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.
WE need a flood of new federal immigration judges, appointed by President Trump, and we need them to hear these cases on an expedited basis. Start holding all new detainees in custody until their cases are heard too - they'll stop delaying the process.
Thank you, President Trump!
Only because they started counting people caught and turned back at the border.
Non-citizens do not have a RIGHT to be in the US. It is a privilege. They do not have a RIGHT to a court hearing before being deported. It is a privilege.
The 14th Amendment guarantees Equal Protection of PRIVILEGES to citizens. That is precisely why the 14th defines Citizen ... to define who gets Equal Protection.
Non-Citizens are not covered by the 14th.
Make sure the bill for the lawyer is sent to the embassy of El Salvador (if he can’t afford one privately).
As more and more of these raids become evident, the whisper campaign will spread among the illegal communities. They'll deport themselves. There'll be caravans of overloaded trucks headed south to the border.
Unfortunately, the courts disagree. Rather than seeing President Trump fight the courts on that, I would rather see him expedite the court process and quickly give those illegals the hearings that activist judges have claimed they are entitled to . . . and then deport them all. Anyone who returns? Imprison them until their second hearing, then for an appropriate time, and then deport them once they have served their time (or pay their home countries to imprison them and save some money).
“ome have speculated that the arrest may be connected to Monroy’s 1997 arrest “
No. More likely due to violations of I9 requirements by an employer.
More than likely, it was planned under Obama. ICE doesn’t move that quickly.
I all for draining but this is going to take forever and clog the courts. The main point is being not just missed but ignored ILLEGAL ALIENS DO NOT HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS AS CITIZENS. They have no right to due process that they are being given. Without evidence of citizenship, which should be very easy to produce, they are to be thrown out of the country.
It is about “showing your papers”. We all had to do that to go to school when I was a child. We had to show our birth certificate to enroll in grade school. You didn’t just show up. Same to vote, get a driver’s license, go to work. All of these things required proof of citizenship to access our rightful benefits of being a citizen.
Ay, carumba, Pancho, time for deportation!
One ICE arrest generates all this MSM hoopla ?
and it’s happening everywhere...
I’m not thanking Obama for anything—other than for decimating the Democrat Party and leading to Trump.
Apalach is such a small town and probably doesn’t have many illegals. Wonder why ICE didn’t go up the road to Bristol or Blountstown where there are many illegals?
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