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Overcrowding compels US to release foreign convicts

Arthur J Pais in New York

For many of the 13,000 foreign criminals including scores of Indians (a Mumbai-born dentist in prison for sexual abuse of children being one of them) being held in scores of American jail, there is good news. Many of them could be released soon because the jails across America, particularly in such big cities as New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles, are overcrowded.

The bad news is that they face imminent deportation to the country of their origin. Those some of the criminals have anything between five to ten years to serve, they could be released and deported if they have served at least six months (for lesser crimes) to a year.

The Immigration and Naturalisation Service announced this week proposals to release greencard holders and illegal immigrants who are being held on assault, drug trafficking and other charges, including some whom the agency is required by law to detain. The proposals, if approved by the justice department, could be effective within the next few months. At least 1,500 people could be released in New York and neighboring states, authorities believe.

While the INS budget has reached a record $ 4 billion this year, harried INS officials point out that most of the increased funding has gone to a buildup along the US-Mexican border.

Meanwhile, INS jails and detention centres have seen sustained protest by foreign criminals who complain against the racial attitude of jail authorities and overcrowding.

Even as some US Congressmen are outraged by the proposal, INS officials said among those who may be released if the plans go ahead are foreigners who have been convicted in US courts not only of assault and drug crimes, but also of burglary, counterfeiting, alien smuggling, possession of explosives, extortion, manslaughter and sexual molestation.

Critics of the INS proposal say the agency does not have the money to arrange for immediate deportation of the criminals, some of whom may even seek exemption through their lawyers to stay back in America. The 1996 immigration law requires that INS deport not just illegal immigrants who are jailed on serious charges but also greencard holders. But greencard holders could mount a challenge to the deportation order.

Among the Indians who are in American jails is Arun Kumar, a former mathematics professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey, who was sentenced to a year for sexual molestation of an eight-year-old girl.

Many INS officers fear they could be held personally responsible if a criminal they released committed another crime.

The INS memo, written by INS acting Regional Director Michael G Devine, however, is clear that "known or suspected terrorists" should not be freed under any circumstances.

Devine said the memo was sent out to elicit "comment," rather than as a directive to be implemented now.

"We are making plans in case we get to a position where we have no alternative, where we have more aliens subject to mandatory detention than we have beds," Devine said.

"To date, we haven't released anybody, but there may come a point where that's an option we can't avoid anymore." Most of the detainees have already served time for their crimes, "and if they were US citizens, they'd be out on the street," he said.

Among the severest critics of the INS proposal to empty the jails is the Republican Representative from Texas, Lamar S Smith.

Smith, chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the INS, told The New York Times last week that the agency "has only itself to blame." He said the INS has wasted money by not properly implementing a programme to deport foreign criminals immediately after the completion of their jail terms and has failed to explore the possibility of using detention space on military bases.

"The American people would not be happy with their own government releasing criminals into their neighborhoods," Smith said. "That's a real horror story written by the US government."

But an INS spokesman, Russell Bergeron, said the agency has worked hard to deport criminals from state and federal jails and "can do better" with greater co-operation from the prison systems and immigration courts. But he said this "will not solve the problem" by itself. Moreover, he said, converting military facilities into INS detention centres "takes resources . . . that don't exist."

"Under no circumstances will anyone who is any way poses a threat to public safety be released," he said.

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