Army Soldier's Wife Facing Deportation

The wife of Pfc.Guillermo Garcia, U.S. Army, Araceli Mercado Sanchez, is currently facing deportation after being stopped for a making an illegal turn to avoid a construction zone.  At the time she was on her way to buy supplies for the couple's three-year-old daughter's birthday party. After being encountered she was taken into custody and brought to Eloy jail where apparently she was held for days.  Deportation proceedings have been instituted against Ms. Sanchez who is 22.  She was brought to the United States as a 4-year-old child, and has no criminal record.  

Pfc. Garcia is currently stationed in Germany with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.  He is awaiting imminent deployment.  Garcia enlisted in the Army in part because he believed that it would help his wife's immigration status, and he has been working with lawyers to try to fix the problem.  The couple has been married for four years.

Garcia responds:

“I feel outraged that my wife and daughter had to go through something like this. I am a United States Army infantry man legally married to my wife and she presented evidence to the officer that pulled her over to show just that and was still detained. It happened on my daughter's 3rd Birthday while on her way to pick up paper plates for the party that was planned for that afternoon.” 

It appears that once the news hit the papers Garcia's wife was released.

Wouldn't want any bad press in an election year.

Click here for the original source of this story.

DREAMer Amelio Flores Facing Deportation for Being Brown

I just receieved the following email from DREAMer Amelio Flores, a victim of racial profiling, who is currently facing deportation.  I felt compelled to post it here in the hopes that people will take action by signing his petition asking the Obama administration to exercise prosecutorial discretion in his favor.

My world turned upside down the day after I turned twenty. After celebrating my birthday with friends I was waiting for my ride home, when the police approached me. Without cause, they moved to arrest me and I resisted-- I was nervous and I didn’t understand why I was being arrested.  Because of this misunderstanding, I was sent to jail for resisting arrest. 

I am paying a heavy price for being brown.  I am now facing deportation. Demand justice with me and tell the Department of Homeland Security to exercise prosecutorial discretion in my case.  

I was put into deportation proceedings through the 287g program in my county, which allows police to racially profile and behave like ICE. After a long week in jail, ICE set a bond for me that would take away all the college savings I had worked so hard for. 

I haven't given up! I was the first one in my family to graduate from high school. My dream is to continue my education and study education or psychology in college. I know that I can achieve my dreams and continue to give back to my community if I am allowed to remain in the only country I consider home.

Please sign my petition and demand for prosecutorial discretion and justice in my case. 

While I was in jail my biggest fear was not seeing my family ever again and having to go back to a country I barely remember. In detention I saw hundreds of other undocumented men having to leave their children and families behind. Please stand for justice with me and the thousands who are facing the same situation as I me as a result of the 287g and Secure Communities programs. 

With gratitude, 

Amelio Flores

Illinois House of Representatives to Vote on Bill to Block Privately Run Immigration Jails

In a 7-4 vote, the Executive Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives has advanced Bill SB 1064 to a floor vote.  The Bill seeks to block construction of a privately run immigration detention center located south of Chicago, as well as prohibit private firms from running detention centers in Illinois.

In Illinois, the management of the criminal detention facilities may only be overseen by the government.  Should SB 1064 become law civil detention centers utilized by ICE to lock up undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation would have to be run by the government, and not private contractors.  Something tells me that if this Bill becomes law there will be exponentially fewer immigrants locked up in the great State of Illinois.

The proposed law specifically targets a contract negotiated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) who intends to erect a detention center that would hold 788 ICE detainees.  CCA is the same company that Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is backing over her constituents who oppose the building of a detention facility in her district.

I'll keep you posted as soon as I hear more.

Immigration Prosecutions Increase by 26% in January 2012

Syracuse's TRAC Immigration has determined that in January 2012 there was a 26% increase in criminal prosecutions for immigration-related crimes, and a 33% increase in convictions from the previous month.  They found that the substantial growth of immigration-related criminal prosecutions is attributed to an increase of filings in U.S. Magistrate Courts.

Here are some of their findings:

• 100% of all federal criminal prosecutions for immigration offenses in January 2012 were referred by the Department of Homeland Security through recommendations of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  
• The most frequent criminal charge (56.8%) was violation of 8 U.S.C §1325: Entry of alien at improper time or place.
• 37.9% of the criminal prosecutions were for violation of 8 U.S.C. §1326: Reentry of deported alien.
• The third most prosecuted criminal charge was violation of 18 U.S.C. §1546: Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents.  
• Over the past year there was an 800% increase in prosecutions for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028: Aggravated Identity Theft, and 826.7% increase of prosecutions for violation of 18 U.S.C. §1544: Misuse of passport.

Click here to donate to TRAC.

Components of Immigration System Seeing Bipartisan Agreement

Obama Admin Deported More than 14 thousand kids to Mexico in 2011

NBCLatino Reports: Helping immigrant children who are detained and deported from NBC News on Vimeo.

Supreme Court to Revisit Ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky to Determine if it Applies Retroactively

The United States Supreme Court has granted cert in a case for the purpose of clarifying whether the Court's previous decision in Padilla v. Kentucky applies retroactively to persons whose convictions became final before its announcement.  Click here to read the Petition for Writ of Certiorari. 

The Court in Padilla ruled that criminal defendants receive ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment when their attorneys fail to advise them that pleading guilty to an offense will subject them to deportation.  Subsequent to the Supreme Court's decision, there has been a split in the lower courts regarding the effect of Padilla, and whether it applies retroactively.

The current case, Chaidez v. United States, arises out of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which focused on the singular issue of whether Padilla created a new constitutional rule of criminal procedure.  A rule is "new" when it was not dictated by precedent existing at the time the defendant's conviction became final. 

The 7th reasoned that if Padilla created a new rule it would only apply to cases on direct review, unless one of two exceptions applies: (1) it is substantive or (2) it is a watershed rule of criminal procedure implicating the fundamental fairness and accuracy of the criminal proceeding.

The 7th found that Padilla created a new rule, that an exception to non-retroactivity did not apply, reversing the District Court's decision.  The Supreme Court granted cert yesterday.

I'll be following the case closely and will keep you updated.