U.S. gets tougher on criminal immigrants
by Daniel González - Aug. 16, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
José Samaniego-Lara, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, has a lengthy criminal record.
His rap sheet includes a 1995 conviction for false imprisonment, a 1997 conviction for assault and a 2003 conviction for carjacking in which Samaniego-Lara held the driver at knifepoint before stealing his truck, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
For years Samaniego-Lara also has treated the border like a revolving door, re-entering illegally over and over again, according to law-enforcement officials.
Now, the federal government is determined to send Samaniego-Lara and other deported criminals like him a strong message: Stay out of the U.S. or risk lengthy prison sentences.
In November, police found Samaniego-Lara, 43, squatting inside a vacant house in west Phoenix. Police booked him into the Maricopa County Jail on a felony criminal-trespassing charge. Jail officials found that in 2004 he had been convicted of illegally re-entering the country following an earlier deportation. The records showed that Samaniego-Lara was sentenced to 15 months in prison and was deported, again, the following June.
In March, a federal jury convicted Samaniego-Lara of a felony charge of illegally re-entering the country. U.S. District Court Judge Frederick J. Martone sentenced Samaniego-Lara in May to five years and three months in federal prison.
by Daniel González - Aug. 16, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
José Samaniego-Lara, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, has a lengthy criminal record.
His rap sheet includes a 1995 conviction for false imprisonment, a 1997 conviction for assault and a 2003 conviction for carjacking in which Samaniego-Lara held the driver at knifepoint before stealing his truck, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
For years Samaniego-Lara also has treated the border like a revolving door, re-entering illegally over and over again, according to law-enforcement officials.
Now, the federal government is determined to send Samaniego-Lara and other deported criminals like him a strong message: Stay out of the U.S. or risk lengthy prison sentences.
In November, police found Samaniego-Lara, 43, squatting inside a vacant house in west Phoenix. Police booked him into the Maricopa County Jail on a felony criminal-trespassing charge. Jail officials found that in 2004 he had been convicted of illegally re-entering the country following an earlier deportation. The records showed that Samaniego-Lara was sentenced to 15 months in prison and was deported, again, the following June.
In March, a federal jury convicted Samaniego-Lara of a felony charge of illegally re-entering the country. U.S. District Court Judge Frederick J. Martone sentenced Samaniego-Lara in May to five years and three months in federal prison.
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