Posted on 06/03/2005 8:13:09 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Recio: Undocumented immigrants will not be set free in Brownsville
Jorge Enrique Vasquez Carrasco didnt expect jail time or to be deported when he got caught illegally entering the United States.
The 18-year-old Honduran man expected the same treatment as thousands of other undocumented immigrants who have been set free after receiving a notice to appear in court.
According to federal figures, almost 88 percent of immigrants who receive those notices never appear in court and stay illegally in the United States.
But U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio made a statement Thursday to Vasquez and six other Central Americans who were caught this week crossing the Rio Grande near Brownsville.
I want you to tell all your friends in Honduras that if they come through Brownsville, Texas, they will not be paroled into the system and they will be put in jail and deported, Recio told Vasquez in open court as he handed him a jail sentence that could keep him here until space opens at an immigration facility and he could be deported.
Vasquez and six others in his group pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor illegal entry charge.
Recio declined an interview, but federal officials said the immigrants will be held in a Cameron County jail until bed space could be found for them at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center near Bayview.
Although the federal facility is reported to be near its 850-bed capacity, ICE spokeswoman Letty Zamarripa said her agency is bound to carry out the federal judges sentence and relies on contracts with county jails to do so.
There is not a limit on how long a federal prisoner can stay in a county facility, she said.
According to the latest figures, there are at least 325 federal prisoners in Cameron County jails, including undocumented immigrants waiting to be transferred or deported.
Zamarripa said criminals and detainees from nations of interest such as those that support terrorism are give priority when moved from county jails to federal facilities.
We are removing detainees everyday, Zamarripa said of immigrants being deported from the Bayview facility. We have two flights a week with room for 120 on each flight in addition to two buses leaving each week.
Although there are no plans to expand the Bayview facility, Zamarripa said a 1,020-bed contract facility is expected to open in June near Pearsall, which could receive undocumented Central American and Brazilian immigrants caught in the Rio Grande Valley.
Nathan Selzer with the Valley Movement for Human Rights said undocumented immigrants are being put in danger while committing a non-violent and victimless crime and then being put in the same jails as real criminals.
Selzer said the situation would be most easily addressed through reform of the United States immigration policy.
But thats in the hands of President Bush and Congress and they refuse to do so, Selzer said.
schapa@brownsvilleherald.com
OTMs will now be put in jail or deported!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Hooray! That Judge is a hero!
Vasquez and six others in his group pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor illegal entry charge.
Nice to see we take violation of the sovereignty of our nation's borders so seriously.
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Illegal immigrants are committing a victimless crime?
No true.
In California alone they are costing taxpayers $9 billion a year. They are stealing $9 billion a year. That means some single mom will have to work 3 more hours a day and see her child 3 less hours a day. Is that a victimless crime?
And when they run out of room, I hope they will copy Sheriff Joe in Phoenix and open a "Tent City" jail. There's lots of space in Texas for tents. And Joe's got their meal costs down to cents per meal.
Save your airline miles to deport illegals.
wow, at least one judge knows what's up.
"18-year-old Honduran man expected the same treatment as thousands of other undocumented immigrants who have been set free after receiving a notice to appear in court"
What an attitude and who do we blame? Also, Judge Recio receives a great big salute. A federal judge with guts--will wonders never cease.
Hooray for common sense and intelligence. This judge knows the nonsense of letting illegals go with a further court date...and he knows how badly we're being hurt by loose illegals...lock 'em up, then send 'em home...that works for me!
Isn't illegal entry into the U.S. a felony?
Here comes the ACLU!
Always thought chain gangs and prison farms were a good deterrent!
No, it isn't.
Conspiracy to commit the crime is a felony, that's where they nail the coyotes.
For the invaders, though, just a misdemeanor.
Agreed. Put him on the Supreme Court!
But U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio...... RIGHT ON JUDGE!!!!
May other judges join this rebellion against our in_bleeping_sane immigration policies!
God Bless that man!!
Arrogance, and an almost militant sense of entitlement seems one quality they have an over abundance of. Humility and remorse are particularly lacking.
The most sociopathic ones seem to be coming our way, with a whole litany of mental illnesses thrown in.
Just...my observations of them both in and out of our prisons.
This righteous judge is willing to play wack-a-mole until the moles get the message to stay the hell out of America unless you come legally. I'm sick and tired of America being the flop house for every damn nation to the south of us. It's not our responsibility to take care of all the pobrecitos south of the border.
STOP THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MADNESS!
This judge has taken a big first step plus he's Hispanic so the liberals can't bludgeon him. I hope Hillary shakes hands with him to put the fear of God in the worthless Republican party.
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