Issue Date: 12/8/08
Immigrant criminals not being properly dealt with
By Maggie Avants
Controversy has rung out about the recent release of over 2,500 criminally charged illegal immigrants in Harris County, Texas.
According to an Associated Press report on Nov. 17, the Houston Chronicle uncovered the "mishap" after a lengthy six-month investigation that started with an illegal immigrant database obtained from the jail. Out of 3,500 aliens on the database, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only filed deportation paperwork on a fourth of them.
During a time when the country is plagued with an overcrowded prison system, there is too much money being spent on jailing and defending these types of prisoners.
Then we let them just walk back out on the streets with alien status and a criminal record. And the ones who remain detained for more serious crimes will end up charged with a criminal offense, spending the duration of their sentence in U.S. jails, taking more of taxpayers dollars. Finally, when they've served their time, they will be deported to their home country.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, ICE became of a branch of the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. Our nation had finally recognized the fact that illegal immigration was a threat to its security and rightly so. Their mission was to "find and deport anyone in violation of an immigration law." Not so ironically, a violation of immigration law includes committing a crime. But the definition of what crimes are punishable by deportation remains in question. Aggravated felonies like murder and child molestation are immediate grounds for deportation, but only after a final conviction, while those who have repetitive misdemeanor convictions often get released, only to commit more crime.
In order for this to be successful, local prison systems must work together with ICE, not independently. In the case of Harris County jail in Texas, they admitted they did not have an adequate number of ICE enforcers working at their jail during the time period when the prisoners were released.
According to an Associated Press report on Nov. 17, the Houston Chronicle uncovered the "mishap" after a lengthy six-month investigation that started with an illegal immigrant database obtained from the jail. Out of 3,500 aliens on the database, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only filed deportation paperwork on a fourth of them.
During a time when the country is plagued with an overcrowded prison system, there is too much money being spent on jailing and defending these types of prisoners.
Then we let them just walk back out on the streets with alien status and a criminal record. And the ones who remain detained for more serious crimes will end up charged with a criminal offense, spending the duration of their sentence in U.S. jails, taking more of taxpayers dollars. Finally, when they've served their time, they will be deported to their home country.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, ICE became of a branch of the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. Our nation had finally recognized the fact that illegal immigration was a threat to its security and rightly so. Their mission was to "find and deport anyone in violation of an immigration law." Not so ironically, a violation of immigration law includes committing a crime. But the definition of what crimes are punishable by deportation remains in question. Aggravated felonies like murder and child molestation are immediate grounds for deportation, but only after a final conviction, while those who have repetitive misdemeanor convictions often get released, only to commit more crime.
In order for this to be successful, local prison systems must work together with ICE, not independently. In the case of Harris County jail in Texas, they admitted they did not have an adequate number of ICE enforcers working at their jail during the time period when the prisoners were released.
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