Thread: KY: 16 guilty of illegal immigration

http://news.kypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 70333/1014

16 guilty of illegal immigration

By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter

In deals struck with federal prosecutors, 16 Mexican nationals pleaded guilty Friday to entering the United States illegally, and walked away from federal court with no additional jail time.

It now will be up to immigration officials to determine whether the 16 will be deported, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob McBride.

The group was part of 33 men and women arrested in November and charged with being in the U.S. illegally, a slightly different charge under a different section of the criminal code.

Some of them worked on the Ascent at Roebling's Bridge, a 21-story condominium project being built near the foot of the Suspension Bridge in Covington.

The immigrants were picked up near the Home Depot store in Florence, at a parking lot near the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau in Covington, and at another parking lot near the Mike Fink Restaurant on the Ohio River shore in Covington.

The remaining 17 are expected to sign similar plea deals next week.

McBride would not say if they are part of a larger investigation, nor would he comment further on the plea agreements.

Brian Halloran, who represented the 16 who pleaded guilty, could not be reached for comment.

But John Arnett, who represents five of those arrested, said the key reason the immigrants are accepting the plea agreements is because they will not demand their immediate deportation.

Arnett said the original charge would have meant the immigrants must return home to Mexico and could never return to the U.S. legally. The new charge affords them a hearing before an immigration judge, and the right to argue they have special circumstances that would allow them to remain in the United States, he said.

Both charges are misdemeanors, and carry the same jail time. The amended charge, however, carries a $1,000 fine, as opposed to a $500 fine.

But Magistrate Judge J. Gregory Wehrman did not impose any fines, and agreed to release the 16 on time served. Each has been in jail since the arrests on Nov. 28.

"It obtains a mutual goal," said Arnett, who, along with his co-counsel Iversy Valez, are seeking similar arrangements for their clients. He expects his five to enter guilty please next week.

"It's a more favorable plea for us, and it allows the government to keep them here for use in any future investigations," Arnett said.

Under the sentences, the immigrants will be under federal supervision for one year.

"I think the federal government also sees (immigrants) as victims," said Arnett, often taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers. "They don't want to come down too hard on a victim."

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This doesn't sound right somehow.