Immigrant, Pregnant, Is Jailed Under (Federal->State ICE) Pact

[flashl]

It started when Juana Villegas, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was nine months pregnant, was pulled over by a police officer in a Nashville suburb for a routine traffic violation.

By the time Mrs. Villegas was released from the county jail six days later, she had gone through labor with a sheriff’s officer standing guard in her hospital room, where one of her feet was cuffed to the bed most of the time. County officers barred her from seeing or speaking with her husband.

After she was discharged from the hospital, Mrs. Villegas was separated from her nursing infant for two days and barred from taking a breast pump into the jail, her lawyer and a doctor familiar with the case said. Her breasts became infected, and the newborn boy developed jaundice, they said.

Mrs. Villegas’s arrest has focused new attention on a cooperation agreement signed in April 2007 between federal immigration authorities and Davidson County, which shares a consolidated government with Nashville, that gave immigration enforcement powers to county officers. It is one of 57 agreements, known formally as 287G, that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has signed in the last two years with county and local police departments across the country under a rapidly expanding program.

Nashville officials have praised the agreement as a successful partnership between local and federal government.

NY Times

[PDJane]

1. Does anyone think that this sort of treatment

Will end with immigrants? What the hell is wrong with these people? Why is the population allowing this stuff to go on without protest?

I don't get it.

[flashl]

2. Cause, its not on teevee or in not in a 'news' banner or I'm not brown?

:shrug:

[randyjet]

3. Why was she released?

The only problem I have with her treatment was that the jail was so stupid in enforcing rules that have no relation to the situation. Most women who have children while in prison go through the same procedure. I fail to see why being Mexican qualifies her for better treatment and consideration than that given to US citizens. The county jails are for short term custody arrangements, and are not equipped to provide the kind of breast pump rules that prisons have.

She obviously had other problems other than a traffic stop such as prior warrants, no license, no ID, no insurance, no registration, in addition to having entered the country illegally,which in her case may well have been a FELONY! My question is how many misdemeanors and felonies can one commit before it IS appropriate to arrest somebody? Any US citizen who had any of those other problems would also have been jailed too. This is called slanted reporting since it leaves OUT all of the facts of the case by NOT mentioning them at all. I have to assume that they were in fact the problems for which she was arrested in addition to her illegal entry. If she had a license, registration and insurance, she would have been sent on her way. She also may well have had stolen IDs, false SS numbers, and made perjury statements. ALL of which ARE FELONIES for which you or I would do some jail time for.

I think it is remarkable she was released at all. The article also did not state whether her husband was also an illegal alien. I assume he was, otherwise he would have been allowed in for the birth. It also did not say whether he was picked up if he was. I think that what she got was very lenient in fact.

[flashl]

4. Randyjet, you have ASSUMED quite a bit, however, the article states:

She was stopped on July 3 in her husband’s pickup truck by a police officer from Berry Hill, a Nashville suburb, initially for “careless driving.” After Mrs. Villegas told the officer she did not have a license, he did not issue a ticket but arrested her instead. Elliott Ozment, Mrs. Villegas’s lawyer, said driving without a license is a misdemeanor in Tennessee that police officers generally handle with a citation, not an arrest.

...

On July 8, Mrs. Villegas was taken to court, where she pleaded guilty to driving without a license and was sentenced to time served. Immigration agents immediately released her while a deportation case proceeds, following a policy adopted last year by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to avoid separating babies from nursing mothers.

[randyjet]

5. She is a FELON

I only read the post not the full article, and it is obscene that she was released since as the article points out, she was deported once before. THAT makes her a FELON for illegal entry a second time. She needs to be prosecuted for that felony, and then deported after serving her time.

As for the cop, what do you think he should have done? It is NOT a case of gee, I forgot my license at home. She had NO right, or ability to be safely on the road at all. You think a 10 yr old kid should simply be given a ticket if they were caught in a similar situation? It was a case that she was a THREAT to other drivers on the road. Maybe we should simply let drunks get a ticket and send them on their way too, since DUIs are just misdemeanors as well. When the cop asks for name and address, what is he supposed to do? Take her word for it absent ANY other ID? Hell, I hope that you get to be a cop and I will tell you a false name, address, and anything else. A driver who forgot their license WILL get just a ticket since the cop can check the info on his computer to see if that is a valid name and address on a license. How is the cop supposed to know that she is NOT lying, absent ANY license at all? Should he let her continue her bad driving and endangering the rest of us? I hope that YOUR wife and kids get killed by such a driver, and THEN you can say the cop was wrong. I am damned tired of others taking risks with MY life and money, so that their political correctness can make them feel good.

