700% Increase In Dropped Deportation Cases In One Month

From Floyd Reports and Judicial Watch:



.700% Increase In Dropped Deportation Cases In One Month


Last Updated: Mon, 10/18/2010 - 12:27pmA month after the Department of Homeland Security launched a covert program to dismiss pending deportations there’s been an increase of more than 700% in the number of cases that have been dropped by the government in one of the nation’s busiest immigration court systems.



In August Homeland Security officials quietly began to systematically dismiss the pending removal of illegal immigrants, even when expulsion was virtually guaranteed or the aliens had a criminal record. The move, first reported by Texas’s largest newspaper, stunned the legal profession and baffled immigration attorneys who said it was “absolutely fantastic” for their illegal alien clients.



Just one month later 217 cases were dismissed in Houston’s immigration court system, which is among the nation’s busiest. That marks an increase of more than 700% from the previous month’s 27 dismissals, according to a follow-up piece in the newspaper that originally broke the story. The following month, 174 cases were dropped at the request of the government agency charged with keeping America safe.



In some cases, Homeland Security officials will allow illegal immigrants with criminal convictions to go free as long as the crimes don’t involve drunken driving, family violence or a sexual offense. For the most part, illegal aliens who have been in the U.S. for at least two years without a felony conviction will be allowed to stay, according to an attorney who serves as a liaison between the government and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.



This is part of President Obama’s backdoor amnesty plan, which has been widely reported by Judicial Watch and a handful of conservative news publications. It calls for legalizing the nation’s estimated 12 million undocumented aliens if Congress doesn’t pass legislation to do it. While the plan is crafted, the administration is implementing other measures—such as halting deportations—to protect illegal immigrants. Among them is prohibiting both federal and local law enforcement officers from arresting illegal immigrants as a result of traffic violations.















illegal immigration

Judicial Watch Blog's blogAdd new commentRead more.Arrested Illegal Immigrants Sue U.S. Over 287(g)

Last Updated: Fri, 10/15/2010 - 11:48am



In a remarkably contemptuous move, three illegal immigrants marked for deportation after committing crimes are suing the U.S. government over the program that targeted them for removal.



The illegal aliens live in Georgia’s Cobb County, which has a population of about 600,000, and were discovered to be undocumented after getting arrested by local police for state crimes. One got booked after car crash for not having a driver’s license, another for shoplifting and the other for felony forgery.



Thanks to a local-federal partnership known as 287(g), the illegal immigrant criminals were reported to federal authorities for removal. The program has been effective in reducing violent crime in local communities and aiding in the deportation of tens of thousands of criminal illegal aliens who would otherwise fall through the cracks.



But 287(g) is unconstitutional because it “impermissibly delegates federal powers to local authorities with insufficient oversight,” according to the illegal immigrants’ attorney. Not only has Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) improperly delegated power, it has failed to train, supervise and otherwise oversee the sheriff’s deputies in Cobb County, according to the complaint which was filed in Atlanta Federal Court this week.



Among the defendants are ICE Director John Morton, Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, a Georgia Department of Public Safety investigator and other state officials. The illegal immigrants’ attorney seeks to make it a class action that includes “all Hispanic persons who have been or will be restrained and interrogated within the state of Georgia” under 287(g).



While this marks the first lawsuit against the local-federal partnership, the program has been repeatedly challenged by open borders advocates who claim it exacerbates racial profiling. Last year several politically-connected immigrant rights groups urged President Obama to terminate all 287(g) partnerships because local law enforcement agencies nationwide are using it to target “communities of color.”


.U.S. Hides Probe Of Illegal Immigrant Who Killed Nun


Last Updated: Wed, 10/13/2010 - 3:24pmA Homeland Security investigation to determine why a criminally convicted illegal immigrant was released before killing a nun in Virginia is complete but the administration that promised a new level of transparency and accountability won’t reveal the findings.



The case ignited fury because the intoxicated illegal alien (Carlos Montano) from Bolivia already had two drunk-driving convictions and an expired license when he crashed head-on into the car of three Catholic nuns. One died and two were critically injured in the tragic August accident in Prince William County.



Media reports subsequently revealed that federal authorities released Montano on his own recognizance while he awaited a removal hearing for nearly two years, despite his felony convictions. Incredibly, the illegal alien’s criminal record didn’t prevent him from getting a special federal employment authorization card, known as an I-766 permit.



Amid public outrage, Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano ordered an investigation that she vowed would answer crucial questions involving how her agency mishandled this case. The long-awaited results are finally in but they won’t be released to the public, according to a Washington D.C. newspaper report that quotes an anonymous senior Homeland Security official.



Evidently the document includes “law enforcement sensitivities,” so it must be kept secret, according to the Homeland Security insider. The agency’s official version to the media is that Napolitano’s office is in the “process of looking over the findings.” Because it’s an ongoing criminal matter, it would be “inappropriate” to comment further, according to an agency spokesman.



Indignant over the federal government’s negligence, officials in Prince William County claim that this is not an isolated incident. Only those who commit violent acts are getting deported, says the chairman of Prince William County’s Board of Supervisors, and the feds don’t consider drunk driving a violent act so those offenders get released.



.Sheriff Assures Illegal Immigrants Are Safe In His County


Last Updated: Tue, 10/12/2010 - 3:39pmWhile some local law enforcement agencies prefer to keep their don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policies quiet, one proudly announced its longtime sanctuary measure in the media this week.



The public official elected to enforce the law in a northern California county practically bragged that his agency, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, never inquires about suspects’ immigration status. "We don’t care about their immigration status and we’re prohibited from asking about it,” Sheriff Bill Cogbill told the local newspaper this week.



Twice elected to head the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, Cogbill oversees the agency that keeps the world-renowned wine country safe and runs its jails. Located about 30 miles north of San Francisco, the roughly 1,600-square-mile county has nearly half a million residents and hundreds of award-winning wineries, scenic coastline and majestic redwoods.



The 33-year law enforcement veteran assured illegal immigrants this week that they’re safe from deportation in his community. Besides forbidding deputies from asking suspects about their legal status in the U.S., Cogbill also prohibits them from assisting federal authorities during immigration raids. The agency actually stopped aiding the feds during sweeps at least twenty years ago, the sheriff said.



While he’s hardly the only law enforcement official in the U.S. to provide sanctuary for illegal immigrants, Cogbill sticks out because the contentious immigration debate has led others to keep their policies under the radar. Few have been brazen enough to announce them in the local paper, amid mounting discord over the issue.



The fact is that dozens of police departments across the country have similar immigration policies, including those in major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and The District of Columbia. Judicial Watch has taken legal action against all four of these for disregarding federal laws.