2008 in separate cases.

Elvia, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Texas, was only a year old when her parents brought her to the U.S.

Her Spanish, she said, is "atrocious." She grew up watching Animaniacs and listening to rapper Missy Elliot.

"I would call myself an American if I didn't know better," she said, describing news of her case's dismissal as "a wave of relief."

Maria, the older sister, said after she left court last week knowing she was no longer facing the threat of immediate deportation that she still felt a range of emotions, from being happy to upset.

"Everyone else is celebrating, but I'm not," she said. "I still don't have papers. I'm not celebrating until I have papers."

susan.carroll@chron.com


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 73473.html

"I would call myself an American if I didn't know better,"

THAT says everything! She will never BE an American either...

The 28-year-old University of Houston student was trying not to get her hopes up too much. She had good reason to be optimistic. A week before, the government had terminated her younger sister's deportation proceedings in a separate case. But still, she thought, it might not happen to her.

As she sat quietly in the courtroom, the government's attorney asked the judge to dismiss her case. The judge agreed, and within minutes her case was terminated. The judge told her she would not have to come back unless she committed a crime, she said.

These invaders are getting the equivalent of the Dream Act everyday handed to them in immigration courtrooms across this country. Our government is no longer deporting illegal invaders who are attending school. They are no longer deporting those here illegally unless they have committed a so called "crime."

The first phase of the plan is to halt all deportations of those who have not committed a so called "crime."

Mission accomplished.

Next step in the plan is to pass some form of amnesty legislation (by executive order if necessary) for these illegal invaders. That's pending. It's happening right before our very eyes.

I wonder if the elderly lady from Cameroon (whereever the heck that is) is getting social security benefits that she never paid into.