PA Arrested illegals on parol

Arrested Illegal Immigrants Were Paroled Killers
By Michael P. Tremoglie, The Bulletin
Two men arrested Oct. 14 in Reading on drug charges turned out to be paroled killers as well as illegal Cuban immigrants who were ordered to be deported but were not.The two were identified as Pedro Gonzalez-Aguiar, 46 and Pablo Morales-Torres, 56 both of Reading. Mr. Gonzalez-Aguilar was serving a 1984 robbery sentence when he killed a man in Graterford Prison in 1987. He served 16 years of the 11 to 25 year sentence he received for the crime. He was released in 2003.Mr. Morales-Torres was sentenced to 20 years for a 1987 murder committed in Lancaster. He served his entire sentence but was paroled for another offense committed since then. He was also wanted for a 1986 murder in Miami. Although they had been ordered to be deported after their murder convictions, it failed to happen because Cuba does not accept the repatriation of convicted murderers. They were released on the condition they would periodically report to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, in accordance with current immigration laws. As the law stands, an individual who cannot be expected to be deported cannot be held in custody indefinitely.Jian Liu, an immigration specialist with the Philadelphia law firm of Zarwin, Baum, DeVito, Kaplan, Schaer and Toddy, clarified the law."Individuals cannot be expected to be in custody awaiting deportation forever. ICE reviews the deportation status in 90 days. If they cannot be deported after that time, they are released under an order of supervision," Ms. Liu said. "This means that they are required to report weekly to a specific officer at ICE until deportation can be arranged."There is no limit to how long such a person can be supervised, Ms. Liu said. It is at the discretion of the ICE officer.Last March, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter,R-Pa., the ranking member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, introduced the Accountability in Immigration Repatriation (AIR) Act of 2008. It would impose sanctions on countries that refuse to take back aliens who have been convicted of crimes in the United States and other aliens who are under a final order of removal. "Streamlining the deportation process and insisting that countries repatriate illegal aliens who have been convicted of crimes of violence will free substantial Immigration and Customs Enforcement resources, which can then be devoted to improving identification and reporting of deportable criminal aliens in federal, state or local custody," Sen. Specter said. "My proposal works to stop criminal aliens from being released onto our streets and helps to close the government's credibility gap on immigration enforcement."