More than 20,000 US Citizens Illegally Arrested & Deported

I find this information below just staggering. Can you even imagine what it must be like for people caught up under these dragnets, whom are legit US citizens?

On November 5, 40-year-old Antonio Montejano was holiday shopping with his four children at a Los Angeles mall and unintentionally dropped a $10 bottle of cologne that his young daughter begged him to buy into a bag of items he had already purchased. Upon leaving the store, Montejano was stopped by security guards and arrested for shoplifting. He assumed the ordeal would end quickly since he had no prior criminal record. Instead he spent two nights in a Santa Monica, CA police station followed by another two nights in a Los Angeles county jail on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.

Montejano pleaded with officers about his citizenship, presenting them with his driver’s license and other legal identification, but they wouldn't budge. “I told every officer I was in front of that I’m an American citizen, and they didn’t believe me,” Montejano told the New York Times. He believes his detention was a direct result of his ethnicity. “I look Mexican 100 percent,” he says.

Because of an “immigration detainer,” Montejano was denied bail and held even after a criminal court judge canceled his fine and ordered his release. He was finally freed on November 9, following intervention from the American Civil Liberties Union, which sent a copy of his passport and birth certificate to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This is the second time Montejano, who was born in Los Angeles, has been mistakenly targeted by immigration authorities. They failed to recognize his citizenship in 1996 as well, prompting his wrongful deportation to Mexico. The ACLU discovered that his records were never corrected, which explains why his arrest led to a positive match in the DHS database. 


Montejano's mistaken imprisonment comes on top of an explosion in immigration detentions and deportations in recent years, as well as federal immigration programs that rely on participation with local law enforcement. He is just one of the hundreds of thousands of people, mostly undocumented immigrants, whose lives and families are torn apart each year by our dysfunctional immigration system.

“Secure Communities” is the latest of these controversial programs, introduced and piloted by the Bush administration in 14 jurisdictions beginning in 2008. According to an October 2011 report by researchers at UC-Berkeley School of Law, “Secure communities by the numbers,” the program has "expanded dramatically" under President Obama and is currently "active in 1,595 jurisdictions in 44 states and territories, a 65% increase since the beginning of this year." Since the beginning of Obama's term, his administration has overseen the deportation of 1.1 million people, “the highest number in six decades" according to the New York Times. ICE is so pleased with Secure Communities, it plans to expand its reach to all US jurisdictions by 2013.

Furthermore, wrongful detention and deportation is not limited to US citizens with easily accessible state-issued identification in their wallets. As Joshua Holland notes, "permanent residents, students, tourists, and people seeking asylum from torture and persecution are also swept up in the maw of Homeland Security in not-insignificant numbers." If American citizens, like Montejano, who are guaranteed the right to due process, have trouble proving their citizenship to the authorities, it's likely even more difficult for legal residents as well as other vulnerable populations, such as the mentally disabled, who may lack a clear understanding of the circumstances.

Why Are American Citizens Getting Locked Up and Even Deported By Immigration Authorities?

IMHO this would appear to be a sign of things to come.

At this rate they're soon going to have to start converting those FEMA camps, to be used as illegal immigrant holding centers!

So even before some of the latest draconian laws are in place, we appear to have some pretty good 'practice runs', gathering up citizens and abusing their rights!

How much more are the people going to take before they rebel against all this?

Disgusting.

Dismantle DHS already. Put soldiers on the border and bring criminal charges on any corporation hiring illegals.

Dismantle ICE.

The ``illegal immigrant`` problem will take care of itself.

Does this guy speak English? Something stinks about this story.
The story reminds me of something that comes out of our local
rag of a free newspaper. If he spoke perfect English, I don't see
how this could happen. But, if he didn't speak a word of it, I can
see how the mistake could be made. Live in the land, learn the
language. If he didn't speak English, the article should have
clarified that. I can see how they would leave that out to gain more
sympathy for this guy. I'll go through the article again to see if he did.
Yeah it doesn't really matter what language this guy speaks if hes a
citizen, but the article could be used as an example of why people should learn
the language, which they may be trying to avoid.
Its unfortunate what happened to this man.

reply to post by Vitchilo


Or... [grin] Fix the problem entirely. I know YOU know, Vitch, but for any who haven't see the way to eliminate power over Others in favor of autonomous power over Self, as well as eliminating poverty, hunger and war, please read My thread here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Vitchilo


It'll especially take care of itself when the dollar crashes and moving to America doesn't look significantly better than staying where you are

reply to post by SpaceJockey1

I realize its a small point, but the source article has this:

Although it's difficult to obtain an exact number of Americans illegally detained by ICE, Jacqueline Stevens, a political science professor at Northwestern University estimates that over 4,000 US citizens were detained or deported in 2010 alone. According to a study published by Stevens last spring, this raises the total number of American citizens detained or deported since 2003 to well over 20,000.

So over 9 years, 20,000 citizens are estimated to be detained or deported. I'd be more impressed if they said how many were deported. I don't think it's the 20,000 in the headline.

