Latest news with #JillianKitchener
USA Today
18-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
ICE adopts new tactic: Deport before court, removing people facing criminal charges
ICE adopts new tactic: Deport before court, removing people facing criminal charges Suspects and witnesses are being deported without justice being served, prosecutors and legal experts say. Show Caption Hide Caption Venezuelans in El Salvador prison plead for freedom in video Venezuelans held in a high-security prison in El Salvador shouted 'freedom' and used a hand signal for help in a video published by the far-right One America News Network, a rare glimpse of the detainees since they were sent there by the U.S. in March. This report produced by Jillian Kitchener. DENVER ‒ Some suspects in violent assaults and sex crimes are escaping American justice because they're being deported before they can stand trial, according to a number of prosecutors and legal experts across the country. In one suburban Denver county, the district attorney has tallied at least six criminal cases he's had to shelve or drop because Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained or deported suspects before he could prosecute them. In another case in the city of Denver, a man suspected of attempted murder was released because ICE had deported the witnesses against him, forcing prosecutors to drop the charges. That suspect then tackled an ICE agent trying to detain him outside the jail. And in Boston, a judge was forced to drop charges against a man accused of using a fake name on a driver's license after ICE took him into custody mid-trial and refused to return him. Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden called ICE's actions "troubling and extraordinarily reckless," because the agents prevented him from prosecuting the detainee. Across the country, prosecutors, defense attorneys and legal observers say they've seen an uptick in ICE agents choosing to deport criminal suspects, instead of keeping them in custody and producing them for local court proceedings. "It's not only undermining to the justice system but also impacting community safety," said Adams County District Attorney Brian Mason, who serves a suburban area northeast of Denver. These rapid deportations mean some innocent people are being denied the chance to clear their name in a U.S. courtroom. For crime victims, it means they never see the satisfaction of their assailant behind bars. And it could be making all Americans less safe, legal experts say, when people with criminal backgrounds and no respect for the law cross back into the United States and commit more crimes. "My fear that is that people will get deported, will essentially avoid criminal prosecution, will sneak back into the country ... and live under the radar and never be held accountable and suffer no consequences whatsoever for their actions, and potentially perpetrate more crimes against other victims," Mason said. The Laken Riley Act effect Legal experts say the increase appears to being driven in part by the new federal Laken Riley Act, which requires ICE to detain people living illegally in the United States once they have been accused or charged with certain crimes, including theft or shoplifting. Although the Riley Act, named for a Georgia nursing student killed in 2024 by an immigrant, doesn't require deportations, at least some of the people detained under the law have subsequently been removed from the United States, experts told USA TODAY. Sometimes that means those people are escaping prosecution for assaults, domestic violence or thefts. In other instances, prosecutors have dropped cases because ICE deported the witnesses. The people ICE targeted are accused of living illegally within the United States. In another Massachusetts case, ICE detained a man facing state driving charges and refused to produce him for his trial, prompting the ACLU to ask a federal judge to intervene. The judge ordered ICE to produce the man, and he was found not guilty of the state charges. He was then returned to ICE custody, which had been the prior procedure. President Donald Trump campaigned on tough new immigration policies, and ICE agents nationwide have been conducting high-profile detention operations, which the president said are primarily targeted at violent criminals and gang members. And he has chafed at judicial limits placed on deportations of people targeted because they were accused but never convicted. "Murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and even the mentally insane will make their home in our country, wreaking havoc like we have never seen before," Trump posted to social media in late April. "It is not possible to have trials for millions and millions of people. We know who the criminals are, and we must get them out of the U.S.A. and fast!" ICE as a 'getaway driver' Prof. Michael Kagan, who runs the Immigration Clinic at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas law school, said the deportations-before-prosecution policy risks creating a two-tiered justice system: American citizens are imprisoned if convicted, but someone who commits the same crime while living illegally in the United States could be released with no punishment other than a free trip home. "If you think that it's worth incarcerating a citizen who has committed a crime, it becomes very hard to justify not incarcerating a non-citizen convicted of the same crime," said Kagan, whose clinic provides legal aid to people facing deportation. Kagan said some immigration experts have begun referring to ICE as a "getaway driver" because they believe the new system is ripe for abuse by offenders: "The U.S. citizen has to face trial and serious prison time while the non-citizen could just ask ICE to give him a ride to Mexico and get off free." Nicholas Reppucci, the chief public defender in Charlottesville, Virginia, said he's already seeing less willingness by immigrants to testify as witnesses over the aggressive new approach. "It is having a very significant negative impact, not just for criminal defendants but for complainants or people who have been victimized by crimes," he said. "Inherently, in my option, people are less likely to come to court to have wrongs righted." Mason, the Colorado district attorney, said he previously worked with ICE agents to secure what are known as U visas, which grant crime victims the right to remain in the United States so they can testify in local criminal cases. Now, the collaboration is gone, he said. "If a victim of crime is afraid to come to the Adams County courthouse because she's afraid she'll get detained in the parking lot by ICE, then I can't prosecute that case," he said. "It's not only undermining to the justice system but also impacting community safety."
