Cost of the crackdown
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Richard Quintana and Daniel McGuire
Published: November 4, 2008
The illegal immigrant crack-down in Prince William County continues. County officials insist that it is fair. Some see a great success — others see a travesty. Many immigrants are leaving the county,
thinking that police are targeting Hispanics. They see individuals being detained and separated from their families. Even legal immigrants, like Federico, have been caught in the net.
Federico has been a resident since 1990. He is married with four children. He’s a member of All Saints Catholic Church. He has worked for the same firm for years. This summer, Federico and his wife,
Maria, were on their way to register their daughter in kindergarten. They stopped to answer the phone. Maria stepped out of the car to take the call. They were about to be late. As he tugged at Maria to
get in the car, a passing witness called police. Within minutes the police pulled them over. Federico was arrested for assault and abduction despite Maria’s objections that nothing happened.
Federico was held in the PWC jail for two months before his case was heard. Predictably, the charges were dropped at the hearing. However, PWC had already transferred him to immigration custody for
a prior conviction. In 2002, on his lawyer’s advice, he pled guilty to assault charges in exchange for probation and a suspended sentence. He was unaware the plea could result in deportation.
Prior to immigration charges against Federico being filed, Catholic Charities submitted a bond request for his release, pending the outcome of his case. The request was denied. It appears DHS is
determined to deport Federico for his previous conviction.
Federico paid his debt to Virginia, but immigration law allows him to be held for his 2002 assault conviction under Virginia law. His only hope of remaining in this country is to have his 2002 felony
conviction reversed. Federico doesn’t have the resources to reopen his case.
Federico needs legal assistance that he cannot afford. Catholic Charities has done all it can do. However, in our opinion, Federico should not have been charged for assault and abduction in the first
place. This frivolous arrest caused an insurmountable problem for Federico. The human cost of PWC’s immigration enforcement for Federico and his family has been enormous. Is this how we want to
deal with immigration problems?
RICHARD QUINTANA
Chairman, Peace & Justice Committee, All Saints Catholic Church.
DANIEL McGUIRE
Staff Attorney, Catholic Charities
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( do the right thing ) on November 09, 2008 at 11:10 am
Pinko:
Ms. Kipp is an intelligent,caring, and wonderful parent. Classifying her as an immigrant hater simply because she shares the views of the majority of Americans in this country on the issue of illegal immigration, reveals your own indignant and hateful views of law-abiding citizens.
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Posted by ( MC ) on November 07, 2008 at 11:06 am
-Kipp is an immigrant hater, a member of nativist group HSM, and loves to endorse wasting our money. If it were up to Kipp, we’d all end up in jail if we looked brown and “unacceptable.” “Moral turpitude” indeed. Look who’s talking.
I think most Americans are not “immigrant-haters” as I don’t think very many could say they would be here if it weren’t for someone in their families immigrating to this land. I myself am a first-generation American. What most of us object to is people coming here *illegally* and breaking our laws. And you want to talk about a waste of money. My county, Arlington spends taxpayer dollars training illegal aliens and providing them a place to find day labor. That money should be spent on improving our schools, paving our roads and paying our cops, not enabling these people, who have already flouted our laws by coming here illegally in the first place. I am all for immigration, but there is a process for coming to this country and once here immigrants must obey the laws like the rest of us.
My other point is that even if this person were a citizen or permanent resident and had been convicted of a crime, he would have received at least some jail time, which would have also separated him from his family. We all make choices and must accept the consequences. Only Frederico alone can be blamed for whatever happens to his family because of whatever crime he was convicted of before. I think we can all agree that we don’t want murderers and rapists running around free just because we don’t want to punish their families.
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Posted by ( k.o. ) on November 07, 2008 at 9:46 am
Do NOT give to CHD - Instead donate to defend police who are persecuted for doing their jobs. Now that’s social justice! http://www.policedefense.org/
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Posted by ( MikeG ) on November 07, 2008 at 7:44 am
Thanks for the clarification, Posts as Pinko; I accept your explanation, although to me it seems a stretch, particularly in this case. Again, without knowing all the facts and circumstances, the readers were left to conjecture about the true nature of the incident that landed Federico in the slammer. Obviously, after the wife either vouched truthfully for him, or refused to press any charges, the police came to the realization (most likely) that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him. I don’t blame the witness in this case, although he/she may have misinterpreted what he/she saw, because in today’s world I believe it’s best to be safe rather than sorry. How many abductions were successful in spite of the fact that there were witnesses, but the witnesses didn’t want to get involved, or didn’t understand what they were seeing. Sometimes people get into trouble for innocent things taken out of context; in Federico’s case, it’s just too bad that he had a prior criminal record.
