quote:

Originally posted by jehzsa:
Some years ago, the city council of Monza, Italy, barred pet owners from keeping goldfish in curved bowls. This law was meant to protect the fish from a distorted nature of reality, since bent light might show them an odd portrayal of their surroundings.

Good Lord

Fire the ICE agents.

Put the immigrant alliance under increased scrutiny from various federal agencies.

Re-arrest woman and deport.

quote:

Originally posted by Monk:
Fire the ICE agents.

Doubtless it was their supervisors.

Our county jail also has a contract to hold ICE detainees (we are an over-72-hour rated facility) so even though we haven't been used by ICE since 2013 for large groups awaiting deportation, I'm familiar with the process for the few illegals we contact in our jurisdiction.

The quoted article is confusing, to say the least. The best I can make out of it is that she may have bonded out on her misdemeanor charge of shoplifting.

If we arrest a suspected illegal we send an "IAQ" to their desk in Denver and they do a telephone interview with the suspect. Then they either place a detainer or don't, but that's the sticky part. We cannot honor an ICE detainer due to numerous ACLU lawsuits. An ICE warrant, signed by a judge is another issue, but that doesn't happen.

If ICE does place a detainer, we give them a reasonable amount of time to come and take custody and if they don't (not often for a misdemeamor) the process gets to roll along as normal the same as for anyone else.

So as a pre-sentenced arrestee, with a bond set according to the local bond schedule, I suspect she bonded out and so there is no hold on her at present.

It sounds like she has ties to the community and so is suposedly a low risk for skipping, and she has a court date set. Should she fail to appear there will be a warrant issued (with another bond that will probably be higher).

When and if she's convicted that will be a game changer and ICE could take custody when she completes her sentence.

Like I said the story was confusing and one-sided and I may be totally off base here regarding what ICE did and why they did it, but I suspect the situation isn't over just yet.

I recall one instance where the illegal didn't pay his $50.00 Fishing Without a License ticket, was arrested in Denver, failed to bond out down there, was brought to our jail, went to court, was convicted and sentenced and then deported post haste.

How is this even news? It happens all the time.

the problem is, it shouldn't happen at all

quote:

Originally posted by Monk:
Fire the ICE agents.

Put the immigrant alliance under increased scrutiny from various federal agencies.

Re-arrest woman and deport.

Fire them for what?

Detention and release pending deportation proceedings is EXCEEDINGLY common. There's simply no alternative. She was arrested on a misdemeanor theft charge and was no doubt released by the judge who held her initial. ICE then detains her, initiates proceedings, and releases her. That's what they do. This is a person who has been here fifteen years, is married to a citizen, and has children. She's highly unlikely to disappear into the night. She'll come to her hearings. So you release her.

You don't have to like it, but it's the only way the system works. There are millions of these people out there. You and I interact with them every day. There is no real provision for summary deportation. You don't have to agree with the concept of these folks having rights, but they do. If you rounded up illegals and held them pending deportation, the jails would be overcrowded at orders of magnitude more than they are now. There is just no way. It's impossibly difficult to keep violent offenders locked up in a lot of places, let alone worrying about every illegal arrested for a nonviolent offense.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
These "Reverends" need to start tripping and hitting their faces on the ground a lot.

In the "SF members need a laugh" department, here's a letter to the editor from one of the revs. In typical liberal fashion, he blames ICE and the Scott County Sheriff who runs the jail. Maria the illegal immigrant (15 years!) who was caught shoplifting? She's a victim.

http://qctimes.com/opinion/let...4a-37795c188f95.html

Letter: Police shouldn't terrorize migrants

Terrorists, as you know, do things to cause terror in communities. We think of the many unwarranted killings of blacks by police officers recently in the news. Surely, this causes terror among our black brothers and sisters.

We need to think too of the communities of immigrants who come here to work and make a life for themselves. Their ancestors were here way before any of our ancestors were. Mexico, for example, included, not too long ago, the states of California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Now, descendants of those who lived there are treated like criminals for "coming home."

When a person is picked up for being accused of shoplifting and promptly turned over to ICE to be deported, aren't we dealing with terrorism? No due process is required. No legal counsel is required.

We should be able to do better from president on down, if we want to be decent neighbors to those next to us on this God's good earth.

