This past November, Junior Francisco and Rodolfo Padilla, two longtime legal permanent residents of the United States, were approved to be part of the mass release of 6,000 individuals with low-level drug-related offenses. Even though federal judges affirmed that these two men deserved to be released from custody and were in no way a danger to society, their status as non-citizens landed them incarcerated, this time facing deportation while being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Encouraged by a top adviser to the director of ICE to present compelling cases that warrant prosecutorial discretion, CAIR Coalition brought the two cases of Junior and Rodolfo to ICE for review. Junior is a husband to a US citizen and the father of three young US citizen childrenand Rodolfo has a grown son with significant health problems and a severely ill wife who are both US citizens.
On Monday March 28, 2016, CAIR Coalition received a one-sentence response to this request: “that the review process has been completed and that both requests were reviewed and the decision was made that prosecutorial discretion would not be exercised in these matters”.
“If not them, then who?” said Heidi Altman, with the Capital Area Immigrant Rights (CAIR) Coalition... “That just doesn’t cut it when you’re talking about individual lives and men whose US citizen families will face tragedy when they’re deported.”
We commend President Obama for commuting the sentences of 61 men and women this week who were incarcerated for non-violent drug related offenses. However, the disproportionate impact that drug related convictions have on non-citizens has largely not been discussed.
“The separation of a family of four citizens and a lawful permanent resident is incredibly disproportionate to his offense,” said HRW’s Ginatta. “But recognition of this harm is missing from the conversation about criminal justice reform.”
News Coverage of Rudolfo Padilla and Junior Fransciso
- The Guardian: Why US drug reform still couldn't stop deportation of two immigrants, April 1, 2016, by Renée Feltz
- The Guardian: Immigrant facing deportation could be first to benefit from US drug law reform, March 28, 2016, by Renée Feltz
- Reporte Hispano: Piden parar deportación de padre de familia en Elizabeth, March 11, 2016, by Gery Vereau
- Voice of America: Non-citizen Drug Offender in US Hopes to Avoid Deportation, March 2, 2016, by Carol Guensburg
- The Washington Post: Mexican prisoner awaits deportation to nation he barely recalls, December 5, 2015, by Pamela Constable
