Posted on 02/09/2017 10:59:23 PM PST by 11th_VA
When agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ride into town, it's bound to generate rumors and last week in Apalachicola was no exception.
On a morning visit Friday, agents from ICE picked up a high-profile member of the local community, a longtime resident, a manager at the Piggly-Wiggly, a family man.
mmediately talk began spreading that the arrest of Jose Francisco "Pancho" Grijalva Monroy, 50, of Apalachicola, was just part of a large sweep through Gulf and Franklin counties, targeted at workplaces where undocumented aliens are suspected to be working.
But, according to a spokeswoman for ICE, that was not the case.
Tammy Spicer said Tuesday that "we have not had increased immigration law enforcement activities in the Franklin County area. There's been no activity of that nature, nothing out of the norm.
"We did not go to seafood houses or construction sites and do multiple arrests last week," she said.
Spicer would not comment further on Monroy's case.
According to sources familiar with the case, he was transported to Wakulla County, where ICE operates a detention facility as part of a contract with the county jail in Crawfordville.
Both Sheriff A.J. Smith and Apalachicola Police Chief Bobby Varnes said they were not part of Monroy's arrest, and were made aware ICE agents would be coming into the county only minutes before their arrival.
"They didn't tell nobody," said Varnes. "All they did is call the jail and advise they were going to be in the area.
"They used our (Apalachicola Police Department) office, and after that they left," he said.
The reasons for Monroy's arrest have not been made public by ICE, which is responsible for apprehending non-U.S. citizens and keeping them in custody in detention facilities until they may be released on bond and their cases adjudicated.
Monroy, a native of El Salvador, has lived in Apalachicola over 20 years and holds a position of responsibility at one of Apalachicola's two largest grocery stores.
Some have speculated that the arrest may be connected to Monroy's 1997 arrest in Franklin County for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. But following successful completion of a deferred prosecution agreement, that case was dropped by prosecutors, and the case closed, without a finding of guilty, in Circuit Judge Francis Steinmeyer's courtroom.
Elizabeth Ricci, a leading immigration attorney in Tallahassee, said she could not speak on Monroy's case.
She did note that her office had received several calls Friday regarding fears of ICE enforcement actions in the area, including a call from a construction crew head who said they had heard agents were coming on to construction sites in the Gulf County.
Ricci spoke generally about the immigration scenario facing Panhandle communities, a stepped-up enforcement that dates back from prior to the election of President Trump.
"I think people don't realize there were more deportations under Obama then in the past," she said. "In the last four to five years he was not easy on deportations."
Ricci said typically, a detainee arrested in connection with having violated immigration laws will be presented with a stipulated waiver, in which the individual agrees to be released and sent back to their home countries without first seeing a judge.
But, she said. "many of them will be eligible for a benefit of going before the judge. You have the right to see a judge as long as you haven't been deported."
In addition to not having ever been deported, a person who has lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years, has immediate family who are either citizens or permanent residents, and who has no serious criminal history, is eligible for a hearing on what is typically a civil offense, punishable by deportation.
"If they have a criminal history they need to have that vacated," said Ricci, noting that there is a proposal under discussion in the Florida legislature for a crime to carry a higher penalty if committed by an undocumented alien.
She said the court that hears these cases in Orlando has at least 3,000 cases pending, and that she as an attorney is now being assigned dates for cases expected to be heard in 2019 or 2020.
Just doing the job that Americans refuse to do... /sarc
” she as an attorney is now being assigned dates for cases expected to be heard in 2019 or 2020”
2-3 years away? Wake up judge, put it in high gear and get these cases thru court quicker. what ever happened to speedy trial?
Tammy Spicer said Tuesday that “we have not had increased immigration law enforcement activities in the Franklin County area. There’s been no activity of that nature, nothing out of the norm.
...
That could be true, but now every arrest is going to be accompanied by an unverified sob story.
Some have speculated that the arrest may be connected to Monroy’s 1997 arrest in Franklin County for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
That happens and you get to stay?
Come on Elizabeth . . . you know the drill. No one gonna ever complain about a democrat. Ain't ever gonna happen in my lifetime
I live just West of there in Panama City and have been to Apalachicola (home of the world's BEST oysters) many times. I can't believe there are more than two grocery stores there. I've only seen one and that's the Piggly Wiggly. Just north of there near Bristol a grocery store owner decided to name his store "Hoggly Woggly".
"Apalach" as the locals call it, is a fairly small seafood town...only a couple stores, but more oyster bars than you can shake a stick at. The town has bumper stickers that say "Eat fish and live longer, eat oysters and love longer". By the way that thing about sex and oysters is not entirely true. I ate a dozen on the half-shell one night and three of them didn't even work.
"Imported Democrats".
Monroy, a native of El Salvador, has lived in Apalachicola over 20 years and holds a position of responsibility at one of Apalachicola’s two largest grocery stores.
Whose SSN did he steal to be able to work? In addition, the employer is supposed to ensure its employees present a valid SSN. So this grocery store abetted with identity theft.
I was amazed today that with all the kids in the neighborhood, no one knocked to shovel the snow for money.
Taxes?
BREITBART REPORTED: “Among the terror jihadists that travel back and forth through our porous southern border w/ Mexico is a Kuwaiti named Shaykh Mahmood Omar Khabir, an ISIS operative who lives in the Mexican state of Chihuahua not far from El Paso, Texas,” authorities reported.
According to US intelligence, Khabir now provides training to thousands of jihadis – mostly from Syria and Yemen – at a base in near Ciudad Juarez, which is located just across the border from El Paso, Texas.
US authorities found out during an investigation of massive food stamp fraud in a NJ bodega, looking into the store's wire-transfers (remittances).
They all seemed to trace back to one or two accounts in Mexico City.
Cooperating with Mexican Authorities, it soon became apparent that the bodega was aiding and abetting terror. Laundered money was wire-transferred from the NJ bodega to terror cells in Mexico.
How do you speed up millions of cases before hundreds of judges? Not to mention that the lawyers are running up the tab.
You beat me to it.
How about a big fine for Piggly Wiggly for hiring him and jail time for the person directly responsible for hiring him?
Make it a serious crime to hire illegals and there would be an enormous whoosh sound as illegals flee back to from what ever crap hole they came.
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