USA Today
17-05-2025
- USA Today
Mistaken ID: Did a gang database error help send the wrong man to a Salvadoran prison?
Mistaken ID: Did a gang database error help send the wrong man to a Salvadoran prison? Show Caption Hide Caption Venezuelans in El Salvador prison plead for freedom in video Venezuelans held in a high-security prison in El Salvador shouted 'freedom' and used a hand signal for help in a video published by the far-right One America News Network, a rare glimpse of the detainees since they were sent there by the U.S. in March. This report produced by Jillian Kitchener. The mugshot photo from the Texas Gang Database shows a shirtless, bearded man, a star tattoo emblazoned just under each shoulder, next to the name, 'GARCIA-CASIQUE, FRANCISCO.' Along with the photo is a date of birth, TxGANG ID number and a few lines accusing Garcia Casique of being a member of Tren de Aragua, the violent Venezuelan street gang. Only, the person in the photo is not Garcia Casique. His family and advocates insist Garcia Casique is a clean-shaven 24-year-old Venezuelan barber who was living in Longview, Texas – with no gang affiliations – when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swept him up earlier this year and removed him to a prison in El Salvador, along with more than 200 other, mostly-Venezuelan migrants. Law enforcement officials admit that the photo was of another suspect and the entry was removed last month from the Texas database, known as TxGANG, when authorities realized the mix-up. More: DOJ memo offers blueprint to Tren de Aragua deportation plan Still, Garcia Casique remains in the Terrorism Confinement Center, the maximum-security prison in El Salvador known by its Spanish acronym CECOT, cut off from the rest of the world. Federal officials maintain that he is connected to Tren de Aragua. '¡Dios mío santo!' Mirelys Casique, Garcia Casique's mom, exclaimed to USA TODAY from her home in Maracay, Venezuela after seeing the entry. 'That's not Francisco and those are not his tattoos.' The database entry was part of a slide presentation by Texas law enforcement officials obtained through records requests by American Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, and shared exclusively with USA TODAY. Besides Garcia Casique, two other migrants deported to CECOT appear in the Texas database. Federal authorities said the faulty gang database played no role in removing Garcia Casique. And they insist that they got the right man. "Francisco Javier Garcia Casique removal was not erroneous," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. "The mistaken photo uploaded to the state database [TxGANG], which the federal government does not maintain, has no bearing on Francisco Garcia Casique's immigration proceedings." Neither the United States nor the Salvadoran government has offered evidence that the migrants flown to the prison are connected to Tren de Aragua, a gang that began in Venezuela's prisons but now operates throughout Latin America. President Donald Trump has designated the group a terrorist organization and invoked the Alien Enemies Act, which he claims gives him the right to quickly deport its members without judicial review. More: What is Tren de Aragua? What to know about Venezuelan gang targeted by Donald Trump The issue has ascended to the U.S. Supreme Court, as opponents of the policy attempt to derail the president's use of the law, calling it unconstitutional. On Friday, the court continued blocking the administration's use of the 1798 wartime law and directed a lower court to determine what process the government should use to allow migrants time and information to protect their rights. In her statement, McLaughlin reaffirmed Garcia Casique's ties to Tren de Aragua and defended the agency's decision to send him to CECOT, saying he entered the country illegally in 2023 and was ordered deported by a judge last year. 'U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested [Garcia Casique] on Feb. 6, in Longview, Texas. He was removed to El Salvador March 15.' But the confusion over the wrong photo raises more questions about the speed with which the Trump administration deported individuals to the prison in El Salvador and the lack of judicial review of their cases. 