June 14, 2006 3:36 PM

Burt Hubbard and Daniel Chacon on The Border Within

Mark_Wolf(Q) Burt, today's installment of The Border Within series deals with criminal immigrants with deportation orders who either return to the U.S. or never leave. Tell us about what you found.
Burt_Hubbard(A) We looked at the people in Colorado prisons who were not U.S. citizens and who were slated for deportation once they served their state sentenced. We found that 20 percent or one in five had previously been deported and had come back to Colorado to commit the crime that landed them in prison. In some cases, the people had been deported two or more times.One of them was arrested for drugs in Denver two days after he was ordered deported. He then posted bond on the drug case and fled to Mexico. The bail bondsmen found him in Mexico working as a federal agent.

Mark_Wolf(Q) Burt, the guys you highlighted who came back are serious criminals: armed robbers, rapists, drug dealers. What does ICE say about this?
Burt_Hubbard(A) ICE says the situation reflects the porous borders. Officials said they are referring more cases of returning deportees to the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution. It is a federal crime to return to the U.S. after being deported. The offense carries a prison term of up to 20 years depending on the circumstances.

Mark_Wolf(Q) The two of you collaborated on a story about Fredy Lopez-Gamez who was deported, then came back to arrange a kidnapping. What was the situation and do authorities know where he is?
Daniel_Chacon(A) Authorities suspect that Lopez-Gamez is back in Mexico, but they don't know for sure. I talked to his younger brother, Luis, who told me in a jail interview that he didn't know where his brother is either. Police say the Lopez-Gamez brothers and two other men were part of a brazen kidnapping of a Colorado Springs businessman. After abducting him at gunpoint just outside his home, police said the men held him at a Colorado Springs motel until they were able to collect an $80,000 ransome. Police arrested everyone except Fredy.

Mark_Wolf(Q) What's the story on Jesus Meraz-Cordero?
Burt_Hubbard(A) This case reflects how the immigration court system and state court system sometimes come into confict. Meraz-Cordero was an illegal immigrant married to a Denver Sheriff's deputy. He used her badge to pull over and rob a motorist. He was given probation and ordered deported to Mexcio. He came back to Denver within five months and moved back in with his wife. He was babysiting his child and stepchildren when he shook his four-year-old step son to death. He is now serving a 34-year prison sentence.

Tommys(Q) Thanks for doing this series. Are either of you thinking that someone like Tancredo will go after any illegals profiled in this series like he did to that boy a few years ago?
Burt_Hubbard(A) We don't know for sure. But if you look at the story on page 12A on the wife of the U.S. soldier in Iraq, you will see that the attorney blacked out their faces so they could not be recognized.

Mark_Wolf(Q) John Accola has a story in today's paper about the wife of a U.S. soldier in Iraq that seems to epitomize how the immigration laws are sometimes enforced.
Burt_Hubbard(A) Yes, this is a case that shows the complexity of immigration laws. Emi, the wife, could use one route to getting a Visa to be with her husband that could require her waiting 10 years. Instead, she and her attorney are trying to use a short cut, but immigration officials will not cooperate. Her husband feels betrayed by the country he is defending.

Mark_Wolf(Q) What's her status and what's the route she's trying to take?
Burt_Hubbard(A) She is an illegal immigrant who came to the U.S. when she was two years old. Her mother at the time was fleeing an abusive husband in Guatemala. She is now 20 and has graduated from high school. She now wants legal status so she can be with her husband. Her attorney is asking immigration officials to permit her to turn herself in for deportation and then ask immigration court to cancel the deportation case and allow her to remain in the U.S. So far, immigration officials have declined, saying they need to concentrate on criminal cases.

Mark_Wolf(Q) What kind of discretion does ICE or other federal authorities have in a case like that?
Burt_Hubbard(A) On paper, they appear to have a lot of discretion in civil cases like Emi's to either decline to proceed with deportation depending on the circumstances or allow someone to turn themselves in for a relatively quick resolution of their cases. The discretion ability was issued in a written opinion by a former immigration commissioner. However in reality, it does not appear to happen very often.

Mark_Wolf(Q) Daniel, your story on fake IDs makes it sound ridiculously easy to get a phony driver's license and resident alien cards. What did you discover?
Daniel_Chacon(A) Frustration among the law enforcement community. Fake ID's have been around a long time -- countless underage high school and college students have obtained them to purchase alcohol -- but police say the level of sophistication of fake IDs these days is out of control. Lon Garner, special agent in charge with the Secret Service in Denver, told me it was easy to spot a fake ID when he used to be a police officer in Denver. But with today's technological advances, getting a phony document that looks real is as easy as 1-2-3.

Mark_Wolf(Q) What's the problem fake IDs pose for authorities?
Daniel_Chacon(A) The biggest problem is that veteran criminals are using fake IDs to erase their lawless pasts and assume a new identity, which allows them to elude authorities. I have a great example. Last year, Greeley police arrested Juan Jimenez with more than two grams of crack cocaine. When he was questioned, he provided three different IDs and was booked into jail as "Ernesto Villezcas," a name that turned up no criminal history in Colorado. Jimenez, who has a long rap sheet, has served time in federal prison. He's also been deported repeatedly. But Greeley police didn't realize they had arrested Jimenez until he had posted bond. Because he had phony documents, Jimenez managed to go under the radar and is now a fugitive on the lam.

Mark_Wolf(Q) Where do these documents come from?
Daniel_Chacon(A) Everywhere. You can even order a fake ID on the Internet, although the quality isn't so good. In Denver, phony documents were being sold out of a flea market on Federal Boulevard as well as a coin-operated laundry on Zuni Street until federal officials broke up the counterfeiting ring. According to immigration officials, people in search of fake IDs learn where to obtain them through word of mouth. But you don't always have to hit the streets to find a fake ID. A few years back, three state employees were caught selling fraudulent driver's licenses to people who didn't qualify.

Mark_Wolf(Q) What's a "breeder" document?
Burt_Hubbard(A) It is a false id such as a social security card that allows someone to get "legitimate" documents such as a drivers license, voter registration card, a bank account. After getting the other documentation, the person no longer needs the original false document.

Mark_Wolf(Q) You've seen some of these. How good are the fakes?
Daniel_Chacon(A) Really, really good. You could compare my valid Colorado driver's license with a fake driver's license that costs about $300 and you wouldn't be able to tell which is real and which is phony. Some of these fakes even come with security seals and holograms. Others, however, are easy to detect as fakes. State troopers near the Kansas border have confiscated hundreds of bogus ID's, which range from first-rate forgeries to something a third-grader could create at home on his family's computer.
Mark_Wolf(Q) What measures do authorities think would help solve the problem of fake IDs?
Daniel_Chacon(A) Authorities see a number of solutions, from a national ID to aggressive training for police who patrol the streets and encounter these fake documents daily. But authorities also know that today's technology gives counterfeiters the tools they need to stay a step ahead of the game. It's just a daunting task for law enforcement.

Mark_Wolf(Q) Burt, this series has been running for three days. What kind of response are you getting?
Burt_Hubbard(A) It varies quite a bit. Some people want everyone deported including the 8-year-old we wrote about Tuesday. Others can not believe some of the cases that immigration is pursuing for deportation given the huge backlog of criminal immigrants on the loose. We have talked to people who have their own horror stories on how they were treated by immigration and others who have said they have suffered at the hands of immigrants who should not be in the U.S. It sort of mirrors the division in this country on the issue.