INDICTMENTS: GEORGE'S MANAGERS INTENTIONALLY HIRED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS by Melissa Yeager, KY3 News YouNewsTVâ„¢Story Published: Oct 17, 2007 at 1:28 PM CDT Story Updated: Oct 17, 2007 at 2:55 PM CDT
By Gene Hartley
SPRINGFIELD -- A federal grand jury believes seven managers at George's Processing plant in Barry County intentionally hired illegal immigrants and worked to keep them in the United States. The charges stem from an investigation that followed a raid at the plant near Butterfield on May 22.
At a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri John Wood and his staff said the investigation continues. They wouldn't answer questions about whether other company managers or the poultry processing company itself could face charges.
The seven managers are in a variety of supervisory positions, including in the Human Resources department. They are all in positions involved with the hiring and employment process at George's.
The seven people face charges of harboring illegal immigrants for commercial advantage or private financial gain, aiding and abetting others to encourage illegal immigrants to enter or stay in the United States, and aiding and abetting identity theft so employees could pretend to be U.S. citizens. For convictions, the first two charges could carry prison sentences up to 10 years. The third charge could carry a prison sentence up to two years. The penalties could also include fines.
The indicted people are Guadalupe Castro of Verona, Brad Vansandt of Monett, Dora Ruiz of Monett, Jody Salinas of Cassville, Billy Essley of Cassville, Gary Creed of Washburn, and Hilda Gomez, address unknown. The grand jury returned the indictments on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors made them public after all seven were arrested.
The raid in May resulted in the detention of 136 employees of George's. Federal officials said Wednesday that 30 of those have been returned to their home countries -- Mexico and Guatemala. Another 28 are charged with identity theft and immigration law violations, and 21 have pleaded guilty to those charges.
BUTTERFIELD, Mo. -- The day after a federal raid at a chicken processing plant found 11 dozen possible illegal immigrants, a single mother described the raid and explained why she is in the country illegally.
Immigration Officers released numbers on Wednesday of how many people they arrested while serving a warrant at George's Processing plant in Butterfield, south of Monett.
They now say they apprehended 136 people, although they released 31 for what they called humanitarian reasons. Most of the people released are like Magda Reyes, who says she hopes people don’t call her a criminal.
Only to work -- that's why 24-year-old Reyes says, two years ago, she crossed the Arizona desert three months pregnant with her first daughter. Reyes doesn’t speak much English, and the pastor of her church helped translate as we asked her what happened during the raid.
“She began to see people coming and coming and coming -- officers -- so she began to run and try to be in a place where most of the chickens are cleaned, trying to figure out what to do,†the pastor said.
Reyes worked cleaning and inspecting chickens at George's, a job she and the others were scared to lose.
“Were there a lot of people trying to hide?†she was asked.
“Yes, there were a lot of people trying to hide.â€
She says her emotions have now turned to sadness.
“More than anything I am sad because, in a matter of seconds. I lost my job. People that I care for, I don't know if I'll see them again. I don't know what will happen to them,†said Reyes.
Even though federal agents freed Reyes to take care of her children, she doesn't know what her future holds. She says, in Mexico, you need lots of money and lots of influence to get a legal visa -- and she has neither.
“All we try to do is work and have a decent life and, if people realize that, maybe the perspective would change a little bit. We are not criminal. We are just normal people trying to get basic needs fulfilled,†she said.
Even though Reyes was released, she still has to report for a deportation hearing.
VIRGINIA COUNTY VOTES TO DENY SERVICES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Washington Post - Oct 16, 2007 1 hour ago
MANASSAS, Va. (AP) — One of the nation's toughest local crackdowns on illegal immigration was unanimously approved by Prince William County lawmakers early Wednesday after a 12-hour hearing marked by emotional testimony and scuffles.
The measures would deny certain county services to illegal immigrants, including business licenses, drug counseling, housing assistance and some services for the elderly. The county Board of Supervisors also gave police some funding to help them check the immigration status of anyone accused of breaking a law if an officer suspects the person is an illegal immigrant.
A group of 22 plaintiffs has already filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block the measures. They claim the measures violate equal protection laws and that immigration enforcement is a federal matter.
Nearly 400 residents and immigrants spoke for and against the measures during the 12-hour session that extended past 2 a.m. Wednesday.
