Criminal entry – Part 1
For years, when I do public speaking on immigration, I have stated that crossing the border illegally is like speeding (you have to be caught in the act). If you get caught crossing, you get charged with a crime. If you don’t get caught and enter the U.S., and then, get caught later, you cannot be charged with the crime of illegal entry because you were not caught in the act.
Physical presence in the U.S. without a visa/permit is a civil violation – not a crime. However, the government over the past two decades have started charging people who are caught at the border with the crime of entry, instead of simply turning them around and putting them back out. The result? A criminal system that is overburdened, and a much higher risk for immigrants who then return to the U.S. after the first conviction.
Here is how it works. Depending on where you are caught crossing the border, you may be taken into a Federal Court, have to appear before a Judge, and given a 30+ day sentence for entering illegally. After sitting in jail, you are taken on a bus back out of the U.S. A deportation order exists, along with a criminal conviction. When, and if, you re-enter the U.S. illegally, the penalties are much higher, whether you are caught at the border or found in the U.S. years later.
When a person appears in this Federal Court, charged with entering illegally, there is little to no defense usually. Because the person is charged with a crime, and potential jail, that person is entitled to a public defender (a free lawyer). Our Federal Court system on the Southern border is burdened with these minor cases, with hundreds of immigrants being herded through this system, and with the tax payers paying for the Judges, the court facilities, the translators, the jailors, the transportation, the Prosecutors and the Public Defenders.
These criminal prosecutions for illegal entry and illegal re-entry are the most-federally prosecuted – almost half of all federal prosecutions.
This article will be continued next week to discuss the real consequences of the federal crack-down on undocumented entries. Stay tuned...
