American Forum Op-Ed

By Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas

I was one of 16 interpreters who served both weeks of the Postville hearings. Unlike judges, prosecutors, or attorneys, I was present at every step of the process. It is my duty as an impartial expert witness and officer of the court to ensure that the court is not misled, and to bring to its attention any impediments to due process.

I have done so in the best interest of the Federal Court I am proud to serve, and with the conviction that if our honorable judges had known how this judicial experiment would turn out, they would have never allowed it.

During these two weeks in May I observed these flaws:

· Detainees’ quarters were not certified.
· The court failed to maintain physical and operational independence from ICE prosecution, and a level playing field for the defense.
· There was inadequate access to counsel.
· No meaningful presumption of innocence.
· Defendants appeared not to understand their rights and charges.
· Bail hearings and other due process rights were denied.
· The charge of identity theft, used to force a plea, lacked foundation and was never tested for probable cause.
· Defendants did not know what a Social Security Number was, and were not guilty of “intent” crimes.
· Guilty pleas were obtained under duress.
· Judges had no sentencing discretion, pursuant to a binding plea agreement.
· Sole providers, whose families are in jeopardy, now endure a cruel and unusual psychological punishment, the foreseeable effect of prison time on common parents.

Abridgement of process produced wholesale injustice at the other end:

· Parents, begging to be deported: put in jail at public expense.
· Proud working mothers: branded like cattle with the scarlet letter of an ankle monitor, dehumanized, and reduced to begging at the doors of the church, as they were released on “humanitarian grounds.”
· The town of Postville devastated; and the kinship ties our noble people are quick to forge with all newcomers, painfully severed.
· Families and friends separated.

I saw the Bill of Rights denied and democratic values threatened by the breakdown of checks and balances. And it all appeared to be within the framework of the law, pursuant to a broken immigration system.

Postville lays bare a grave distortion in the legal structure of government.
Post 9/11, ICE was granted power to wage the war on terror. But since 2006, it has diverted resources, even from disaster relief, to an escalating and unauthorized war on immigration.
The fact is our laws have not kept up with the growth in enforcement. Congress failed to pass immigration reform and ICE has filled the legal void by enacting its own version of it.

Now, we have a serious contradiction: the growth of authoritarian rule inside a democratic government. This entity can simultaneously wield immigration and criminal codes, plus issue administrative rules; leaving no room for constitutional guarantees. It co-opts other branches of government: Social Security, US Attorney, Federal Court…and uses appropriations to recruit local police for immigration enforcement: setting neighbor against neighbor, and dangerously dividing the nation.

With the help of local sheriffs, Postville repeats itself daily, while the harshness of border enforcement is reenacted in the American Heartland, with great collateral damage to our citizens and communities. It is a rush, to raid as much as possible, before Congress regains the vision and courage of the Founding Fathers to restore the law of the land. Part of immigration reform is redefining ICE jurisdiction over immigration and criminal matters, without impairing the agency’s ability to defend us from terrorist threats.
Our national unity requires not just comprehensive, but compassionate immigration reform, to befit the dignity of this great country, built upon the shoulders of immigrants, by their children.
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Camayd is a professor of modern languages at Florida International University.
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Copyright (C) 2008 by the American Forum. 8/08

By Jamilla Penarete

I am my mother’s American dream. I was born in Fairfax Inova Hospital. I grew up in Fairfax County Public Schools, recited the pledge of allegiance well over 1,000 times, made honor roll in high school, received my driver’s license at 16, registered to vote at 18, and eagerly awaited the moment when I could walk across constitution hall to receive my diploma, throw my cap into the air and begin a highly anticipated chapter in one’s life: College. That was easier said than done.

My going to college was never a question. It was expected and in mine and my mother’s minds a certainty. Education could not have been stressed enough in my home; she was the drive that helped me succeed in high school and the reason that I was determined to strive for nothing but success in college. I carried with me her struggles of a difficult life in Colombia where many a times she walked miles with no shoes to attend a small school in a far off town. She knew education was the key to a success that would take me to heights that she never had the opportunity of reaching.

As a senior in high school I had applied to various colleges. Although the idea of going far off on my own was appealing, I was in no financial position to attend an expensive out-of-state school, so I looked to more affordable state schools. In the spring of 2006 I was euphoric after finding out I was accepted to George Mason University. Although I wanted to live on campus and experience the full-range of college life, because I would be paying for school on my own, I knew it was a wiser financial decision to live at home and try to get involved in extracurricular activities instead.

After registering for classes I glanced at the final cost of tuition and was confused to see that I was being charged over $9,000 which was three times as much as what I expected. Stunned, I figured it was a mistake. It made no sense that for five classes I was being charged over $9,000 to commute to a school less than 9 miles away in a state that I had been had been born and raised in. So I went to the Registrar’s Office at school and they told me to reapply for instate and to my disbelief I received out-of-state rates again. Afterwards, I spoke to an assistant at the Registrar’s Office and to my dismay began to realize just how big of an unexpected role my parents’ legal status would play in my chances for an education. I was told that because I had applied to school as a dependent student of an illegal immigrant I could not receive instate rates; the fact I, and my parents, paid taxes was apparently irrelevant.

I received sympathy from those at the Domicile and Registrar’s Office but no help. I was told that they were not allowed to advise me in what steps I should take to better my situation. Reapplying as an independent student was the best advice they could give me. I appealed as an independent student with little if any hope. Nothing worked out and my options, I felt, had been exhausted.

Because of my parents' situation I didn’t feel comfortable about continuing to push my case. I wasn’t sure what would happen to them if I continued to make more noise. So feeling that I had no choice, I paid the full out-of-state tuition in the hopes that as time went by other options would open up for me.

It was all ridiculous but I felt there was nothing I could do. I slashed my plans for after school activities and substituted it with work. With tuition and other expenses I ended up paying nearly $20,000 for my one year of school. It was too much and I couldn’t go back the next year. So instead I planned on working for the year to save up for school and perhaps try to receive instate by proving myself an independent student. The astonishment and disbelief had been replaced with frustration and reality had settled in with the sad truth that, I and perhaps other American students, were being forced to attend school at unfair rates simply because of our parents legal status.
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Penarete is a 19-year-old US-born American citizen who lives in Northern Virginia. She was recently informed by George Mason that she is being reclassified as an in-state student, and plans on attending this fall.
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Copyright (C) 2008 by the Virginia Forum. 6/08