Friday, February 01, 2008

ICE, Kice ... eins, zwei, drei, vier!

Immigration officials detaining, deporting American citizens

FLORENCE, Ariz. — Thomas Warziniack was born in Minnesota and grew up in Georgia, but immigration authorities pronounced him an illegal immigrant from Russia.


[...]

On Thursday, Warziniack finally became a free man. Immigration officials released him after his family, who learned about his predicament from McClatchy, produced a birth certificate and after a U.S. senator demanded his release.


[...]

Unlike suspects charged in criminal courts, detainees accused of immigration violations don't have a right to an attorney, and three-quarters of them represent themselves. Less affluent or resourceful U.S. citizens who are detained must try to maneuver on their own through a complicated system.


[...]

Officials with ICE, the federal agency that oversees deportations, maintain that such cases are isolated because agents are required to obtain sufficient evidence that someone is an illegal immigrant before making an arrest. However, they don't track the number of U.S. citizens who are detained or deported.


[...]

"The burden of proof is on the individual to show they're legally entitled to be in the United States," said ICE spokeswoman Kice.

So when ICE makes an arrest the defendant isn't allowed a lawyer. And it's up to the American citizen arrested by ICE to prove they're an American, without access to counsel or the outside world. And they've deported many American citizens, but they won't keep track of just how many.

Okaaaay. I remember this song. Horst Wessel sang it and it started with 'eins, zwei, drei, vier.'




Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

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