Eideard

Cristina and Monica

An immigration judge has agreed to delay the deportation of a Queens woman until the legal status of the Defense of Marriage Act becomes clearer.

Monica Alcota faced return to Argentina even though she’s married to an American citizen, Cristina Ojeda – because the feds don’t give immigration benefits to gay couples.

President Obama announced last month that the White House won’t defend the 1996 law that bars recognition of same-sex marriages. That gave Ojeda and Alcota new hope that Alcota, who overstayed a tourist visa, might be approved to stay in the U.S.

Judge Terry Bain put a hold on her deportation order while the couple waits to see if the Defense of Marriage Act is overturned and their green card application goes through.

“She could have said no,” Ojeda said. “But instead she gave us time…”

“I was very pleased that both the judge and the government attorney treated the issue with seriousness and respect,” said their lawyer, Lavi Soloway. “I think it was a demonstration of respect for Monica and Cristina and their marriage. They were kind and generous about it.”

Phew. Most sensible folks await the end of DOMA and other crap laws designed to prevent civil rights.

Meanwhile, our best wishes to Monica and Cristina.

Immigration officials now have access to the fingerprints of every inmate booked into jail in all 25 U.S. counties along the Mexican border, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced, touting the program as a way of identifying and deporting “criminal aliens.”

Napolitano’s announcement came as immigrant rights activists criticized the fingerprinting program, known as Secure Communities, after obtaining documents showing that more than a quarter of those deported under its auspices had no criminal records…

That charge is baseless, DHS officials said. Secure Communities gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement the ability to check the fingerprints of those arrested against a database that will show whether they have ever been deported or otherwise had contact with immigration agents…

By some estimates, as many as a million illegal immigrants now living in the U.S. have committed crimes, Morton has said. ICE often is unaware of them, even when they are in jail or prison…

Secure Communities makes such notifications automatic. ICE says the program has identified more than 262,900 illegal immigrants in jails and prisons who have been charged with or convicted of criminal offenses, including more than 39,000 charged with or convicted of violent offenses or major drug crimes says…

In the first 10 months of fiscal year 2010, 142,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records were deported, ICE says, one-third more than in the same period of the prior year. About 50,000 non-criminals were removed.

I live in a county where the best guesstimate is that 15% of the population is undocumentados.

The way Secure Communities is implemented in the largest city in New Mexico – is that the only fingerprints regularly checked by ICE are of folks under arrest, booked into jail.

A 37-year-old man allegedly took a woman from her Hemet home, handcuffed her and put her on a plane to the Philippines while posing as a federal officer, Hemet police said today.

Gregory Raymond Denny allegedly took the woman into “custody” on Jan. 15, when he went to a home in the 1200 block of Stepstone Court and handcuffed her, telling the other residents in the home he was deporting her, according to Hemet police Lt. Duane Wisehart.

Denny wore clothing with what appeared to be a federal logo on it, a badge around his neck and a gun belt and holstered pistol, Wisehart said…

At the airport, the suspect escorted the victim to a gate, took the handcuffs off and sent her on her way to board the plane, which she did, Wisehart said…

Denny claimed to be a federal officer…but an inquiry into his would-be status with the U.S. Marshals Service determined he has never been employed with the agency, or any other law enforcement organization.

Denny was booked into the Southwest Justice Center on suspicion of impersonating an officer, kidnapping, false imprisonment and residential burglary…

It was unclear how Denny could travel through an airport with a woman in handcuffs and his credentials not verified.

It’s unclear to the newspaper – or they’re just being polite. Denny had a phony badge and that was sufficient for the TSA to leave him wandering around the San Diego Airport with a gun and a woman in handcuffs.

Cripes!

Hundreds of gang members and their associates in 83 U.S. cities were arrested in a weeklong sweep dubbed “Project Big Freeze,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

ICE said last week’s operation was its largest to date targeting transnational gangs. Almost half of the 476 arrested were members of gangs with ties to Mexican, South American and Asian drug cartels.

