This has to be about the dumbest case of dealing with an illegal immigrant I have ever seen.
From jsonline: Federal immigration officials say they won't interfere with the work-release sentence of an illegal immigrant who drove drunk the wrong way on a Milwaukee freeway for five miles and collided with at least one car.
When Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Wagner recently sentenced Armando Rodriguez-Benitez to 11 months at the county jail with work-release privileges, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke protested strongly. He alerted the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the hopes that Rodriguez-Benitez would be deported immediately.
But that won't happen.
Instead, the sheriff is now calling for immigration reform.
Officials with the immigration agency wouldn't comment on the specific case but said they can't interfere with a sentence that a judge imposes - even if it's a work sentence and the person isn't legally authorized to work.
"Technically they're still in custody, so we can't touch them until they're released from that. I don't think we see that very often," said Ricardo Wong, field office director for the Chicago office of ICE. "What we do is place a detainer on the person. Once the person is released from custody, whether it's a bond or sentence, that's when we come in and get that person and go through our removal procedures."
Deportation is a separate process that can take years because immigration judges decide what happens to the immigrant and the person may have the option to appeal.
Gail Montenegro, a spokeswoman with ICE, said one reason the agency does not get involved until any criminal charges have been resolved is that it ensures people serve their sentence before possible deportation.
"We don't interfere with the criminal proceedings because if we did, these criminals would all get deported instead of serving a sentence. It's sort of 'evading justice,' if you will. They'd get to go back and not face any repercussions," Montenegro said. "So we do not interfere until the criminal process has been resolved."
For people who don't have insurance, work release can be the only way to pay for any damages they caused. Rodriguez-Benitez did not have insurance and was driving without a license, court records show. Several cars were severely damaged as drivers tried to swerve out of Rodriguez-Benitez's way.
Clarke said taxpayers shouldn't have to pay to keep Rodriguez-Benitez in jail for such a short sentence. He questioned how Rodriguez-Benitez would legally be allowed to work.
"No employer's supposed to employ an illegal immigrant, so how's that supposed to happen?" Clarke said. "It just smacks in the face of common sense. If the guy's not supposed to have a job, if he's illegally employed, that's one thing. We're acting as a co-conspirator to further violate fed immigration law. Which is why I said this sentence doesn't make any sense."http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/drunken-driver-cant-be-deported-yet-immigration-officials-say-132026043.html
So, to break it down, you have an illegal immigrant who was convicted of drunk driving- a pretty serious offense.
Then you have a judge who sentences to jail with work release privileges. Huh? He is an illegal immigrant- he isn't supposed to be working because he is an ILLEGAL. What work is he going to do? Clean windshield in the middle of downtown Milwaukee?
Then he was driving a car that damaged several vehicles- luckily, he didn't hurt or kill someone. And, so the federal immigration's folks response is what? Well, they don't want to get involved because they are waiting for his sentence to be resolved. Ok, for the most harden criminals, I can see their point of view. But the feds even didn't put a hold on this guy. And he is serving a short sentence. I would have no problem if they deported the least harden criminals in exchange for their sentences. Then the jails don't have to pay for the extra expenses of keeping the illegal thugs in jail.
But again, how does an illegal immigrant supposed to get a job on work release?
This is just an insane case of dealing with an illegal immigrant.
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