PDF: Immigration memo
A federal judge sentenced eight illegal immigrants on Wednesday to two years of probation after working through concerns that their civil rights had been violated by being declared both criminals and victims by different U.S. law enforcement agencies.
It was a "very difficult series of cases," Chattanooga U.S. District Judge Harry S. "Sandy" Mattice reiterated at the sentencing hearings, echoing statements he made in March that the prosecutions were a "bizarre, Alice-in-Wonderland" example of two U.S. agencies "acting precisely in cross purposes."
At that March hearing, evidence showed the defendants had been granted rare "U" visas by the Department of Homeland Security. It meant they could not be deported after being declared victims of their employer in Winchester, Tenn., who allegedly coerced them into employment, refused to pay them for most of 2007 and then reported them to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they complained.
Yet the Department of Justice would indict the illegal immigrants soon after for the crime of using fake Social Security numbers to gain employment. Deportation is the common punishment.
Judge Mattice at the time said the situation concerned him and showed how the U.S. Congress still operates with "ambivalence" when it comes to immigration law.
He decided to delay sentencing the defendants and even gave defense attorneys the opportunity to investigate whether prosecutors had performed due diligence in making sure the government was not violating the defendants' rights to equal protection under the law.
Assistant U.S. attorney Gary Humble vigorously defended the Department of Justice's decision to prosecute, saying one defendant had been granted a "U" visa despite her more than 10 years of immigration fraud that involved being deported once before and illegally re-entering the country.
By late April Mr. Humble told the court he had no intention of providing documentation regarding the decision to prosecute, but he reassured the court that the civil rights division of the justice department had investigated claims that the defendants' employer had engaged in human trafficking.
On Wednesday defense attorneys told the court they were satisfied that the justice department had no "malicious" intentions in prosecuting their clients, even though the "U" visa program is meant to allow illegal immigrants to cooperate with immigration fraud investigations without fear of retaliation.
"If you stand out like a nail, the chances of getting hammered are high, and that's what happened here," defense attorney Rich Heinsman said.
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