ICE Wrongly Imprisoned an American Citizen for 1,273 Days

[RavenSky]

His story is, on the face of it, perfectly simple: He came from Jamaica as a 14-year-old in 1998 to live with his father and stepmother, and when his father became a citizen in 2002, he automatically became one too under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. That’s what he told the first ICE agent who came to interview him while he was in the Shock program. Watson provided his parents’ contact information and the agent left without issuing a detainer.

He went through the story again with a second agent, Erik Andren, who also had a packet of information from the New York State Department of Corrections that listed his parents’ names and their phone number and explicitly stated that Davino was a citizen.

Yet “about three seconds” after his sentence was completed, Watson was arrested by ICE.

Kept fighting [for his release] for all of the 1,273 days he was shipped from one detention to center to another, then a third and then a fourth.

ICE finally dumped him out in a small town, with no explanation and no money, a thousand miles from his home.

ICE doesn’t know or won’t say how many American citizens have been arrested and imprisoned by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. It’s illegal for ICE to imprison Americans, but so long as its agents don’t believe you are one, the burden is on you to prove it—without being entitled to a lawyer, since most deportation hearings are civil proceedings.

An NPR analysis this year found 693 citizens have been held in local jails on federal detainer requests since 2007 and 818 more have been imprisoned directly by ICE.

Even that’s just a fraction of the 3,600 American citizens a 2011 Berkeley study found were detained by ICE

http://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-wr...273-days-judges-say-hes-owed-nothing-for-that

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, this is the government you've decided that you want. Protecting people from all the imagined horrors of illegal immigrants is more important to you as a people then protecting the rights of your citizens is, so you're going to err on the side of abusing citizens as opposed to erring on the side of ignoring illegals. That is the choice you've made as a nation.

 

[whichphilosophy]

Well, this is the government you've decided that you want. Protecting people from all the imagined horrors of illegal immigrants is more important to you as a people then protecting the rights of your citizens is, so you're going to err on the side of abusing citizens as opposed to erring on the side of ignoring illegals. That is the choice you've made as a nation.

Assuming the article to be true it implies the US is trying to deport its own citizens while letting unauthorized people flood in, which is at best insane.

Given the time period he was in prison it means he was in jail during the Obama administration.

Per the article the Secure Communities Program was suspended in 2011, Trump can't be blamed for this in retrospect for it also seems to reflect defects in ICE administration of application of legal procedures.

As a US citizen I would think his right to compensation would be considerably higher.

 

[Valjean]

Well, to be sure, unauthorized people are hardly "flooding in." As I understand it, for some years now there have been more unauthorized people exiting than entering.
Since 9/11 rights like habeus corpus and legal councel have eroded. Scared people aren't sticklers for law, rights or fairness.

 

[whichphilosophy]

Well, to be sure, unauthorized people are hardly "flooding in." As I understand it, for some years now there have been more unauthorized people exiting than entering.
Since 9/11 rights like habeus corpus and legal councel have eroded. Scared people aren't sticklers for law, rights or fairness.

The problem here is that a US citizen was incarcerated. I think this borders more on stupidity. The system should be reviewed.

 

[fromderinside]

Would it be possible to see debtor's prisons under Trump?

 

[RavenSky]

Assuming the article to be true it implies the US is trying to deport its own citizens while letting unauthorized people flood in, which is at best insane.

You keep repeating the bolded even though you have been told multiple times that it is false. Why?

Undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. has dropped since 2007. The number of undocumented Mexicans, in particular, has dropped by almost 1 million. Of the undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. as of 2014, 66% of them have been living here for at least 10 years.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/

Given the time period he was in prison it means he was in jail during the Obama administration. Per the article the Secure Communities Program was suspended in 2011, Trump can't be blamed for this in retrospect for it also seems to reflect defects in ICE administration of application of legal procedures.

I didn't blame Trump. I blame ICE.

As a US citizen I would think his right to compensation would be considerably higher.

Higher than zero? Yeah. I agree. Much much higher.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

As far as I'm concerned the real problem here is that you don't have a lawyer provided so when someone poor gets improperly caught up in the system you get a mess like this.

 

[whichphilosophy]

You keep repeating the bolded even though you have been told multiple times that it is false. Why?

Undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. has dropped since 2007. The number of undocumented Mexicans, in particular, has dropped by almost 1 million. Of the undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. as of 2014, 66% of them have been living here for at least 10 years.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/

Given the time period he was in prison it means he was in jail during the Obama administration. Per the article the Secure Communities Program was suspended in 2011, Trump can't be blamed for this in retrospect for it also seems to reflect defects in ICE administration of application of legal procedures.

I didn't blame Trump. I blame ICE.

As a US citizen I would think his right to compensation would be considerably higher.

Higher than zero? Yeah. I agree. Much much higher.

