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April 25, 2017 Del Rio, TexasOne by one, the Mexican men stood in the jury box, shackles rattling as they fidgeted slightly and pleaded guilty to crossing the US border illegally.

They had come for better jobs, many to earn more money to help raise their children, their defense lawyer told a federal magistrate in a quiet west Texas courtroom about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of the Mexican border. The magistrate, Collis White, warned that a guilty plea would mean jail time and they couldn't return to the United States legally for years. Speaking in Spanish, each of the 15 men said they understood. They faced up to six months in jail, but most were sentenced to just a few days.

They had the misfortune of landing in America's toughest courthouse for people who cross the border illegally. In other jurisdictions, authorities routinely skip the criminal charges and order quick deportations. But for the past decade, just about everyone arrested near Del Rio gets prosecuted.

That tough approach is a model President Trump hopes to replicate as part of his sweeping plans to stop illegal immigration, the cornerstone of his campaign. He wants to prosecute many more people caught crossing the border illegally as a warning to others that crossing the border illegally has serious consequences.

Supporters of aggressive prosecutions point to a drop in arrests for illegal border crossings in the Del Rio area as evidence that the tough approach works. Fewer arrests are seen as an indication that fewer people are trying to cross illegally.

Stepping up prosecutions wouldn't be cheap. Immigration cases already account for more than half of federal prosecutions. Mr. Trump is seeking hundreds of million dollars more for more jail cells, prosecutors and marshals to transport prisoners. It's unclear if Congress will give him the money.

Civil libertarians object to the prosecutions, saying those arrested are rushed through the legal system without having a chance to exercise their rights.

And a previous attempt to expand the Del Rio approach had mixed results. Prosecutions spiked at the end of the Bush administration and during the first years of the Obama administration, but later declined. Limited resources, including jail space and not enough prosecutors, contributed to that drop.

Still, Trump administration officials plan to press ahead. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly made the point as they've toured the border in recent weeks, saying that those who enter the US illegally will be prosecuted and deported. The Justice Department this month called on prosecutors to appoint border security coordinators in every judicial district.

"This is a new era. This is the Trump era," Mr. Sessions said while visiting the border in Nogales, Ariz.

In Mr. White's Del Rio courtroom, cases of illegal border crossings were handled in under a minute. Only one man was sentenced to more than a few days.

"If you can find a legal way to come back, you're more than welcome," White told the men, his words translated by an interpreter. "But it has to be just that."

The new push for prosecutions comes as the number of people crossing the border illegally has plummeted. Under former President Barack Obama, there was a steady decline in arrests. And in March, the second full month of the Trump administration, border agents reported the fewest border crossers in a single month in at least 17 years.

Illegal immigration straddles a line in federal courthouses. Being in the United States illegally whether after crossing a border or overstaying a visa is a civil offense. But those caught crossing the border illegally, can face criminal charges, though that generally doesn't happen. Those who return illegally after being convicted can face years imprisonment.

The Del Rio prosecution strategy was the result of an earlier push to secure the border. Before it started, agents in the Border Patrol's Del Rio Sector arrested more than 68,000 people in a 12-month period. Now arrests in the area have dropped to an average of about 20,000 a year.

The acting chief patrol agent in Del Rio, Matthew Hudak, said the effort has succeeded for several reasons.

"Policy matters, enforcement matters, the work of agents matters," Mr. Hudak said.

It helps that the Border Patrol's sector there only covers one judicial district. In other areas, agents often work across state and judicial district lines, making it more difficult to coordinate prosecution, jail space and transportation.

The often-brief court proceedings alarm civil libertarians.

Cecillia Wang, deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said border crossers facing prosecution are urged to plead guilty and don't fully know the implications of that. Immigrants convicted of a crime often lose their chance to make claims to stay in the United States, including asylum.

"People have no idea what is happening," Ms. Wang said. "It's completely lost on (them),"

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How does Trump plan to stop illegal immigration? A Texas court offers a model approach - Christian Science Monitor

Immigrant-rights groups released a new video Monday coaching illegal immigrants on their constitutional rights and how to avoid run-ins with federal deportation agents, as advocates gear up to try to thwart as many deportations as possible.

