Immigration mess is Congress' fault

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In the wake of a violent crime spree that authorities say was the work of three illegal immigrants, U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite is asking a reasonable question about why the alleged ringleader was previously released from custody. But to ask "who dropped the ball" with deportation is to point the finger back at Congress. This is a problem of staggering dimensions.

Just look at the numbers in Hillsborough County alone. Last year, jail officials notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement of 11,930 adult and juvenile inmates who were born outside the United States. ICE responded with retainers for only 700. Of those 700, jail officials don't know many were picked up or deported.

"This is an issue a lot of sheriffs across the nation have been screaming about," says Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee, "and I don't think people get it. ... If you don't do a better job on the border, in the meantime you're going to have these collateral issues that are going to be very difficult to control."

In this case, St. Petersburg police had targeted Rigoberto Moron Martinez, 20, as a suspect in an Aug. 3 robbery and rape at a downtown restaurant. Hoping to get a DNA sample, they asked Hillsborough deputies to pick him up for failure to appear in court for an old domestic violence charge. Martinez was released on bail on Aug. 6, after spending only five hours in jail. Ten days later, say sheriff's officials, Martinez and two accomplices raped and robbed two women in Apollo Beach.

The three men are now in custody, and miscommunication between St. Petersburg police and Hillsborough deputies seems to be a contributing factor in this tragedy. But Brown-Waite, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, is raising the larger issue of immigration enforcement: If ICE can't keep up with all the estimated 12-million undocumented immigrants, can't it at least put the clamps on the ones who are thrown in jail?

In ICE's defense, Martinez was booked on a misdemeanor, not a violent felony. But that is little consolation. The reality is that ICE has neither the manpower, the technology nor the inclination to begin deporting illegal immigrants who are arrested by local law enforcement.

In turn, most local law enforcement agencies don't have the database access or training to determine whether jail inmates are in fact illegal immigrants. (As one expert told the Times: "I've been an immigration lawyer for 25 years and sometimes I can't figure out someone's immigration status.")

In other words, Martinez didn't really walk free on Aug. 6 because someone "dropped the ball." The ball was never in play to begin with. Brown-Waite wants answers, and she deserves them. But she and her congressional colleagues need to be willing accept the whole truth. When ICE can't even deal with illegal immigrants who land in jail, immigration law becomes a parody.

Comments on this article

by John	Sep 2, 2008 5:28 PM
Build holding pens and when you have enough illegals to fill a bus, load them up and take them back

by JOSE	Aug 31, 2008 9:07 AM
HERE IS ANOTHER REASON TO VOTE FOR THE WISE SENATOR OBAMA. WE NEED TO DO AWAY WITH THE BOARDERS. USA AS A WHITE OPPRESSOR NATION IS DOOMED. BILLIONS OF PEOPLES WANT TO COME HERE. WHO ARE YOU AMERICANS TO SAY NO TO THE HUNGRY AND POOR AND DISEASED?

by Debbie	Aug 29, 2008 4:17 PM
ALL police agencies across our country must be allowed to enforce immigration law. The locals are on the front line and run into the illegals all time. They should be able to take action to get these scumbags off the street and deported.

by wazzamattaU	Aug 29, 2008 4:05 PM
What Tom D said!

by Tom D	Aug 27, 2008 4:36 PM
W are being invaded from the South and attacked by special interest groups from within. Enforce the laws we have on the books , stop all Federal funds to cities that don't enforce our Federal Laws , and put troops on our borders. NOW!!!!!

by Ron	Aug 27, 2008 4:17 PM
I'm all for deporting violent criminal aliens, but the failure of ICE does not excuse the failure of the County & State judicial system to keep violent criminals behind bars.

by deep thought	Aug 27, 2008 4:07 PM
oh pls r-wingers,such hypocrites.last week iowa,this week record bust in Miss.over 600.yet no arrest of the r-wingers and ceo's who own companies shielded by excuses and lawyer and campain contra's or bribes(same thing).let's see cover story on that

by DM	Aug 27, 2008 4:03 PM
Round up the illegal aliens and put them in tent cities and pink clothes like Sheriff Joe does in Phoenix. He holds them for a buck or two a day. That is cheaper than dealing with them otherwise. Then make mexico pay any cost for healthcare etc.

by David	Aug 27, 2008 1:08 PM
ILLEGAL immigrants are breaking our laws. They should be put in jail, not deported. Take their DNA then deport them. If they come back and are caught put them in jail, longer. If we don't have room for them in our jails have THEM build more jails.

by ctb	Aug 27, 2008 1:03 PM
Does anyone REALLY believe the R-wing wants to have a sane, efficient immigration system in the USA, when they can use it to their advantage as a political wedge issue? Ask yourself which business interests benefit most from cheap, non-union labor?

by Debbie	Aug 27, 2008 9:14 AM
Tell me, what 'rights' does an illegal have? If you're an illegal and arrested for ANYTHING, you have two strikes. You've broken the law by being here illegally in addition to your crime. These people should be IMMEDIATELY DEPORTED - NO EXCUSES.

by joetampa	Aug 27, 2008 9:14 AM
Demand that we secure our borders now. And insist on English.

by JR	Aug 27, 2008 9:14 AM
Relics like Ginny are just out of touch, until CONGRESS acts as one and gains control over our borders this is never going to stop

by Dave	Aug 27, 2008 9:14 AM
ICE doesn't have the funds it needs because G.Busch pi---d them all away paying contractors to fight his phony war in Iraq. Just fry this scum this time so they won't come back here again!

by jimmy	Aug 27, 2008 9:14 AM
Immigrants from Latin America provide more than labor. In most locales they swell the ranks of Democrat Party faithful, and put fannies in the pews of churches that might otherwise be losing seats. They are good people for the most part.

by Robert E Lee	Aug 27, 2008 9:14 AM
Just because the Confederates lost the Civil war, it doesn't mean we've given up on the fight to have slave labor. Darn you ICE! How can a greedy company survive in the 21st century?

by JT	Aug 26, 2008 6:25 PM
Chamber of Commerce and Democratic Party team up on this one nothing is going to get done regardless of the collateral damage. Nothing trumps cheap labor and cheaper votes. But when the American people have finally had enough it will get ugly.

by howard	Aug 26, 2008 6:14 PM
The laws have not been enforced for years. Police in Ohio have called ICE about illegals as far back as the early 1990's and ICE would say "get their personal imformation and fax it to us.