United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: Deportation of illegal immigrants without criminal records more likely in N.J. than nationwide
Source:
NJ.COM
URL Source: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20 ... tation_of_illegal_immigra.html
Published: Sep 8, 2010
Author: Jeff Diamant
Post Date: 2010-09-08 14:39:14 by war
Keywords: None
Views: 1678
Comments: 3
In 1991, Faustino Escamilla snuck across the border from his native Mexico into Brownsville, Texas, eventually making his way to Norristown, Pa. where he worked as a stable hand. Seven years later, he moved to New Jersey and went to work for a fencing company in Hillsborough. He met a Costa Rican woman with two children and, in 2003, they bought a $197,000 townhouse on which they pay about $5,000 a year in property taxes. In June 2009, Escamilla, who has no criminal record, was stopped driving with a suspended license. Now, the federal government wants him deported. "If the case is that I have to leave the country, I would go with my wife to her country," said Escamilla, 36. "In my country, there is no life there, even to support one kid." There are thousands of illegal immigrants like Escamilla in New Jersey, where those with no criminal record are far more likely to be deported than nationwide. So far this year, 64 percent of the 4,000 people ordered deported from New Jersey had no criminal record. Nationally, those without criminal records represent just under 50 percent of those ordered deported. The disparity infuriates advocates for immigrants. On the other side of the argument are those who say that simply being here illegally is sufficient grounds for deportation, even though President Obama has told Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to prioritize cases against convicted criminals. Harold Ort, a spokesman for the Newark field office of ICE, which covers all of New Jersey, said he could offer no explanation for the disparity between the state and national ratios. Although ICE’s primary focus is on removing illegal immigrants who pose dangers to national security and public safety, "we’re also bound by laws enacted by Congress to remove individuals that we encounter beyond criminal lines who are illegally present in the United States," he said. Immigration lawyers say police too often contact ICE after arresting Hispanics for minor offenses. "What’s the benefit to the public of deporting thousands of people who work hard, pay taxes and never get in trouble?" said Joyce Phipps, the attorney for Escamilla. "These are people who came here for a better life, to raise families." Escamilla said he considers his wife’s children his own. His girl is 19, his boy, 13. They were 6 and 1 when Escamilla met their mother. "We’re trying to get a future for them," he said in an interview at his Hillsborough townhouse. "I’m the kind of person that works hard. I work hard, if I have to, from 6 in the morning to 8 at night, like I’ve been doing right now. Saturdays. Sundays." Some argue it is irrelevant if an illegal immigrant has a criminal record. "Obviously everyone wants criminals to be removed from the country. That’s a no-brainer," said Mark Krikorian of the Center of Immigration Studies, which favors restrictions on immigration. "The question is, is it advisable to send a message that only if you’re actually convicted of non-immigration related crimes, you have a chance of being deported? That unless you’re a murderer or rapist or drug dealer you’re pretty much home free? "That’s a pretty horrible message to send to law enforcement," he said. Obama is trying to create a "de facto amnesty without getting Congress’s permission," Krikorian said, due to his inability to get a reform bill passed that would grant illegal immigrants conditional amnesty. U.S. DEPORTATION POLICY ICE’s deportation policy was spelled out in a June 30 memo from John Morton, the agency’s assistant secretary. Morton said the agency lacks resources to deport more than 400,000 illegal immigrants a year — less than 4 percent of the estimated total of 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States — and therefore must prioritize. The top priority is to remove those who pose a danger to national security and a risk to public safety. Aliens who have not been convicted of a violent crime, or of no crime at all, are listed as lower priorities. The June 30 memo notes that while ICE can pursue anyone here illegally, regardless of their criminal history, "attention to these aliens should not displace or disrupt the resources needed to remove aliens who are a higher priority." Immigration lawyers in New Jersey say they believe deportation hearings for illegal immigrants picked up for minor offenses are on the rise