Texas Immigration Lawyer Blog

Central Texas teens facing deportation fight to stay in US

Waco Tribune-Herald by Regina Dennis

2 Central Texas teens face deportation after arrests for nonviolent incidents

A local grass-roots group is rallying to protest the pending deportations of two Central Texas high school students who organizers say qualify for an exemption to remain in the United States.

Luis Ortiz, 19, a senior at Waco High School, and Daniel Perez, 19, a senior at Coolidge Junior/Senior High School in Limestone County, are undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. by their parents when they were children.

Both are facing deportation to Mexico, even though their status as high school students and lack of a serious criminal background would allow them to remain in the U.S. under Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidelines.

Perez and a group of friends were arrested in July 2010 for a fight with another friend. Perez was a bystander during the incident and was not charged.

Ortiz was arrested in November 2010 for drag racing along Interstate 35 and pleaded guilty to a Class B misdemeanor.

Both cases were the teens' first arrests, but the incidents put them on ICE's radar for deportation, their attorney said.

A San Antonio immigration judge Thursday set a Dec. 10, 2012 hearing for Perez to make his case for having the deportation proceedings dismissed. Ortiz has a hearing set Jun 27.

The Waco DREAM Act Alliance, which supports creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, is holding a screening today of the documentary "Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth," to raise awareness for the two teens' cases.

Ortiz, Perez and their families will attend the screening and publicly come forward about their struggle.

The group also will gather signatures for a petition to the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the immigration agency, asking that the students' deportation be deferred. An online outreach effort also is being planned.

"We're hoping to creat more of a human connection between the local community, and eventually the national community, and these students ... and have people understand that they're in very difficult situation that, under the administration's guidelines, they should not be under, said Jose Magana, Baylor law student and president of the alliance.

Susan Nelson, a Waco immigration attorney representing both students, said an order issued last year by ICE director John Morton grants immigration prosecutors discretion to dismiss or defer deportation proceedings against undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. when they were children, are enrolled in school and do not have a criminal record.

Requests denied

Nelson said even though Perez never was charged with a crime, her initial request and subsequent appeal to have his case dismissed have been denied by the chief porsecutor handling the case in San Antonio. Nelson said she has not been given a reason for the denial.

Nelson said she also thinks that Ortiz's case should be dismissed under the guidelines since it was a Class B misdemeanor. Nelson is awaiting a decision in her appeal for Ortiz.

"What's supposed to be happening in San Antonio is that as cases come up for hearing with immigration judges, they're supposed to be screening and dismissing those that are not high priorities, and they're not doing that," Nelson said. "They're sending out form letters saying: 'We've considered it. No.'"

* * *

Magana said it is disapppointing that while the Obama administration has taken a stance to reform and slow down deportations of undocumented student, the changes are not being carried out.

"There are certain cases across the nation where they are doing the opposite of what they are stating publicly," Magana said.

Nelson has three other cases involving local college students who she thinks should not be facing deportation under the guidelines.

ICE also began deportation proceedings for both teens' fathers because they were minors when their cases began.

Perez's father, Jose, can apply for a cancellation of removal because two of his five children were born in the U.S. But Ortiz's father, Raul, faces the same uphill battle as his son to stay in Waco.

"These are the cases that I lose a lot of sleep over," Nelson said, referring to both Perez and Ortiz. "There are a lot of cases that I defend where I think, 'This is going to be bad for their families,' but these two boys in particular, it really hurts my heart."

Mexico connections

Orti said the thought of returning to a country he has no real connection to is frightening. He has lived in the U.S. since he was 4 years old, and he hardly knows any of the distant family members living in his birthplace of Benito Juarez in Mexico's Federal District.

He said his family always has been fearful of rumors that ICE would conduct random roundups to detain undocumented immigrants, but he had tried to stay out of trouble to avoid the threat of deportation.

"It's been difficult, and it's scary," said Ortiz, an only child. "I haven't been in Mexico in more than 15 years. Almost all of my life I've been here. I don't know anything about Mexico."

