American Citizen Faced Deportation

[The_Dude 1,142]

American Citizen Faced Deportation

A Chicago man who spent the weekend in jail and faced deportation on suspicion he is in the country illegally said what happened to him illustrates the need for America to change the way it deals with immigration.

Eduardo Caraballo said his self-described nightmare began last week when he was arrested in connection with a stolen car case. He maintains his innocence and says the car case is still being investigated, but says the real problems began when his mother posted his bail Friday.

Instead of being released, he was told by authorities that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was detaining him because he was an illegal immigrant.

"That's crazy. Because I was born in Puerto Rico. I never knew that Puerto Rico wasn't part of the United States," the 32-year-old said Monday.

Caraballo said he repeatedly told officers that he was born in Puerto Rico and therefore an American citizen. His mother also presented his birth certificate, but despite that and his state-issued ID, officials told him he was facing deportation.

"I'm pretty sure they know that Puerto Ricans are citizens, but just because of the way I look -- I have Mexican features -- they pretty much assumed that my papers were fake," he said. "They were making me feel like I can't voice my opinion or I can't even speak for myself to let them know that I am a citizen."

He says officers asked him specific questions about the Caribbean island that he could not answer, mostly because he moved to the mainland when he was 8 months old and has only been back to Puerto Rico once since birth.

Almost three days later, and after his mother contacted Rep. Luis Gutierrez's office, immigration officials released Caraballo at about 2 p.m. Monday.

And now, Gutierrez, who's fighting for national immigration reform, wants answers.

"You know what this proves to you? That in Arizona, they want everybody to be able to prove they're legally in the country. They want everybody to prove that they're an American citizen. Here we had an American citizen, that the federal government, not state authorities, but the federal government, with all their technology and all their information capacity that they have, could not determine, for more than three days, his status as an American citizen. It's very, very, very dangerous ground to tread," the Chicago Democrat said.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office declined to answer specific questions about Caraballo's case, but in a statement released Monday afternoon said that he was released once his citizenship was confirmed.

Caraballo said he is considering legal action and hopes his story is a lesson.

"Immigrations should analyze the way they judge people. They can't just judge people by their color or their features, by the way they look, they should actually investigate thoroughly, and they should do that before they put the hold on somebody," he said.

Source

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Let's be clear about this thread. The crime that this guy is accused of is beside the point. The point is, that he is a citizen, and he even presented documentation showing his status, but none the less, law enforcement tried to have him deported. This is the scenario that will play out ad infinitum in Arizona. This is the flaw in the Arizona law. I don't mind a law that is specifically targeted at deterring and deporting illegal immigrants, but not at the expense of the rights of any of our citizens.

[sandinista! 1,816]

it could have been worse-pedro guzman was a mentally ill us citizen who was deported to mexico and spent 85 days in tijuana, eating out of garbage cans and sleeping on the street. when his mother alerted ice to their mistake, she filed a lawsuit to try and get the same government that wrongly deported him to mexico to help find him, but she lost. i guess there's no accountability for a federal agency that gets mentally ill people who read and write at a 2nd grade level to sign off on deportation paperwork, despite him telling the police when he was booked that he was a us citizen.

Edited May 26, 2010 by sandinista!

[SMOKE 1,426]

Let's be clear about this thread. The crime that this guy is accused of is beside the point. The point is, that he is a citizen, and he even presented documentation showing his status, but none the less, law enforcement tried to have him deported. This is the scenario that will play out ad infinitum in Arizona. This is the flaw in the Arizona law. I don't mind a law that is specifically targeted at deterring and deporting illegal immigrants, but not at the expense of the rights of any of our citizens.

you've got a valid point. but, the expense of illegal immigration & the dangers of unsecured borders on the US & the taxpayers IMO is more outrageous than anything that could happen in arizona...keyword being could. something has to be done & the federal government has been dropping the ball for decades. arizona has a right and an obligation to its residents to uphold the law & protect their interests.

meh, ship him back to Puerto Rico... I hardly consider them citizens.

you're SOL they are citizens.

