Thread: TN-9 illegal immigrants accused of fraud

9 illegal immigrants accused of fraud

Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee)
March 9, 2010
MONICA MERCER Chattanooga Times Free Press

CHATTANOOGA - A local federal judge calls it the most "bizarre, Alice-in-Wonderland" scenario he ever has encountered in the world of government prosecutions.

The U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Tennessee is prosecuting nine illegal immigrants for the routine crime of using fake Social Security numbers to gain employment. Deportation is the routine punishment.

But those same immigrants hold rare "U" visas that give them immunity from being deported for at least four years, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after an investigation revealed their employer severely exploited their illegal-worker status.

The nine workers from Mexico also are plaintiffs in an ongoing federal civil lawsuit headed up by the Southern Poverty Law Center, alleging that Durrett Cheese Sales Inc. in Winchester, Tenn., coerced them into working there, refused to pay them for most of 2007 and reported them to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel when they complained.

U.S. District Judge Harry S. "Sandy" Mattice said last week during the first sentencing hearing for one of the defendants that the situation exemplifies "two agencies acting precisely in cross purposes" and the "ambivalence" of the U.S. Congress when it comes to immigration law.

"Given the facts of the case I don't think it's possible for anyone to have respect for this country's immigration laws," Judge Mattice said last week in choosing not to jail Juana Montano-Perez, the first of nine illegal immigrants who have admitted to Social Security fraud.

In arguing for jail time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Humble said Montano-Perez received her "U" visa despite her more than 10 years of immigration fraud that involved being deported once before and illegally re-entering this country.

"(She is) attempting to pull on this court's heartstrings with her tale of woe," Humble wrote in his sentencing memorandum to Mattice. "Who says crime doesn't pay?"

Congress enacted the strict humanitarian "U" visa program in 2000 with the intent of helping illegal immigrants who are exploited in immigration fraud schemes. Southern Poverty Law Center senior attorney Kristi Graunke said Monday it is not a "blanket amnesty" for all illegal immigrants and is not meant to undermine the work of the Department of Justice.

"The goal of the ('U' visa) program (was) to ensure that law enforcement could investigate crimes against noncitizens and that non-citizens could cooperate with law enforcement without fear of retaliation," Graunke stated in an e-mail. "Without the 'U' visa program ... noncitizens would be afraid that if they came forward they would automatically be deported."

Graunke and attorney Monica Ramirez, who practices in Atlanta, are representing the illegal immigrants in their lawsuit against Durrett Cheese. Graunke declined to comment specifically on the issues before Mattice, stating only that it is "very concerning" to see illegal immigrants prosecuted without similar accountability for employers who break federal immigration laws.

A Chattanooga federal jury last summer convicted one former supervisor of Durrett Cheese for Social Security fraud. Owner Greg Durrett, who according to the lawsuit refused to pay his illegal workers and conspired to have them arrested under false pretenses, never has been prosecuted.

"There's a tendency to go after the low-hanging fruit," Graunke said.

During a court hearing Monday, Mattice said he remained "confused and frustrated" by the issue. He refused to sentence any more defendants, ordering that the cases be consolidated and that an investigation be conducted into whether their due process rights may have been violated.

If any defense attorneys involved in the case can show such evidence, Mattice said, he will consider compelling the U.S. attorney's office to reveal the documents "that served as the basis for these prosecutions."

Proof would have to be provided, he said, that local federal prosecutors consulted with the civil-rights division of the Department of Justice to ensure they were "engaging in a reasonable and nondiscriminatory decision-making process" with regard to the illegal immigrants' equal protections under the law.

"It's a matter of, does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?" defense attorney Christian Lanier said after Monday's hearing. "And does (the government) even care?"

Monica Mercer may be reached at mmercer@ timesfreepress.com.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/En ... 56&start=1

The Southern Poverty Law Center in the mix. Should we be surprised?

There is always a loophole.

Psalm 91

Can't they just be deported? I agree that illegal aliens should be punished....but it does get to be very expensive. What is the simplest and cheapest way to deal with this problem?

Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Federal officials defend immigration prosecutions

By: Monica Mercer

U.S. prosecutors in Chattanooga said they will not provide detailed documentation explaining why they prosecuted nine illegal immigrants for immigration fraud even though a separate government agency already had labeled them victims of a scheme to exploit their illegal worker status.

In what he called a "bizarre, Alice-in-Wonderland" example of different government agencies acting in "cross purposes" regarding immigration law, U.S. District Judge Harry S. "Sandy" Mattice in early March said he would consider demanding hard proof in the form of memos and other communications that could explain the decision-making process behind the prosecutions if defense attorneys were to allege anything improper.

Judge Mattice refused to sentence some of the nine illegal immigrants, who had pleaded guilty to using fake Social Security cards to gain employment, until he could be assured from defense lawyers that the defendants' due process rights had not been violated.

In court documents, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Humble confirmed that the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice investigated claims that the illegal immigrants' Tennessee employer had engaged in human trafficking.

But he questioned Judge Mattice's reaction to the criminal prosecution, pointing to case precedent that states' judicial inquiries into the DOJ's decisions to prosecute cases only should be made when there is "clear evidence" of improper conduct.

"The defendants ... have been represented by competent counsel and have pleaded guilty to serious felony crimes," Mr. Humble writes. "There is not even a scintilla of evidence that their clients have been treated differently from similarly situated individuals belonging to other groups."

As of Friday, no defense lawyers for the illegal immigrants had claimed violations of due process. A new sentencing hearing for the defendants has been set for June 9, but it is unclear how Judge Mattice will rule.

Judge Mattice took issue with the case after finding out the nine defendants had been granted rare "U" visas by the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of an investigation revealing that their former employer, Durrett Cheese Sales Inc. in Winchester, Tenn., had exploited their illegal worker status in 2007.

The "U" visas granted them immunity from being deported for years, while the typical punishment for immigration fraud is deportation.

"Given the facts of the case," Judge Mattice noted during the hearing in March, "I don't think it's possible for anyone to have respect for this country's immigration laws."

The defendants all now are plaintiffs in a federal civil lawsuit headed up by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., alleging that Durrett Cheese coerced the illegal immigrants into working there, refused to pay them, then reported them to U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement personnel when they complained.

Mr. Humble always has defended the prosecutions of the illegal immigrants, noting that they violated federal immigration law many times before applying for "U" visas and claiming to be victims of their employer.

"It is the view of the United States Attorney's Office that the defendants were not victims of any qualifying crimes ... They have been able to manipulate the system to achieve legal status, despite their illegal entry and the commission of numerous felony crimes," Mr. Humble stated in court documents.

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