03/08/2012
Jessica Colotl is in the news again. She is desperate to avoid another criminal conviction and is appealing her first criminal conviction, and she will soon be ending a second year of the suspension of her order of deportation. Note also that Colotl is another of the millions of illegal alien overstays that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is so concerned about, at least for the moment.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 7, 2012 by Andrea Simmons
Colotl’s Legal Battles Almost Over
Jessica Colotl, the former Kennesaw State University student whose arrest for driving without a license caused a dust-up over illegal immigrants attending public universities, is close to clearing one of her last legal hurdles.
Colotl has completed a Cobb County pretrial diversion program that will allow her to avoid a felony conviction for false swearing to authorities. The Sheriff’s Department said she lied to deputies about her address on March 30, 2010 when she was booked into the jail for driving without a license …
Note that in pre-trial diversion, the defendant is required to admit to the elements of the crime. So it is a legal conclusion that Colotl has provided false statements under oath, also called perjury.
Colotl’s lawyers and prosecutors agreed she would enter pretrial diversion and thus avoid a felony conviction, which could impair her ability to get a job or attend graduate school in the future. Colotl completed 150 hours of community service and reported once or twice a month to the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office for a five-month period that ended in February.
Colotl’s lawyers have one final legal hurdle to clear — they are still appealing a guilty verdict in Cobb County State Court on the misdemeanor charge of driving without a license that arose out of the same traffic stop …
Colotl has obtained some benefits from all the attention surrounding her case, namely a free legal defense team. She has also been granted a second one-year deferment from deportation through ICE. That deferment expires in May. Her immigration attorney, Charles Kuck, said he'll apply for a third deferment next month.
And this:
Because Colotl has a standing deportation order, she cannot apply for legal permanent residency unless there is federal immigration reform, or unless she returns to Mexico for 10 years and then applies for a visa, Kuck said.
Colotl cannot apply for a benefit in the U.S. because there is no one to sponsor her. Her parents and siblings are in the country illegally and cannot sponsor her.
Not only that but her admission to the essential elements of the crime of perjury make her inelligible for legal permanent residence as that defeats any claim of good moral character. Colotl has also traveled to Mexico frequently and claimed to have a Mexican' driver’s license. You don’t get those at the age of 4. In any event Georgia has a residency requirement for licenses, you can’t use a non-Georgia license if you are a Georgia resident.
Also of note, despite the so-called smart enforcement policy, ICE is spending more money and time on Colotl by not deporting her than deporting her. One cannot imagine the number of man hours that the Field Office Director (FOD) for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) has spent, the hours and expense of her initial detention, the man-hours on her various applications for work authorization, etc. If she had quickly been removed ICE would have saved much time and money, but the administrative amnesty is not smart enforcement, but a waste of millions of dollars in time by ICE employees, not only in ERO but in ICE Office of Counsel who spend more time now deciding on not to take an action than actually taking action.
And in the case of Colotl, they are going to continue and compound the waste by renewing her "amnesty" and work authorization again in May. Why not just remove her? Transportation by ICE contract secure bus transportation to the border in Texas has no significant cost to ICE, the busses run every day from Georgia ICE ERO detention facilities to border crossing points. One more passenger is of no cost to ICE. Finish the job, deport Jessica Colotl!
Let the FOD know you want Jessica Colotl’s deportation order enforced:
Michael J. Pitts
180 Spring Street SW, Suite 522
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 893-1210
Si Si Puede Deport Jessica Colotl!
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