Growing number of illegal immigrants fleeing the law back home

Dave Montgomery:

After illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexican border near Laredo, Texas, almost six years ago, Juan Carlos Almanza-Castillo made his way north, eventually landing a job as a ranch hand in Central Texas, about 50 miles up Interstate 35 from Austin.

He lived a simple lifestyle, under the radar of the law, until Bell County authorities began investigating him this year for an alleged sexual assault on a minor. The investigation turned up another detail: Almanza-Castillo was a former Mexican police officer wanted in the slaying of a relative in northern Mexico.

The fugitive, who was deported this month, is part of what U.S. authorities say is a menacing subset of the nearly 11 million immigrants who have entered the United States in the past two decades.

While most come in search of better jobs and higher wages, a large and growing number are on the run from the law, often on both sides of the border. Thousands of criminals flee to the United States to escape apprehension back home and some commit more crimes while dodging the law in this country, officials say.

Of the 1.2 million illegal immigrants apprehended nationwide while entering the United States over the past year, fingerprint checks revealed that more than 26,000 were linked to major crimes, Border Patrol officials say.

Many of the fugitives had already been convicted and served time while others were being sought on outstanding charges. From Nov. 25 to Dec. 1, border patrol agents arrested eight illegal immigrants charged with homicide, said Mario Villarreal, Washington spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security.

The job of pursuing such immigrants falls to another Homeland Security agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, the nation's second-largest federal investigative arm after the FBI. ICE agents are hunting more than 450,000 immigrants who fled U.S. deportation orders, including at least 80,000 wanted for criminal offenses ranging from petty theft to murder.

The "worst of the worst," as ICE spokesman Marc Raimondi puts it, are posted on the agency's list of the 10 most-wanted fugitive immigrants, eight of whom are wanted in connection with sexual acts involving children and, in most cases, other offenses. Collectively, they represent a diverse geographic background. Four are from Mexico; the others are from China, India, Bulgaria, Jamaica and Portugal.

Ignacio Sevilla-Botello entered the United States through Southern California in 1985 and held a legal visa to work in agriculture before being sentenced to three years in prison for committing lewd acts on a child. He was ordered deported after serving his sentence but jumped a $2,500 bond by failing to show up at a hearing. He has been on the loose since 1997.

Recep Ahmedoff of Bulgaria is being sought on charges of manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. Calvin Anthony Inswood, the Jamaican, made the list for charges that included assault and weapon offenses, as well as trespassing and disorderly conduct.

More than 4.5 million people have been arrested trying to enter the United States illegally since President Bush took office in January 2001. Of that number, 350,000 had criminal records, says the administration.

The increase in immigrant criminals is fueling demands for toughened border enforcement as the House prepares to debate an immigration bill this week. The bill, by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., toughens requirements on employers and includes a crackdown on immigrant gang members.

Immigrant advocacy groups fear that the get-tough talk against immigrant criminals undercuts efforts to seek more humane treatment for the millions of other illegal immigrants who have raised families, paid taxes and contributed to the U.S. economy.

"Most people have come here just for work," said Saul Soto, administrator of the Border Network for Human Rights, based in El Paso, Texas. Soto says lawmakers are focusing on the dark side as a pretext to deport all undocumented residents. Many illegal immigrants are victims themselves, he says, subject to abuse by smugglers or unscrupulous employers.

Top officials from Bush on down say misguided polices have helped immigrant criminals broaden their foothold in U.S. society. Much of the blame falls on a now-discredited "catch-and-release" policy under which apprehended immigrants were often released pending a hearing because of inadequate detention space. Many never showed up for their hearings.

Bush and Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff have changed the focus to "catch-and-return" by increasing detention facilities, adding more agents and streamlining deportation procedures. In outlining his immigration initiative in a speech this month in Tucson, Ariz., the president said "murderers, rapists, child molesters and other violent criminals" have slipped through the cracks.

Critics of the catch-and-release policy say it sent a message to troublemakers in foreign countries that they could cheat the system in the United States. "The word on the street is get past the border and you're home free," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, former chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee.

One fearsome trend is the spread of notorious gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, whose members are known for hacking their enemies with machetes. ICE agents in El Paso recently deported an 18-year-old Mexican gang member known as El Chocolate after he was convicted Nov. 8 on a weapons charge in Illinois.

The fugitive, Jorge Delgado Fernandez, was believed to be a member of the Nortenos 14, a violent gang based in Northern California. Fernandez was deported last year but re-entered the United States illegally, said ICE officials. He was wanted in Mexico after allegedly shooting a man at a party.

ICE has 17 seven-member teams deployed to seek out fugitive immigrants, with plans to expand to 44 teams by September. Bush and Chertoff want to increase the number to 100.

The National Fugitive Operations Program started in March 2003, charged with apprehending immigrant "absconders" who disappeared instead of complying with deportation orders issued by an immigration judge. ICE officials assigned the highest priority to those convicted or accused of crimes.

Of the 32,625 absconders caught since the program started, nearly half - 15,338 - were immigrant criminals, according to ICE officials. The biggest number, 5,300, were involved in drug offenses.

"It's growing and we're trying to keep up with it," said Chuck Ziethen, deputy assistant director of the fugitive operations program. "We're just concerned about the growing numbers and we're doing everything we can to curb that increase."

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