Edited May 26, 2010 by SMOKE

[DEDixon 39]

this is news because of the AZ law, however if anyone in their right mind thinks this has never ever happened before, he/she is f'ing crazy.

the other 1000s of stories weren't media worthy, because AZ's law wasn't around.

[LaL 418]

/pulls up a chair and watches the excuses to fly.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

You're a joke, you know. I'm sure the native American hardly consider you a citizen. Go back to your country.

figuring i'm part native American, you can call me a joke all you want.

[Ban Hammer 14,364]

/pulls up a chair and watches the excuses to fly.

provides the

[The_Dude 1,142]

figuring i'm part native American, you can call me a joke all you want.

You're imbecilic posts in this thread speak volumes. At least come up with something better than "puerto ricans shouldn't be citizens". Illegal immigrants shouldn't be here, but they are, that's reality, and thats the world we live in, deal with it.

you've got a valid point. but, the expense of illegal immigration & the dangers of unsecured borders on the US & the taxpayers IMO is more outrageous than anything that could happen in arizona...keyword being could. something has to be done & the federal government has been dropping the ball for decades. arizona has a right and an obligation to its residents to uphold the law & protect their interests.

I'll agree with you that the cost of illegal immigration is dangerous, both from a security and from an economic standpoint. But i'm not willing to compromise the rights of our citizens to accomplish that. You know the Benjamin Franklin quote; "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty. "

There are far better solutions out there. One glaring one that the government, undoubtedly at the behest of lobbyists, refuse to address is punitive fines on employers and mandating everify. If you make the cost of hiring an illegal immigrant prohibitively costly, they will not hire them and there will be no incentive for people to come here illegally. If you mandate everify, you can make sure of the status of each worker. That would leave enforcement to a few industries that get away with paying workers under the table, such as agriculture. But the reality of this, that nobody wants to address, is the resulting increase in prices of all consumer goods and services.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

You're imbecilic posts in this thread speak volumes. At least come up with something better than "puerto ricans shouldn't be citizens". Illegal immigrants shouldn't be here, but they are, that's reality, and thats the world we live in, deal with it.

I don't play the, "well that's just how things are" game. I play by what's right.

Puerto Rich is a territory that pretty much governs itself, doesn't have a vote, isn't subject to Federal Income Taxes, and yet they get citizenship? Cmon.... Give them statehood, make them pay income taxes, give them senators/congressmen, and then make them citizens. The "law" might be what it is, but doesn't mean the law is right.

Illegal Immigrants are "here" and at the same time are criminals and should be dealt with and treated as such.

[LaL 418]

Good grief - that is so beside the point.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Let's be clear about this thread. The crime that this guy is accused of is beside the point. The point is, that he is a citizen, and he even presented documentation showing his status, but none the less, law enforcement tried to have him deported. This is the scenario that will play out ad infinitum in Arizona. This is the flaw in the Arizona law. I don't mind a law that is specifically targeted at deterring and deporting illegal immigrants, but not at the expense of the rights of any of our citizens.

Exactly. Well stated, Rob. +1

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

American Citizen Faced Deportation

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office declined to answer specific questions about Caraballo's case, but in a statement released Monday afternoon said that he was released once his citizenship was confirmed.

so it all worked out.... good

non-story

[Ban Hammer 14,364]

oh nevermind.

Edited May 26, 2010 by charles!

[The_Dude 1,142]

I don't play the, "well that's just how things are" game. I play by what's right.

Puerto Rich is a territory that pretty much governs itself, doesn't have a vote, isn't subject to Federal Income Taxes, and yet they get citizenship? Cmon.... Give them statehood, make them pay income taxes, give them senators/congressmen, and then make them citizens. The "law" might be what it is, but doesn't mean the law is right.

Illegal Immigrants are "here" and at the same time are criminals and should be dealt with and treated as such.

Nice Red Herring Paul. That is not the point of the article, and i'll ask you to please get on topic, or GTFO of this thread. I'd expect at least a whimper of an arguement from you.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Contrary to common misconception, residents of Puerto Rico do pay U.S. federal taxes: import/export taxes,[1] federal commodity taxes,[2] social security taxes, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico_Tax_and_Customs_Laws

they pay certain taxes, not income taxes however.