Federal program leaves some Virginia immigrants in danger of deportation

[Derechos]

Noe Avila thought he was doing right by the law when he found an attorney to negotiate a deal with a Salem judge: He'd spend five days in jail in exchange for the dismissal of an old bad-check writing charge.

But once in jail, the 31-year-old construction foreman had a surprise visitor -- an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, based out of Salem's new ICE office.

In perfect English, Avila explained that he was in the process of getting a green card. That his wife is a permanent resident, and his 5- and 7-year-old kids are citizens, born in Roanoke. Avila himself has been here 10 years.

The agent responded by giving him a summons to appear in a federal immigration court in October -- where he will likely face deportation.

The summons was the result of a new federal program called Secure Communities, designed to deport jailed immigrants who are in the country illegally, especially felons and repeat offenders. Last year, Virginia became the second state in the nation to adopt the program.

Secure Communities has played a vital role in boosting deportations to record levels under the Obama administration. ICE expects to deport about 400,000 people this year, which is 25 percent more than in 2007.

Scheduled to cover the entire nation by 2013, the program has drawn less attention than Arizona's new immigration law -- and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's recent endorsement of it -- but it may end up making a bigger impact in terms of stemming the flow of illegal immigrants, now estimated at 10.8 million nationwide.

Critics say the program leads to racial profiling, exploitation of workers, the under-reporting of crime and -- as Avila's case demonstrates -- the breakup of families.

"They should rename the program Insecure Communities," said Tim Freilich, legal director of the Charlottesville-based Legal Aid Justice Center's Immigrant Advocacy Program. "Secure Communities was supposed to be targeting violent criminals, but instead there are many hardworking immigrants who are getting swept up as well."

Avila fully expects to be deported to Mexico, leaving his wife and children behind. He doesn't want his family to join him there because of problems with schools, drugs and crime, and his children aren't fluent in Spanish.

"I believe bad apples and felons should be deported," he said. "But I was a church choir director. I play soccer, I don't drink or smoke, and I pay taxes -- and now I'm labeled a criminal because I don't have legal status."

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Who's a danger?

Longtime courtroom interpreter Liana Arias said it's rare when jailed immigrants don't sign over their rights. "These people have a hard time understanding, and they don't believe they can say no to authority," said Arias, a native of Spain.

Such was the case when Dario Lopez was jailed in Roanoke last month on charges of assaulting a police officer and being drunk in public. In court last week, the charges were reduced to misdemeanor assault, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail.

Family friend Richard Hamlett said he tried to bail him out of jail two weeks earlier, but was told that "ICE had placed a hold on him."

"The worst part was, he doesn't speak English enough to know what was happening to him," said Hamlett, a Roanoke County developer. "I've known him for three years -- he's a good kid. If I had done what he did, I'd be out of jail the next day."

Scheduled for deportation at the end of his sentence, Lopez will leave behind a wife and middle school-age son.

Randy Capps of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute believes Secure Communities leaves too much to the interpretation -- and politics -- of individual officers.

"Who do they consider to be a danger to the community? Police and ICE don't always agree on that definition," he said.

Everybody's confused and frustrated, Poarch said.

"Depending on what side you're coming from, either the feds haven't done anything with immigration reform or they haven't done enough with enforcement."

State Del. Tom Rust, R-Herndon, said his constituents are so frustrated about illegal immigration that last session he introduced two enforcement-related bills to the Virginia General Assembly, which were approved and took effect July 1. One allows local officers to arrest roadside day laborers soliciting work, and the other allows police to impound the cars of people who are being charged a second time for driving without a license.

Citizens are in an uproar over the recent death in Prince William County of the Catholic nun who was killed in a wreck with an illegal immigrant who had two prior DUI convictions on his record, Rust said.

"If the federal government can't do anything, they say, 'You do something.'

"Ultimately, the Supreme Court's going to settle the thing," he added, referring to the federally blocked Arizona law, currently being appealed by Gov. Jan Brewer. "But until then, or until the federal government enforces its own laws, we're going to be in this never-never land."

In the meantime, many area Hispanics say they are afraid to drive for fear of being pulled over, jailed and, ultimately, deported. Avila has friends who have shaved their moustaches and dyed their hair "because they don't want to be pulled over for 'driving brown.' "

Illegal immigrants who are victims or witnesses of crimes are not calling the police, fearing that they, too, will be jailed, he said.

'Basically American'

On a recent Friday, Miguel Angel was scanning the crowd at El Charly, a Roanoke Mexican restaurant and store, in search of a friendly face. He wanted to hitch a ride to work after lunch, and he had 20 minutes to get there, or risk being fired. (Angel is his middle name; he asked that his last name not be used.)

Angel, 22, said he was brought into the United States from Mexico by his parents at the age of 4. The family settled in Atlanta originally but moved to Roanoke a few years ago because they heard it was a friendlier place for illegal immigrants to live and work -- and had a minimal ICE presence.

But with the opening earlier this year of an ICE office in Salem and the introduction of Secure Communities, he's become too afraid to drive to his temp-agency landscaping job.

He says 30 of his friends have already been deported, and he fears he might be next if he risks exposure by driving without a license. Instead he does what the policeman told him to do the last time he was ticketed for it: He begs rides from family, friends and strangers.

"Sometimes I get frustrated and want to go back to Mexico, but I don't know nothing about Mexico," Angel said. "I mean, I been here almost my entire life. I think like an American. I talk like an American.

"I'm basically American."

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/256901