Plea to Obama Led to an Immigrant’s Arrest

Ianus · 11:09 AM

I've never heard of something like this happening.I guess he would have to be a cousin or uncle to stay........

Quote:

The letter appealing to President Obama was written in frustration in January, by a woman who saw her family reflected in his. She was a white United States citizen married to an African man, and the couple — college-educated professionals in Manhattan — were stymied in their long legal battle to keep him in the country.

Could the president help, asked the woman, Caroline Jamieson, a marketing executive. She described the impasse that confronted her husband, Hervé Fonkou Takoulo, a citizen of Cameroon with an outstanding deportation order from a failed bid for asylum.

The response came on June 3, when two immigration agents stopped Mr. Takoulo, 34, in front of the couple’s East Village apartment building. He says one agent asked him, “Did you write a letter to President Obama?”

When he acknowledged that his wife had, he was handcuffed and sent to an immigration jail in New Jersey for deportation.

But on Thursday night, Mr. Takoulo was just as suddenly released, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had been questioned about the case by The New York Times.

Officials said they were investigating how the letter — one of thousands routinely referred to the agency by the White House to gather information for a reply — had been improperly used by the agency’s “fugitive operations” unit to find and arrest Mr. Takoulo, who has an engineering degree and no criminal record.

While Mr. Takoulo is still subject to the deportation order, immigration officials acknowledged that their actions in the case seemed to violate their standard practice of not using letters seeking help from elected officials as investigative leads. The handling of the case also conflicted with the Obama administration’s stated policy of arresting deportable immigrants only if they have criminal records.

The agency is investigating how it happened, a spokesman said, and has released Mr. Takoulo on an electronic ankle monitor while his case is reviewed.

“ICE has a zero tolerance policy for violations of civil rights,” the spokesman, Brian P. Hale, said in a statement, adding that if it was determined “that appropriate separation between lawful correspondence and investigations was violated,” the case would be referred for immediate action by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security.

Though the case is being treated as an anomaly that breached accepted procedures, a senior agency official acknowledged that there were no written guidelines on the handling of such letters, and that there was no way to know whether similar correspondence had prompted arrests and deportations.

unthinkable · 06-19-2010, 11:03 PM

Good find. hey ianus, how do you still have 0 AP points?

prettyjolie · 06-19-2010, 11:35 PM

Wow. This is just sad. =(

Jelly Bean Lover · 06-20-2010, 11:23 AM

This is sickening. One wonders when people will realize the emperor has no clothes...

Jefe · 06-22-2010, 01:24 PM

not surprised, law enforcement never plays by the rules.

jothesh2 · 06-22-2010, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jefe

not surprised, law enforcement never plays by the rules.

"Never" ? Please don't say such arrogant statements.

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Plea to Obama Led to an Immigrant’s Arrest