The maid is a 32-year old woman from Guinea who was granted asylum in the United States. It is not clear at this moment what her immigration status is. When I heard about the case, I thought to myself, “I sure hope she is legally present in the United States.” I have no reason to believe that she is not legally present, but let’s imagine for a moment that she is not.
This incredibly brave woman did not run and hide after being attacked by a powerful white man. Instead, she reported the incident to the hotel staff and to law enforcement officials. Because of this, he was arrested and is currently being detained by law enforcement officials.
She may or may not know this, but women like her who have reported such incidents to the police have been detained and deported. María Bolaños called the police to report a case of domestic violence. When the police showed up at her house, they arrested her on the suspicion that she was selling phone cards. She now faces deportation.
This cooperation between criminal and immigration law enforcement is part of the Secure Communities Program. Since it began in 2008, Secure Communities has led to the deportation of 101,741 immigrants. About a quarter of those deported (26,473) had been convicted of serious crimes. More (29,296), however, had not been convicted of any crimes at all prior to being deported. Instead, they had an encounter with police officers that did not lead to any criminal conviction. This is similar to the encounter that this Guinean immigrant is having with law enforcement agents. Reporting a crime requires contacting law enforcement.
The woman who Strauss-Kahn allegedly attacked will now face public scrutiny. If her immigration status comes into question, she could face deportation.
This case is telling of what could happen when law enforcement officials cooperate with immigration agents. In the United States, cooperation between criminal and immigration law enforcement has become the norm. This does not bode well for the victims of crimes, who may face deportation if and when they report these crimes.
Originally posted on: Counterpunch
What this says is that hotels should not be hiring people who are not in the country legally and haven't the right to work. By hiring illegals they hire vulnerable people and they break the law. Why is the hotel not being charged?
ReplyDeleteNo, what this says is that Ms. Tanya Golash-Boza is an irresponsible journalist of the worst kind. If she had bothered to do her homework properly she would know that the maid is a US citizen. Additionally, the woman is clearly the victim so she would never come to the attention of ICE or Secure Communities as she was NOT arrested and booked for a crime, which is the only way you come to the attention of Secure Communities. Further, Ms. María Bolaños is not the innocent victim she claims to be. She was not arrested and booked for a crime because she reported a domestic violence incident. She was arrested and booked for failure to appear (twice) in court as directed by a summons. Ms. María Bolaños is also a violator of immigration law as she entered this country illegally and had been previously caught and retured by CBP.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous #2: Thanks for pointing out that the woman is a U.S. citizen. Do you have a reference? This article says she came here 7 years ago, so it is possible, but unlikely: http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/147846/20110519/strauss-kahn-strauss-kahn-kahn-guinea.htm
ReplyDeleteMy point is that any contact with the police can lead to an arrest. In María Bolaños' case, she would not have come to the attention of the police that evening had she not called them.
When people call the police for domestic violence, it is not uncommon for police officers to arrest both parties. My point is that S-Comm makes crime victims less likely to call the police. I have learned this from talking to many, many immigrants and deportees.
What a perfect example this is of an activist abusing a situation to satisfy their burning need to project one issue, at the expense of any and all other concerns. Golash-Boza rightly underlines the concern that anyone with a questionable immigration status has good reason to fear the cops, which deprives them of protection from crime. She might have gone on to point out that many or most Americans have reason to fear any involvement with the police. That's part of living in a police state. One dreads any and all dealings with the police, knowing that such situations can turn into an attack on your own freedom and even life, based on any pretext. Many or most of us fear even looking at a cop 'wrong'.
ReplyDeleteSo there is a larger issue that you could have put this in context with.
But there are also contradictory issues that you chose to ignore. You claim that this woman is courageous. Perhaps she is. But there is also compelling reason to think that this situation could possibly have been some kind of set up. We don't even know if her story is in fact true; but the principle of innocent-until-proven-guilty is of no importance to you, obliterated by the particular issue you want to highlight.
And even if the alleged victim's allegations are correct, and she is every bit as brave as you say (all of which is obviously very possible) you may very well NOT be correct that the reason charges have been pursued has anything to do with justice. Again, if you pay attention to the context, and to the way the legal justice system actually works, you surely are aware that pursuit of 'justice' appears to be highly selective when powerful people are involved, taking place when it suits the political agenda of some more powerful faction.
A case can be made that the accused, in this situation, is far more sympathetic to the concerns of folks in socalled third world countries than other officials in the IMF. If that's true, isn't it a kicker?
But to show any awareness of larger issues would distract from your attempt to make points for your narrow issue, so to hell with any of it, I guess. You'll wave your flag as hard as you can, and to hell with any other flags.
It is indeed unfortunate if someone with an illegal immigration status feels afraid to report a crime out of concern that in so doing they will appear on the radar of another law enforcement agency. It is not difficult to imagine the potential for exploitation in such a situation. However, having an illegal immigration status is a crime - not as bad a crime as, say, drug dealing but more serious than, say, shoplifting. A crime, nevertheless. Deportation is the standard response. To suggest otherwise is an insult to the hard-working and law-abiding citizens of America.
ReplyDeleteI agree with werkshops point of view also I do not believe in american and candaian crimial justice system. I am an woman with Iranian background I was arrested by canadian police 3 times by false complain. anybody can go to police and make false statement and police make an arrest. this system is barbaric and dangerous.
ReplyDeleteDSK was set up! He is another victim of a false rape charge.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.inmalafide.com/blog/2011/05/16/is-imf-managing-director-dominique-strauss-kahn-the-victim-of-a-false-rape-charge/
I don't agree that only Blacks and Latinos get deported. I know many Asian families that were torn apart due to deportation. However the number of Asian seems smaller because there are less Asians in the country compare to Latinos and Blacks. To say that it is discrimination towards only Latinos and Blacks is incorrect. Also most Asians are here illegally and only are deported when they commit certain crime, unlike many Latinos are hire illegally, so it is the reason they are deported back b/c they aren't suppose to be here in the first place. There are more than 10 millions illegal immigrants and that's just the one we know of. That's probably more than the population of Asians combined.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Here are the DHS data for deportations in 2011:
Total 387,242
Africa 1,695
Asia 5,165
Caribbean 6,000
Central America 76,603
Europe 3,765
North America 283,304
Oceania 304
South America 10,348
Unknown 58
5,165 from Asia versus 6,000 from the Caribbean. Sounds like similar numbers until we remember that there are about one million undocumented Asians in the United States, and about 23% of the foreign-born in the United States are Asian.
Asians are 10% of undocumented immigrants and about a quarter of all foreign-born.
Yet, they account for about 1.3% of people deported in 2010.
So, yes, it is inaccurate to say that Asians are never deported, but correct to say that Asians are deported less frequently than black or Latino immigrants.
If you would like to see a more detailed analysis of this, please check out Chapter 3 of my book, Immigration Nation.