Yeah, yeah, there is a federal misdemeanor for unlawful entry to the U.S. that carries a possible six months' incarceration as punishment. Thing is, violators have to be caught in the act. Many on the anti-immigrant side of the fence "assume" that those present illegally are guilty of this crime, but you know the old saw about assuming things. Try proving it in court, bub, not just labeling a whole class of people "criminals."
As far as this nutcracker's concerned, folks here illegally are about as worthy of the "criminal" label slapped on 'em by nativists as speeders and other small-time scofflaws. But unlike some cracker caught doing 60 in a 55 mile-per-hour zone, those of questionable residency in the Valley risk deportation for such minor offenses. No nitwit nativist has to worry about being treated in such a manner, which may be why nativists ask such dumbass questions as, "Just what is it about the word 'illegal' that you don't understand?"
Cruz Ortega-Enriquez with her two American-born sons during an outing to Payson, long before ICE shipped her back to Mexico.
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Thus, the undocumented caught up in ICE-approved Joe dragnets, for instance, remind this raven of Jodie Foster's character in The Accused. That is, they get effed over by the system and then treated as though they had it coming.
Take the sad case of Cruz Ortega-Enriquez, pulled over in Fountain Hills by MCSO deputies on May 6 for improper tinting on her vehicle's windshield and soon on a one-way trip back to her Mexican homeland. Ortega-Enriquez cleaned houses for a living, and was motoring to a client's home when she was stopped.
Ortega-Enriquez had been in the country for 14 years and apparently had a valid Arizona driver's license, as well as valid proof of insurance and registration. But according to her arrest affidavit, the 287g MCSO deputy (who can act as an immigration official under the MCSO's agreement with ICE), asked Ortega-Enriquez for her Social Security number, which she didn't have — the result being that she was arrested on suspicion of being in the U.S. illegally.
Ortega-Enriquez, who has no criminal history, and her lawyer, Gerald Burns, say she was coerced into signing a voluntary removal form, that she was told that if she didn't sign the document waiving her right to fight deportation, MCSO deputies would make her sign. They say she was kept in atrocious conditions, even denied water, food, and access to a bathroom.
Ortega-Enriquez demanded an attorney, but was ignored. This, despite the fact that her husband had already engaged Burns, and Burns had been trying frantically all day to get in contact with his client, inquiring continually to ICE as to her whereabouts. By the time Burns got to speak with her, she'd already been sent back to Mexico, having signed the voluntary departure doc.
Thing is, Burns insists, Ortega-Enriquez had a claim that her removal would cause her two American-born sons, Jose, 6, and Fernando, 13, extreme hardship. And Burns insists that, according to federal immigration law, ICE had a responsibility to determine if such a situation existed.
Asked about the incident, ICE replied that it's investigating the matter.
Now her husband, a handyman, has to worry about the same thing happening to him as he raises their children alone. Questioned about those who say he and his wife deserve what has happened to them because they're illegal, Ortega-Enriquez's husband broke down into tears.
"Just give us a chance," he pleaded. "I speak for myself and for my family. We are good people. We just want to move ahead in life with our families."
The couple has two daughters who aren't U.S. citizens — one 15, the other in her 20s. Like their father, they face what their mom's gone through if they're ever caught with a broken tail light or cracked windshield, even though both grew up here and are Americanized. Both daughters wept as they wondered when they would see their mom again.
"For me, it's very depressing," sobbed the eldest daughter. "When [my mom] got arrested, I had just gotten off the phone with her. Now I can't see her for God knows how long because I can't go over there."
These people are not criminals. And asserting that they are is as absurd and repulsive as the Constitution's insistence back in 1787 that African-Americans be counted as three-fifths of human beings. If nativists and their fellow travelers had any shame, they'd realize this in a heartbeat. But that wrongly assumes these a-holes have hearts.
