6. News from the Courts:

Judge Won't Dismiss Suit Over US Citizen Detention

The Associated Press reports that a federal judge has rejected a government request to dismiss a lawsuit by a U.S. citizen who was locked up for seven months at an immigration center. Rennison Castillo, an army veteran, says officials failed to check his military record and Social Security number, after he requested they do so in a 2005 incident. It wasn't until immigration attorneys stepped in that his citizenship was confirmed and he was freed.

A U.S. District Judge allowed the case to proceed in December when he rejected the dismissal effort in the case against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and several of its agents. Discovery in the case will proceed, even though the government filed a motion on Jan. 11 appealing the ruling.

Castillo was born in Belize, immigrated to the U.S when he was 7, and became a naturalized citizen in 1998 while serving in the Army. Castillo was held by immigration authorities in 2005 as they questioned prisoners at a Pierce County jail, where Castillo had served most of an eight-month sentence for a minor crime, the lawsuit states. Castillo is seeking unspecified monetary damages and an apology.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020201993.html

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Federal Judge Questions Immigration Prosecutions

Steven Kreytak of The Austin American Statesman reports that a federal judge in Austin questioned U.S. prosecutors for seeking criminal convictions in court against some illegal immigrants. The judge wrote that the practice 'presents a cost to the American taxpayer ... that is neither meritorious nor reasonable.'

The order by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks comes as his docket, like many in Texas, contains many defendants charged with immigration crimes. Most of those prosecuted in Austin have been identified by immigration officers at the Travis County Jail and charged with illegal entry after deportation. Many of those defendants have no significant criminal history and until two years ago, when enforcement policy changed, would have been deported and not prosecuted.

Responding to a case involving three immigrants, in addition to noting the lack of prior criminal convictions, Judge Sparks wrote that it has cost more than $13,350 to jail the three men and noted that charging them criminally means additional costs and work for prosecutors, defense lawyers, court personnel and others.

Austin immigration lawyer Daniel Kowalski called Sparks' order unique.

'I am not aware of any federal district judge ... making any similar statement on the record' about the government's immigration enforcement. Kowalski, who edits the online Bender's Immigration Bulletin, said the government made it clear several years ago that the goal of increasing the prosecution of even minor immigration crimes is to deter illegal immigration.

As a result of a Bush administration era policy, federal prosecution of immigration violators jumped almost 9 percent during the 2009 fiscal year, according to researchers at Syracuse University who analyze Justice Department data.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/federal-judge-questions-immigration-prosecutions-216667.html

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