Unequal Treatment of Non-Citizen Felons

[cateyz]

Although my reply is almost a year past the last one, I felt the need to comment due to the replies I reviewed on this site regarding aggravated felons. As a wife of someone who is a permanent legal resident of the U.S., I am abhorred of the judgements that are stated.

My question is...."Does a person that serves time for a crime that is considered an 'aggravated felony' have to serve his time over again via being barred from the U.S.? You see, I am a believer that jail does NOT rehabilitate the person; the person has to have the desire and drive to rehabilitate his/herself! Does the so-called aggravated felon, who serves time and lives a moral and ethical life w/o getting him/herself in trouble w/the law, have to relive his/her punishment all over again? Is that fair?

I get it that Americans have such an arrogant, obnoxious ethnocentric attitude towards other cultures and ethnicities, but Americans who repeatedly committ felonious acts are still here in this country!......... They are free to roam, free to live as your next door pedophile neighbor, bank robber, drug dealer, murderer, rapist, etc. So, for the person that made the ignorant comment, are you stating that it's okay for an American citizen to commit a heinous crime because they're American???? Come on!

My husband served three years for an aggravated felony. Upon release, he worked odd jobs until he started his own company as felonies have a difficult time finding work. After the company folded (we're talking about six years later), he sought employment through temp agencies --- only to be terminated once they began the hiring process (he's NEVER lied on an application). Nevertheless, he decided to enroll in college.

So now, here I am.....typing on this site because ICE picked up my husband while on his way to school because he had a failure to appear in court. WHY???? Because they mailed the letter to an address from 2.5 yrs about a court date. FYI: they had the current address, because the following month, we DID have correspondence from them at our current residence.

So, now he's sitting in a detention center and waiting for a bond appeal (which might take up anywhere from two - eight months to be set) as his bond was denied. WHY???? Because there's a law that states that aggravated felons who were released after 1998 will be detained until their hearing. He was convicted in '97 and released in 2000. So tell me (the one who believes that non-American aggravated felons should go back to their native country), is that fair? My husband knows absolutely NOTHING about his birth country as he has been in the States since he was under eight years old and hasn't been back since.

So again, I ask....is this fair? If you feel that way, then I say that you should rally a petition to have all criminals ejected from the good 'ol U. S. of A. This is my two cents!...naw, lemme change that cuz it's worth more than that....this is my ten cent comment.

[Mr. Knowitall]

If you're in a tizzy that states treat their citizens differently than non-citizens, and exile isn't a penalty used by modern nation states, so sorry.... But that's the way it is everywhere in the world, not just in the U.S., and no nation has to welcome criminals from other countries.

[ashman165]

Um, yeah. So, let's say we wanted to get rid of our own felons en masse: how do you propose we get other countries to knowingly take in our undesirables?

The simple answer is that it pays to be a citizen of the nation in which you break laws; or at the very least, it doesn't pay when planning to become a citizen of some country to break its laws. It's almost as if when attempting to become a citizen of some nation, one is required to show that s/he won't be a crappy addition. Your husband clearly is just that. The upshot is that you, with your spotless criminal record, are free to move to his country of origin and show him, by example, how one becomes an upstanding model of an immigrant. ^_^

This has little to do with ethnicity because we routinely disallow citizenship to peoples of all races based upon their inability to restrain their illegal conduct. That you aren't reasonable enough to see the plain facts which are lain quite bare doesn't imply that your assertion carries with it any force. It doesn't.

I'm sure that I somewhere actually missed what you were getting at, what with all the whining and what not. But to answer what I think is your question: in short, no it isn't fair . . . that your husband continually lacks the capacity to stop breaking the law. It isn't fair to the rest of us who are perfectly capable of making it more than 12 years at a stretch without committing some felony. Indeed, I've heard stories of people who've gone as long as 50 years in a single stretch without committing a single felony, let alone a series of them. (I discount stories of people who've gone longer than 50 years without committing even a single felony as mere "anti-crime" propaganda).

I also take issue with your implied accusation that someone has posited that it's okay for Americans to commit heinous acts. Indeed, that we imprison them for doing so would seem to indicate that, at least, the government doesn't think it's okay for them to do so. I would surmise (again, "anti-crime" propaganda) that many, if not most, Americans are of the opinion that it's not okay for people to go around committing heinous acts inasmuch as it's usually these American citizens who find the person to be imprisoned guilty.

You say your husband knows absolutely nothing of his birth country. That is most unfortunate as it would appear he'll be spending some time there. Perhaps he could have used those three years in prison to learn about it? But it's not too late! I've heard a rumor that he's in a detention facility with time to spare right now. He can always develop an interest in geography, with a particular focus about a country I'm told he's soon to be visiting.

I'm also troubled by your inconsistent abuse of ellipses. Those poor, maligned little dots have suffered so much abuse as unwitting puppets in your "ten cent comment".

And as a last, albeit minor, note, it's your husband's responsibility to show up to court. He knew something was coming down the pipe. After a little while of no contact, you'd think a reasonable person come up with this all on his own: "Gee, I'm supposed to have a court date and I don't know when it is. Maybe I'll go way out of my way to look up the number to the court and call them up to ask about it."