Ortiz has been looking forward to graduating June 1 and beginning his studies in automotive mechanics at Texas State Technical College this fall. More than anything, he just wants a chance to establish a career working with cars and building a stable future for himself.

"I feel frustrated, because I'd like to have more time (here)," Ortiz said.

Perez said he is anxious about the deportation process, noting that he has never been in trouble befor. Of the fight that led to his arrest, Perez said he and some friends were hanging out, and playful banter and horseplay escalated when one friend complained he had been hit too hard.

Perez, a bystander in the incident, said he was arrested after that student's parents called the police. No charges were filed, bue he remained in jail for six weeks on an immigration hold as ICE began deporation proceedings.

Perez, who came to the U.S. at age 5, also wants to study automotive mechanics and is hoping to attend Navarro College.

He is not very optimistic about what opportunities would be available if he had to return to Guanajuato where he was born. He also has never visited Mexico befor, and he has yet to meet some of his relatives still living there.

"I feel like it's better if I stay here," Perez said. "If I go back over there, I'm going to have more problems.

"(My parents) wanted to do what they could for us to stay here. It's better over here in the United States, for us to go to school and try to get a better education."

Defendent accused of sexual abuse of student alleges crime victim visa motive for undocumented mother reporting crime

KWTX.com 

The state rested Tuesday afternoon in the trial of a former local kindergarten teacher, Fernando Campos, accused of sexually abusing students.

Under defense examination, Campos’ attorney, Stan Schwieger, asked the girl’s mother about her legal status in the U.S.

She is not a U.S. citizen.

The defense asserts that there could be some advantage to the woman if her daughter were actually a crime victim and suggested that a new visa or possible citizenship was a motive for her testimony, even if she wasn’t aware of the possible benefits of having a child who was a victim of a crime.

Outrageous.

Harris County Texas Sheriff Garcia leads fight to save 287(g) funding

Houston Chronicle by Susan Carroll

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia is leading an effort to block proposed budget cuts in the controversial 287(g) program that has helped local law enforcements authorities identify more than 275,000 undocumented immigrants in their custody.

President Obama, in his 2013 budget blueprint released Monday, requested a $17 million reduction – or 27 percent – for 287(g) operations by law enforcement agencies across the country.

The Department of Homeland Security, which administers the Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, says it plans to discontinue “the least productive” 287(g) partnerships with local authorities in order to meet the funding cut.

In a hearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano argued that another immigration-status screening program, dubbed “Secure Communities,” can also meet the goals of 287(g), which is named for the 1990s immigration statute that created it. Napolitano said Secure Communities is more “consistent, efficient and cost-effective.”

But Garcia and Texas lawmakers led by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin say Napolitano’s decision would be devastating to local law enforcement.

“Elimination of 287(g) would mean the failure to refer to ICE for possible removal many violent, dangerous, experienced criminals who had no previous contact with ICE before being charged with a state crime in Harris County,” Garcia said.

* * *

Nearly 31,000 convicted criminals have been identified and deported under this program in Texas, according to data issued by the federal agency this month.

The three Texas agencies that participate in 287(g) are the Carrollton and Farmers Branch Police Departments near Dallas and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Garcia’s office teamed with ICE in mid-2008 to run 287(g) at the county jail. Eighteen Harris County sheriff’s deputies have been trained by ICE agents on immigration law through this partnership.

The 287(g) program allows local deputies to question individuals – regardless of their crime – about their immigration status when they arrive at the jail. Deputies then can place holds, commonly known as detainers, on the inmates they deemed to be in the country illegally. Thus, when the suspected undocumented immigrants are released from jail, deputies can turn them over to ICE.

 

 

 

A Padilla victory (and some luck) brings immigration detainee home to wife and Waco

Photo: Jerry Larsen Waco Tribune-Herald

Waco Tribune-Herald by J. B. Smith

Efforts of wife, friends help free Waco man from immigration detention

For nearly a year, Nazry Mustakim woke at 4:30 each morning with a detention center guard banging on his bunk bed.

