2010 IS SHAPING UP as a record year for deportations, with nearly 40,000 more immigrants banished under President Obama this year than his Republican predecessor back in 2008.
And although the new crackdown is supposed to focus on “high-risk” immigrants convicted of serious crimes, new evidence in Multnomah County shows that many people who wind up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody have committed only minor crimes or even no crimes at all.
Among the crimes that have led to rising numbers of deportations? Not paying MAX fare.
Eighteen months ago, Portland attorney Sarah Krick saw her first deportation case dealing with an immigrant arrested for fare evasion. Since then, Krick has handled about 20 more, all of them immigrants who failed to pay their $2 fare.
“This particular phenomenon is a real change,” says Krick, noting that until recently it was rare for immigrants charged with misdemeanors to be deported.
Other advocates have seen deportation proceedings for immigrants caught driving without a license or with expired plates. Oregon bans illegal immigrants from obtaining or renewing driver’s licenses, making them susceptible to the new sweep.
“Many times the breadwinner is arrested on a very minor charge that would result in community service and a fine in most circumstances,” says Krick. “They get arrested, and their wife and children here are without any source of income and I’m trying to facilitate a way for this family to find food.”
Under the new Secure Communities program, rolled out in Oregon and nationwide this year, local law enforcement agencies are helping ICE run the fingerprints of arrested immigrants. It doesn’t matter whether the person arrested is actually guilty—if they’re unable to prove legal residence, they will likely be trucked to the government’s privately run immigration jail in Tacoma [“Criminal Aliens,” News, June 24].
In a statement, ICE says Secure Communities is a cost-effective way of removing “criminal aliens” and keeping communities safe. But immigration-rights groups protest the program both on the streets and in court, saying it tears apart families and acts as a dragnet rather than a focused tool.
From October 2008 through July 2010, ICE booked 148 people into custody in Multnomah, Marion, and Clackamas Counties, according to data released only after ICE lost a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by three legal advocacy groups in April.
Of those 148, 73 were convicted of no crime. Forty-five were convicted of serious crimes like robbery or assault, and 30 were convicted of lesser property crimes or misdemeanors (the category that TriMet fare evasions fall under).
Meanwhile, in the past decade, the rate of arrestees detained by ICE in Washington County jails has increased 20-fold, from .29 percent to 5.95 percent.
Romeo Sosa, executive director of Portland-based Latino group VOZ, met with the state attorney general’s office last week to discuss concerns that Secure Communities is targeting low-level offenders and non-criminals.
“More people are deported than ever,” says Sosa. “It’s affecting everyone. Latinos, they don’t want to report any crime. There is increase in the distrust of the police.”
31% of those arrested committed serious crimes such as assault or robbery, 20% were convicted of misdemeanors or property crimes…..51% of those deported committted crimes beyond that of illegally residency. Not that bad in my mind.
The real questions Sarah Mirk failed to ask:
The last time I checked failure to have a valid fare instrument is a simple violation of TriMet code (TriMet code 29.35), not unlike parking tickets. So why are these immigrants/foreigners getting arrested? TriMet fare inspectors are not policemen (see the TriMet code 29.10.A) and has no authority to make arrests. The only possible scenario otherwise is that TriMet transit police (i.e. Portland, Gresham, Milwaukie or Hillsboro cops working under contract) are targeting Latinos and other immigrants and slap them with arrest for “theft of service” or other tramped up “crimes” when others (whites) are getting written warnings and at worse a violation ticket. TriMet rightfully deserves a wrath of the community not only for this obvious sign of racial profiling but also for wasting hundreds of dollars in federal and county public funds for a measly $2.
2.
This country has an Ass-Ton of laws and you can’t complain that you’re being asked to follow them. Even if you are here illegally and not paying for all the services you receive (such as law enforcement, public transit, streets, etc.).
It’s not racism to ask for ID.
If you get pulled over in your car or arrested or fined for stealing a ride on the MAX, EVERYONE has to show ID. You can be ticketed for not having valid ID with you while driving your car.
I’m so sad that I’m white and can’t complain that I’m being forced to follow the law.