Compensation: A huge amount in US$ millions should be in order. This would be a signal for ICE to clean up act by removing its slovenly mismanagement.

It's still in millions but as the research you showed shows it is down but needs to be less. There's enough coming in to create a huge city every year.

 

[dismal]

Would it be possible to see debtor's prisons under Trump?

Tip: Trump wasn't President 1273 days ago. Not to mention, this guy has been out 5 or 6 years.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Would it be possible to see debtor's prisons under Trump?

Tip: Trump wasn't President 1273 days ago. Not to mention, this guy has been out 5 or 6 years.

Well, he was wrongly imprisoned under Bush and rightly released under Obama. Now that the GOP is in charge again, we can assume that the situation is picking up from where it last left off under them and the Democratic corrections to the system are being rolled back.

 

[dismal]

Tip: Trump wasn't President 1273 days ago. Not to mention, this guy has been out 5 or 6 years.

Well, he was wrongly imprisoned under Bush and rightly released under Obama. Now that the GOP is in charge again, we can assume that the situation is picking up from where it last left off under them and the Democratic corrections to the system are being rolled back.

Oh, well then I guess it is fair to blame Trump for this.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I reckon dad should have gotten him that certificate of citizenship when he was 14. I know many do not realize they are supposed to get it but sooner or later wouldn't it dawn on him how he might some day need to prove US citizenship?
We're it on file at the State Dept., this might have taken about a week.

 

[dismal]

I reckon dad should have gotten him that certificate of citizenship when he was 14. I know many do not realize they are supposed to get it but sooner or later wouldn't it dawn on him how he might some day need to prove US citizenship?
We're it on file at the State Dept., this might have taken about a week.

Yes, it's really best to have your paperwork buttoned up before you start slinging rock in central park.

 

[fromderinside]

At some point government needs to stop point and arresting and take responsibility for keep track of those it has granted citizenship. Ergo my debtor prison swipe.

Trying to find fault with citizens is just wrong. How about really applying innocent until proven guilty. First government should search it's documentation, you know, that place where one gets his certificate of citizenship.

 

[RavenSky]

As far as I'm concerned the real problem here is that you don't have a lawyer provided so when someone poor gets improperly caught up in the system you get a mess like this.

I agree.

In the criminal justice system, the person has a right to an attorney.

Because immigration is a civil matter, there is no similar right to an attorney even thought the potential consequences are just as but... as evidenced by an american citizen spending 3 & a half years in jail for no reason.

 

[RavenSky]

I reckon dad should have gotten him that certificate of citizenship when he was 14. I know many do not realize they are supposed to get it but sooner or later wouldn't it dawn on him how he might some day need to prove US citizenship?
We're it on file at the State Dept., this might have taken about a week.

Not really since the ICE officer never contacted the actual father. He tried to contact a completely different person in a completely different state and never followed up.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I reckon dad should have gotten him that certificate of citizenship when he was 14. I know many do not realize they are supposed to get it but sooner or later wouldn't it dawn on him how he might some day need to prove US citizenship?
We're it on file at the State Dept., this might have taken about a week.

Not really since the ICE officer never contacted the actual father. He tried to contact a completely different person in a completely different state and never followed up.

Well, the important thing is that he tried.

 

[Elixir]

As far as I'm concerned the real problem here is that you don't have a lawyer provided so when someone poor gets improperly caught up in the system you get a mess like this.

I agree.

In the criminal justice system, the person has a right to an attorney.

Because immigration is a civil matter, there is no similar right to an attorney even thought the potential consequences are just as but... as evidenced by an american citizen spending 3 & a half years in jail for no reason.

Is there no recourse after the fact? Seems... wrong.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I reckon dad should have gotten him that certificate of citizenship when he was 14. I know many do not realize they are supposed to get it but sooner or later wouldn't it dawn on him how he might some day need to prove US citizenship?
We're it on file at the State Dept., this might have taken about a week.

Not really since the ICE officer never contacted the actual father. He tried to contact a completely different person in a completely different state and never followed up.

Excuse me. Not State Dept. I was thinking of Consular Report of Birth Abroad.
I think the standard procedure is and what is not written in the story is ICE would and probably did a search for his certificate and came up with nothing. Dad was not needed for this. Dad needed to take care of this when son was fourteen. It's not automatic. He has to apply for citizenship for son and the the certificate is issued.
Further, my point is, I'm sure at some point, he or a friend needed their US birth certificate for something. This is where it would likely dawn on him that his is a Jamaican one.

So, he came to the US in 1998 with a Jamaican passport/US visa and nothing. Just stayed. Dad became a citizen in 2002 and still nothing. Son is still just hanging out on a long expired US visa?
I guess so.

Not that I'm justifying the entire event and the lack of compensation.