Photo: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Last week Los Angeles County Attorney George Gascón announced a new policy that formally updates how his office will handle crimes involving immigrants.
In a statement posted on social media, Gascón said his office consulted with staff, the community and immigration experts to create a new policy that protects vulnerable victims and prioritizes security while attempting to prevent extremely punitive consequences for defendants.
“This policy is based on existing California law intended to ensure equal treatment and protection to citizens and non-citizens in the same way”, he indicated.
In his nine-page document, Gascón indicates that it has been recognized that keeping communities safe requires public trust in the criminal justice system, including the will of victims Y witnesses, regardless of their immigration status, to report crimes and assist in the prosecution of cases.
The general intent of this Policy is to attempt to avoid an additional migratory impact on all parties, both the victims and the accused.
This policy would have benefited people like José Pérez, from 40 years, who a little more than 12 years ago he had an altercation with his wife and she called the police. After serving a short sentence for domestic violence, Pérez was released but immigration was waiting for him outside the jail.
At that time he was deported to Tijuana, Baja California without the option of saying goodbye to his family.
Pérez was separated from his two children, both US citizens and minors , with whom he lost contact for several years while he was reestablished in the neighboring country. Since then, the father-son relationship has been fractured.
The role of measure
The special directive indicates that the prosecutor’s office will continue to take necessary steps to respect and uphold the rights of immigrant communities, actively seek protections for immigrant victims of crime and achieve parity between the punishments imposed by the criminal legal system and those that will continue in the immigration system.
Over the years the Prosecutors have incorporated issues of fairness and equality when considering the consequences of a particular plea agreement which proactively elevates mitigation of immigration consequences as a formal aspect of plea agreement policies in general.
For and against
In response to the directive, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Hatami said in an interview with ABC7 that he does not agree with what he described as a lack of specificity.
“The only thing that I see as new and dangerous is that it applies to all crimes, including serious and violent crimes,” Hatami said. “It doesn’t say that anywhere it only applies to lower-level crimes.” at the time of filing the application, which he says is unethical in California.
“I think we should look at public safety first, then mitigation,” Hatami said because the memo prohibits staff from sharing information with federal immigration authorities.
Additionally, on social networks the work of the prosecutor is questioned, indicating that the immigration title is not found and public safety should be paramount.
On the other hand, Ron Góchez, a community activist in South Los Angeles, said that although Gascón’s intention She is good and tries to accumulate points with the Latino community, people should not be trusted.
“It is easy for someone in Los Angeles to make this policy but in reality, the policy that is really in force here is the federal policy,” said Gascón.
Góchez explained that in reality what will possibly happen is that when an undocumented immigrant is arrested, they will be taken to jail supervised by the sheriff, who is usually known to collaborate with immigration agents.
Even if the policy is enforced by some officials, should an extremist Republican like Trump win the midterm elections, it is well known that the county policy will not do much to protect the Angelenos.
“Mr. Gascón has had many problems and public pressure,” said the activist. “But this is not for you. He can take an opinion or a position, but the reality is that if the migra wants to arrest someone, they will do it.”