[flashl]

6. More info regarding Mrs. Villegas

Tim Chavez, former columnist for The Tennessean newspaper

Mrs. Villegas had enough identification not to be arrested by state law -- not procedure -- for traffic offenses. She had a Matricula card photo ID and car registration.

...

(Y)our wife has nothing to fear from Metro Nashville Police. Its officers and chief have acted honorably in the treatment of Hispanic women and in accepting photo identification other than a driver's license to avoid arrest and incarceration. That's according to state law, too. Chief Serpas and Lt. Don Aaron are law enforcement authorities of honor and integrity, along with those men and women who serve below them.

But Metro Police cannot be there to protect you and your wife from other law enforcement authorities operating in Davidson County.

...

Two incidents tied to drunken immigrant drivers are far outnumbered by incidents involving native Tennesseans. Former UT football start Leonard Little killed a woman in St. Louis while driving under the influence. And he got no jail time.

...

Since undocumented workers can no longer get Tennessee's driver's licenses, they can't be blamed for that social problem.

...

More Tennessee lives are lost to the average three-year delay in getting disability benefits awarded than from drunk driving arrests.

"As for the cop", do you think Coleman was trying to bolster his profile in his race for school board?

Regarding your safety concerns, compare arrests charges in Davidson County (pdf) and tell me which statistic demonstrates a greater threat to public safety. For further information, below is a table of the Davidson County Sheriff's Office 287(g) Program and Implementation Statistics

Program statistics from April 16, 2007, to June 30, 2008

Total arrestees received in Davidson County jail: 53,593
Arrestees who are foreign-born: 5,037 (9.4%)*
Arrestees processed for removal: 3,508
Individuals processed for only misdemeanor violations: 81%
Individuals processed for only civil immigration violations: 88% (through July '07)

[randyjet]

7. She is STILL A FELON by the Times story

First off, what this woman went through was standard procedure for all jail inmates. She was a prisoner. Now, if you can show me that she got worse treatment as opposed to other pregnant women or that the deputies violated procedures,THEN you have a case. Just simply saying that she was tortured is an outright LIE! THAT is NOT torture under any definition,unless of course, labor is defined as torture.

Second point, she is STILL a felon who committed a felony in entering the US illegally for at least a second time that we know of. Why is she loose? Why is she not facing felony charges? Are you opposed to enforcing US immigration laws? Do you think that foreigners have more right to determine who may enter the US than US citizens? Do you think that I have a right to go to Mexico, and use my Voter ID card as a drivers license since I cannot get a Mexican one legally?

As I pointed out, the procedures have to be changed for the county jail regarding pregnant or new mothers. It does not surprise me that they have either none or few since it is an unusual situation and that most women who give birth in custody are in prisons, not the county lockup. The worst that can be said, is that the county needs to revise procedures to take care of cases like this.

This would not have happened if she had at least a Mexican drivers license. Having a matricula card does NOT qualify as a drivers license in Mexico, so it sure as hell should not in TN. If you have NO drivers license at all, you CANNOT DRIVE and should go to jail! You refuse to answer the question, should a cop let a 10 yrs old kid keep driving and just give him a ticket? In case you don't know, if she had a Mexican drivers license, it is GOOD in TN. So what should a cop do with a driver who is demonstrating problems on the road and NO license at all? Should we exempt illegals from a drivers test if they are allowed to get one? If they fail such a test, I am sure that they will cry racism, and get one anyway. We lock up DUIs even though it is only a misdemeanor.

IT is stupid to say that since she cannot get a TN drivers license, she can drive anyway. There are penalties for breaking the law. One of which is that you cannot get a license. If Americans rack up enough points.or get a DUI, they lose their license. Should they also get a pass and be allowed to get one anyway? Why should anybody get a license then? When I get too old to pass the drivers test and eye exam, I will keep on driving without a license. If a cop stops me for not doing too well, I will expect him to let me go with just a ticket. Hell, if illegals can do it and get your sympathy, I am sure you will go on a campaign to let me keep on driving and saying that I was tortured if they put me in handcuffs.

I am fully aware that American drunks kill a lot more people than drunken illegal drivers do. SO WHAT? Each person who dies at the hands of an illegal does so because we have NOT secured our borders. The innocent victims may eventually die at the hands of an American drunk, but it is INCONTESTABLE that they would still be alive if the immigration laws had been enforced. Making the immigration laws more lax, or enforcing them less to allow MORE drunk illegals to drive around the US makes NO SENSE AT ALL! That is totally irrational.