When he woke Wednesday next to his wife, Hope, in their North Waco home, he was astounded to realize he is a free man.

His immigration nightmare is over, almost as quickly as it had begun March 30, 2011, at the crack of dawn.

Also at an end is his wife's tireless campaign -- with wristbands, letter-writing chains and "Free Naz" T-shirts -- to keep him from being deported to his native Singapore because of 7-year-old drug charges.

"My wife woke up at 8 or 9 and tickled me," said Mustakim, who goes by Naz. "I jumped up, trying to make sure I was still at home, that it wasn't a dream. I felt relief. Thank God, there was my wife beside me."

Naz Mustakim, 32, was discharged Tuesday, after a North Texas prosecutor agreed to dismiss the 2007 felony drug case that seemingly earned him a one-way ticket to Singapore.

* * *

Mastakim has been a legal permanent resident of this country since he came here with his mother at age 13, settling in sem-rural Valley View in North Texas.

But when he got his green card renewed a couple of years ago, it tipped off federal authorities of his criminal record. He had been arrested in 2005 on charges of possessing and selling drugs and had pleaded guilty in exchange for 10 years probation.

It didn't matter that by all accounts he had turned his life around.

He had moved to Waco for rehab, gotten a degree at Texas State Technical College and married a Baylor University social work student. He became a devout Christian, served homeless men through his job at Mission Waco and dreamed with his wife of creating a charity for needy Waco children.

But federal law is clear: Naz Mustakim had an aggravated felony on his record which meant automatic deportation to his native country, where he is practically a stranger.

At 6:30 a.m. March 30, 2011 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in bulletproof vests knocked on the door of the new brick home the Mustakims had just bought on North 12th Street. Hope watched, bleary-eyed as ICE agents led her husband away in handcuffs.

"I was standing in the front yard holding the dog, saying "What the hell just happened?" she said.

Naz Mustakim was on his way to a detention facility in Pearsall. But neither he nor his wife realized the severity of his situation until Hope talked to attorneys and law enforcement officers.

A field officer from ICE told her that her chances of bringing her husband home were slim to none, she said.

"I started thinking, 'Am I going to have to go to college in Singapore?'" said Hope Mustakim, 26, a Baylor senior and native of southern Louisiana. "'Would we have to sell the house?' But I thought, 'We love Waco, and we want to stay in Waco, and we've got to fight this.'"

With that resolve, she hired a San Antonio immigration attorney and began organizing her "Free Naz" campaign.

Friends from Waco and elsewhere contributed to his legal defense and packed immigration hearings for Naz Mustakim in Pearsall. About 1,300 people from around the country signed a petition in support of his release.

* * *

A cheery, outgoing young woman, she said she was diagnosed with depression stemming from her situation.

In June, a judge denied "humanitarian parole" in the case. The only shot Naz had left was to challenge the criminal case that got him into trouble in the first place.

In late summer, his attorneys filed documents to challenge his original drug conviction, asking Cooke COunty prosecutors to reopen the case. They cited a 2009 Supreme Court ruling that defense attorneys must clearly spell out to their clients the immigration consequences of a plea.

They said Naz Mustakim didn't get that information and didn't realize that pleading to an aggravated felony would result in automatic deportation.

By the time of the 2007 plea dela, Naz Mustakim was well into recovery. He said he was thrilled to get probation and saw it as a fresh start.

In 2009, he fell in love with Hope while they were both working at My Brother's Keeper, Mission Waco's homeless shelter. The amiable Singapore immigrant and the outgoing Cajun woman found themeselves chatting and laughing almost instantly.

"We hit it off right away," Hope Mustakim said, "We joked about getting married at the end of the summer."

* * *
The couple married in 2010 and settled down in North Waco to spend the rest of their lives serving the poor and troubled.

* * *

Upon receiving the defense's challenge to the drug charges, Cooke COunty District Attorney Janice Warder agreed Mustakim had not been adequately warned of the immigration consequences. A former Dallas COunty district judge, she had become district attorney after the plea bargain and was not involved in it.

