Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Convenient Dumping

Well, now. Here's a great idea: after an individual with an Hispanic surname completes his prison term, deport him to Mexico,even if he's an American citizen. That's what happened to Guillermo Olivares Romero, according to this article in the Los Angeles Times.

Federal authorities have released a Los Angeles man from immigration detention after acknowledging that he is a U.S. citizen.

Guillermo Olivares Romero, 25, was held at an Otay Mesa detention center from Sept. 25 until Oct. 9, when an American Civil Liberties Union attorney presented his birth certificate, school and vaccination records to immigration authorities. He was released that day. ...

Olivares, who has criminal convictions for robbery and forgery, had been deported twice and denied entry into the United States multiple times. Olivares said he and his mother, a legal permanent resident, showed authorities his birth certificate many times.


Immigration authorities had an excuse at the ready: allegedly Mr. Olivares claimed to have been born in Mexico several times. Apparently that trumped the documentation he held stating otherwise. So, whenever he attempted to return, he was turned away, and as a result, lost out on a chance to visit his dying father.

It wasn't until a lawyer showed up armed with the same birth certificate and a few other documents that the feds backed down. Nice, eh?

Lurking in plain view in the article is the implication that because he has a rap sheet and a funny last name, Mr. Olivares doesn't deserve his citizenship. Of course, the fact that he served out his sentence doesn't enter into the equation. Apparently he doesn't get a second chance, and that unlegislated sentence is apparently eternal.

Outrageous.

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