Twenty-six of the arrests were in South Texas, including nine in San Antonio, 14 in the Rio Grande Valley and three in Laredo…

The South Texas arrests targeted members of the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, Latin Kings, Hermanos Pistoleros and Vallucos, the latter an emerging gang in the Rio Grande Valley, said ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda…

In Wednesday’s announcement, ICE pointed to the arrests of career criminals on parole or immigration violations, including the Chicago arrest of a Mexican citizen in the Latin Kings and the Philadelphia arrest of a Ukrainian member of the Warlocks motorcycle gang.

According to ICE, 517 suspects were arrested in 83 cities across the country. Forty-four of the arrests were made in the Charlotte region including Gastonia (28), Charlotte (9), Bessemer City (4), Mount Holly (2), and Stanley (1). An additional 10 arrests were made in the Winston Salem area…

ICE says street gangs are often tied to foreign-national members and they are involved in a variety of activities including human smuggling and trafficking, narcotics smuggling and distribution; identity theft and benefit fraud; money laundering and bulk cash smuggling; weapons smuggling and arms trafficking; cyber crimes; export violations and other crimes…

Of the 476 arrested, 151 were U.S. citizens and 366 were illegals who will face deportation now or once their criminal prosecution is complete, authorities said.

These are reports from newspapers in just two of the cities within the range of the drug busts. Was there any coverage in your local press, TV talking heads?

Here in New Mexico, TV stations will cover a story like this. Not my local newspaper, though. I searched the Santa Fe New Mexican for “Project Big Freeze” – and got weather reports. Too many local businesses rely on undocumentados to keep their margins up.

Hundreds of defendants awaiting trial for violent crimes in Dallas County have been deported by federal immigration officials and then set free in their home countries.

The practice goes back to at least 1991 and includes the release of murder, kidnapping and child rape suspects. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they’re required to deport illegal immigrants quickly but are now in talks with local agencies who are trying to resolve the problem.

Across Texas and the nation, defendants post bail and are immediately taken to immigration facilities, where they volunteer to be deported. Just how often this happens isn’t clear…

Those who post bail and agree to then be sent home are taking advantage of the system to escape justice, said Terri Moore, top assistant to District Attorney Craig Watkins…

An investigator with the Dallas County district attorney’s office found nearly 1,000 illegal immigrants who were not tried for crimes they were accused of. He said most were deported by immigration officials before they could stand trial. But many were never arrested. The cases go back to 1991 and don’t include all cases in the DA’s office.

Murder 128

Attempted murder 18

Manslaughter 16

Negligent homicide 3

Child abuse 409

Sexual assault 54

Aggravated assault 307

Aggravated robbery, kidnapping, other 49

I suppose if I ask – no one knows how many return after a while?

Three women came to believe that a 28-year-old member of their sex, who had just moved to Washington State from Mexico to be with her husband, was having an affair with one of their boyfriends. So they allegedly hatched a series of absurd schemes to get rid of her.

So cops say they staged a fight at a restaurant, and called city police to report her, hoping they’d discover she was in the U.S. illegally. It didn’t work, and after strike one, the bumbling companions are reported to have tried again.

This time they phoned state authorities to report the victim was driving drunk and was a danger to other motorists. Cops sent a cruiser by and pulled her over, but she was perfectly sober. Strike two.

But their last at bat in this game of revenge baseball was perhaps the most audacious and outrageous of all.

The trio is accused of driving up to the unsuspecting victim as she left a store, forcing her into their car, then spiriting her away to an immigration office, where they demanded border agents put her on a plane back to her native country.

It took the stunned officials a while to sort out what was going on and they refused the request to take the woman into custody. Instead, they called police and officers started their own investigation, quickly discovering what the accusers were allegedly up to. Strike three and game over.

They’ve all been charged with unlawful imprisonment, a serious felony that could see them do jail time.

Har!