She agreed to reopen the case, but was not at first willing to dismiss it.

"When I first pulled up the case, I thought, 'This is one we need to retry,'" Warder said. "It was a bad offense and the person looked like a really bad person. But then I started hearing all the input, all the letters from people in Waco."

A little before Christmas Warder received a letter from Hope Mustakim describing her husband's transformation. Warder, who ran a drug court for six years, was moved to tears.

The same day, she got word from the county sheriff's department: The evidence in Nazry Mustakim's drug case could not be found.

Warder said she decided to drop the case not because of Mustakim's changed life but because there wasn't enough evidence left to take the case back to court. But she said the letters and calls assured her the outcome was both just and merciful

"Legally, my decision would have been the same, but I've got to say this was a case where I really, truly believed in his rehabilitiation," she said. "I saw so much evidence that I really believe he is a different man. This is one I don't feel bad about."

Warder filed a motion to dismiss the felony Jan. 19.

* * *

[Two misdemeanor marijuana convictions] held up his release from immigration custody until this week, when immigration authorities cleared him to leave.

When Hope Mustakim arrived Tuesday in Pearsall to pick up her husband, she saw him walking down the road with a trash bag full of his belongings, followed by three other men.

When they reunited, he explained that the men, from Nepal and India also were released but needed rides. The Mustakims dropped the men off in San Antonio and Austin.

* * *
Hope and Naz Mustakim long have dreamed of starting a ministry in Waco, perhaps offering a home for neglected teens. Now they also want to reach out to families facing immigration trouble.

In detention, Naz Mustakim became friends with immigrants from all around the world, including many good people who had no one to advocate for them. He said he will try to help some of them.

"It hit me today while I was driving around," he said. "The feeling came over me that I'm free but ther's still other people inside."

Couple Separated By Deportation Threat and Detention Reunited

KWTX.com

WACO (February 8, 2012)—A Waco woman’s fight to keep federal immigration officials from deporting her husband is over and Nazry and Hope Mustakim are together again after nearly 10 months of separation.

Nazry Mustakim was released Tuesday night from the Pearsall Detention Center and was reunited with his wife.

His green card was reinstated and he plans to apply for full citizenship.

GREAT NEWS! Congratulations Hope and Naz. Hope has worked tirelessly for almost a year to bring Naz home.

Here's a link to Hope's post on Naz's release: http://www.wesupportnaz.com/it-is-finished

Texas Immigration Courts deport 81% non-criminals in FY2011

TRACImmigration 

In deportation proceedings initiated during July - September 2011 by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the nation's 50 plus Immigration Courts, only 7,378 individuals — just 13.8 percent of the total — were charged with having engaged in criminal activities. Of those targeted, the proportion of alleged "criminals" is down significantly from the already low level of 16.5 percent during FY 2010.

Not only has ICE targeted relatively few criminals as the basis for seeking deportation in these court proceedings, but this proportion has been declining steadily throughout the past year: 15.8 percent were charged with engaging in criminal activity during the first quarter period (October - December 2010), 15.1 percent during the second quarter (January - March 2011), 14.9 percent during the third quarter (April - June 2011), and finally 13.8 percent during the fourth quarter (July - September 2011). The average rate across the four quarters for FY 2011 was 14.9 percent. 

* * *

Deportation Proceedings and Charge:
By Nationality, State and Hearing Location

On the basis of the extremely detailed and timely records that TRAC has obtained, enforcement patterns can be determined for each state, Immigration Court and hearing location. What were the charges brought against each of the individuals in these various locations? What was their nationality? You can now access these detailed and highly localized portraits on TRAC's public website by accessing a new special web-based interactive tool. 