'The lack of information and lack of due process is really evident here,' said Michelle Brané, executive director of Together and Free, a nonprofit immigrant advocacy group helping Garcia Casique's family obtain legal help, who worked in the Biden administration overseeing family reunification efforts after Trump's first term. She added: 'These people were sent to a black hole where we don't know whether they'll ever come out.' Confusion over gang suspects Garcia Casique, the oldest of four siblings, left Venezuela in 2019 when he was 18 to escape the country's spiraling economy and violence. He worked as a barber in Peru for a few years then set off for the United States, where several of his barber friends had relocated. He arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in late 2023 near Eagle Pass, Texas, turning himself over to border agents. He was processed and released until his immigration court date. Initially, he was bused from the border to Denver but eventually made his way back to Longview. According to DHS, federal agents at the ICE Dallas office detained him on Feb. 29, 2024, 'after being deemed a public safety threat as a confirmed member of the Tren de Aragua gang.' His family, however, said Garcia Casique missed an interview with ICE and visited the agency to try to reenter the system when he was detained. As the real Garcia Casique was locked up at an ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas, another man, also in federal custody, was interviewed by Dallas Police detectives. It's unclear what the man told detectives, but a gang profile was uploaded into the database with Garcia-Casique's name and the bearded man's photo tying him to Tren de Aragua since he "admitted to strong knowledge" of the gang. But that person, according to Dallas Police, was not Garcia Casique. The identity of the man in the photo remained a mystery to the outside world until USA TODAY sought clarification from federal officials. After repeated requests, McLaughlin, at DHS, identified the bearded man as Juan Jose Calvillo-Castaneda, a Mexican national questioned for potential ties to a Mexican gang. He was removed last year to Mexico, she said. On Apr. 16, 2024, an immigration judge ordered Garcia Casique deported, according to DHS. But he was released under his own supervision with an ankle monitor, since the U.S. at the time didn't have a removal agreement with Venezuela. In his 'Order of Supervision' checklist, agents checked the box for 'NCIC Check,' meaning a national criminal background check on Garcia Casique had not found anything concerning to keep him detained. Meanwhile, Garcia Casique's identifying info with the faulty photo flowed from ICE into the TxGANG database. It would take federal agents thirteen months to realize that the biographical details did not match the true identity of the bearded man. How exactly Garcia Casique's info got juxtaposed with Calvillo-Castaneda's photo remains muddled – and hinges on two divergent storylines. Dallas Police said they interviewed Calvillo-Castaneda while he was in ICE custody and were provided incorrect information. But McLaughlin claimed that a Dallas Police detective inadvertently attached the wrong photo to the entry. Either way, someone like Garcia Casique, with no criminal record and who was checking in with ICE, should have never been targeted in the recent raids, said Jason Houser, former ICE chief of staff in the Biden administration, who has been critical of Trump's border policies. The fact that federal authorities last year released him with an ankle monitor shows that Garcia Casique wasn't a public safety or national security threat, Houser said. Garcia Casique was one of dozens of Venezuelans who were easy to locate and swept up by federal agents more focused on a public show of force rather than getting actual criminals off the street, he said. "He literally lost the immigration Russian roulette," Houser said of Garcia Casique. An ICE spokesman declined to say if or how the agency utilizes the Texas gang database but said: 'ICE is leveraging all available law enforcement resources to aggressively pursue these aliens to restore law and order in our communities and integrity to our nation's immigration laws.' When Garcia Casique was detained by ICE last year, he was questioned about his tattoos, which may have played a role in his detention, Mirelys Casique said. The tattoos, which include several roses, the names of both his grandmothers next to clocks, and a small crown with his mother's name, roused the suspicion of federal agents, she said. Agents may also have questioned Garcia Casique about his home region of Aragua – where Tren de Aragua originated. But neither his tattoos nor home region connected Garcia Casique in any way to Tren de Aragua, his mother said, adding that her son has no criminal record in either the U.S. or Venezuela. 