Supporters and opponents scuffled in the street before the meeting began Tuesday afternoon. More than 1,200 people crowded into the county government center for the emotional hearing. Some children of immigrants asked board members not to hurt their parents, and one woman ran out of the hearing in tears, saying the policy would separate her from her daughter.
The supervisors added a resolution with provisions addressing cost, fairness and public confusion on the issue. The resolution calls for the county to implement a public education campaign for immigrant communities and directs it to partner with a university or consulting group to study the fairness of the measures.
"We don't want to be the kind of community that even allows the image that racial profiling is taking place," said Republican Supervisor Martin E. Nohe, who said he was concerned the measure would invite discrimination.
Supporters of the measure said illegal immigrants are breaking the law.
"Where do you get off demanding services, rights and mandatory citizenship?" said Manassas resident Robert Stephens. "Who invited you? You cry for your rights? You have none."
PANEL REJECTS DETENTION CENTER FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Protesters Tuesday in Manassas, Va., as Prince
William County officials took on illegal immigration issues.
By IAN URBINA Published: October 17, 2007
RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 16 — A Virginia state panel on Tuesday rejected a controversial proposal to create the country’s first state-run facility where illegal immigrants arrested for certain crimes could be held until federal officials deport them or while awaiting trial.
Jay Paul for The New York Times A state panel co-chaired by State Delegate David B. Albo weighed in on illegal immigration issues.
Instead, the panel recommended that the state provide additional money so local officials could build more jail space to house immigrants awaiting deportation. It also called on local jail officials to check the immigration status of all inmates and deny bail to most illegal immigrants who committed crimes.
In recent years, Virginia has become a testing ground for some of the strictest policies in the nation to curb illegal immigration.
This week, officials in Prince William County, Va., were weighing proposals to deny county services to illegal immigrants and to direct the police to jail those immigrants who could not show documentation proving they were in the United States legally.
This year, state lawmakers submitted a proposal to fine employers who hired illegal immigrants $10,000 and to revoke the business licenses of anyone in the state convicted of hiring illegal immigrants. In 2003, the state was the first to pass a measure making it a crime to give illegal immigrants driver’s licenses.
“Residents of our state are really frustrated when an illegal alien commits a crime and that person is let go after serving time, and we’re trying to correct that problem,†said State Senator Ken Stolle, Republican of Virginia Beach, who is chairman of the panel that acted on Tuesday, the Illegal Immigration Task Force of the State Crime Commission. “These measures are not targeting all immigrants, just those who commit crimes.â€
In Virginia, local jail officials keep only about 25 percent of the money that federal immigration officials pay per bed for illegal immigrants waiting to be deported, with the rest going to the state. The panel called for that amount to be increased to 100 percent and to increase the amount the state provided to counties to build new facilities. This extra revenue would enable local jail officials to add jail beds for illegal immigrants and eliminate the need for a centralized facility.
But immigration advocates say they worry that toughening immigration enforcement would have a chilling effect on crime victims and witnesses who may be in the country illegally, and they questioned whether increasing the amount of money available to county officials would create a financial incentive to round up people who are suspected of being illegal immigrants.
“Even without any new measures, this chilling effect is a problem,†said Jeanne L. Smoot, director of public policy for Tahirih Justice Center, an advocacy group in Falls Church, Va., for battered women, adding that women were more than twice as likely not to report violence against them if they were illegal immigrants.
The proposals in Virginia are further indications of how state and local officials are getting ahead of the federal government on the immigration issue and sometimes pushing measures that federal officials are unwilling or unable to support for legal, logistical or financial reasons.
Illegal immigrants who are arrested are currently placed in local jails, federal facilities or private prisons, and once they finish their sentences, those convicted of nonviolent offenses are often released because federal immigration officials say they lack the resources to detain them.
Last year, the state police in Virginia notified federal immigration officials of about 12,000 illegal immigrants in their jails. But the federal officials only picked up about 690, according to state officials.
State Delegate David B. Albo, Republican of Fairfax County, who is co-chairman of the state immigration task force, said that Virginia had an estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants.
Hope Amezquita, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, testified before the task force that the proposal to deny bail to virtually all illegal immigrants accused of committing crimes might be unconstitutional.
It would create a whole class of people who are exempted from due process, Ms. Amezquita said, adding that the Constitution guaranteed that each criminal defendant, regardless of status, get an individualized review of their case.
