Trevor Hughes
Appearances
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
Well, let's be clear. ICE is deporting people who are criminal suspects when it comes to immigration violations. They consider those people criminals on that hand. What we're talking about here are people who are accused of local crimes, assaults, theft, carjackings, that kind of thing.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
And so what we're seeing is that ICE is increasingly, instead of keeping those folks around and letting the local court process play out, letting those folks get sentenced to 5, 10, 15 years in prison, ICE is simply collecting those folks, detaining them, and in many cases, deporting them. So in terms of the potential problems here, Trevor, what are legal experts really concerned about?
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
You have two problems, really. The first is that there are criminal suspects in these cases who are escaping prosecution in the United States.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
As one expert told me, you could have a guy accused of a serious crime in the United States agree to be deported by ICE and be on the streets in Mexico or Venezuela within days or weeks with no punishment whatsoever, except for that removal order from the United States. And we know that people have come back to the United States under the Trump administration already.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
The second concern is that in some cases, ICE has deported the witnesses or the victims in these cases.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
And so what's happening, according to some of the DAs and some of the public defenders I talk to around the country, is that people are less willing to come to court and testify if they feel like they're going to be deported or perhaps the case against their assailant has to be dropped because the witnesses were deported.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
You know, I think we're still starting to or maybe only just beginning to understand the ramifications of what this really means. For years, ICE has detained people illegally. and then brought them back to court for their appearances. That happens all the time.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
If someone is accused of crimes, just local crimes in one state versus another, they might be transported from Massachusetts to Colorado to appear before a judge. What we're seeing in this case is that ICE is not making some of those folks available and instead is just deporting. And I think the argument is that it is better to deport these people and get them
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
off the sort of the tax rolls, as it were, right? We don't have to pay for their incarceration or their detention if we simply send them back to where they came from.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
President Trump has basically said we should get these people out of this country, period. And he signed the Lake and Riley Act. It was the first law he signed as the new president. And so, you know, the president has been very, very committed to deporting people as the top priority.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
not necessarily the criminal prosecution now of course it's important to be clear there are still plenty of criminal prosecutions of suspected illegal immigrants that are going on in this country but what we're seeing is more and more is some of those folks are just being deported before they are criminally prosecuted all right really interesting findings here trevor hughes is a national correspondent with usa today thank you trevor you bet