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ICE detains woman seeking domestic abuse protection at Texas courthouse

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Tovarisc

Member
‘This is really unprecedented’

A hearing in El Paso County in Texas went from ordinary to “unprecedented” last week when half a dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at a courthouse where an undocumented woman was seeking a protective order against the boyfriend she accused of abusing her.

The woman, a citizen of Mexico who was living in El Paso had been driven to the courthouse by a victim’s advocate from the Center Against Sexual and Family Violence, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse where she had been living.

She left under arrest.

“This is really unprecedented,” El Paso County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal told The Washington Post.

It was the first time in her 23 years at the courthouse, Bernal said, that she can remember ICE agents making their presence known during a protective order hearing. The agents had come to stake out the woman, identified by her initials I.E.G., because, Bernal speculates, they likely received a tip from the only other person who knew the time and place of the hearing — the woman’s alleged abuser.

The woman had a prior criminal record and had been previously deported, but, according to Bernal, had no current outstanding state warrants.

“It really was a stunning event,” Bernal said. “It has an incredible chilling effect for all undocumented victims of any crime in our community.”

It is county policy not to ask about citizenship status, Bernal said, because officials want to make clear that all victims of crime in El Paso are entitled to the same protections within the criminal justice system.


Source and a lot more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...rthouse/?postshare=9801487261776188&tid=ss_tw
 
Not surprising, but is there any scope to what is happening with ICE? I'm hearing stories of immigration checkpoints in NY and Houston, and stories like this about people being detained in unrelated circumstances, separated from family.
 

akira28

Member
This is why immigrant women used to hide their domestic abuse before, because when they would report it, ICE would get involved.
 
The Exec Branch should just come out and say if you are victims of a crime, either stay silent or get shipped. Either way you are fucked.
 

Always be aware that even on gaf there's gonna be trash like F34R. A lot of people will support these inhumane practices and many more applaud what ICE is doing, and label anything humane as "PC".

I think it's important to be aware of that, and for every story that GAF brings up to point out the crappy stuff going on in the world right now, there's a ton of junior accounts like F34R ready to spread their garbage.
 
The woman had a prior criminal record and had been previously deported, but, according to Bernal, had no current outstanding state warrants.

Not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, the stake out is scary stuff. But on the other hand, she got a lot of black on her ledger.
 

NandoGip

Member
I grew up in a town with a heavy immigrant population, and with it many illegals. Since Trump was elected, we've seen a HUGE change in how ICE has been operating.

Like I'm talking about a 30 year history of the immigration population growing exponentially, and within months it's gone from business as usual, to raids left and right.

I'm talking about swat looking guys running into latino restaurants to round up the cooks and shit. People are seriously scared right now.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
The woman had a prior criminal record and had been previously deported, but, according to Bernal, had no current outstanding state warrants.

Not sure how I feel about this.

Considering all of the bullshit crimes minorities are charged with all over this country, there needs to be specifics rather than "criminal record".
 

Caja 117

Member
The woman had a prior criminal record and had been previously deported, but, according to Bernal, had no current outstanding state warrants.

Not sure how I feel about this.
Does it matter? this is a person that is a victim o Domestic abuse and the abuser just reported her to not get into trouble. thats just fucked up.
 

F34R

Member
It's a question....
You could have just helped me understand the terms better.
Well done you showed everyone
I showed everyone that I wasn't sure about what they mean when they said it.
Always be aware that even on gaf there's gonna be trash like F34R. A lot of people will support these inhumane practices and many more applaud what ICE is doing, and label anything humane as "PC".

I think it's important to be aware of that, and for every story that GAF brings up to point out the crappy stuff going on in the world right now, there's a ton of junior accounts like F34R ready to spread their garbage.
Wtf, I've been here quite a bit and just because I don't post a lot means what? I freakin' didn't know what the term undocumented meant. So I freakin' asked. Jesus. Ask a question and you get attacked? ffs.
The easy definition of an undocumented immigrant is that he or she is a foreign-born person who doesn't have a legal right to be or remain in the United States.

Who Is an Undocumented Immigrant? | Nolo.com
www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/who-is-undocumented-immigrant.html

Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate it.
 

Caja 117

Member
It's a question....

You could have just helped me understand the terms better.

I showed everyone that I wasn't sure about what they mean when they said it.

Wtf, I've been here quite a bit and just because I don't post a lot means what? I freakin' didn't know what the term undocumented meant. So I freakin' asked. Jesus. Ask a question and you get attacked? ffs.


Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate it.

Really? because you seem to be well educated with all of this:

They are NOT citizens. Paying taxes doesn't make you a citizen. Permanent residence doesn't make you a citizen. When you become a naturalized citizen, then you can vote in Federal and State elections. There are some local jurisdictions that allow non-citizens to vote.


----
Maybe you missed the part where she was deported once and choose to enter the country illegally again ?

But this is irrelevant to the point. She was abused and the abuser reported her, this only make things worst for any Imigrant that is udner this situation.
 

Tovarisc

Member
The woman had a prior criminal record and had been previously deported, but, according to Bernal, had no current outstanding state warrants.

Not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, the stake out is scary stuff. But on the other hand, she got a lot of black on her ledger.