Before the panel’s recommendations can be adopted, the Crime Commission, the General Assembly and the governor must act on them.
Critics say the proposals are being driven by politics in a year when all 140 seats of the General Assembly are up for election.
“In Washington, here in the state Capitol, and even here in this building, illegal immigration is a debating exercise,†William Campenni, 67, a retired engineer, said at the task force hearing. “In towns like my Herndon, it is a drive-by shooting, a D.U.I. fatality, a drug turf battle, a serial killing sniper, a deteriorating neighborhood.â€
Mr. Campenni added that though he had never been a victim of crime at the hands of an illegal immigrant, his wife was afraid to go to areas of their town that she used to visit regularly.
Mr. Albo said that illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes or felonies usually received sentences of more than a year, which gave federal immigration officials enough time to process their deportation. But illegal immigrants convicted of lesser charges, like drunken driving or domestic violence, often are released on bond and never return for their court date, or serve just days or weeks and are released.
The panel wants to hold most illegal immigrants and only release them on bail if lawyers can prove they are not a flight risk.
Asked why he had abandoned his idea of creating a centralized facility, Mr. Stolle said that countless people had told him the idea sounded too much like “a concentration camp†for immigrants.
Originally posted on October 17, 2007 NEWS-PRESS.COM
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is catching some heavy flak for his proposal to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
It is not a popular idea, but it's a good one, and Florida should embrace it.
Three years ago in Florida, then-Gov. Jeb Bush endorsed a legislative proposal to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses, only to back off when sheriffs expressed their concerns over security.
But giving licenses would make roads safer and insurance cheaper by encouraging illegal immigrants to get training and insurance coverage. It could also let the state maintain records on hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.
Opponents say the policy would make it easier for terrorists to obtain identification and would serve as a kind of stealth legalization.
The answer to the first objection is to make screening rigorous. As to the second issue, the license would neither be a vehicle for deportation nor a defense against it. Immigration status would simply not be an issue for people obtaining licenses or insurance, and license records.
If illegal immigrants run afoul of immigration authorities otherwise, that's their tough luck.
In the meantime, it serves everybody to deal with the safety implications of having millions of illegal immigrants on our roads without licenses, insurance, testing or training.
PLAN TO ISSUE DRIVER'S LICENSES TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS UNDER FIRE IN NEW YORK
A controversial plan by the New York governor to offer driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants drew debate this week.
In Senate committee hearings Monday, Oct. 15, testimony was offered on the new Department of Motor Vehicles policy that would allow people without Social Security numbers to provide a passport to receive a driver’s license. The plan is scheduled to be fully implemented by next spring.
Republicans and others have berated the $1.4 million plan because of concern that it could hurt the state’s security and remove a barrier for a terrorist attack. They also said the policy would, in effect, condone breaking immigration laws.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, said the new system would make the state more secure. It also would help account for illegal immigrants who obtain licenses and insurance as well as improve traffic safety and lower insurance costs, he told The New York Times.
There appears to be no easy solution, so it is expected the issue will go to the courts. In addition, a budget battle is expected during the 2008 regular session.
The Spitzer administration said the policy doesn’t require the approval of the state Legislature. Senate Republicans countered and said that they could withhold money needed to put the new system in place.
To view other legislative activities of interest for New York in 2007, click here.
– By Keith Goble, state legislative editor keith_goble@landlinemag.com
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences covering the news. Here, CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez describes spending some time with day laborers for a report that will air on 'Out in the Open' tonight at 8 ET.
CNN's Rick Sanchez, pictured center, visits a street corner where many people gather to seek manual labor jobs.
PALISADES PARK, New Jersey (CNN) -- For four hours Friday morning, I joined about 200 immigrants -- legal and illegal -- at a day-laborer site at the corner of East Columbia Avenue and Broad Avenue in downtown Palisades Park, New Jersey.
My goal was not to find a job; rather it was to see how day laborers go about finding one themselves.
Dressed in jeans, running shoes and a short-sleeve shirt, I looked like one of them. I also carried over my shoulder a bag containing a hidden camera.
Day laborer sites like this one have sprung up all over the country. The laborers -- mostly immigrants, mostly men -- come to them to find jobs in construction or masonry or painting or landscaping.
