Thread: {SOB} Detained Madison man to learn fate soon

Detained Madison man to learn fate soon
By Judith Davidoff
On March 30 Tomas Contreras will find out whether he will be deported to Mexico or allowed to resume life as he has known it for the last 40 years.


Contreras, who entered the United States legally in 1964, was detained in early January at a bridge crossing in Laredo, Texas.

As The Capital Times reported in February, the longtime Madison businessman, husband, father and grandfather was held on a 1989 misdemeanor drug offense and denied bail due to an immigration law technicality.

He has since been confined to various immigration detention facilities in Texas.


Contreras family photo
On a family trip to Washington, D.C., in 2002, Tomas Contreras, who has been a legal U.S. resident since 1964, posed with his granddaughter, Araceli Zuniga-Contreras.
Contreras, 49, learned Monday that his case was going to be transferred to a new immigration judge who was able to schedule a hearing in March.

That came as unexpected good news, said Contreras' Laredo attorney Nelly Vielma, who had anticipated her client might have to wait until July to appear before a judge.

The hearing will determine whether Contreras, who recently applied for U.S. citizenship, will be allowed to return to Madison or ordered to Mexico.

In arguing against deportation, Vielma said she will put Contreras' close family on the stand and present evidence of her client's numerous business accomplishments and community contributions.

Contreras is known for giving jobs and other means of support to new arrivals and is a contributor to such organizations as Centro Hispano and United Way.

With a scheduled hearing in sight, Contreras' spirits have lifted considerably, Vielma said. About a month into his confinement, Contreras was so frustrated he was ready to volunteer to be deported, his younger daughter Sandra reported. Family and his lawyers talked him out of it.

If deported, Contreras would likely have a few days to tie up loose ends before being ordered from the country, Vielma said.

Immigration lawyers say Contreras and others like him are victims of the "unintended consequences" of a 1996 federal law that allows the government to deport non-citizens for certain crimes, no matter how minor. The law is applied retroactively and kicks in when non-citizens apply for benefits or cross the border, says local immigration lawyer Sardar Durrani.

Though Contreras has made frequent trips to Mexico over the years to visit family, he was likely detained in January because the immigration system's database is now updated.

"They can now see there was a conviction 20 years ago and it was a deportable kind," Durrani said.

Madison immigration lawyer Grant Sovern said the 1996 law not only tightened restrictions, but also took away most of the discretion immigration judges used to have in such cases.

Now, he said, "It's the bare naked application of the law, with no view on how it affects a human life and a family." A life undone: Contreras, the child of migrant workers and a former migrant worker himself, moved to the Madison area more than 20 years ago to work at the Stokely canning factory in Sun Prairie. He and his wife have three adult children and one grandchild, all of whom are United States citizens.

Contreras was detained by immigration officials in early January after visiting family in Mexico for Christmas. His wife, Carmen, who was with him at the time, has stayed with relatives in Texas since then so she can be near her husband during his confinement.

Meanwhile, the burden of running Contreras' businesses has fallen mainly to his daughters, Sandra, 23, and Carmen, 27, who also live in Madison. Tomas, 21, the Contreras' only son, is in the Army.

With her father gone for so long, Sandra said they had to close the doors to TC Auto, a used car and mechanic shop.

"It was a newer business and he's not here," Sandra said. "It wasn't producing anything."

Sandra says the other businesses are still thriving. They include TC Carpet Care, Professional Carpet of Dane County, La Buena Vista, a post-construction cleaning company, and El Bueno Gusto tortilla factory.

Although everyone else in his immediate family is a U.S. citizen, Contreras resisted becoming naturalized himself because he owns property in Mexico. He recently applied for citizenship after Mexico removed a restriction banning non-citizens from owning property in the country.

The fact that Contreras is not yet a U.S. citizen, however, is what makes his almost two-decades-old drug conviction a deportable offense under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

His example points to the need to make defense attorneys, judges and probation officers more aware of the consequences, under new immigration restrictions, of pleas entered by non-citizens, immigration lawyers say.

Contreras pleaded guilty to drug possession in 1989 because he didn't have the money or time to fight his case in court, not because he was guilty, his family and lawyers say.

Contreras was driving with friends through Illinois when the car was stopped by police. The driver fled, but Contreras stayed behind. The police report of the incident, according to Vielma, indicates that no drugs were found on Contreras. But a search of the car found traces of cocaine under the seat. The street value of the find? Less than $25.

If he were a U.S. citizen, Contreras' guilty plea and conviction on a misdemeanor drug offense would likely have no consequences for him today. As a legal permanent resident, however, it is grounds for deportation.

Consequential pleas: Immigration lawyers say more and more non-citizens like Contreras are finding themselves in similar straits.

"At the border, after any holiday season, we see a lot of people stuck at the bridge because neither the defense attorney nor probation officer was familiar with the immigration consequences of their (clients') plea," Vielma said. "They go to court and plead guilty to something that will have collateral consequences for them."

Attorney Sovern sees the same thing.

"People are getting nabbed all over the place," he said. "There has not been a concerted effort to educate defense lawyers about the immigration consequences of certain pleas," he added. "I get calls pretty often from criminal defense lawyers."

Ditto for Sardar Durrani, who has offices in Madison, Florida and Colorado.

"All these things are coming up that are a surprise to people," Durrani said.

He said people are often willing to plead to a felony to avoid jail time, without realizing that that conviction will subject them to deportation should they apply for benefits or try to reenter the country.

Durrani has been trying to spread the word about such matters by offering free immigration clinics the first Saturday of every month for the last few years. He addresses shared concerns and provides individual consultations. The next clinic is scheduled for April 7, 10 a.m. to noon at the Bridge Lake Point Waunona Neighborhood Center, 1917 Lake Point Drive.

As for those already caught in the system, the odds of staying in the country after being flagged for deportation are uncertain.

Still, Vielma is confident that a judge will acknowledge Contreras' strong family ties and contributions and allow him to stay in the United States.

"He has a very strong case," she said. "He qualifies for release."

E-mail: jdavidoff@madison.com
Published: March 17, 2007

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.p ... 20&ntpid=0

who recently applied for U.S. citizenship

After he was arrested and talked to an attorney, which filed his application.

Dixie

Nice, he shouldn't have a chance to stay here. How much you want to bet those new arrivals were illegals and he was aiding and abetting their behavior. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

"They can now see there was a conviction 20 years ago and it was a deportable kind," Durrani said.

So sounds like he got a twenty year extension that he wasn't entitled to. Sorry.

This article is attempting to blow so much smoke up our butts it's not even funny. This guy never applied for naturalization before because he knew he was a convicted felon! How come we never get but one side of these stories (the side of the criminal)?

Because everyone is afraid of getting labelled, and having to possibly confront the ACLU, and the UN, and Al Gore, and need I go on?

It stinks to high heaven, that if you're trying to deal with this realistically, you're lablled a racist, and or a nazi, or some other kind of hate group.

Everybody's been brow beaten so much about this stuff, most don't have the energy, or just want to believe the tube, instead of making a stand and logically coming to a proper conclusion.