Terrorist Released!

Get your duct tape handy. Luigi Garofano, who has lived in the U.S. for 44 years (most recently in a soccer league sleeper cell), has been released from prison after being held for 79 days without bail by Homeland Security in an effort to deport him over a 20-year-old drug conviction.

Comments

[Dan]

I don't see anything in this article about him being accused of terrorism or held as a terrorist suspect. It sounds like he just got nailed by a policy barring convicted felons from re-entering the United States.

Is the point of this post that a general policy of barring felons from reentering the country is a bad one? Even Garofano doesn't seem to agree with you on that; his complaint seems to be that the ban should only apply to un-reformed felons. That's a reasonable attitude, but it's hard to objectively test for "reformedness".

What, exactly, is your complaint here?

[Warren]

We're complaining about egregious abuse of power.

As in this case where a government agency created from a time of rampant paranoia, and charged with protecting the population from terrorism, starts arbitrarily enforcing old laws that everybody though were, (and should have been) repealed. Thus removing a model citizen not only from his community but also his family and 'terrorizing' his children in the process.

DUH!

One is forced to wonder, how many not so model, yet none the less innocent, people are being held without bail or charges against them, but don't have devoted families, or can call on dozens of respected members of the community, to rally to their aid.

[Mike]

Dan - Warren explains it well.

[AJMB]

Oh come on! We all know that soccer hooligans are a threat to national security. How long before this guy is chucking batteries at a 747 from the end of a runway somewhere. He's got to go!

[vachon]

Probably has a naughty pic of Margaret Thatcher in his wallet, too.

[Call Me]

I am also seeking compassion and release.

[AJMB]

Just remember to wipe your keyboard off afterwards.

[thoreau]

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that it is perfectly appropriate under the law for this man to be denied entry to the US. Yes, yes, I know, it was a victimless crime years ago. Point is, let's assume, for the sake of argument that this arrest was consistent with the letter of the law.

Why is the Department of Homeland Security involved in this? I thought they were created to deal with truly catastrophic threats, and to create paranoia with an unreliable national mood ring when they don't know how to deal with a possibly catastrophic threat. I didn't know they were created to handle relatively mundane drug convictions.

I'm not convinced that this is an example of impending tyranny. I am convinced that it's an example of mission creep. I also worry that, when more mundane tasks are put under the purview of people allegedly concerned with catastrophic threats, even the most mundane government action can be accorded the urgency of a catastrophic threat, and in the long run this will lead to even more heavy-handed tactics and less transparency for even the most mundane matters.

Go ahead, call me a leftist who doesn't care about security, doesn't understand that there's a war going on, and doesn't care about protecting US sovereignty from immigrants flouting out laws. I think most reasonable people here will get my point that DHS should stick to what it's assigned to, and not label any and every matter of concern to the government an urgent matter of "Homeland Security."

[AJMB]

I'm with thoreau. If this guy is the biggest threat that the DHS has on their board at the moment, then someone needs to get their head out of their sphincter, QUICKLY!

[Dan]

We're complaining about egregious abuse of power

Throwing a non-citizen ex-con out of the country is an "egregious abuse of power"? Get some perspective. When the police write you a ticket just because they don't like your attitude, that's an abuse of power. Non-citizens have no right to live here; it is impossible for deportation to be an abuse of power. It is doubly absurd to suggest that deporting a non-citizen because he exhibited disregard for the laws of this nation is an "abuse of power".

old laws that everybody though were, (and should have been) repealed

Bullshit. I'm sure if you asked the average American "if a non-citizen immigrant is convicted of a felony, is he expelled from the country?" They would (incorrectly, as it turns out) answer "yes". Most of the rest would answer "no, but they should be."

It isn't like the DoHS suddenly started enforcing some crazy-ass immigration law from 1897, like "any foreigner who catches the flu must be deported at once" or something, that most people would read about and think "ok, now that law is bullshit". This is a law saying "criminals aren't welcome in America" -- the kind of law that most sensible people (and most of the senseless ones, for that matter) would read about and say "fuckin' A!".

Yes, the law was applied stupidly in this case (it's the government -- go figure). And the immigration judge de-stupidified it. Problem solved.

thus removing a model citizen not only from his community

Your idea of a model citizen is a guy with a felony record? How interesting. Here is the sum total of what we know about this guy, based on this article:

- He's a convicted felon
- He's an ex-drug addict
- He's married and has kids.
- He's not a citizen.

From this, you conclude "he's a model citizen". Well, no, he's not a citizen at all actually, but even if you skip over that particular fact, all we know about him is that he's a married ex-cokehead ex-con with a sad story. I need a little more evidence to go on before I conclude he's Hartford's answer to Mister Rogers.

Garofano lived here for 24 years without becoming a citizen, during which time he became a drug addict, got involved in shady activities, and went to jail. We had the right to kick him out of the country then. We could have booted his ass out the door, and made room for a NON-criminal Italian, someone who respects the law, to immigrate to to United States. We didn't; we decided, apparently, to take a chance on him. That chance has, apparently, paid off, since (based on what we know from this article) he's stayed clean since then.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that he is allowed to stay here not because he has a right to, but because we're being nice. When the DoHS tried kicking him out of the country, they were (in my opinion) inadvisedly applying a generally good and non-abusive policy: "don't let non-citizen criminals back into the country". I think we should continue to back off and cut Garfano some more slack but the simple reality is that he's stuck in a situation HE created. The government is erring (wildly, admittedly) on the side of caution. As a general rule, I prefer that to them erring on the side of "ah fuck it, let the crooks in".