Some communities encourage the formation of these sites. In others, they have become lightning rods of controversy. In Palisades Park, they have become fixtures.
At the site I visited, the last thing the folks there needed was more competition for jobs, but they nonetheless welcomed me into their group. They gave me pointers about how to get a good job.
"Always ask how much," one man told me in Spanish as he prepped me in the art of negotiating for a days' wage.
Another said it's better to be paid by the day instead of the hour. That way you're assured of a decent payment even if the work is cut short or the job is finished early.
'Out in the Open'
CNN's Rick Sanchez brings illegal immigration 'Out in the Open' -- the conflict, the controversy, the cold-hard facts. Tonight at 8 ET see full schedule »
The guys I met told me they come here seven days a week. They wait and wait and wait for work.
"Sometimes there's no work, sometimes there is work. Not every day," one man said.
It gets worse when winter comes.
"When it's cold, there's no work," another told me.
A good week, they said, is one where they get offered jobs on two days for about $90 a day. That's a weekly salary of $180. It's barely enough to put food on the table, but it's better than the alternative. Life in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, they said, offers little in the way of income -- about $5 a week for manual labor.
"We don't have a choice but to try to save a little bit and go back to our country," a 23-year-old Guatemalan man told me.
The routine is simple: Show up early and wait for hours until a prospective employer shows up, if one shows up. As more people flock to these sites the competition for jobs gets intense.
"There are a lot of people ... and I mean a lot of people at the stop here. So you no longer get a lot of work," the Guatemalan said.
Don't Miss In-Depth: The Hispanic Experience Today On Friday, I was there for 3½ hours until I finally witnessed a job offer. It came from, ironically, another immigrant. He was from the Ivory Coast, Africa, new in America himself, and delighted to provide work for fellow immigrants. He was looking for someone to help him move furniture and other belongings.
These immigrants -- the African with a job and the Latinos seeking work -- negotiated the job terms in broken English, with African and Spanish accents swirling in the air.
"I need two," said the African employer referring to the number of workers.
"Two dollars is not enough," responded the Guatemalan.
After much arm waving and false starts, they eventually figured out what the other was saying and a deal was struck.
Many of the men here have a love-hate relationship with the United States. They miss their home countries but feel compelled to stay here out of economic necessity.
"All you get in this country is bitterness, sadness and loneliness," one man told me.
"But money," I interjected.
"Of course, that's true," he responded. "First place is ... the money, that's why we come."
FAMILIES SUE OTERO COUNTY SHERIFFS OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION RAIDS
Civil rights groups say sheriffs "broke trust" with community
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: media@aclu.org 10/17/2007
LAS CRUCES, NM—Civil rights groups sued the Otero County Sheriff's Department today for civil rights violations committed during immigration sweeps last September in the southern New Mexico town of Chaparral. On behalf of five Latino families, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico charged sheriff's deputies with raiding homes without search warrants, interrogating families without evidence of criminal activity, and targeting households on the basis of race and ethnicity. The groups seek monetary damages and guarantees that the sheriff's department will refrain from such raids in the future.
"Otero County Sheriffs broke a basic bond of trust with the community of Chaparral," said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson. "When the police treat you like a criminal because of the language you speak and the color of your skin, they cease being a source of help when you are a victim of or witness to a crime. We need to restore policing to its proper mission in Chaparral so citizens and immigrants alike can trust that someone is watching out for their safety."
Legal papers filed by the two groups describe an incident in which sheriff's deputies ousted a family from its home by banging loudly on the home's walls in the pre-dawn hours of September 10, 2007. Without a warrant, one sheriff's deputy attempted to enter through an open bedroom window where the mother had been asleep, while another shouted from the front door, "Delivery! Mia's Pizza."
Five of the family members are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, two of whom are U.S citizens.
MALDEF Staff Attorney David Urias said, "The enforcement of immigration laws is strictly a responsibility of the federal government. Sheriff's deputies are not immigration officers and do not have the authority or the training to investigate or arrest people because they suspect them of being undocumented. In Otero County, Sheriff's deputies are taking federal law into their own hands and violating the rights of Latinos, including citizens and legal permanent residents. These raids are simply illegal and un-American."
Why can't most folks see the merits of drivers licenseing allowed for the undocumented which this post lays out so succinctly? N.Y. And Jeb Bush have it right!
