N.C. student Fredd Reyes detained in Georgia for-profit prison (Creative Loafing)

N.C. student Fredd Reyes detained in Georgia for-profit prison
November 29th, 2010 by Rhiannon Bowman in News

A young man, Fredd Reyes, who has lived 22 of his 24 years in North Carolina is now awaiting deportation in a for-profit prison in Georgia, which only makes the headlines for abusing inmates, because his parents brought him to the United States as a child. Despite the fact that they came here from Guatemala after facing death and persecution, a federal judge denied their request for asylum in 2000.

Reyes earned his Associates Degree from Davidson County Community College and later transferred to Guilford Tech. The morning he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who knocked on his door at 5 a.m., he was supposed to take an exam.

Reyes isn’t a criminal, he doesn’t consider any other country to be his home, he didn’t come here on his own accord, he’s been separated from his family and his education cut short. And, for what? So we can feel good about sending an undocumented immigrant “home”?

On top of everything else, Reyes qualifies for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act, which would help him become a legal citizen. Unfortunately, the legislation has been snagged in Congress for years. But, instead of evaluating how our system has let him and his family down, we’ve decided instead to dedicate thousands of dollars to deport him? Seriously? What we need to be doing is making sure this young man graduates.

From NCEquals.org:

Change.org notes that Reyes is eligible for the DREAM Act. “Like others who have faced the injustice of our immigration system and the Stewart Facility, Fredd has the potential for an approved green card awaiting him on the other side of the walls that now deprive him of his freedom,” they write.

Reyes’ case is yet another perfect example of the inherent problems of our immigration system. It paints a clear picture of a young, law-abiding young person aspiring to greater education and community involvement being stopped in his or her tracks by a system that fails to take into account the complexities of the issue.

Adoption case attracts attention of immigration, advocacy groups (The Joplin Globe)

Adoption case attracts attention of immigration, advocacy groups
By Susan Redden
November 3, 2010

Interest in an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court that is being brought by a Carthage couple doesn’t stop at county, state or even national borders.

Briefs in the case have been filed on behalf of several organizations, including the consulate general of Guatemala.

Those filings are in addition to written arguments on behalf of Seth and Melinda Moser, of Carthage, and on behalf of a woman from Guatemala who has challenged the Mosers’ adoption of her child while she was jailed on immigration violations. The issue will be argued before the high court on Tuesday in Jefferson City.

The focus of the challenge is a boy, now nearly 4 years old, who was adopted in 2008 after his biological mother, Encarnacion M. Bail Romero, was arrested in an immigration sweep at a Barry County poultry plant. Romero contends that she never agreed to the adoption and is seeking custody.

The Mosers have had custody of the child they call Carlos Jamison since he was about a year old, and they maintain that the adoption was legal. A state appellate court ruled that the Jasper County Circuit Court lacked the authority to transfer custody of the child. That ruling was appealed to the high court by the Mosers.

The case has attracted interest, and support for the natural mother, from groups that advocate for immigrants and women. Groups filing court briefs on the mother’s behalf thus far include the Immigrant Child Advocacy Project, Legal Momentum, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Women’s Refugee Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri, and the Washington University School of Law.

Information on briefs that may be filed in support of the Mosers was unavailable. Joe Hensley, attorney for the couple, could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Rockford man arrested on drug distribution charges (Rockford Register Star)

Rockford man arrested on drug distribution charges
By Anonymous
Posted Nov 03, 2010 @ 11:45 PM

ROCKFORD — State Line Area Narcotics Team officers arrested a Rockford man Tuesday in an ongoing cocaine distribution investigation.

Ernesto Martinez, 54, of the 2800 block of Bildahl Street in Rockford was charged while in custody at the McHenry County Jail where he is being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending deportation proceedings.

Martinez was arrested on a Winnebago County warrant for seven counts of delivery of a controlled substance. Martinez distributed a quarter kilo of cocaine to an Illinois State Police informant for five months in 2009. The Winnebago County arrest warrant is a no bond warrant.

The investigation is continuing and more arrests are anticipated.

The State Line Area Narcotics Team is made up of officers from the Freeport, Loves Park, Rockford, and Monroe, Wis. police departments, the Stephenson County and Green County, Wis., sheriff’s departments and the Illinois State Police.

Judge reverses his decision in drug case (The Salem News)

Judge reverses his decision in drug case
Original order could have helped accused dealer, 19, avoid deportation
November 4, 2010
By Julie Manganis Staff writer
The Salem News Thu Nov 04, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT

SALEM — A judge has reversed his own controversial decision to try to help an accused drug dealer avoid deportation by continuing the case without a finding for just one day short of a year.

Peabody District Court Judge Richard Mori yesterday granted a motion filed by prosecutors to reconsider his original order in the case against Josue Santiago, 19.

He vacated Santiago's continuation without a finding and then imposed a guilty finding and two years of supervised probation.

In September, Mori came under criticism for imposing the 364-day continuation without a finding, after Santiago's lawyer, William O'Hare, raised concerns about the potential impact of a longer sentence on Santiago's legal status in the country.

Santiago, O'Hare said, came to the United States with his family at the age of 11 and went on to graduate from Peabody High School. He is a legal resident, but a conviction could jeopardize his ability to stay in the country.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, were urging what is known as a "split" sentence, including some jail time and some suspended jail time and probation, for Santiago.

Santiago was arrested last year by Salem police detectives following a series of hand-to-hand cocaine sales to what turned out to be an undercover officer.

Santiago had a prior marijuana possession conviction on his record.

Prosecutor Jane Prince argued yesterday that the judge went beyond his authority in taking immigration status into account in fashioning a disposition in the case.

She cited a case in which a Boston Municipal Court judge had repeatedly dismissed cases on immigration grounds. He was later found to have acted improperly.

"Whether we agree or not, we're left with the statute before us," Prince said.

She also said that Mori's decision goes against public policy by creating a "two-tier system of justice."

"Every person that walks in that door ought to be treated equally," argued Prince, who went on to say that it would be just as wrong for a judge to sentence someone in a way that increases their likelihood of deportation.

"If a judge ever imposed a higher sentence to enhance the immigration consequences, we'd all be brought before the bar," Prince said.

O'Hare, who questioned whether prosecutors had the right to ask for a revised sentence, said yesterday that immigration issues were just one factor he was considering in his argument to Mori.

O'Hare said Santiago had graduated from high school and worked steadily for the year that it took his case to be resolved.

"So I was looking to try to keep his record clean, as if he were Bob Smith from Amherst Lane in Boxford," O'Hare argued. "I was moving for the (continuation without finding) for this fellow to protect his future as a participating member of society."

O'Hare said his client has abided by the terms of his probation and stayed out of further trouble.

Mori said immigration concerns were not the only reason for his sentence and noted that Santiago's prior record is "miniscule."

He acknowledged that he was not up-to-date on the current state of the law and didn't realize that there had been some court decisions that applied to the case until Prince filed them with her motion.

"I hear a lot of these cases," Mori said. "I had just not followed the changes in the law until I read these cases."

Independence Police Blotter (Parma Sun Post)

Independence Police Blotter
Published: Thursday, November 04, 2010, 8:56 AM
Sun News staff Sun News staff

FALSIFICATION, INTERSTATE 77: A passenger in a car that police stopped on I-77 on Oct. 10 was being held for investigation by federal immigration authorities. The man, who gave a Cleveland address, showed a passport from Guatemala but gave a name police could not confirm. Police stopped the car for illegally changing lanes.