U.S. citizens wrongly detained, deported by ICE — It’s not that hard to find illegals. I can do it. But apparently these guys cannot. And I wonder what sort of lawsuits ensue over this sort of incompetence?
The son of a decorated Vietnam veteran, Hector Veloz is a U.S. citizen, but in 2007 immigration officials mistook him for an illegal immigrant and locked him in an Arizona prison for 13 months.
Veloz had to prove his citizenship from behind bars. An aunt helped him track down his father’s birth certificate and his own, his parents’ marriage certificate, his father’s school, military and Social Security records.
After nine months, a judge determined that he was a citizen, but immigration authorities appealed the decision. He was detained for five more months before he found legal help and a judge ordered his case dropped.
The B.S. meter should be used here. A very one-sided report from a San Francisco paper. Is there anything in San Francisco that is not?
No mention of what the mistake was that caused Veloz to be considered an illegal immigrant.
9 months to get his birth certificate and papers? Come on! A letter to the town officials along with money for the fee and one week later you’ve got the paperwork.
No reporting on what the ICE folks had to say about the case?
Yup, this smells very fishy.
Time to eat some crow. After plowing further through the story, I found the reasons for the detention.
Before his birth, Veloz’s U.S.-born father was sent to Vietnam, so his pregnant mother stayed with relatives in Mexico and Veloz was born there. Months later, the family returned to the United States and has lived here since.
Veloz was automatically a citizen at birth, though his parents never obtained his certificate of citizenship.
In 2006, Veloz was convicted of receiving stolen property after purchasing a car that had been stolen. He served eight months and was about to be released from prison when he was turned over to ICE.
This still smells very fishy.
See next comment.
Thanks for the background research jbenson2. Sad DU is crowdsourcing to get both sides of an issue posted.
In a related story, after months of failing to produce a genuine birth certificate, President Obama will be deported to Kenya next week.
I can understand why he was in prison for failure to produce proof of being a natural born citizen. What I cannot understand is why Obama STILL cannot produce documentation proving his status as a natural born citizen.
Born in East L.A.
There ought to be a way to fast track US Citizens out of ICE courts. Reading into the article one woman found it easier just to be deported to Honduras and get a US Passport to come back at the embassy then to sit in jail until she got a chance to prove she was a US citizen in an ICE court.
#4 – chuck
Wishful thinking. Use your brain… even 25% of it… Do you think that the Democratic Party would jeopardize their entire future on such a basic thing as eligibility of their presidential candidate?
#4 #5, it’s been proven, multiple times, and stated by the governor of Hawaii not to mention several independent HI newspapers that had the birth announcement.
So shut the hell up. Get a life. All that stuff we say to idiots.
#8,9, etc – It was a joke.
I firmly believe that this could happen to any one of us. What is it about a birthcertificate
that guarantees citizenship? How do you prove it is yours? Everything is built on trust, but
ICE does not act on trust.Maybe we should all have a ID microchip implanted at birth. But I think even that can be faked. Not everybody has
verifiable citizenship records readily available. Think about it….if you have an accent, are slightly off color or look foreign
you could be an easy target. What can you do to prove unequivagbly your citizenship?
#12 I agree. This could happen to anyone who is born in Mexico and stays there with relatives while his father is in Vietnam and his mother doesn’t bother to get a certificate of citizenship. And then later on in life, he steals a car and spends almost a year in prison. And then takes 9 months to get the paperwork.
Yup, this could happen to anyone.
Of course. Further proof that we shouldn’t deport good people trying to provide for their families.
That is what happen when you detain people just because the way the look. I am sure mister Veloz doesn’t has blue eyes.
For some strange reason I doubt this will ever happen to white people.
Quit yer lying birthers. You sound like the dogs you are, barking at each other’s phantoms. If you were any more intelligent, you would be my bitch.
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 593
Passed on July 27 2009 by full US House of Representatives
RESOLUTION
Recognizing and celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the entry of Hawaii into the Union as the 50th State.
Whereas August 21, 2009, marks the 50th Anniversary of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s signing of Proclamation 3309, which admitted Hawaii into the Union in compliance with the Hawaii Admission Act, enacted by the United States Congress on March 18, 1959;
Whereas Hawaii is `a place like no other, with a people like no other’ and bridges the mainland United States to the Asia-Pacific region;
Whereas the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii;
And the right wing nuts still don’t believe the police ever lie. If a cop said it, then it must be so, regardless of any other evidence.
#18 And what if a cop said O.J. was innocent? Cranial meltdowns would ensue.
#19, Cap’n
Then you would have Boss Limpdick telling us how that cop is a CINO. Cop In Name Only.
Ya know – the government does such a wonderful job with immigration, so efficient and never makes a mistake….we should expand their duties to other aspects of our everyday lives.
#1 jbenson2 said, in part:
“9 months to get his birth certificate and papers? Come on! A letter to the town officials along with money for the fee and one week later you’ve got the paperwork.”
From the article:
“Immigration detainees are routinely shipped to remote jails where free legal aid is unavailable, their families are not notified of their whereabouts, and they are often denied access to telephones, mail and even medical care, according to a March report by Amnesty International and several federal audits.” (Emphasis added.)
#21, Rick,
Yet you think the police are infallible. Are you now suggesting they do make errors? Which is it?
#23
Maybe it’s cause this instance the man wasn’t crying racist foul is why I tend to believe the government (police, bureaucrats, etal) made a mistake.
Now if your still harping about Gates – I think the stories have made it pretty clear, you jumped to the wrong conclusion.
But don’t fear, as you are in good company – the leader of the most powerful nation in the world has proven he is no smarter than you are. I find no comfort in that.
At a risk of stroking your already over-inflated ego; If there absolutly has to be a liberal as president, I’d rather it be you than the current one. You stick by your ideals and principles.
…even if they are wrong 🙂
#24 & 25, Rick,
So if you don’t like what a person says the police may arrest them. Regardless of the truth or facts, that person will be guilty. Any police report emanating from this incident is automatically right.
If there is abuse by the Federal Government then he police are automatically wrong.
Yup, gotcha. You’re an official asshole.
Your logic escapes me as it appears that facts have escaped you.
It seems the sole point of your argument is centered around trying to call someone an asshole…and acting just like Gates.
Here I was trying to meet halfway and what do I get for my efforts…the same treatment Gates gave the cop.
So, just wondering, are you also racist bigot in addition to everything else?