COURT RECORDS SHOW ARRESTED RMV RECORDS TOLD SERIES OF LIES
Posted: 2007-10-18 09:39:11 PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)
A Registry of Motor Vehicles clerk charged with issuing fraudulent identity cards had been ordered deported for repeatedly lying to government and immigration officials, court records show.
Dolores Rodriguez LaFlamme was arrested this month and charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit identity fraud.
Investigators allege that in return for payments, LaFlamme and another woman gave identity documents to people looking to conceal criminal histories, dodge arrest warrants or hide their immigration status.
A federal prosecutor said LaFlamme's immigration record was so duplicitous that he openly questioned whether she would be susceptible to bribery at her job with the state, documents show. She denied every taking bribes.
LaFlamme first came to the United States using a six-month visitor's visa in February 1996, according records filed in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
Four months later, she married Wilson Rodriguez, although LaFlamme later admitted the union was a sham intended to help her win permission to stay in the country.
Three years later, while living with another man with whom she had a child, LaFlamme tried to use the sham marriage to get a greed card that would have allowed her to stay in the country.
Immigration authorities rejected her request when Wilson admitted the couple did not live together.
That same year, LaFlamme applied for a job at the Registry of Motor Vehicles and filled out paperwork indicating she was a U.S. citizen, said Beverly Najarian, director of the Department of Administration.
Najarian said the state was unaware of her questionable immigration status and does not routinely verify immigration or citizenship documents offered by prospective employees.
In 2004, LaFlamme made another bid to get permission to stay in the country, this time based on a new marriage that Judge Matthew D'Angelo decided was valid.
But D'Angelo still ordered her deported because of past lies. An appeals panel upheld that decision in March 2006. In February, LaFlamme was notified she could not appeal further.
BOY LEFT BEHIND AFTER PARENTS DEPORTED WHILE HE WAS AT SCHOOL
NBC Newschannel Date created: 10/18/2007 8:09:23 AM Last updated: 10/18/2007 8:10:22 AM
A 12-year-old Mexican boy left behind when his parents were deported is hoping for a quick reunion.
Three weeks ago immigration authorities arrested his mother and father while he was in school.
His relatives requested that his identity be protected, so he will be referred to as Marcos.
"We received a card from the family member last week telling us this kid was alone at home," Herman Martinez of the American Friend Service Committee said.
Marcos had been living with his family in Homestead for three months.
His family, though, had been in the U.S. illegally for two years, authorities said.
A family friend took the child to the Krome Detention Center, but her efforts to reunite the family were unsuccessful.
"She was at the office saying, 'Look, this boy has been left alone,'" Martinez said. "According to the information, the officer said, 'No, we didn't get this boy. So take him away.'"
Marcos' uncle has been caring for him since his parents were deported, but he has since contacted Martinez for help.
"We want some kind of human treatment," Martinez said.
The Mexican Consulate in South Miami is trying to locate Marcos' parents and arrange for him to be sent back to his country.
"I am optimistic in this case," Mexican Consul General Beatrize Navarro said. "It's in the process right now, the solution of this case. And I hope that we can reunite this family."
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were unavailable to comment on the case.
The Mexican Consulate said it is aiming to get Marcos on a plane by the end of the week.
PA. BILL INTENDS TO STOP BENEFITS FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS
By Brad B.u.msted
STATE CAPITOL REPORTER Thursday, October 18, 2007
HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania would halt state benefits to illegal immigrants under a bill considered Wednesday by a Senate committee. Sen. Joe Scarnati, the chamber's top-elected Republican and the bill's sponsor, said the intent is to drive illegal immigrants out of the state.
"If they go to Maryland, if they go to New York, then (those states) will have to deal with it," Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, told the Senate State Government Committee. He said illegal immigration should be a "federal issue," but the federal government isn't tackling the problem.
His bill would require people receiving welfare, housing, health or unemployment benefits from the state of Pennsylvania to provide identification and affidavits stating they are legal residents. Immigrants who claim benefits illegally would be subject to criminal prosecution. Children are exempt under the bill.
"The reason I am supporting (the bill) is that it has some teeth," said Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon County.
Since Scarnati is the Senate's president pro tempore, it seems likely the full Senate eventually will consider the legislation, which resembles a Colorado law enacted last year. However, State Government Chairman Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin County, said changes are needed before the bill comes up for a committee vote, though he didn't outline what changes were needed. The vote, he said, might not be before the end of the year.