Rev. Ed O'Melia
Davenport

=============================================================

Don't bother opening the link to look for any comments; The QC Times stopped allowing comments last year.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
We should be able to do better from president on down, if we want to be decent neighbors to those next to us on this God's good earth.

Being a good neighbor doesn't mean letting them break in your house and steal your stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
http://qctimes.com/opinion/let...4a-37795c188f95.html

Letter: Police shouldn't terrorize migrants

Terrorists, as you know, do things to cause terror in communities. We think of the many unwarranted killings of blacks by police officers recently in the news. Surely, this causes terror among our black brothers and sisters.

We need to think too of the communities of immigrants who come here to work and make a life for themselves. Their ancestors were here way before any of our ancestors were. Mexico, for example, included, not too long ago, the states of California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Now, descendants of those who lived there are treated like criminals for "coming home."

When a person is picked up for being accused of shoplifting and promptly turned over to ICE to be deported, aren't we dealing with terrorism? No due process is required. No legal counsel is required.

We should be able to do better from president on down, if we want to be decent neighbors to those next to us on this God's good earth.

Rev. Ed O'Melia
Davenport

Reverend Ed should look into what "due process" is. She was picked up for a crime, turned over to ICE who processed her and released her PENDING A DEPORTATION HEARING. She is literally receiving due process of law. Had they arrested her for shoplifting and then thrown her right on a plane back to wherever, maybe he'd have something.

"Members of the faith community initially indicated the crime was a misunderstanding and one of her six children had put an item into her purse, but an arrest affidavit indicates otherwise.

The affidavit stated Calderon took two children's clothing items before entering a dressing room and put the items into a store bag with shoes she had already purchased.

The actions were corroborated by surveillance and an admission of guilt. The charges were eventually dropped."

The link has a copy of the affidavit.

Complete article:

http://qctimes.com/news/local/...82-106ced870fca.html

Sheriff's Office changed procedures and policy regarding ICE holds in October

Devan Patel dpatel@qctimes.com Dec 20, 2017 Updated 18 min ago


The arrest and detention of Maria Concepcion Hernandez Calderon represented a change in the Scott County Sheriff's Office policies and procedures regarding immigration holds.

Months before Calderon's arrest and detention, a meeting was held among the Sheriff's Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in which the Sheriff's Office requested a I-247 detainer form and I-200 alien warrant be provided should the agency request holds moving forward, Sheriff Tim Lane said.

Additionally, Lane said he issued a directive in October stating ICE should be notified if a person in jail was undocumented.

Lane said there was no pre-existing hold on Calderon, but one was placed on her after the jail contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of her status.

"We issued a directive within the department that whenever an individual is undocumented, we make a notification to ICE," Lane said. "Based on that notification, ICE has the option of placing that hold and in the case of the individual, Maria Calderon, they did issue those forms."

Calderon, 31, was brought to Scott County Jail on Dec. 13 after being arrested for shoplifting at the Von Maur department store. Calderon disclosed she was undocumented and after contacting ICE, an immigration hold was placed until she could be transported to Cedar Rapids on Dec. 14. She was released there and must check in regularly with immigration officials.

Members of the faith community initially indicated the crime was a misunderstanding and one of her six children had put an item into her purse, but an arrest affidavit indicates otherwise.

The affidavit stated Calderon took two children's clothing items before entering a dressing room and put the items into a store bag with shoes she had already purchased.

The actions were corroborated by surveillance and an admission of guilt. The charges were eventually dropped.

Because ICE provided both forms, Calderon was automatically transferred into custody once the hold from the local criminal charge was released.

Lane said in the past, the Sheriff's Office always received the detainer form, but that did not mean it honored the form without the warrant.

The lack of warrants opened up the Sheriff's Office to liability issues, which was why there was an impetus on both the county and government to change its policies and procedures, Lane said.

"We emphasized that it is the I-200 form (the warrant) that was needed if they are actually in federal custody," Lane said.

It did not mean the Sheriff's Office had not contacted ICE in the past, he said.

While local faith groups have questioned whether the Sheriff's Office has to cooperate with an ICE detainer, Lane said a decision not to could affect grant funding.

