Posted on 02/07/2011 1:17:59 PM PST by La Lydia
Sending dozens of illegal immigrants to jail for using stolen identities to work is a “travesty,” according to the Clinton-appointed federal judge who reluctantly approved the plea agreements of Mexican and Guatemalan employees arrested during a raid at an Iowa meatpacking plant. The 2008 case received national media coverage because hundreds of suspected illegal aliens were apprehended during a massive federal raid at the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant, Agriprocessing Co. Many used fake identities and stolen Social Security numbers to work at the facility in the northeast Iowa community of Postville and dozens were criminally charged.
Now the judge who presided over the case, Mark Bennett, is publicly chastising prosecutors for pressuring the illegal immigrants into agreeing to five-month prison sentences by pleading guilty to misdemeanors. Appearing in the documentary (Abused: The Postville Raid) of a leftwing Guatemalan “filmmaker,” Bennett calls the legal proceedings a “travesty” that made him “embarrassed” to be a United States District Court judge.
The film depicts the law breakers as victims who were left “humiliated” and whose families were “torn apart” by the evil U.S. government. It also asserts that, as a result of the federal immigration raid, a small Iowa community of “great diversity was left in ruin” because many of the “undocumented workers” got deported.
The judge’s comments in the film were first reported by a Des Moines newspaper that says he only sentenced 57 of the 389 arrested in the raid. Never the less, Bennett found the plea agreements to be “personally and professionally offensive” as well as a “tragedy.” He also said the illegal immigrants deserved “mercy” and “compassion” because they didn’t have criminal histories.
Many Americans probably thought the illegal immigrants got off way too easy. After all, they were charged with using false identification documents to obtain employment, using fake or stolen Social Security numbers and unlawful entry into the United States. Those whose identities were stolen likely thought the five-month sentence was indeed a “travesty.”
open borders, the law is whatever I want it to be ping
American citizens, however, disagree.
Then resign.
He is an embarassment.
Identity theft is a crime judge.
I’ve known people who have been victims and their lives get turned upside-down.
As for the meat plant, how can they not suspect that all those “employees” showed up in Iowa without speaking English??? Give me a break...
Feel free to take a hike-and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
Isn’t it possible to recall judges in Iowa? Give him the Rose Bird treatment.
Criminals families are always torn apart when someone among them is convicted.
The moral here is don’t break our laws!
This judge seems as though brain dead.
How he feels, or how diversity suffered in crackerville is not the point. It's a matter of what's legal or illegal!
If an illegal alien steals an identity and is punished, it’s a ‘travesty’.
If a US Citizen does EXACTLY the same thing, it’s a felony.
ID theft a big thing until it was found out that their wonderful illegals were the biggest culprits
Yeah, but they’re just identity “borrowing”. They only need to borrow someone else’s identity because our country won’t let them work without a social security number because we’re a such harsh and backward country.
/sarc necessary?
ID theft and illegal immigration has another facet. The meth smuggled in and distributed is often paid for by street level punks with ID info stolen from mailboxes and in burglaries. To say that all of the info so derived is used to provide hard working illegals with legal cover for employment is also a travesty.
“Sending dozens of illegal immigrants to jail for using stolen identities to work is a “travesty,” according to the Clinton-appointed federal judge “
I am sick of hearing how “centrist” President Clinton was. Take a look at his judicial appointments. They are all hard left.
Clinton-appointed federal judge — if he doesn’t want to put criminals in jail then maybe he should step down.
We should all get ourselves 2 or 3 identities to use. Overwhelm the system. Maybe then they would take it seriously.
The real travesty is that this Marxist is a sitting judge.
So should we make identity theft a non-crime? A crime is a crime whether it is done by an illegal alien or by a citizen. Are we now looking at who the perpetrator is before we decide it is a crime or not?
I guarantee that if I were caught misusing someone else’s identity, I would be prosecuted.
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