Posted on 07/27/2005 9:38:40 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
A last-minute breakthrough in an immigration case helped four Phoenix students, including recent ASU graduate Luis Nava, escape the threat of deportation for the immediate future.
U.S. Immigration Judge John Richardson threw out the federal government's case against the students on Thursday. He ruled that immigration officials unlawfully detained the students based on their ethnic origin during a school trip to Niagara Falls in June 2002.
Prior to this decision, it had been widely expected that the students would request voluntary departure to avoid the potentially harsh consequences of forced deportation. This action would have required them to leave the United States within four months of the ruling.
Nava, 21, said he was pleased with the court's unexpected decision.
"I'm very, very surprised," he said. "My lawyer told me that our petition for deferred action was denied, so I definitely thought I would be off for voluntary departure."
Nava said that the immigration officials seemed to make special efforts to detain them, tracking the students down in the visitor's center, not at the nearby U.S.-Canada border.
"The only reason they questioned us was because we were of Hispanic descent," Nava said.
Oscar Corona, 20, one of Nava's classmates who was also detained, said he heard one of the officers saying that the students stood out in Buffalo, N.Y., which has a much smaller Hispanic population than Phoenix. As a result, they would all eventually be questioned, the officer said. Corona also said two of the officers joked about ordering Mexican takeout and started laughing at the students.
Judy Flanagan, one of the two lawyers representing the students, said she felt testimony describing what amounted to racial profiling played a key role in influencing the judge's decision. Other violations described included denying the teenagers their rights to call their parents and claiming the students would be shipped to Mexico if their school principal didn't immediately fax over their birth certificates.
"[This] should be a warning to border officials that they shouldn't treat young people in this way," Flanagan said.
She added that the federal government is expected to appeal the court decision within the next 30 days. After that, about a year will pass before an actual hearing is held.
Flanagan said she felt she was prepared to handle any legal challenges the government might pose.
"We are confident in both the facts and the legal status of the case," she said.
But John Keeley, director of communications at the Center for Immigration Studies, an immigration policy think tank, said this verdict would undermine efforts to reduce illegal immigration.
He said that in compliance with U.S. immigration codes, the students should have been deported. A ruling like this essentially ignores existing federal law, Keeley said.
"I think the most troubling aspect is a judge sworn to uphold U.S. laws seemingly has abrogated that responsibility and legislated from his bench," Keeley said.
In the meantime, Nava said that he hopes to relax and take some time off. He said he eventually wants to return to ASU to finish working on his finance degree, which he was prevented from doing when he had only three years to graduate before his potential deportation, and someday get an MBA.
Corona said he hopes to enroll in Phoenix College again, which he previously attended, though he is not yet certain what he wants to study.
He also said he hopes he can get permanent residency status in this country with the help of his wife, who is a U.S. citizen, but is not certain if this will occur.
"That's a long process and I'm not exactly sure if it's going to go through or not."
But Nava, who said he
doesn't foresee being able to change his status for a long time, said he plans to become an advocate for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, better known as the DREAM Act.
If passed, the bill would permit undocumented high school graduates to become permanent residents if they came to the United States before the age of 16 and have resided in this country for at least five years.
"Hopefully people will realize it's something that needs to be passed within the next year or so," Nava said. "Another 65,000 students [could] have the opportunity to go to college and realize their dreams."
Keeley said that the DREAM Act amounts to little more than "quasi-amnesty for illegal aliens." He said U.S. immigration law should not distinguish between different groups of people, even if they are victims of their parents' poor choices.
"If you're here illegally, you're not supposed to be here," Keeley said.
He added that he fears the DREAM Act were to pass, it could eventually lead to American universities giving preference to immigrants over U.S. citizens during the admissions process.
"I mean the idea that you would give coveted admissions slots [in] US universities [to foreign nationals] ahead of US citizens I find shocking," Keeley said. "That's the exact premise of the DREAM Act."
His DREAM, which wasn't enacted, would let illegal immigrant students apply for legal residency if they entered the United States before age 16, had lived here at least five years and graduated from high school or were in college.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is poised to reintroduce the DREAM Act soon.
Sen. Hillary Clinton was telling America’s “largest Hispanic civil rights organization” that she would fully support legislation aimed at permitting “illegal immigrant high school students to attend [American] colleges”. She received a standing ovation from the group. (FOXNEWS.com: “Clinton speaks before Hispanic civil rights conference”, 18 July 2005)
ping
Racial profiling saves lives!
So let's imagine it's 1942 and there are rumors that the Nazis are going to try to invade the US. Should the government have used racial profiling to find them?
(I'm kind of guessing that the left would be okay with it)
I'm so confused.
It seems that police were stopping every illegal immigrant that day, and that's profiling, and profiling is wrong.
- Paraphrased from Ron White
This judge has a history of protecting illegal aliens from deportation.
It's White Men causing the trouble, White Men in Flannel Shirts. The are all angry. /sarcasm
Like a stopped analog clock they occasionally get something correct.
The left would rather see a thousand dead Americans rather than a few illegals with "hurt feelings". After all, isn't it our job to die so that illegals can get free healthcare and educations?
The ACLU lost. (And rightfully so.)
Yeah but fascism revealed is the only form of socialism that they will protest. (although many liberals supported fascism in Germany in the 1930s)
They are right once a century??? :)
One of the students wanted to make a side trip to Niagara Falls in Canada. Federal agents looked into the immigration status of all four after a teacher asked whether the students would be allowed to return to the United States with only their student IDs.
An estimated 65,000 illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least five years graduate from high school each year, according to the Urban Institute, an economic and social policy research group.
Advocates for immigrants say it is rare for students who aren't legal citizens to undergo deportation proceedings after spending most of their lives here. They say Congress should approve a proposal to give children of illegal immigrants the chance to become U.S. citizens.
I still don't have (legal immigration) status," said Nava, who spent the last three years trying to finish his management degree at Arizona State University and will graduate in August. "I still won't be able to work in the U.S."
Nava said he might return to school to complete the second half of a double major in finance, hoping that Congress will pass the law.
CUTS from Boston.Com
If an illegal is caught isnt it kind of irrelevent how he was caught.
The Rest of Title: (disappeared)Case thrown out due to evidence of racial profiling
They are here illegaly but we can't ask them anything unless we have probable cause to think they are illegal?
What would that be Judge John Richardson, wires sticking out of their clothes or backpacks!?!
Scholarship funding for education?....where does the tuition come from?
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