 A few facts gleaned from the interactive tool for FY2011 (through 9/30/2011):

• The U.S. deported 33,763 immigrants charged with having engaged in criminal conduct (14.9% of total deportations)
• Texas deported a higher than national average percentage of criminal immigrants (7,737 - 16.2%)
• The San Antonio Immigration Courts deported a lower than national average of criminal immigrants (940 - 9.1%) and a higher than average non-criminal immigrants (8,778 - 84.6%)

 

Texas moves to deport foreign convicts now in prison

Austin American Statesman by Mike Ward

In a move that could save taxpayers millions of dollars, state parole officials Wednesday took the first steps to begin deporting some of the 11,000 foreign citizens who are serving time in Texas prisons.

The state Board of Pardons and Paroles grilled federal immigration officials at an Austin meeting to make sure the foreign citizens they want to deport — most probably back to Mexico — will actually be sent to their home countries, not turned loose in Texas.

"We're concerned that they're not deported and they're just released to the street," said Parole Board Chairwoman Rissie Owens of Huntsville. "We hear horror stories. With all of our votes, public safety is the main issue."

Under a state law that takes effect Sept. 1, the parole board can begin approving convicts for parole on the condition that they are deported to their home country. The law covers foreigners convicted of both violent and nonviolent crimes.

But since the legislation passed, parole officials have worried that once they turned over custody of the parolee to federal officials, they might never know whether the felon was sent home or released in Texas if the deportation were to go awry.

That's exactly what has happened in the past, parole officials said. They said over the past several years, several hundred foreign-born felons were paroled and released to federal officials for deportation but were not sent home — and instead were allowed to remain in Texas on parole, on state taxpayers' dime.

Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in their first public comments on the new law, assured state officials Wednesday that convicts who are not deported will be handed back to state prison officials.

* * *

A white paper circulated by state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, asserted that the state could save as much as $100 million annually if as many as 5,000 foreigners were removed from state prisons and deported. The state spends about $3 billion a year operating the state's 112 prisons and related programs.

If all 11,000 foreign convicts were removed from Texas' prisons, the state could save more than $213 million.

* * *

According to prison system statistics, some 6,727 of the 11,395 Texas convicts who claimed foreign citizenship in the summer of 2010 were incarcerated for violent crimes, 955 for property crimes, 1,667 for drug crimes and 2,046 for "other" crimes including escape, weapons charges, drunken driving and minor sex offenses.

Most — more than 8,500 — were Mexican citizens, according to the report.

Immigration Enforcement Off Target: Minor Offenses With Major Consequences

AILA has issued a report titled Immigration Enforcement Off Target: Minor Offenses With Major Consequences, that challenges the claim made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that it is focusing its finite resources on the "highest enforcement priorities" - namely those who
present threats to public safety and national security.

The report's anecdotal accounts, 127 case examples from AILA members covering incidents in 24 states and the District of Columbia, are consistent with DHS's own data showing deportation of tens of thousands of individuals who have been picked up for minor infractions and who pose no threat to our communities.

The report questions whether federal immigration agents should respond to individual roadside calls by local law enforcement unless there are indications that the person poses a risk to public safety Immigration enforcement must be targeted, and by responding to referrals from local law enforcement in a largely indiscriminate manner, DHS is being diverted from its own stated priorities. In addition, the report raises concerns about the erosion of community trust, hindrances to community policing, and racial profiling.

Eleven of the 127 cases in AILA's report took place in Texas. In six of those 11 cases, no criminal charges were pursued. In the remaining five cases, drivers were only convicted or ticketed for minor offenses like driving without a license, having a broken light, or having unpaid parking tickets. In two cases, police officers called ICE from the roadside, and held individuals until immigration officers arrived at the scene to take them into custody. Several cases include facts that suggest racial profiling, including some of those discussed below. In five cases, individuals were pulled over or questioned for no reason whatsoever, and two other cases involve traffic stopfor violations so trivial as to suggest the real reason for the stop was assessing immigration status. Five of the cases involve people with U.S. citizen children, spouses, or parents; atleast ten involve people with no previous criminal history.

