ICE makes the deportation party happen

pO157.

Posted to Politics on Sun Sep 03, 2006 at 08:43:33 PM EST. RSS.

Thirty-four illegal immigrants were rounded up by ICE outside of Buffalo, NY, and face deportation to Mexico. While this case normally would not make the newspaper, however, it has some unique aspects which drew attention.

The illegals worked at a tomato greenhouse. However, they used false identity papers to gain employment. This caused them to fall into a new Bush administration/Homeland Security initiative to criminally charge these illegals with the rarely enforced misdemeanor crime of Entry Without Inspection (EWI) a crime which carries a maximum penalty of 6 months in jail (plus civil penalties) on the first offense, and up to 2 years for the second. Those arrested who had previously been deported, but returned, were instead charged with felonies.

This is welcome news to some groups who have been advocating charging captured illegal immigrants with the laws already on the books. Up until now, they were usually deported without being processed as criminal defendants. In this case, they were charged (most plead guilty immediately -- although courtroom observers stated many were confused about what was actually happening), were given criminal records, and will be deported to Mexico within the week.

Should US Attorney's take the time to file criminal charges against those immigrants found in this country illegally? Do you think this is too severe and they should simply be returned from whence they came? Is this a waste of court resources? Perhaps they should be forced to serve out the 6 month jail sentence before being deported? What is your opinion on this important issue?