Posted on 12/26/2002 8:35:59 AM PST by Stew Padasso
INS knew about molesters, records show Julia Malone and Elliot Jaspin - Cox Washington Bureau Sunday, December 22, 2002
Washington --- The Immigration and Naturalization Service was told repeatedly that three convicted child molesters from Mexico were being held in Georgia prisons, yet did not deport them upon their release, state records show.
The three men were set free in Georgia after serving their prison terms, even though federal law requires the INS to track and remove dangerous felons who are noncitizens.
When the story of the child molesters surfaced last week, the INS said state officials never gave them enough information to keep track of the inmates.
The temporary head of the Atlanta INS office, Fred Alexander, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that his agency was ''never notified of the release of the prisoners, despite the INS request for release information on all foreign prisoners.''
However, a search of state records shows that the INS was notified about all three men over a period of years.
Miguel Angel Gordoba, one inmate who Alexander said was unknown to the INS, was set free last year after serving four years in state prison for molesting a 3-year-old girl in Alma. Alexander said Wednesday that his agency ''was never even notified of the prisoner's existence.''
In one file, there are two notations by state officials saying that Gordoba's personal history was being forwarded to the INS in June 1999.
A researcher with the Georgia Corrections Department, Timothy S. Carr, said Friday that the state each year gives the federal government a computerized list of names, birth countries and other details about foreign-born prisoners in the state.
The prisoner database, a copy of which has been provided to Cox Newspapers and the Journal-Constitution, identifies Gordoba as a Mexican.
Also on the list are two other pedophiles, Hilario Martinez, who was released on parole in December 1996 after nearly three years in prison, and Lazaro de la Cruz, who was released in 1999 after serving five years.
Sue Brown, spokeswoman for the Atlanta INS office, said Friday the agency was still reviewing what went wrong in the cases and declined immediate comment about disclosures that the INS was alerted to the cases on several occasions.
The three sex offenders were the focus of a Dec. 15 news article in the Journal-Constitution.
They are among about 250 potentially deportable felons that the Georgia prison system released without certifying that they had been picked up by the INS.
In addition to the yearly list that the state gave the federal government, other Georgia records show the INS was aware of two of the child molesters soon after their arrest.
Martinez had been tagged for possible deportation by INS agents in Cobb County, where he was arrested for molesting a preteen boy in 1994, said county sheriff spokeswoman Nancy Bodiford.
The INS also filed a ''hold'' on de la Cruz while he was in the Hall County Jail for molesting a 3-year-old girl in the Gainesville area. The Superior Court judge wrote into de la Cruz's sentencing report that after he served five years, an additional five years' probation could be suspended ''upon deportation by the INS.''
For reasons that are still unclear, when both men moved from county jails into state prisons, the INS record, known as a ''detainer,'' did not move with them. As a result, both men were set free after serving their time.
Georgia and federal officials blame each other for the mistake.
In a statement issued Friday, the Eastern regional INS headquarters in Burlington, Vt., said it was the responsibility of the state and county to release inmates to the INS. ''INS does not 'follow' people as they move around the penal system,'' said spokeswoman Amy Otten.
At the Georgia Corrections Department, spokeswoman Scheree Lipscomb said the federal immigration agency should have known that county and state jail systems are separate.
''INS did not file detainers with us'' in the state prison system, she said. ''We wouldn't know that they need to be deported.''
Gainesville District Attorney Jason Deal said his office works with local INS agents. But he added that immigration enforcement ''is a federal authority.''
At the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, board member Michael Light said the state and INS should work together to fix the problem.
''It looks like there was a ball dropped somewhere,'' he said.
Light said his panel has stepped up its efforts in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and an influx of illegal immigrants.
Even so, Light said, his daily review of inmate records still turns up foreigners who have escaped the notice of the INS.
He said the state needs a more extensive criminal database, plus a separate one devoted to noncitizens and an effort to coordinate Georgia's 159 counties, many of which have their own jails.
I don't suppose we could get away with just "erasing" them without the "liberal" "do-gooders" raising a fuss???
I can't believe I'm typing this...but to be fair to the INS, the question of whether the Georgia State prison system notified the INS of the pending date of release(s) has not been answered. It sounds like the INS carries some blame (of course...it's the INS) but the Georgia State prison system is not without blame here.
...WITHOUT anesthetic.
This type should not be deported ---ever. They should be kept in prison or executed. If they're deported, they'll be back the next day with a new identity, new Social Security number and free to commit their crimes all over again.
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