:: In June 2011, a man was pulled over, and a sheriff's deputy immediately asked him for his passport. When the man asked why he had been pulled over, the deputy said it was because his lights were not on, even though it was already light out. The deputy wrote a ticket, recording the time 6:45am, even though the time of the stop was actually 7:15am. The officer held the man at the roadside until CBP officers came to pick him up. He is now in removal proceedings. The man's wife is a U.S. citizen, and he has lived in the U.S. for 15 years.

:: In June 2010, a man was leaving a convenience store when he was stopped by a sheriff's deputy and asked for identification. Since he could not produce any, he was arrested. Although he was not charged with any crime, he was taken to the sheriff's office and held until CBP picked him up. Later, he accepted voluntary departure.

:: In March 2011, a man was side-swiped by another driver who was making a turn. However, when the police arrived 15 minutes later and discovered that he did not have a license, they accused him of being at fault and questioned him about his immigration status. The other driver was let go, but he was arrested for driving without a license. ICE was contacted and he is now in removal proceedings. He is a longtime resident of the U.S., graduated from high school in the U.S., and is a leader in his church's youth group.

:: In June 2010, a man was driving with his family when a sheriff's deputy pulled him over because the light on their license plate was out. The deputy asked for a driver's license and proof of immigration status, both of which the man provided. The deputy then asked for identification from everyone in the car and ordered everyone out of the car, including the driver's wife and their three children. The driver's wife showed a valid Texas ID card, and the deputy then asked for proof of her immigration status. When she could not provide it, the deputy arrested her without charging her with any crime. She was held by the sheriff's office until CBP could pick her up. She has no criminalhistory and is a stay-at-home mom who has never driven in the United States. She is currently in removal proceedings.

 

McGregor Texas resident in deportation for driving with expired license

The Nation

Salvador Licea was arrested for driving with his driver's license expired and now faces deportation because of Secure Communities, a program in which all Texas counties participate.

80 percent of the 118 immigrants McLennan County has transferred into ICE custody since January 2010 who were non-criminals or accused of low-level traffic or misdemeanor offenses.

Immigration ‘emergency’ speeds Texas toward sea of red ink

Current by Michael Barajas

Trying once more to tackle his self-proclaimed Texas immigration emergency, Governor Rick Perry added the second permutation of anti-sanctuary cities legislation to the special session roster, sparking a repeat of the tense and ugly immigration debate that mired the regular session.

The measure, which would keep police departments from banning immigration checks and expand the footprint of the controversial federal fingerprint-sharing program dubbed Secure Communities, “sends a clear message that Texas will not turn a blind eye to those breaking our laws,” Perry announced earlier this month.

And even before its predestined passage through the Lege, SB9 has proven ugly and divisive. Before clearing the state Senate last week, Rebecca Forest, who heads Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas, a right-wing immigration- reform group, told a crowd supporting the bill, “We have 37, no 36 Hispanics in the Legislature. So, that’s part of our problem, and we need to change those numbers, in fact.”

The cost of a state immigration policy is becoming even clearer as a host of law enforcement officials statewide continue to decry the legislation as dangerous, fearing it’s likely to deter witnesses and crime victims from coming forward amid the threat of deportation for themselves or their family members.

In a letter to lawmakers last week, a group of Texas sheriffs and police chiefs, including SAPD Chief Bill McManus and Bexar County Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz, wrote: “Alienating any sector of our community from law enforcement is not good for Texas and is not good for our society.” Democratic senators had hoped to ease those concerns with two amendments to SB9 that would have excluded witnesses, children under 17, and crime victims from immigration inquiries — both amendments were shot down.

Said Senator John Whitmire, D-Houston: “We’re fixin’ to impact every Hispanic citizen in the state of Texas. … I can’t think of another piece of legislation that I believe will be judged to be so unfair and so inequitable.”

Jason Cato, currently researching the effects of immigration enforcement programs on the state’s Latino communities for the ACLU of Texas, said the prolonged debate over immigration legislation in the Lege this year has stirred up a whirlwind of distrust within immigrant communities — involving families that are often a mélange of documented and undocumented members, he said.