[Ppnews] Note lures immigrant to her arrest

[Political Prisoner News]

Note lures immigrant to her arrest

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/NEWS08/606020387/1001&lead=1


Lawyer thought D.M. teen was to get green card

<mailto:jejacobs at dmreg.com?subject=Note lures immigrant to her 
arrest>By JENNIFER JACOBS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

When a lawyer for Estephanie Izaquirre, a parentless teenager from 
Honduras, received an e-mail from an immigration official in Des 
Moines saying the girl should come downtown and "complete the 
paperwork" Thursday, he thought that meant she was about to get her green card.

Instead, a deportation officer arrested Izaquirre, five days after 
she graduated from East High School in Des Moines.

"This was just calculated as hell, and it's hugely problematic," the 
lawyer, Jim Benzoni, said. "Immigration services is using false 
inducements to get people in there. If our clients are supposed to be 
telling the truth, why is the government not required to do the same?"

The tactic is being used increasingly throughout the United States, 
especially within the last six months, to reduce the number of people 
who stay in the country despite a deportation order, said Amy Peck, 
an Omaha lawyer who is the national chairwoman of the liaison 
committee between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the 
American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Several lawyers have reported to the committee that officials are 
using similarly vague wording "as a ruse to get people to come in" so 
they can be arrested, Peck said.

"It's a trick," she said. "It is misleading. But I can't go as far as 
to say it's improper."

U.S. immigration officials said Izaquirre was a fugitive - she 
sneaked across the U.S. border at age 13 - and there was an 
outstanding order for her deportation.

"The e-mail was exactly what it says ... finalize the situation. Her 
attorney can say it's deliberately vague, but I think it's specific 
in saying we need to complete our paperwork and take action one way 
or another," said Marilu Cabrera, spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration Services.

Benzoni said he would continue to fight the deportation of Izaquirre, 
who he said is essentially an orphan. Her mother is dead and her 
father was never in the picture.

The person looking after her in Honduras pressed her into 
prostitution, the lawyer said.

In 2001, Izaquirre made the journey to be with her sister, Reyna 
Jasso, who came to the United States illegally but married an 
American and is now a U.S. citizen living in Des Moines.

Soon after Izaquirre crossed the border into Texas, she was picked up 
by immigration officials, then released into the custody of her 
traveling companion - a woman who pretended to be her aunt, Benzoni 
said. Izaquirre was given notice of an immigration hearing with a 
time and date to be determined later.

A notice of the hearing date was mailed to an address in Iowa that 
the "aunt" had provided; it was returned stamped "undelivered" to the 
immigration office, Benzoni said. The lawyer said immigration 
officials confirmed that the letter was not delivered.

When Izaquirre didn't appear for the hearing, a federal judge issued 
an order for her deportation in her absence.

Meanwhile, Benzoni used a provision in the law that allows young 
immigrants who qualify as "children in need of assistance" to get a 
green card even if they're in the country illegally.

Izaquirre at age 17 was granted special immigrant juvenile status as 
an abandoned, abused child with nowhere else to go.

On Tuesday, the day after her 18th birthday, the e-mail asking her to 
"complete the paperwork" arrived.

"That's playing dirty," said Lori Chesser, a Des Moines immigration 
lawyer. "What are we going after juveniles for? I mean, can't we 
concentrate on drug traffickers and human traffickers? I don't 
understand where we're going with this enforcement."

Spokesman Tim Counts said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
deported 167,000 people last year; about 3,000 were from the 
five-state area including Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North and 
South Dakota. Half of all those deported were classified "criminal 
aliens" because of prior criminal histories. The U.S. government 
reports more than 12 million illegal immigrants living here.

"Anytime we arrest anyone who isn't an ax murderer, people ask us 
what we're doing," Counts said. "Anyone who is in the United States 
illegally is subject to arrest and removal. We always prioritize 
cases involving national security and criminal activity, but we also 
enforce the immigration laws."
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