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Posted by ( k.o. ) on November 07, 2008 at 7:01 am
YES! This IS how we want to deal with immigration issues! And this is another reason (besides its support of ACORN) that we Catholics are refusing to donate to the CHD (Campaign for Human Development) which funds Catholic Charities.
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Posted by ( do the right thing ) on November 06, 2008 at 5:35 pm
This story stinks of half truths about Mr. Frederico. My advice to Frederico,“Don’t commit a crime if you don’t want to pay the fine.“ You lost any sympathy form me.
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Posted by ( Posts as Pinko ) on November 06, 2008 at 3:16 pm
—So I guess if the perpetrator is anything but white, any witness to a crime is a racist or just doesn’t like the alleged perp’s looks—
That’s not what I am saying at all, Mike! What I am saying is SOME people (and I like to believe it is a minority) will do anything to victimize and scapegoat. Therefore, the police need to be careful about whom they believe as witnesses. They need to look into the story more before arresting anyone. Arresting someone is a serious step.
I don’t know what the full story is here (as you noted, there are missing pieces), but I do know not everyone who reports a crime has the best of intentions in mind.
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Posted by ( MikeG ) on November 06, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Pinko: “This story tells me one thing: “witnesses” who have a racial or any other grudge will report what they want to see. PWC has endorsed a witch hunt. We have suffered the cost for this fiscally and socially.“
Boy, talk about reading between the lines! So I guess if the perpetrator is anything but white, any witness to a crime is a racist or just doesn’t like the alleged perp’s looks. How convenient. IMO and the opinion of a majority of folks in this county, PWC is doing exactly what needs to be done to get this problem under control. And it’s having the desired effect of motivating illegal immigrants to move out of PWC. You may not like it, but most of the county’s residents do.
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Posted by ( PWCMom ) on November 05, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Wow. Just another instance of the Church getting political instead of honoring the separation of church and state. The man IS here illegally, and although the triggering arrest was either suspect or a misunderstanding, the law was followed and he was identified as being here illegally. Should we give those who commit other crimes, whether it be murder or another crime, a pass at the illegal status apple if they are found not guilty? Of course not.
The church ought to stay in the religious arena, and not comment or become involved in political, federal, state or local matters which are NOT under its purview. Oh…I forgot. This is the CATHOLIC church that is involved in this one! No wonder I left.
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Posted by ( MikeG ) on November 05, 2008 at 12:04 pm
That there may be “More to the Story” is obvious. Please note: “They stopped to answer the phone. Maria stepped out of the car to take the call. They were about to be late. As he tugged at Maria to get in the car, a passing witness called police. Within minutes the police pulled them over. Federico was arrested for assault and abduction despite Maria’s objections that nothing happened.“
Now here’s a man who has been arrested and convicted once before. The letter writers are obviously soft pedaling the facts surrounding Federico’s current run-in with the law, asking you to believe that the entire affair was all a big mistake. I’m sure that the witness saw what he/she saw, and the police acted appropriately based on that eye witness’s account of events. The fact that charges were dropped may, repeat may have been because what the witness saw was determined to have been taken out of context, but it could just as easily have been because the wife convinced the police that Federico didn’t really assault her, even though that is just what he did. This might not have been the first time. I have known several battered and abused women in my lifetime, and observed their willingness to step back into an abusive/violent environment in spite of the physical and mental scars and pain inflicted by their abusers, often blaming themselves for being battered. I don’t know what Federico’s original conviction was for, but I’m sure the police do, and that might have a significant bearing on his current case and the decision to deport him. It might seem that this poor immigrant is being unfairly separated from his family; it might also be that just the opposite is true.
For Phdee’s benefit, since he often has trouble understanding simple concepts, RealChange noted the same conveniently missing details in the letter that I, and I’m sure others, also noted. Sometimes the lack of details forces one to read “between” the lines, seeking to understand what the writers really meant to say. If the entire incident was indeed a case of mistaken or overblown context, that’s truly unfortunate. It’s also unfortunate but Federico’s fault that he has a prior criminal record, and his family may indeed suffer because of that fact.
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