For other undocumented and even documented ones it doesn't really matter. Actions like this encourages them to keep their heads low and go underground, even if they had e.g. legal issues to take to the court. This is clear and loud message: "No matter where you are and doing what, we will come to get you"
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
Maybe you missed the part where she was deported once and choose to enter the country illegally again ?

Entering the country illegally once is okay but a second time oh boy now that's where the line is crossed

Her life is here, most people who are deported will find anyway they can to get back.
 

akira28

Member
Maybe you missed the part where she was deported once and choose to enter the country illegally again ?

I guess she just didn't learn, huh?


funny thing is officially the US loves migrants and immigrants, they just hate having them as a part of the system. They prefer them to be undocumented, because they can just get rid of them at a whim, they have no rights, that's the entire point. Then the bleeding hearts want to go fucking it all up.

gotta self-deputize and protect the hand that holds you down, because we all love the system.
 
Entering the country illegally once is okay but a second time oh boy now that's where the line is crossed

Her life is here, most people who are deported will find anyway they can to get back.

We definitely need more people in our country that keep breaking the law, yes.
 

Linkura

Member
The woman had a prior criminal record and had been previously deported, but, according to Bernal, had no current outstanding state warrants.

Not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, the stake out is scary stuff. But on the other hand, she got a lot of black on her ledger.

The problem is that shit like this is why immigrant communities are hesitant to report crimes. If she was in court for a crime she committed, sure, detain her. Detaining her for reporting domestic abuse is just going to make victims too scared to report crimes, which makes us less safe.
 

RDreamer

Member
Seems like there's a bit more info at this link:

The complaint says that the woman has been deported six times since 2010, following arrests for crimes including false imprisonment, assault, domestic violence, and possession of stolen mail. She is currently held at the El Paso County Jail under a federal ICE detainer. Her alleged abuser is serving a prison sentence for forgery of a financial document.

Goddamn, 6 times? Not that I can blame her as I assume this is the home she knows so obviously she's going to come back. That's a lot of crazy charges, though.
 
Wtf, I've been here quite a bit and just because I don't post a lot means what? I freakin' didn't know what the term undocumented meant. So I freakin' asked. Jesus. Ask a question and you get attacked? ffs.

You're not fooling anyone. You did more than just ask a question and people responded appropriately.
 

wildfire

Banned
Entering the country illegally once is okay but a second time oh boy now that's where the line is crossed

Her life is here, most people who are deported will find anyway they can to get back.

Can we just go back to the main topic which is we're regressing into a 3rd world state culturally.
 

akira28

Member
The problem is that shit like this is why immigrant communities are hesitant to report crimes. If she was in court for a crime she committed, sure, detain her. Detaining her for reporting domestic abuse is just going to make victims too scared to report crimes, which makes us less safe.

no it makes *us* more safe, it makes *them* less safe, remember? big difference. Wife beater? She's not American citizen? Call the cops and turn her in.

Now get a girlfriend.
 

Glix

Member
It's a question....

You could have just helped me understand the terms better.

I showed everyone that I wasn't sure about what they mean when they said it.

Wtf, I've been here quite a bit and just because I don't post a lot means what? I freakin' didn't know what the term undocumented meant. So I freakin' asked. Jesus. Ask a question and you get attacked? ffs.


Thanks for the clarification. I appreciate it.

Yup you didn't know what it meant. You certainly have never looked into this immigrant stuff before.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=230142177&postcount=154

Honestly, I prefer criminal immigrants to people like you. get the fuck outta here.
 

RDreamer

Member
This context changes the ICE decision to arrest her from looking actively malicious and harmful to short-sighted and stupid.

Yeah, that's where I'm at. It sounds like this woman probably should be deported, though I'm not entirely sure what that accomplishes since she'll just come back... But grabbing her after reporting domestic violence like this is just fucking short sighted and dumb. You absolutely need to separate these things so as not to encourage abusers, criminals, and human traffickers of holding deportation over someone's head. We want people to report crime.
 
The woman had a prior criminal record and had been previously deported, but, according to Bernal, had no current outstanding state warrants.

Not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, the stake out is scary stuff. But on the other hand, she got a lot of black on her ledger.

This.
 
Seems like there's a bit more info at this link:



Goddamn, 6 times? Not that I can blame her as I assume this is the home she knows so obviously she's going to come back. That's a lot of crazy charges, though.

I rest my case. It's unfortunate that it had to happen this way, that she was allegedly abused and got caught when she went to seek help. But from law enforcement point of view, there is nothing wrong with this. When someone breaks the law so often and so blatantly, you can't really blame law enforcement for playing a little sly.

If anything, she's giving other undocumented/illegal immigrants a bad name. I would rather reserve my sympathies for those more deserving folks then people like her.
 

WGMBY

Member
I rest my case. It's unfortunate that it had to happen this way, that she was allegedly abused and got caught when she went to seek help. But from law enforcement point of view, there is nothing wrong with this. When someone breaks the law so often and so blatantly, you can't really blame law enforcement for playing a little sly.

If anything, she's giving other undocumented/illegal immigrants a bad name. I would rather reserve my sympathies for those more deserving folks then people like her.

All this will do though is make immigrants, both documented and undocumented, less likely to report crimes or seek help from the police, if they know that reporting a crime will make it possible for them to be picked up by ICE.

It's eroding any remaining trust between these communities and their law enforcement.
 
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