The video is part of a growing infrastructure designed to protect illegal immigrants from legal consequences under President Trump, and gives instructions on handling everything from encounters on the streets to when agents show up at a home with a deportation warrant.

If they come here, to the house, dont open the doors. No abran las puertas, the advocates say in a 7-minute training video, released by a coalition thats dubbed itself Informed Immigrant.

The video is aimed at children, who are encouraged to get their families to plan for potential encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and agents.

Already, officers say theyre seeing far fewer people willing to open doors to them in recent months as warnings take hold.

The new video does warn illegal immigrants against driving if they dont have a license, urges them not to carry false papers and repeatedly cautions against attempting to flee authorities.

But it does offer strategies for encounters. If illegal immigrant parents have children that are U.S. citizens, they are encouraged to mention them in the hope that it would sway agents to leave the family alone.

If they have children that are in the country illegally, they are advised not to mention them. Otherwise, the video says, the children could become targets for deportation themselves.

Dont carry papers from another country with you, such as a foreign passport. Such papers could be used against you in the deportation process, the video says.

ICE officers usually carry administrative warrants authorizing arrest for deportation purposes, but they are not criminal warrants signed by a judge, and the video says they do not carry the same force of law so illegal immigrants do not have to let officers in, or even open the door for them.

Some immigrant-rights advocates are going even further to try to protect illegal immigrants.

Colleges are encouraging illegal immigrant students who have taken advantage of President Obamas 2012 deportation amnesty for Dreamers, known as the DACA program, to take school-sponsored trips outside the U.S. Because of the way the law works, that gives the DACA recipients a chance to apply for advance parole, a program that can put them on a pathway to citizenship.

And defense lawyers have distributed a document coaching other lawyers on charges they should try to plead down in order to avoid running afoul of Obama administration deportation priorities.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last week that a California prosecutor even lowered the charges against someone a repeat offender accused of domestic violence so that the abuser wouldnt be deported.

Think about the message that sends: If you are an alien and you commit domestic violence, prosecutors will charge you with a lesser crime so you can stay in the country, Mr. Sessions said, calling for an end to the practice. Enough is enough.

Excerpt from:
Illegal immigrants coached on how to avoid deportation - Washington Times

by John Binder24 Apr 2017Wake County, NC0

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Ramiro Ramirez, a 44-year-old illegal immigrant, hit Lorine Jones and her husband George Milton Jones while driving past a red light at an exit ramp, according to the News Observer. Initially, Ramirez was charged with a traffic violation and driving without a license.

Both Lorine Jones and her husband George were taken to the hospital immediately following the accident, where Jones later died due to his injuries. Jones was 88-years-old. Lorine Jones is still recovering from the accident.

Ramirez turned himself into Wake County officials and is now being held at the local lockup. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has placed a detainer on the illegal immigrant, requesting that he be handed over to federal officials should he be released.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at@JxhnBinder.

Breitbart Texas, Immigration, Big Government, border crossers, border patrol, Breitbart Texas, Crime, Deportation, ICE, Illegal Immigrant, Illegal Immigrants, immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, law enforcement, North Carolina

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Illegal Immigrant Accused of Killing Elderly Man - Breitbart News

Kenly Police Dept.

by John Binder24 Apr 2017Johnston County, NC0

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Genaro Muniz-Padilla, an 18-year-old illegal immigrant, allegedly struck 42-year-old Jamica Williams with his vehicle after the two were involved in a previous altercation, according to the Johnston County Report.

According to eyewitness reports, Muniz-Padilla was upset with Williams after he allegedly made a comment to a woman living nearby. Williams took off on his bike shortly thereafter.

Muniz-Padilla was allegedly angered by the comment and followed Williams and confronted him. Eventually, police say, Muniz-Padilla got into his car and intentionally struck Williams.