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Programs provide funding for three positions, two deputies and one Bettendorf police officer, as part of the Quad-Cities Metropolitan Enforcement Group.

Before the application deadline this year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced compliance regulations in order to receive the funding.

"From now on, the Department will only provide Byrne JAG grants to cities and states that comply with federal law, allow federal immigration access to detention facilities, and provide 48 hours notice before they release an illegal alien wanted by federal authorities," Sessions said in news release on July 25.

Lane said ICE has access to the same computer network as the jail, so it can see if someone is undocumented and can assess whether local or state law enforcement is fully cooperating.

Prior to this year, Lane said on average there were 10 undocumented people per year placed on an immigration detainer and taken into custody by ICE.

Maj. Bryce Schmidt said Concepcion was the sixth person from the Scott County Jail that ICE has taken into custody since July.

Despite Scott County's cooperation, Lane stressed that the county was not acting as immigration patrol and all arrests were made using the same probable cause criteria.

"It's important to note that even though we've had a policy and procedural change, the result is exactly the same," Lane said. "Individuals that come into jail end up frequently in the hands of ICE. The result is not any different."

In recent years the Quad Cities Times editorial page has become disgustingly liberal. An example is today, where he blames Sheriff Tim Lane for the lady's problems, conveniently forgetting that 1) she's ILLEGAL, and 2) she was caught shoplifting!

http://qctimes.com/opinion/col...89-ec790ec27793.html

Alexander: Is Scott County treating immigrants differently now?

Jon Alexander Editorial Page Editor 13 hrs ago

Illegal immigrants are now being held in Scott County Jail at the request of U.S. Immigration officials. The question is whether that's a stark shift in policy or just a shoring up of previously informal agreements.

Liberal activists and religious organizations cried foul this month after undocumented immigrant Maria Concepcion Hernandez Calderon was arrested on shoplifting charges and turned over to U.S. Immigration agents. Sheriff Tim Lane's decision to hand Calderon over to Immigration and Customs Endorsement, after holding her for several hours, marked a shift from former Sheriff Dennis Conard's handling of such cases, they claimed.

The county, throughout Conard's tenure, refused to honor ICE detainer requests and hold inmates past their court-ordered release dates. Instead, it would release the inmate, who were then greeted by ICE agents waiting outside.

That's all changed due to Lane's decision to hold inmates for up to 48 hours for ICE thanks to an agreement with the federal agency.

But Lane argued Friday that any changes are purely technical. Practically, the county's treatment of Calderon was consistent with years of past policy, he said.

Under Conard, the Sheriff's Office took a less formal approach to working with ICE. Typically, federal immigration agents were given a heads-up before an undocumented inmate was set to be released from county jail, Conard told me on Friday.

"Nothing has really changed from what was done before," Conard said.

I also asked County Attorney Mike Watson if there has been any meaningful shift in immigration policy at Scott County Jail. Watson referred questions to Lane.

Liability for lawsuits filed by civil liberties groups framed much of Conard's unwillingness to hold inmates past their release dates at ICE's request.

Now, the county has agreed to recognize ICE's administrative warrants, which are fundamentally different from bench warrants issued by a judge. There's been debate for years within law enforcement and legal circles about the legitimacy of administrative warrants, especially pertaining to holding an inmate past a court-ordered release date.

Lane admitted that there are questions surrounding ICE's administrative warrants, acknowledging that in a perfect world "we would love to have everything ironed out."

In Calderon's confinement, activists saw a slippery slope toward widespread roundups. That fear mirrored a national argument over when -- and if -- local police agencies should spend time and resources arresting undocumented immigrants. Proponents say it's law enforcement duty, at all levels, to enforcement federal law. Opponents contend that such sweeps sap valuable resources and ruin trust between local police and vulnerable migrant populations.

For Lane, immigration sweeps simply aren't a priority.

Scott County Jail processes about 10 illegal immigrants a year, he said. Compared to the 14 youthful offenders now in custody at Scott County Jail, immigration arrests aren't a big enough issue to warrant attention, Lane said.

"We really need to focus what our priorities are," he said, adding that Scott County Sheriff's Office would not sign agreements with ICE to arrest illegal immigrants on sight.



Jon Alexander is editorial page editor at the Quad-City Times. He can be reached at jalexander@qctimes.com