CORPORATE REPOST (VIEW SOURCE)
New tactic hastens deportations
Immigrant rights activists say increasing numbers of detainees are being pressured into signing documents that expedite deportation.
A Colombian woman says immigration officials pressured her to sign a waiver so she would be deported without the benefit of a hearing in immigration court -- though she might qualify for a green card as a battered spouse.
The case appears to be part of a new tactic immigration authorities are using in Operation Return to Sender to sway detained foreign nationals to sign forms that quicken expulsion without having to wait for hearings or appeals.
The woman would have been sent back to Colombia in November, when she signed the waiver, had it not been for immigration attorneys who learned of her case and rushed to her defense. Now Gloria -- who requested her last name not be used for fear her U.S.-born husband would find her -- is being held at a Texas detention center after being transferred from one in Pompano Beach. She says her husband raped, beat and choked her. ''They said I could be charged if I resisted signing the form,'' Gloria, 26, told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview Thursday. ``They said I would be wasting my time because I already had a deportation order against me.''
South Florida immigration attorneys say they have come across dozens of such cases in the past six months.
Previously, immigration authorities used the forms -- called stipulated requests for order of removal and waiver of hearing -- less often, said Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which is handling Gloria's case.
''Many detainees have complained they didn't fully understand what they were signing or felt pressured by officers to sign,'' she said.
Gloria was able to get a stay of deportation from the Board of Immigration Appeals. It returned the case to the judge who approved the waiver.
The Colombian woman was not present when the judge approved the waiver, Little said. Federal regulations require that a judge determine if the decision to sign the waiver was ``voluntary, knowing and intelligent.''
Immigration officials acknowledged increased use of waivers nationwide in recent months, though specific figures were not available.
Barbara Gonzalez, a Miami spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said immigration officers are not pressuring detainees to sign the forms, but simply offering options.
''Those arrested by ICE officers are afforded with due process of law,'' Gonzalez said in a statement. 'Every person in ICE custody receives a `know your rights presentation' and is advised of their rights under U.S. immigration laws. . . . Stipulated orders are part of the administrative removal process and go through various levels of legal review.''
Several South Florida immigration attorneys said they have had clients complain about being coerced.
''A lot of people are saying they are being pressured to sign a removal order,'' said Miami immigration attorney Jorge Rivera.
Rivera said one of his clients, Lily Gutierrez, told him that officers said she could be back in Nicaragua in a matter of hours if she signed. She refused and remains at the Pompano Beach facility.
Immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen said that as Homeland Security intensifies crackdowns on undocumented immigrants, it has become more difficult for detained foreign nationals to convince judges to release them.
''The lack of relief and high bonds are some of the reasons why many of these detainees are signing the stipulated requests,'' Allen said.
The increase coincides with a growing number of immigrant arrests under Operation Return to Sender, a program immigration officials launched in May. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has called the initiative ``the largest operation of its kind in U.S. history.''
In August, Chertoff said Return to Sender had netted more than 8,400 arrests. By now, the number exceeds 18,000 -- including more than 1,700 in Florida.
Little's staffers became aware of the tactic in August when they were interviewing immigration detainees at the Clay County Jail near Jacksonville. On Aug. 22, Little wrote Immigration and Customs Enforcement expressing concern.
''Detainees consistently said they felt pressured to sign the document and that an officer told them if they did not sign, it would take at least eight months to a year to even see an immigration judge,'' Little wrote.
On average, it may take two months for a detainee to go before a judge for a hearing on the case's merits.
In Gloria's case, the Colombian overstayed her visa in 2005, Little said, because her husband promised to file a petition to have her stay legally. He did, but later withdrew it, Little said.
About the same time, Little said, Gloria's husband cut off contact with her friends and family, locked her in the house, threatened her with a knife, hit her in the face, choked and raped her.
Little said Gloria could receive a green card if the immigration service agrees she qualifies under provisions for domestic-violence victims.
''There's renewed hope for me,'' Gloria said.