'What really determines if someone's a criminal?' Mirelys Casique said. Texas database struggles to validate gang entries The TxGANG database is a repository for thousands of alleged gang members and suspected criminals. But it's also been criticized for not consistently validating the allegations. A state audit conducted on the database in November found that of the 65,832 names in the system, 7,199 – or nearly 11 percent – had not been validated within five years as required by federal law. Of those, more than 1,200 had not been validated within the last 10 years. The Texas Department of Public Safety runs the database but local law enforcement agencies are responsible for entering the names. A person can be entered into the database without committing a crime and individual agencies are responsible for validating entries. Since an earlier audit in 2022, DPS had improved its system of validating entries, according to the audit. 'However, as of November 2024, TxGANG still contained records that were not validated within the federally required timeframes,' auditors wrote. Jerry Robinette, former head of the San Antonio office of Homeland Security Investigations under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said HSI agents commonly used the TxGANG database for intel on suspected criminal migrants. They also used the database to try to determine which migrants belonged to which gang in order to keep them in separate holding facilities, for their safety, he said. The database was one of several tools used by federal investigators to try to determine gang affiliation, Robinette said. Even if a name appeared in the database, he said, investigators would have to corroborate the information with several other sources. 'You want to make sure the information is accurate,' Robinette said. 'You're talking about deporting someone. There are consequences behind that.' 'He had nothing to fear because he wasn't a criminal' After being released by ICE last year, Garcia Casique went back to work cutting hair in Longview. He saved money, moved out of a cramped home he shared with other migrants and into a roomier apartment. Each time he moved, he notified authorities of his new address, his mother said. 'He had a normal life, he was working,' she said. 'He kept saying he had nothing to fear because he wasn't a criminal.' Unbeknownst to Garcia Casique, his name and details, next to a stranger's face, were bouncing around the TxGANG database – and drawing the attention of state law enforcement officials. In an email dated Sept. 9, 2024, Freeman Martin, who would later become head of DPS, forwarded a slide presentation titled 'Tren de Aragua (TdA) Presentation,' to a number of state officials. The 38-page presentation contained photos of at-large Tren de Aragua kingpins and some of the clock, train and star tattoos authorities believed reveal TdA allegiance. Page 18 displayed the entry with Garcia Casique's info along with the bearded suspect's photo. Expelled to Salvadoran prison On Feb. 6, ICE agents stormed Garcia Casique's apartment and whisked him away. He was transferred to a federal detention center near Laredo, Texas, not far from the U.S.-Mexico border. Initially, his mother said she wasn't alarmed – she just assumed the agents planned to fulfill his deportation order and return him to his native Venezuela. Garcia Casique even signed an order consenting to be deported to his home country, she said. On the morning of Mar. 15, Garcia Casique called his mom from inside the detention facility to tell her he was told he'd be boarding a flight later that day and would soon rejoin her in Venezuela. He never showed up. The family later discovered an online image of him, head shaven, being paraded into CECOT. Mirelys Casique hasn't spoken to her son since. A few weeks after Garcia Casique's final phone call to his mom, agents with Homeland Security Investigations called the Dallas Police Department to notify officials there that the picture in the TxGANG entry on Garcia Casique did not match ICE photographs taken of him when he was initially detained nor anything in ICE's record on him. The entry was promptly purged from the database. Follow Jervis and Penzenstadler on X: @MrRJervis, @npenzenstadler.
Reuters
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
New Orleans alive with Super Bowl excitement
From revelers at a Super Bowl parade in New Orlean's French Quarter, to the 'Never Miss a Super Bowl' trio, fans gear up for Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. This report produced by Jillian Kitchener.