everywhere. "We are hearing about those kinds of concerns all over the country, cases literally for driving without a license," said Gregory Chen, director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "Is that somebody who’s a serious, violent felon? No. " ... My expectation was that the Obama administration would be smarter and more effective in the way it would do its enforcement," he said. Advocacy groups for immigrants in New Jersey have recently gotten behind the case of Ramon Gonzalez, a 34-year-old native of Guatemala who crossed the border into California in 1985 and is now slated for deportation. In 1998 after he was picked up in a raid, a judge ordered him to leave the country within a year. He stayed anyway, keeping his job at a diner. In 2002, he was convicted in Trenton municipal court of a disorderly person’s offense. In July, ICE sent him a letter asking him to come to its Marlton office. When Gonzalez arrived, he was arrested and sent to the Elizabeth Detention Center for six weeks. He was released last weekend but said he has to leave within three months. He has two sons with his girlfriend, and together they live in a house he bought in Ewing for $170,000 in 2005. He is scared to return to Guatemala, he said, because criminals there target people who have lived in America, assuming they have money. "I don’t know what I’m gonna do if they send me to Guatemala," Gonzalez said in the detention center, shortly before his release. "I don’t know what’s gonna happen with me." Ort defended ICE’s actions with Gonzalez, even while acknowledging he is probably not a threat to public safety. Still, he called him a "fugitive alien," citing Gonzalez’s previous refusal to leave the country voluntarily. Gonzalez’s lawyer, Steve Traylor, said of his client: "He has a family. He has a house. He’s not a danger. He’s a contributor to society. He’s even filed income taxes. AN UPWARD TREND The overall number of deportees — with and without criminal records, combined — has increased almost every year since 2001, reaching a record 387,790 last year. The total during the 2009 fiscal year — which covers the first eight months of Obama’s presidency — was 5 percent higher than the total for 2008, which fell entirely under President Bush. The 2010 total is poised to approach last year’s. Reasons for the increase have been debated. Some say Obama is trying to soften conservative opposition to immigration reform by showing a tough hand enforcing existing laws. Others cite improvements in technology, pre-dating his presidency, that allow state and local law-enforcement to more easily learn a person’s immigration status. Still others, in New Jersey, cite a three-year-old directive by the state Attorney General instructing police to contact ICE when they have reason to believe defendants for felonies or DWI are here illegally. That directive apparently was behind the deportation order for Nelvin Alvarez, a painter, who was told in August by an immigration judge in Newark to return to his native Honduras after a DWI conviction, according to his lawyer Nizar Dewood. "His (Alvarez’s) whole problem got triggered when he was stopped and detained for DWI," Dewood said. Alvarez, who has been in the United States for nearly a decade, is a painter with a wife and two children. Dewood said his client built a productive life for himself, supported his family, and has been an asset to the country. He pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana stemming from the DWI stop. His lawyer said the truck he was driving was a work truck and the marijuana was not his. After Immigration Judge Margaret Reichenberg ordered him to leave the country, Alvarez expressed gratitude. "This country has only given me good things," he said. "And I have always admired this country." 
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: war (#0)
The above in BOLD is the Newsflash, Slick. What don't you understand about the word, "I-L-L-E-G-A-L"?
NIMBY The east coast lefties don't want Illegals in their backyards!
-----------------------------------------------------------
The east coast lefties don't want Illegals in their backyards! Of course the East is insulated to a great point; They're already here, Whitey; The snobs just restrict Section 8 housing away from their own cushy, expensive affluent towns of liberal politicians. They've also rigged the housing system to pollute middle class towns with "Affordable Income" edicts - thanks to the Fed and states' Elites.
Deportation of illegal immigrants without criminal records more likely in N.J. than nationwide
#2. To: Liberator (#1)
Toss: ADL,CAIR and the Vatican into the pit they belong in.
#3. To: WhiteSands (#2)
NIMBY
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]