/Despite community ties, judge cites flight risk in denying bond to some immigrants

Despite community ties, judge cites flight risk in denying bond to some immigrants

Wednesday’s bail hearing was denied to Carthage mother of 3 — a member at a local Baptist Church and former employee at the Pearl River Foods Processing Plant — who was detained during immigration enforcement raids in August. Although her pretrial paperwork stated that she didn’t have children, her U.S. citizen teenage son sat in the courtroom. Tom Rich, defense attorney, did not call witnesses. U.S. Magistrate Linda Anderson stated that she did not have sufficient evidence to determine bail because of the discrepancy. Anderson acknowledged that defense lawyers were not prepared for the hearing because they had limited access to their clients and offered to reconsider her decision after receiving additional information. The marshal led the mother, wearing an orange Madison County Jail jumpsuit out of the courtroom. Anderson turned to her son, who was reddening and weeping. As he wrote a note on notebook paper, the teenager sat down in the front row. Another detainee was listed in pretrial paperwork Wednesday as her Louisiana residence. This is where U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds detainees. Anderson was the first to conduct detention hearings of people held in central Mississippi’s chicken plant raids. Anderson denied bail to each one of them. The U.S. will continue to hold the three defendants charged with illegal entry, which carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment. The three defendants were charged with illegal reentry and will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service until their October trial. Anderson determined that they are a flight risk. Rich stated that he believes one of his clients keeps returning to Mississippi after being deported three times previously is not a flight threat. “He wants to stay here.” The Marshals Service has agreements with Madison County Correctional Facility, and Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility. These facilities house federal pretrial detainees. If the criminal defendants had been granted bail, they wouldn’t likely return home but would be taken back to ICE as ICE detainers. U.S. lawyers argued that each defendant could not be trusted to return in court due to their disobedience to federal orders. The screening process used to determine which of the 680 workers were initially released was described by agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Agent David Boyd stated that officers released around 300 single parents and people with medical conditions. Boyd stated that not all of those released received ankle monitors because they “ran out”. However, during an arraignment hearing prior to Anderson on Wednesday morning, officials found they had transported the wrong person — an ICE ICE detainee, who has not been charged with criminal offenses — to the court. Anderson appointed Carlos Tanner, a defense attorney, to represent the man after they realized he wasn’t on the docket. Anderson had to change the date of a bail hearing for another defendant, who appeared in court Wednesday. The Spanish translator assigned to him didn’t speak Mam, which is a language spoken by Guatemalans.