Posted on 02/13/2006 1:48:48 PM PST by Jhohanna
For Fredy Lopez-Gamez, American justice has been a revolving door.
In September, after four arrests in Colorado Springs, he was finally deported by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to his native Mexico, a free ride home that didn’t keep him away for long.
Within two months, police say, he was back, masterminding the brazen kidnapping of a prominent local businessman on Nov. 25.
Three days after the kidnapping, a prior felony drug case that could have netted Lopez-Gamez four to 12 years in prison was dropped. Prosecutors thought he was still in Mexico, and a judge ordered the case dismissed.
Though police have arrested three alleged co-conspirators in the kidnapping, including
Lopez-Gamez’s brother, he remains at large, and police think he returned to Mexico.
Authorities say his case illustrates a troubling loophole in immigration enforcement, one that has allowed many illegal immigrants to escape punishment for crimes committed in the United States.
ICE frequently deports them, with little regard for whatever criminal charges they face here, authorities say. And after escaping justice for one crime, many return to commit another.
Of 3,445 illegal immigrants deported from October 2004 to last September from Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho — most from Colorado — 1,708 had criminal convictions, according to ICE. The agency has no statistics on how many return after being deported.
El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa and other local officials hope Lopez-Gamez’s case serves as a wake-up call to ICE and to lawmakers.
“Obviously, deporting is not the answer, because they come back and commit a kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon,” Maketa said.
“It gives an advantage to the illegals, because we don’t have a way to hold them accountable for their crimes,” said Lisa Kirkman, spokeswoman for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Colorado is struggling with a growing illegal immigrant population, and illegal immigrant-related crime is burdening the already-overcrowded courts and jail.
According to the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, about 275,000 illegal immigrants live in Colorado. As of Dec. 31, “non-citizen offenders” — including those in the country legally — accounted for 1,431 of the 20,144 state prison inmates, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Illegal immigrants typically account for about 130 of the 1,400 or more inmates in the El Paso County jail, Maketa said.
Sheriff’s deputies and police don’t round them up for being in the country illegally. But, when jailed for another crime, they are asked about their immigration status.
“They’re pretty open about it. They tell us they don’t have any papers,” Maketa said.
The Sheriff’s Office places an “ICE hold” on illegal immigrants, which allows them to be held for 48 hours after completing their sentence so the immigration agency can pick them up.
But even illegal immigrants are entitled to bail, which is where the system breaks down.
Court records show Lopez-Gamez, 26, was arrested in June, accused of selling $300 worth of cocaine to a police informant. Among his prior arrests was a charge in connection with the 2003 kidnapping of his estranged wife, for which he served 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to intimidating a witness.
On Aug. 22, he posted $10,000 bail for the drug charge. According to ICE spokesman Carl Rusnock, Lopez-Gamez was taken to the agency’s detention center in Denver the same day, and on Sept. 8 he was sent to El Paso, Texas, and across the border to Mexico.
Police don’t know when he returned to Colorado Springs.
On the night of Nov. 25, he and three other men allegedly dragged Carlos Ornelas, owner of the city’s largest Mexican marketplace, from his car on the Hancock Expressway. They demanded $80,000 from his family and held him in a hotel room, beating and pistol-whipping him, and threatening to kill him, according to court testimony.
The next day, Ornelas was released after the kidnappers were paid. Lopez-Gamez’s brother was arrested after the payoff, and two other men were arrested on Nov. 27. Police recovered most of the money.
The next day, Nov. 28, Lopez-Gamez’s drug case was dismissed by Judge Gilbert Martinez. Kirkman said prosecutors didn’t know Lopez-Gamez was back in the country and, though they asked for a warrant for his arrest, the judge dropped the case.
Lopez-Gamez is wanted on six counts of kidnapping, assault and weapons violations. Kirkman said prosecutors plan to refile the drug charges if he is arrested.
No numbers exist on how many illegal immigrants have been deported instead of facing punishment here. Kirkman said it is a “handful” of cases, but others say it is more common.
Colorado Springs bail bondsman Bobby Brown, who posted Lopez-Gamez’s $10,000 bond, said illegal immigrants know how to work the system.
“These guys are thrilled. They say, ‘I’m out of the jail in 48 hours. I’ll be on a Greyhound to Mexico in no time,’” Brown said.
“(Lopez-Gamez) voluntarily deported himself this time because he knows he’s safe there. He knows how easy it was to get out of the United States and how hard it is to get him back to the U.S.”
Even when illegal immigrants are kept here long enough to be sentenced, courts struggle to deal with them.
Take Osiris Grajeda.
Police describe the 26-year-old Mexican native as nonviolent, even congenial.
But they say he has a history of going into businesses, mainly on the Garden of the Gods Road corridor, and walking away with office equipment.
He was arrested last year in April, July and October — accused of seven felonies that could have earned him a total of 13 to 37 years in prison. He was sentenced Dec. 1 to probation — and ordered to report to a probation officer if he returns to the United States — and community service. He was deported about three weeks later.
Colorado Springs police detective Pat Mahoney, who arrested Grajeda, wanted him to face jail time.
“I really wanted to see something to hold him accountable in some way,” Mahoney said. “God knows how many thousands of dollars he’s been able to obtain in the Garden of the Gods (Road) business area.”