Scarnati cited figures from the Pew Hispanic Center showing as many as 150,000 illegal immigrants live in Pennsylvania. Their state benefits cost $285 million a year, according to the Federation for Immigration Reform.
Estelle Richman, secretary of the state Department of Public Welfare, criticized the proposal as unneeded and unfair.
Richman said there "is simply no proof that undocumented immigrants in Pennsylvania are receiving benefits for which they are not eligible."
The federal and state governments already require some ID and Scarnati's bill changes how an applicant verifies citizenship, she said. The affidavit would make it difficult for people with dementia in nursing homes, mentally retarded adults and victims of domestic violence, to get needed benefits, she said.
The legislation "will have a bigger impact on Pennsylvania citizens in need of public benefits than on undocumented immigrants," Richman said.
Brad ***sted can be reached at b***sted@tribweb.com or 717-787-1405.
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Samuel Kambo, left, celebrates with his family after he was released from federal custody in San Antonio on bond, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007, after a U.S. district court judge ruled immigration authorities should not hold him while they appeal their case. Kambo remained in custody despite being cleared of accusations by U.S. Immigration officials of participating in atrocities in his native Sierra Leone where he was part of a group that overthrew a corrupt dictatorial regime for almost a year. Kambo's wife Hanaan is at left. (AP Photo/Eric ***)
By MICHELLE ROBERTS – 4 hours ago
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The wait was excruciating for Samuel Komba Kambo's family. Then, suddenly, he emerged into the alley at dusk behind a downtown detention facility — and into freedom.
Kambo had been jailed for nearly a year as immigration authorities sought to deport him to his native Sierra Leone. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ordered immigration officials on Thursday to release him on bond, saying that holding him violated Kambo's constitutional rights.
"Look at him! Look at him!" cried Kambo's wife, Hanaan, as their four children, ages 4 to 13, ran to greet their father.
A former energy minister in Sierra Leone, Kambo had been detained while fighting accusations related to the killing of counter-revolutionaries in his west African country.
An immigration judge found in June that the accusations were unfounded and that Kambo should be allowed to become a permanent U.S. resident, but immigration officials continued to jail him while they appealed.
Kambo, holding his son in his arms, stood with his family crowded around him and smiled widely for a moment. "I feel great. It's like a dream," he said. "I just want to be with my family for now."
Noncitizens like Kambo, who has been living in Texas on valid visas for 14 years, are subject to broad discretion by the Justice Department under post-Sept. 11 detention laws. They can be jailed during a prolonged appeals process that typically keeps cases in immigration court and the Board of Immigration Appeals for years before they can reach the federal court system.
Congress and some previous court rulings have chipped away at federal judges' power to intervene before immigration court appeals are exhausted, but Rodriguez said he found "a sliver of jurisdiction given the facts of the case" to grant Kambo's request to post bond.
"The government has not demonstrated a reasonable justification for the continued detention," he wrote in a 41-page order issued late Thursday. "The court finds that Kambo's continued detention under these circumstances violates his right to substantive due process."
Rodriguez ordered Kambo be allowed to post the $12,500 bond set by an immigration judge months ago.
He waited for hours in a holding area after his family posted bond but he said he was told Department of Homeland Security officials did not want to release him in front of the media, which had been waiting at a DHS office with his family since the judge's morning ruling.
He walked out the back of the detention facility Thursday evening alone, carrying two large garbage bags of books and magazines — the reading material he used to help pass the year awaiting release.
His wife, Hanaan, who has been raising the couple's children alone for the last year grinned as she stood next to him.
"I still don't believe we're here, and he's standing here. This is a wonderful day," she said.
The government sought to deport Kambo, a fuels analyst for a central Texas utility, after the U.S. State Department accused him of being involved in the summary executions of 29 counter-revolutionaries in his home country. He was taken into custody in October 2006.
Kambo, who was part of a government that took power in a bloodless coup in 1992, has denied any involvement in the killings, and an immigration judge ruled there was no credible evidence that Kambo had any role in orchestrating the suppression of counter-revolutionaries.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Anderson said Thursday the office has an appeal pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals, which could still revoke bond and overturn the immigration judge's ruling.
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