Originally posted by AnimositisominA
Does this guy speak English? Something stinks about this story.
The story reminds me of something that comes out of our local
rag of a free newspaper. If he spoke perfect English, I don't see
how this could happen. But, if he didn't speak a word of it, I can
see how the mistake could be made. Live in the land, learn the
language. If he didn't speak English, the article should have
clarified that. I can see how they would leave that out to gain more
sympathy for this guy. I'll go through the article again to see if he did.
Yeah it doesn't really matter what language this guy speaks if hes a
citizen, but the article could be used as an example of why people should learn
the language, which they may be trying to avoid.
Its unfortunate what happened to this man.

His quotes are in English...and sound conversationally English. I suspect He speaks it passably well. Maybe the translator made Him sound skilled, if it was a translation... But I bet it is His words exactly.

reply to post by Amaterasu


then if he does speak english then he has the right to stay here

i think this is the most important part. once your in the hls data base, you're in for good.
i remember reading other cases where a judge cleared somebody, yet they were not removed.
we knew this though, same with the no fly list.

The program requires local jails to crosscheck fingerprints of jailed individuals with Homeland Security's immigration database. If a positive match is found, federal immigration officials can issue detainers that authorize local law enforcement to hold the suspect in custody for up to 48 hours.


However, the DHS database is riddled with flaws, as demonstrated by the growing number of US citizen being wrongfully tagged. The New York Times notes, “Unlike the federal criminal databases administered by the FBI, Homeland Security records include all immigration transactions, not just violations. An immigrant who has always maintained legal status, including those who naturalized to become American citizens, can still trigger a fingerprint match.”

Originally posted by Amaterasu

Originally posted by AnimositisominA
Does this guy speak English? Something stinks about this story.
The story reminds me of something that comes out of our local
rag of a free newspaper. If he spoke perfect English, I don't see
how this could happen. But, if he didn't speak a word of it, I can
see how the mistake could be made. Live in the land, learn the
language. If he didn't speak English, the article should have
clarified that. I can see how they would leave that out to gain more
sympathy for this guy. I'll go through the article again to see if he did.
Yeah it doesn't really matter what language this guy speaks if hes a
citizen, but the article could be used as an example of why people should learn
the language, which they may be trying to avoid.
Its unfortunate what happened to this man.

His quotes are in English...and sound conversationally English. I suspect He speaks it passably well. Maybe the translator made Him sound skilled, if it was a translation... But I bet it is His words exactly.

I was thinking the same thing. This article is extremely vague. I don't have much faith reporters these days though. I'm not sticking up for DHS by no means, just questioning the article, because imo, it reeks of agenda.

Originally posted by starwarsisreal
reply to post by Amaterasu

 

then if he does speak english then he has the right to stay here

Whether he speaks English or not... If He is a citizen, He has the right to stay. If He is an illegal, He doesn't.

There is no "official language" in the US of A. Did You know that?

Seems like a step in the right direction to me. ID's can be faked so verification is needed to authenticate his origins.
If he looks 100% Mexican, I would not expect anything less. Were is the majority of the illegal immigrants coming from? I don't think we need to worry about blue eyed, blonde Norwegians?
And yet our government fails to do the same at airports and illegally searches children and Grammys' instead of profiling as they should be doing.

I've read the article and it is a tad skewed.

Secure OUR Border as every other country and the problem goes away.

reply to post by SpaceJockey1


You can't have one without the other...any more than the average citizen being arrested for something he or she may not have done..mistakes will always be made and that's unfortunate but that's reality....if you want a solution try the National ID card that most people on here say is either the mark of the beast or some infringement on rights....I personally have no issues with the idea of the card being required...

reply to post by AnimositisominA


Agenda, indeed. And racist, at that!

Seriously, We need to eliminate these issues by getting rid of the need for money planet-wide. See My post above.

What happened is terrible if true. I fully agree.

He accidentally shoplifted? Not buying that one, although it's a different matter. The arrest was proper it seems to me and the blame for the other falls only on whoever failed to correct his documents.

The answer is simple. Close the border and put ICE out of business. I like the idea of worker permits as I'm not against people coming here legally and they need to make it easier. Close the border first though or it won't work.

Strange how I have to be groped or scanned to travel domestically inside the US, but any criminal who wishes can simply go to Mexico and walk right in. Terrorists can enter anytime they wish. Why, so politicians can get more votes. It is that simple. Both Bush and Obama have left the border open for votes. Nobody is being fooled who does not want to be fooled.

If you close the border, Florida may go bankrupt! Think of all the snowbirds from Canada! We go there for 6 months of the year, spend our money there, then head on home

Originally posted by AnimositisominA
Does this guy speak English? Something stinks about this story.
The story reminds me of something that comes out of our local
rag of a free newspaper. If he spoke perfect English, I don't see
how this could happen. But, if he didn't speak a word of it, I can
see how the mistake could be made. Live in the land, learn the
language. If he didn't speak English, the article should have
clarified that. I can see how they would leave that out to gain more
sympathy for this guy. I'll go through the article again to see if he did.
Yeah it doesn't really matter what language this guy speaks if hes a
citizen, but the article could be used as an example of why people should learn
the language, which they may be trying to avoid.
Its unfortunate what happened to this man.

Doesn't matter what language(s) he is fluent in, he is an American Citizen and it shouldn't have happened. He is an American.

My forefathers were Krauts and Vikings, explains my hard head and my attention to details, it was 3 generations before they spoke any type of English because they lived/worked/died within their communities. In the USA we have no "language" of our country.

This is an example of institutionalized racism.

Derek