America’s ‘illegal’ citizens

Sunday, April 19, 2009 | 2:08 a.m.

It is against the law to deport or detain U.S. citizens for immigration violations, but tell that to Rennison Castillo.

Castillo was born in Belize but grew up in America. He served in the Army and became a naturalized citizen. Seven years later he was in a Tacoma, Wash., jail finishing an eight-month sentence for burglary. That’s when immigration officials picked him up.

He was treated as an illegal immigrant and held in a detention center for nearly eight months and threatened with deportation. He pleaded with immigration officials, including one who recognized him from their Army days, but they said there was nothing that confirmed his military service or citizenship. Castillo was freed only after a friend was able to get a copy of his military records as proof.

Castillo’s story sadly isn’t that rare. As the Associated Press recently reported, immigration attorneys think there are hundreds of citizens detained or locked up every year on false charges. It can be maddening for the citizen because the system is weighted against the accused. They are not given the presumption of innocence, they have no right to an attorney and the burden of proof often ends up on their shoulders.

So much for precious rights we hold dear as Americans.

An Associated Press investigation found that citizens who typically end up in immigration jails are those with the fewest resources, including the poor, children, the mentally ill and those with outstanding criminal warrants, including traffic tickets.

Part of the problem goes back to the federal push in 2003 to round up illegal immigrants. As a result, the number of immigration sweeps and arrests has boomed.

This year immigration officials expect the number of immigration detentions to grow by 17 percent, to more than 400,000. The nation’s 214 immigration judges decided 350,000 cases last year.

The system is clearly broken and should be fixed. In this country every person charged with a crime is given basic rights, and those rights should be extended to everyone hauled into an immigration court. That is, after all, the American way.