If you drive you have to have a driver’s license.
If you are walking or bicycling or riding public transit there is no need to carry an ID. This is America, not North Korea or China. What’s this, did TriMet become Arizona?
Get those illegal’s out of my country and if not paying MAX fare is all it takes… I say well done !!!!
VIVA LOS 1070 !!!!!!!
Now wait a minute, since when were people ever ARRESTED for riding MAX without paying fare, un-documented or otherwise? It’s never cops who check fares on the MAX, but Trimet fare inspectors – unarmed & with NO authority to arrest people. If they catch a fare-skipper, all they can do is either issue a warning or fine. So, exactly under what circumstances might an “un-documented” person be arrested simply for not paying fare on MAX?
Yeah Damos, that is exactly what I want to know.
I am aware however that the Hillsboro police frequently boards the trains especially at night between Fairplex and Hillsboro Central, and I hear that Gresham PD conducts similar fare inspections at Gresham Central TC, and I also spot Beaverton cops at Beaverton TC from time to time.
But this is a violation and not a crime, so there is no basis for arrest unless they have been excluded from TriMet properties previously and thus constitute a criminal trespass.
Why not arrest the other law breakers? The people who hire people who are not allowed to work here? afew CEOs and some HR people going to jail would be the catylist needed to fix the whole problem.
Or we can tear families apart and deport 12 million people.
Who cares about splitting up the border jumper families….They don’t belong here!!! Kick them all out !!!
VIVA LOS 1070 !!!
One thing is clear, we can never EVER have an honest debate about “illegal” immigration [from Mexico] in this country without discussing one thing: NAFTA!
When I was 19, I studied in Scotland. Then afterwards I went to Sweden to party for the summer. I made a few bucks doing odd jobs under the table. I stayed longer than the 90 days that the tourist visa allowed (this was all pre-European union). I got on a train and didn’t pay because I didn’t think there would be a conductor. When there was one and the conductor radioed back my passport number, he found I was technically in the country illegally. I was taken first to the police station, then to the airport and told to buy a ticket out of the country at my own expense. Plus I was banned from Sweden for 2 years.
Now, was I a victim of something?
Sucks to be illegal.Wait a minute…….ILLEGAL !!!!!
Technically, everyone in this country who’s not a Naitive Aboriginal is…….ILLEGAL!!!!!
Attention Sarah Mirk, no one has ever been deported because they didn’t buy a Max ticket or failed to have a driver’s license. People get deported because they’re in the country illegally. Not having a transit ticket or a driver’s license was simply the reason they came to the attention of the authorities.
@DamosA and @Amanda,
TriMet security officers usually issue a citation, warning or exclusion notice when someone doesn’t pay their MAX fare, but they can also decide the call the police on the person. Usually this happens when the person is already excluded and is not supposed to be riding the MAX at all, or if they’re being disruptive in some way. TriMet doesn’t keep track of the number of arrests after “theft of service” calls or the race of those people arrested, so there’s no real way to track racial profiling in this instance.
I expect the laws in this country to be followed. If you are in this country illegally, then yes we do as a nation to deport you back to your country of origin. If I broke the law in another country, I sure as hell would expect to be deported back home. What is really funny is how Hispanic people moan and complain about our imigration laws, actually in fact, have laws in many regards that are much stricter and harsher than what we have. Do the research. You would be rather surprised to see how Mexico deals with people that enter into their country illegally.
It’s not unreasonable. I’ve been abroad and have been rounded up due to not carrying legit papers while wandering thru a city. Thankfully, my papers were easy to get back in my hostel, but if I was found to be there illegally or found to be a wanted felon, I would expect to be kicked out or kept locked up.
Im all for sharing what we’ve got here, but you need to play by the rules.
Actually a lot of the adult males illegally here have also committed a federal felony by failing to register with the Selective Service system. If they have not yet reached eighteen, or if they entered past the age of 26 this does not apply. I am not sure what the time limitation is on this law but it is, indeed, an applicable law.
Coming into this country ILLEGALLY is a crime. How is it that such a simple fact eludes so many people?