Thread: Report: 160K deportees were denied due process

Report: 160K deportees were denied due process

Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times | Posted: Friday, September 9, 2011 12:00 am

LOS ANGELES - The U.S. has deported more than 160,000 immigrants, the vast majority of whom had no legal representation - and signed documents they may not have understood - under a program that carries severe penalties should they re-enter the country, a report released Thursday said.

According to the National Immigration Law Center and professors at Stanford Law School and Western State University College of Law, immigrants often signed the so-called stipulated removals because they believed it was the only way to avoid prolonged detention. But by agreeing to the removal order, immigrants can be barred from returning to the U.S. and be subject to criminal prosecution for illegal re-entry.

"All they hear is that they face more time in detention, often far away from family and friends, unless they agree to their own removal," said Jennifer Lee Koh, an assistant professor at Western State.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nicole Navas said in a statement that the agency had not had a chance to fully review the study. But, she wrote, "an alien's decision to accept a stipulated removal is strictly voluntary. Before an alien agrees to such an order, ICE procedures require that the process be fully explained to the individual, through an interpreter if necessary."

However Karen Tumlin, managing attorney at the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, said she interviewed more than a dozen detainees who signed stipulated removal orders at the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster - none of whom understood what they had agreed to.

"They didn't know what a stipulated order of removal was," she said. "They had absolutely no idea what the legal consequences were."

Some, Tumlin said, thought they were waiting to take their cases before an immigration judge.

The report was based on interviews and a review of more than 20,000 pages of documents made public in a lawsuit filed under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

According to those records, nearly 96 percent of the immigrants selected for stipulated removal in the last decade did not have lawyers. Immigrants who are unrepresented have to rely heavily on information made available to them by officers inside detention facilities.

One document, a two-page script to inform immigrants about stipulated removal, is written in ungrammatical Spanish and says inaccurately that only people who are married to a U.S. resident or citizen, or whose parents or siblings are residents or citizens, can fight deportation.

"Only these three groups can make an application to fix their papers!" the script reads. "You are completely within your right to see the judge but I want you to be aware that this process will take from 6 months to 3 years."

The authors of the report made recommendations to improve due-process protections for immigrants facing stipulated removal, including issuing protocols for using certified interpreters where needed and allowing detainees to attend legal rights presentations before they are offered the removal option.

"They didn't know what a stipulated order of removal was. They had absolutely no idea what the legal consequences were."

Karen Tumlin,

managing attorney, National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... z1XU0y3jBK

Report: 160K deportees were denied due process!

"Otherwise they'd still be here!" hahahahahahaha!

They didn't know what a stipulated order of removal was," she said. "They had absolutely no idea what the legal consequences were."

Well I guess they know what it is now!!!! Now just shut the hell up, all 160,000 of you.

160,000 less illegals in OUR country

"They didn't know what a stipulated order of removal was," she said. "They had absolutely no idea what the legal consequences were."

Is that so...well I would bet a great many of them had no problems finding their way to the local welfare office and applying for a smorgasbord of benefits on behalf of their anchor babies, navigating the substantial paperwork required to receive benefits. I bet they had problems understanding they had to steal a social security number in order to usurp a job in this country. They understood where to go to get that done.

They had no problems understanding their entry into this country was in violation of our immigration laws. Magically, it’s only when they are detained and scheduled for deportation that suddenly their "understanding" becomes compromised!!

Tough shit!!

Originally Posted by grandmasmad

160,000 less illegals in OUR country

And think of all the anchors they would have spawned. *shudders thinking about it*

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Is that so...well I would bet a great many of them had no problems finding their way to the local welfare office and applying for a smorgasbord of benefits on behalf of their anchor babies!

Wonder if the anchor babies went too! We always hear how family orientated they are but if Ol' Pappe' gets deported you notice how Ol' Mamacita' ain't goin' nowhere!

Well I guess they know what it is now!!!!

Cure for the plague of "Chain migration." CHAIN DEPORTATION."!!!