A nice little article for those of you who feel you have nothing to fear from the mess that has become Ice. From an article from the The Santa Barbara Independent:

A man named Robert, who has an Hispanic last name, served nearly two years in prison, was deported, got caught re-entering, was sentenced to three years in prison, served more time, and then was finally sent to an immigration judge. He was later informed that he had been a citizen since 1983.

How does someone get charged with re-entering the United States when they are a United States citizen? How can the system be so out of touch that it takes over 5 years to realize that somone is being wrongly punished? Keep in mind this is the same system that we are supposed to trust for the care of over 275,000 immigrants yearly.

ICE has no jurisdiction over U.S. citizens and claims that instances of citizens being deported are rare. But in reality, countered Stevens, “ICE detains thousands of people who were born in the United States and puts the burden of proving citizenship on them. Often they are people who have limited communications skills and even more limited knowledge about their rights.”

How is that for justice? You are wrongfully arrested, detained and then asked to prove you are indeed who you say you are. . . or else you will lose your freedom.

Citizenship can often be difficult to prove or establish, especially in the case of foreign-born citizens as different laws apply to different birth years. Stevens explained, “In some cases, immigration judges simply ignore the law and ignore court precedent,” issuing determinations of deportation to individuals who qualify as citizens but do not appear to be without investigation.