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  1. #1
    Senior Member elpasoborn's Avatar
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    U.S. must provide incapacitated immigrants with lawyers

    U.S. must provide incapacitated immigrants with lawyers, judge rules
    By Catherine Saillant Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
    December 27, 2010, 11:23 a.m.

    Two mentally disabled immigrants must be given lawyers as they fight deportation, a U.S. district court judge has ruled.

    Jose Franco-Gonzalez, 29, of Costa Mesa, and Guillermo Gomez-Sanchez, 48, of San Bernardino, are at the center of a case that marks one of the first instances in which a judge ordered representation for an individual in immigration proceedings, according to a coalition of advocacy lawyers arguing the men's cases.

    The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee came last week just before Christmas. Both men have been free pending a bail hearing also ordered by Gee.

    In a March lawsuit, the ACLU of Southern California and other advocates argued that the men's diminished mental capacities made them unable to voice their own interests.

    Franco, who is moderately retarded, was convicted and served a year in jail on an assault with a deadly weapon charge for throwing a rock during a fight between rival gangs, his attorneys have said. He doesn't know his birth date or how to tell time, and has an IQ no higher than 55, according to his attorney.

    Gomez is a paranoid schizophrenic who served one year of a two-year sentence for a 2004 assault conviction stemming from a scuffle over tomatoes he picked without permission. He has previous convictions, including for battery against a police officer, which his attorneys have attributed to his mental illness.

    The lawsuit initially was filed only on behalf of Gomez and Franco. But the plaintiff's lawyers successfully petitioned the court to transform it into a class-action case on behalf of all detainees with mental disabilities, attorneys said

    "Judge Gee's thorough opinion is a first step in ensuring that the rights of those who are rendered helpless by their mental illnesses are not ignored,'' said Michael Steinberg, a partner with Sullivan & Cromwell who is assisting in the litigation.

    Both men are still facing possible deportation. Gomez is a legal resident and Franco has petitioned for a green card. Until they were freed in April, both had languished in detention centers and psychiatric hospitals for years because authorities considered them mentally incompetent, the plaintiffs' attorneys say.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/la-immigran ... 1592.story


    I am not liking this at all! Why are these kinds of people OUR burden to bear?

  2. #2
    Senior Member bigtex's Avatar
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    Re: U.S. must provide incapacitated immigrants with lawyers

    Quote Originally Posted by elpasoborn

    Franco, who is moderately retarded, was convicted and served a year in jail on an assault with a deadly weapon charge for throwing a rock during a fight between rival gangs, his attorneys have said. He doesn't know his birth date or how to tell time, and has an IQ no higher than 55, according to his attorney.

    Gomez is a paranoid schizophrenic who served one year of a two-year sentence for a 2004 assault conviction stemming from a scuffle over tomatoes he picked without permission. He has previous convictions, including for battery against a police officer, which his attorneys have attributed to his mental illness.
    Mexico is sending us their best, huh. Kind of reminds me of what Castro did.
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  3. #3
    Senior Member elpasoborn's Avatar
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    I thought that very same thing...just like what Cuba did.
    How did this Franco guy get over to the US? If he's so incapacitated that he doesn't know his birth date or how to tell time and his IQ is no higher than 55, he doesn't sound savvy enough to deal with a smuggler or enough to get across by himself.

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    Why should illegal aliens even be able to voice their interests? We know their interests are to stay in the US, our laws say deport deport deport. Whats there to debate or voice?

  5. #5
    Senior Member Ratbstard's Avatar
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    But they would apply for the Dream Act and probably be approved.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  6. #6
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    U.S. Must Give Convicts Lawyers To Fight Deportation

    Last Updated: Tue, 12/28/2010 - 1:09pm

    Shy of her first anniversary on the federal bench, an Obama-appointed judge known for promoting “racial toleranceâ€
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  7. #7
    keekee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by elpasoborn
    I thought that very same thing...just like what Cuba did.
    How did this Franco guy get over to the US? If he's so incapacitated that he doesn't know his birth date or how to tell time and his IQ is no higher than 55, he doesn't sound savvy enough to deal with a smuggler or enough to get across by himself.
    All he had to do was join the line going north. Not too hard that.

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