Grajeda didn’t stay in Mexico long. And by early January, police were seeing similar thefts by someone entering businesses and simply walking off with equipment and other merchandise.
Mahoney said Grajeda is a suspect, and he isn’t surprised Grajeda returned. His family lives here, and Grajeda considers Colorado Springs home.
“We almost were expecting it to happen,” Mahoney said.
Also not surprisingly, officials say, Grajeda hasn’t reported to his probation officer. In fact, Mahoney said he may have returned to Mexico again.
Critics say so many people cross the border each day, and so much of the emphasis is on preventing smuggling, that illegal immigrants can come and go at will.
Maketa said his office is drafting an agreement with ICE that would allow a sheriff’s deputy to be a liaison, to hopefully inform the agency when a jail inmate has pending charges, so he or she won’t be deported.
Maketa hopes an ICE office in Colorado Springs — in the planning for months — will smooth the relationship. He has also talked with lawmakers about making it tougher for illegal immigrants to make bail.
Two lawmakers last month sponsored a bill to do just that.
State Rep. Joe Stengel, R-Littleton, the House minority leader, and Sen. Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, the Senate minority leader, want judges to consider a defendant’s immigration status when deciding bail.
Stengel said it is currently a “don’t-ask policy” and illegal immigrants can post bail and then flee or be deported.
“What do we have to do, wait three or four times before we say, ‘OK, now you’re going to jail’?” Stengel said.
Brown said a recent policy change at the jail — implemented because of the Lopez-Gamez case — informs bondsmen when an ICE hold has been placed before they post bail. He said he will no longer post bail for illegal immigrants.
Kirkman, with the DA’s office, said some officials used to think it was sometimes better to deport criminal suspects who are in the country illegally. It saved the county and state the cost of imprisoning them and eased the strain on courts.
But, she said, in the past 15 years, it has become clear that doesn’t work, since so many return.
“They must pay for their crime,” she said. “Just like anybody else.”
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Probably just part of the Bush administration's immigration policy. We wouldn't want any statistics that reflected badly on criminal activities of these "immigrants."
"What can brown do for you?"
Deported criminals sometimes return
In September, after four arrests in Colorado Springs, he was finally deported by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to his native Mexico, a free ride home that didn’t keep him away for long.
LOL
Yep. And, set up automated machine gun nests with overlapping fire zones. Just have the border patrol drop off extra ammo. And, for those pesky tunnel diggers, set up ground sensors tied to mortars with concussion charges. Again just have border patrol drop off extra ammo. Relatively cheap, not to mention cool use of tech. Done. Woudln't even be that expensive. Heck might not even need a wall (the most expensive part of this idea).
Deported Criminals Sometimes Return?
Really???
Shocking, given that the POTUS refuses to allow the border patrol to do it's job and eschews the efforts of civilians to do that job as "vigiliantism".
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant!
How about this one; two weeks ago a grandmother and her grand-duaghter were killed in a head on collision with a drunken illegal Mexican, who had just gotten a DUI last year, and was not deported and had 4 NC driver's licenses on his person, all with his pic and 4 different names.
Instead of charging him with first degree murder(which the law here allows in repeat DUI cases where there is a fatality), they have charged him with DUI, malicicious damage to private property and 2nd degree vehicular manslaughter.
"New Americans" come under different rules.
| We are now one of the largest Spanish-speaking nations in the world. We're a major source of Latin music, journalism and culture. Just go to Miami, or San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago or West New York, New Jersey ... and close your eyes and listen. You could just as easily be in Santo Domingo or Santiago, or San Miguel de Allende. For years our nation has debated this change -- some have praised it and others have resented it. By nominating me, my party has made a choice to welcome the new America. As I speak, we are celebrating the success of democracy in Mexico. George Bush from a campaign speech in Miami, August 2000. |
Here is an excerpt of a good critique of that speech:
In equating our intimate historic bonds to our mother country and to Canada with our ties to Mexico, W. shows a staggering ignorance of the civilizational facts of life. The reason we are so close to Britain and Canada is that we share with them a common historical culture, language, literature, and legal system, as well as similar standards of behavior, expectations of public officials, and so on. My Bush Epiphany By Lawrence Auster
lmfao
All the more reason to seal the border between POEs. How on earth can anyone reasonably argue against that?
Ahhhhhh!!!! Therein lies the rub those who would oppose it are not reasonable.
"Lopez-Gamez’s drug case was dismissed by Judge Gilbert Martinez. Kirkman said prosecutors didn’t know Lopez-Gamez was back in the country and, though they asked for a warrant for his arrest, the judge dropped the case."
This Judge Gilbert Martinez?
Honorable Gilbert Anthony Martinez
Judge Martinez is a native of Colorado, having been born in Trinidad and raised in the Denver area. A graduate of the University of Colorado, he served as a Public Defender from 1978 to 1989, directing the Colorado Springs Public Defender's Office for four of those years. He is married and has two children.
In 1989, Judge Martinez was appointed District Court Judge of the Fourth Judicial District. In 1994, he was elevated to the position of Chief Presiding Judge, also in the Fourth Judicial District, a position he currently holds.
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