First responders came to the scene and took Williams to a nearby hospital where he later died of his injuries.

Williams had just recently moved back to the small town of Kenly to be closer with his family and was recently hired for a new job.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to Breitbart Texas that Muniz-Padilla was in the U.S. illegally and the agency currently has a detainer on him, where he may be deported if released from prison for any reason.

Muniz-Padilla is being charged with second-degree murder.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at@JxhnBinder.

Big Government, Breitbart Texas, Immigration, Breitbart Texas, Crime, DACA, DREAMer, ICE, illegal alien, Illegal Immigrant, illegal immigration, immigration, Murder, North Carolina, second-degree murder, Trump

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Illegal Immigrant Driver Intentionally Killed Bicyclist, Police Say - Breitbart News

CHICAGO -- The reason immigrant appreciation efforts, like the "Day Without Immigrants" events this past February, fall flat is because few people really feel any pain.

Sure, some may have faced the minor inconvenience of not eating at their favorite restaurant, but it barely made a ripple on most non-immigrants' day-to-day lives.

Even worse: Some immigrants were fired from their jobs for failing to show up for work. And, in some places, the protest-related school absences were considered a positive -- such as at one school in Riverside County, California, where the teachers took to Facebook to crow about how awesome it was to have the Hispanic students absent that day.

Alas, the real economic impact of immigrants largely goes unnoticed when it matters most -- at tax time.

If the immigration hard-liners magically got their way and the nation's illegal immigrants suddenly disappeared, the United States would lose out on an estimated $11.74 billion in annual state and local tax revenue from a combination of sales, excise, personal income and property taxes, according to a tally by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Even in Montana, a state with only about 1,000 undocumented people, their tax contributions are just over $550,000. In California, home to more than 3 million unlawfully present immigrants, contributions total more than $3.1 billion.

According to the institute's most recent data, "the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants pay 8 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes every year. While it is unlikely to happen in the current political environment, undocumented immigrants' state and local tax contributions could increase by up to $2.1 billion under comprehensive immigration reform."

Still unmoved? Well, let's look at the "Effects of Unauthorized Immigration on the Actuarial Status of the Social Security Trust Funds," a report published by the Social Security Administration in 2013, which said:

"We estimate that earnings by unauthorized immigrants result in a net positive effect on Social Security financial status generally, and that this effect contributed roughly $12 billion to the cash flow of the program for 2010. We estimate that future years will experience a continuation of this positive impact on the trust funds."

Most people don't know this: Though there is no "line" for immigrants to get in for the purposes of entering the U.S. legally, there is a mechanism for paying taxes whether they're here with valid papers or not.

This mechanism is called an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, and many illegal immigrants use this method to comply with tax law on the off chance that they may someday get the opportunity to prove to an immigration judge that they have "good moral character" and deserve a shot at legal permanent residence.

In 2010, according to the National Immigration Law Center, over 3 million federal tax returns were filed with ITINs -- all of this with no expectation of ever being able to draw funds from Social Security.

Some people don't want to hear this, though.

In the weeks leading up to protests demanding that President Trump release his tax returns, Belen Sisa, who is covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), posted a photo of her fourth annual tax form and the message, "MYTH BUSTER: I, an undocumented immigrant, just filed my taxes and PAID $300 to the state of Arizona. I cannot receive financial aid from the state or federal government for school, I cannot benefit from unemployment, a reduced health care plan, or a retirement fund."

The post went viral and, predictably, Sisa was deluged with hate messages on social media, allusions to having reported her to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and death threats.

In response, she told NBC Latino that unlawfully present immigrants should "take a picture of your taxes and make a post. Let them know that you pay taxes, too, because people don't know."

Advocacy stunts, white papers and well-sourced reports are fine, if low-key, methods of showing the value illegal immigrants bring to this country. Perhaps a countdown clock of how quickly the Social Security trust fund will run out of cash without them would be more effective.

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ESTHER CEPEDA: Illegal immigrants pay taxes, too | Columnists ... - Sioux City Journal