The Removal Of Criminal Aliens
Every year many people are ejected or deported from the USA by the immigration authorities and classified by the pejorative term “Criminal Aliens”. Typically these are identified and deported because they have a criminal conviction or are facing a criminal charge. In the 10 years between 1998 and 2007 this number was 816,000. Not included are the illegal immigrants detained and expelled for no other reason but not having any legal status.
Many of these criminal aliens are only identified while in prison. Only those criminal aliens who actually come to the attention of immigration authorities are removed and typically only after they have served their sentences. Moreover, immigration authorities do not have the enforcement resources to remove all those who qualify, even if someone is identified as a criminal alien.
Inadequate records are kept as to what crime had actually been committed but the Department of Homeland Security, Office if Immigration Statistics reveals that in 2007 almost 100,000 alien criminals were expelled and of these 33% had convictions for drug crimes while a further 22% were for immigration offenses such as smuggling people and human trafficking.
Adequate statistics are not kept for any real conclusion to be drawn. For instance it is accepted that many deportees find their way back to the US. US District Court Statistics reveal that there are over 1,000 people a month charged with re-entry after expulsion which makes them Federal Felons.
It would be a mistake to assume that immigrants as a group are more prone to crime than other groups, or that they should be viewed with more suspicion than others. Even though immigrant incarceration rates are high in some populations, there is no clear evidence that immigrants commit crimes at higher or lower rates than others. Nevertheless, it also would be a mistake to conclude that immigrant crime is insignificant or that offenders’ immigration status is irrelevant in local policing. The newer information available as a result of better screening of the incarcerated population suggests that, in many parts of the country, immigrants are responsible for a significant share of crime.
Nevertheless this paranoiac Xenophobia exists with wild reports claiming a crime wave unleashed by hordes of illegal aliens. In truth there is no reliable data backing up these reports and the data that is available is suspect being incomplete or inaccurate.
But as a result of these reports and the alleged crime wave immigrants are more likely to be held and or charged than a US citizen. A Los Angeles Criminal Lawyer has made immigrant crime his area of practice and is ready to consult any immigrant who has been charged with a crime. Especially those crimes which may be regarded as crimes involving moral turpitude or misdemeanors which added with other factors may add up to aggravated felony.
In addition he is the Southern CA Post Conviction Relief Attorney able in many instances to overturn conviction or reduce sentences which endanger the residence status of legal immigrants.