Illegals reentering after being deported getting prosecuted. GOOD.
About time. I've read stories about how illegals are caught up to, probably over, 12 times trying to sneak in this country and nothing happens to them. Sounds like this is an effort to target the scum bags that have previous criminal convictions and have been caught here, again, after being deported. Put their asses in jail then deport them. There needs to be a penalty. Simply tossing them knowing they'll be right back isn't much of a fine.
Federal authorities are cracking down on immigrants who were previously deported and then reentered the country illegally -- a crime that now makes up more than one-third of all prosecutions in Los Angeles and surrounding counties, a Times review of U.S. attorney's statistics shows.
The surge in prosecutions reflects the federal government's push in recent years to detect illegal immigrants with criminal records in what may seem the most obvious of places: the state's jails and prisons.
Prosecutors filed 539 such cases in fiscal year 2007, making up 35% of the caseload, compared with 207 in 2006 -- 17% of all cases. Statistics for the first four months of this fiscal year show the trend continuing.
Federal authorities touted the recent effort, saying the prosecutions serve as a deterrent for those who see the border as a turnstile. They said they were targeting violent gang members, career criminals and drug dealers who have returned to the country after being deported -- many of them repeatedly.
"They are some of the worst of the worst," said Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington. "They are people that citizens of any community would want off the streets."
"I just wish that were true," said Jerry Salseda, a deputy federal public defender who has represented scores of illegal immigrants charged with reentering the country after having been deported. He and other critics say people who committed minor crimes years ago have been caught up in the wave of prosecutions. And the problem is?
Bruce J. Einhorn, a former immigration court judge, said the U.S. attorney's office should spend more resources going after smugglers rather than illegal crossers. PLEASE stop the bullshit. Better to go after the employers.
In years past, many of those now being prosecuted for illegal reentry would have simply been deported. Now they are being sent to prison first. Sentences can be as long as 20 years, but most defendants receive three to five years, prosecutors said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Los Angeles are largely responsible for the recent spike in prosecutions. In 2006, they created a nine-person team to scrutinize inmate populations for potential prosecution. ICE officials also placed an officer in the U.S. attorney's office to serve as a liaison with immigration officials on these cases. In addition, ICE agents look for possible defendants -- primarily gang members -- in communities around Southern California.
As evidence, he pointed to the cases of two gang members charged after a jail sweep in December dubbed "Operation Winter Warning."
One of them -- Julio Cesar Mata-Sosa, a member of the Radford Street gang in North Hollywood -- had been deported seven times from 1998 to 2006, authorities said. His criminal resume included convictions for burglary, robbery, vehicle theft, cocaine possession and sales, and presenting false identification to a police officer.
The other, Ascension Hernandez-Perez, a Valerio Street gang member, was deported seven times from 1999 to 2004 and had previously been convicted of burglary, assault, battery, cruelty to a child, spousal battery and making terrorist threats, authorities said. Both men have pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the country after having been deported and are awaiting sentencing.
Defense attorney Yolanda Barrera, who handles several of these cases each year, says not every illegal reentry case features a hard-core criminal with multiple deportations.
"They could be a priest, they could be a nun; it doesn't matter," she said. "If they are here illegally, they have previously been deported and they have an aggravated felony, they are going to be prosecuted." HUH? We have plenty of religious types that should be, and are, in prison. If they're such good, law-abiding people the nwhat the hell are they doing here in total violation of our laws?
Even within the U.S. attorney's office, some prosecutors -- particularly veteran lawyers who have risen to supervisory levels -- have regarded the cases as distractions that take time away from more meaningful work. What's more meaningful than keeping criminals off the streets?
William Carter, who was chief of the environmental section when he resigned in 2006, said he recalled some illegal re-entry cases that were triggered by relatively minor crimes such as DUIs, traffic offenses and even jaywalking. That's right. Some dirtbag gets tagged while committing a relatively minor offense and they find out the jerk has priors and shouldn't even be here. Tough cookies.
"With some of these cases, why are we bothering?" he said. "You need to do something about the border. You don't do it by throwing people in jail." BULLSHIT. That's exactly how you do it. This nation needs to stop just letting these law ignoring jerks go with a slap on the wrist, there needs to be some dues paid.
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