Thread: TX-Amid immigration debate,illegal re-entry cases increasing

Amid immigration debate, illegal re-entry cases increasing in Waco
By Tommy Witherspoon Tribune-Herald staff writer

Saturday May 22, 2010

• Few options in Waco for immigrants trying to gain legal status


Twin brothers Jose and Pedro Medina stood silently outside Waco’s federal courthouse with solemn, blank stares on their faces.

Next to them, their younger sister, Erica, cried quietly and frequently dabbed at a steady flow of tears.
She, too, seemed stunned.

The siblings, all students at Waco High School with aspirations of going to college, watched as their father was sentenced to 10 months in prison on a felony count of illegally re-entering the United States after being sent back to his native Mexico.

Pedro Medina-Davila, 45, who lived in Waco for 20 years, will be deported again after serving his time, launching his children, who are U.S. citizens, and his wife, who is not, into a future of uncertainty.

Will they try to finish their final years of high school while maintaining their father’s landscape and masonry business to support the family?

Or will they follow their father to his hometown of Zacatecas in north central Mexico, keep the family intact and rejoin their grandfather, an aging goat farmer?

Jose, 18, who was born in Waco, isn’t sure yet. He wants to stay and graduate from high school and go to college. But he also wants his close-knit family to remain together.

It’s a problem faced by an increasing number of families in Central Texas these days.

Medina-Davila was among 16 federal defendants being held for illegal re-entry into the U.S. who were sentenced in the past two weeks in Waco by U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr.

He was convicted of drunken driving in 1998 and sent back to Mexico. He has had a clean record since his return and has been working to build his business and support his family, his attorney, Lewis Giles, said.

Immigration officials picked him up this time based on an anonymous tip, Giles said.

Changing directions

Before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) opened a Waco office almost two years ago, most illegal immigrants found in Waco with no extensive criminal histories normally were deported and not prosecuted.

Now, with the ICE office up and running, an additional prosecutor added to the Waco U.S. Attorney’s Office to handle immigration cases and shifts in law enforcement strategies that appear to coincide with segments of society demanding illegal-immigrant crackdowns, the federal case load is increasing.

Smith presides as chief judge over the sprawling federal Western District of Texas.

During sentencings last week, Smith, noting the number of illegal re-entry cases on his docket, joked that on days like that, he feels like he should send flowers to his colleagues in El Paso, who certainly handle more immigration- related matters than judges in Waco or Austin.

The six charged with illegal re-entry last week were given sentences ranging from three months to 10 years.

When one defendant, speaking through an interpreter, expressed certain “philosophical differences with U.S. immigration laws and policies,â€

We should show no sympathy for these illegals. If you have been deported, just do the right thing and stay out of our country.

Pedro Medina-Davila, 45, who lived in Waco for 20 years, will be deported again after serving his time, launching his children, who are U.S. citizens, and his wife, who is not, into a future of uncertainty.

Dont seperate this or any other family.that would be cruel. Deport them all! That would keep them together. He was illegally working and they should not be able to benifit from their illegal buisness. They have allready stolen countless tax dollars and jobs from americans and legal immigrants. the time to put a stop to it is NOW!

let the government confiscate the business and make the forfeit any monies made. then deport them and let some american buy the business and operate it. im sure any one unemployed would love a job now a days

[quote] In an order issued in February in illegal re-entry cases against three Mexican citizens, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, of Austin ,said the practice “presents a cost to the American taxpayer . . . that is neither meritorious nor reasonable.â€

The Felony charge for re-entry after deportation was designed to stop so many from re-entering and being deported again and again. If all we do is catch and bus them back across the border, more will come right back. Is that cheaper to control than a few months in jail for repeat offenders?
I think we should put them on work detail for the time they must serve for re-entry. Prisons can have veggie gardens and prisoners should have to work for their food, just like we do.

[quote]When one defendant, speaking through an interpreter, expressed certain “philosophical differences with U.S. immigration laws and policies,â€

[quote]“It costs several thousand dollars every time they pick up somebody,â€

[quote="miguelina"][quote]“It costs several thousand dollars every time they pick up somebody,â€

[quote]Reaves said he had a client who was not a citizen who spent 10 to 15 years serving in the U.S. military. He was deported after a DWI arrest, he said.

“You can serve in the military. It’s all right to get shot for your country, but . . .â€