Immigration officials detaining, deporting American citizens
"FLORENCE, Ariz. — Thomas Warziniack was born in Minnesota and grew up in Georgia, but immigration authorities pronounced him an illegal immigrant from Russia.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has held Warziniack for weeks in an Arizona detention facility with the aim of deporting him to a country he's never seen. His jailers shrugged off Warziniack's claims that he was an American citizen, even though they could have retrieved his Minnesota birth certificate in minutes and even though a Colorado court had concluded that he was a U.S. citizen a year before it shipped him to Arizona.
On Thursday, Warziniack finally became a free man. Immigration officials released him after his family, who learned about his predicament from McClatchy, produced a birth certificate and after a U.S. senator demanded his release.
"The immigration agents told me they never make mistakes," Warziniack said in an earlier phone interview from jail. "All I know is that somebody dropped the ball."
The story of how immigration officials decided that a small-town drifter with a Southern accent was an illegal Russian immigrant illustrates how the federal government mistakenly detains and sometimes deports American citizens.”
Then there is the case of Pedro Guzman :
"Pedro Guzman, a mentally disabled U.S. citizen who was born in Los Angeles, was serving a 120-day sentence for trespassing last year when he was shipped off to Mexico. Guzman was found three months later trying to return home. Although federal government attorneys have acknowledged that Guzman was a citizen, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said Thursday that her agency still questions the validity of his birth certificate.”
The article points out that these cases, while rare, are simply examples of a flawed system that is being stretched beyond its capacity in part due to the increased pressure on ICE to track down and deport “illegals.”
”The number of U.S. citizens who are swept up in the immigration system is a small fraction of the number of illegal immigrants who are deported, but in the last several years immigration lawyers report seeing more detainees who turn out to be U.S. citizens.
The attorneys said the chances of mistakes are growing as immigration agents step up sweeps in the country and state and local prisons with less experience in immigration matters screen more criminals on behalf of ICE.”
Probably most common is the case of 6 year old Kebin Reyes :
”Last March, ICE agents in San Francisco detained Kebin Reyes, a 6-year-old boy who was born in the U.S., for 10 hours after his father was picked up in a sweep. His father says he wasn't permitted to call relatives who could care for his son, although ICE denies turning down the request.”
Perhaps compounding the situation is the attitude taken by the ICE officers,
”"The burden of proof is on the individual to show they're legally entitled to be in the United States," said ICE spokeswoman Kice.”
Kinda sounds like “Shoot first, ask questions later.” doesn’t it? Oh well, nothing a good ‘ol fence can’t fix.
Seriously, this is a complex issue (or set of issues) and it demands serious thought and action rather than the knee-jerk reactions and fear-mongering that many; including most of the Republican presidential candidates, continue to feed the American people.
Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue
0 comments:
Post a Comment