UPDATE: I seem to have used a certain term in this post, a term that I have always understood as referring to immigration status, but which i am now informed is racially/ethnically insensitive. I apologize. I won't change the word on my site, though, because I do not go back and hide my mistakes or bury evidence of my own errors.

Something has got to be done to fix this problem -- not only do border-jumping immmigration criminals walk among us with impunity, those arrested on serious criminal charges are let free -- even when they are repeat offenders eligible for deportation.

TAMPA - The immigration agent didn't like the looks of Manuel Pardo's Social Security card. When the 20-year-old from Mexico was questioned, he admitted it was fake.

Pardo and several other immigrants were picked up at a brothel in Dover that night in June 2003, a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office report shows. Five months earlier, Pardo tried to attack some people with a shovel and was charged with aggravated assault. He served 24 days in county jail.

After Pardo was picked up at the brothel, the federal immigration agent ordered him to remain in Orient Road Jail until he could be transferred for deportation proceedings.

Federal officials said Pardo was deported, but three weeks ago he was back in the county jail, charged with driving without a valid license. Although it is a felony to return to the United States after deportation, he was released on $500 bail.

He walked out nine hours after he was picked up.

It seems we don't have sufficient jail space to hold criminal wetbacks pending their deportation -- even when the charges are directly related to their immigration status.

It seems clear that one step needed is the adoption of a policy that either expeditites or eliminates hearings in such situations. Our policy needs to be that such deportations occur quickly and efficiently.

Load 'em up! Ship 'em back! Rawhide!

Posted by: Greg at 09:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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