Anyway, it would probably be best if the DoHS altered the regulations, so that only newly-convicted felons were expelled from the country. That should avoid this sort of trouble in the future.

[Dan]

Why is the Department of Homeland Security involved in this?

The Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Border Patrol, and US Customs all became part of the Department of Homeland Security last March.

The DHS isn't primarily an anti-terrorism organization, you know. It just has a melodramatic name -- "Department of the Borders" didn't sound exciting enough, I guess.

I'm with thoreau. If this guy is the biggest threat that the DHS has on their board at the moment, then someone needs to get their head out of their sphincter, QUICKLY!

Problems like this arise because the government ISN'T putting effort into dealing with them. I guarantee you it went something like this:

- The guy's file is flagged as "felon", because of his criminal record.
- He reenters the country and they check his passport against the computer
- The computer spits out a result like "access denied - felon".
- The various DNS employees are, like most government employees, a bunch of useless wankers, and so nobody takes the effort to try to get an exception for this guy.

[Brian]

Dan: it is impossible for deportation to be an abuse of power.

Do you seriously believe that? Based on the rest of your comment, I really don't think that you do...

I'm not saying that non-citizens have any "right" to be here, but I do believe that the government (you know the entity allegedly delimited by the Constitution) has no right to arbitrarily kick people out who are lawfully here.

Note that I'm not saying this necessarily applies to the present case...I'm just not comfortable with the notion that the government is not constrained in their actions against someone simply because they are not a citizen. Lord knows they treat citizens badly enough as it is. Just ask Jose Padilla.

[John Ashcroft]

You CAN'T ask Jose Padilla! He's in my gulag!

(insert cackles of maniacal laughter here)

[thoreau]

You know, if we must have a Department of Homeland Security, I'd prefer that they be more like CTU on 24.

Every field office should be headed by a crazy former Special Forces officer who disregards the chain of command, acts on crazy hunches, and after 24 hours inevitably brings down the terrorists, their associates, and moles aiding the terrorists from inside the government. Along the way he butts heads with his ex-girlfriend, cuts body parts off of terrorists, breaks various felons out of prison to extract information, and winds up going into battle with assistance from the President's deceitful ex-wife.

His staff would consist of brilliant agents who constantly bicker amongst themselves, frequently sleep with one another, and occasionally inject high-ranking bureaucrats with sedatives to help their crazy leader continue his rogue missions. At any given time there would be at least one mole on the staff, and any mole who gets discovered would be killed by the undiscovered mole before he can talk.

This unit would operate under the authority of a President who makes Saint Francis look like a dirty politician, but somehow manages to surround himself with the least trustworthy people around. From time to time this President would be temporarily removed from office under obscure Constitutional provisions because he wasn't deceived by forged evidence that has the rest of the government hoodwinked.

In all seriousness, given a choice between Tom Ridge and these crazy people I'd pick the nuts. At least they always manage to arrest the bad guys. Osama, on the other hand, is still at large.

[Andrew]

Osama is still dead.

[Mona]

"It isn't like the DoHS suddenly started enforcing some crazy-ass immigration law from 1897, like "any foreigner who catches the flu must be deported at once" or something, that most people would read about and think "ok, now that law is bullshit". This is a law saying "criminals aren't welcome in America" -- the kind of law that most sensible people (and most of the senseless ones, for that matter) would read about and say "fuckin' A!"."

You just lost me. Thoreau, an apparent non-lawyer, gets it.

I am signed a lawyer who does get what lawyers, including Homeland Security (what a freakin awful and Orwellian name) do with a license.

[Steve in CO]

Thank you Thoreau for the 24 fix! I am so afraid that the show has already "jumped the shark," already.

🙂

[Bush Defense League]

Dan wrote:
Your idea of a model citizen is a guy with a felony record? How interesting. Here is the sum total of what we know about this guy, based on this article:

- He's a convicted felon
- He's an ex-drug addict
- He's married and has kids.
- He's not a citizen.

------------------------------------------------

By the standards of the Bush marriage promotion proposal, he is absolutely a model citizen, even for a non-citizen. The man in question did over come a drug problem and following incarceration, straightened his life out, got married and had kids, and now stays with his family and supports them. Besides the non-citizen point, Bush himself overcame his alcoholism and a DUI to raise and support (maybe dad and friends supported as well) a family and become only the leader of the free world.

Makes one wonder if Bush's passport would be flagged if he entered the country through other means than Air Force One.

[thoreau]

Thanks, Mona.

OK, quick show of hands. Who thinks that it would be good to remove this man from the US because a long time ago he committed a victimless crime? (I'm not asking whether the letter of the law requires it, I'm asking whether you're pleased that the letter of the law requires it.) Who thinks that this man's attempt to enter the US years after committing a victimless crime should be a matter of "homeland security" instead of "standard law enforcement"?

DHS wasn't created because we had a rash of normal crimes that needed to be dealt with more aggressively. Supposedly it was created because there were some extraordinary threats to deal with. Why would we take the normal stuff and put it on the plate of homeland security?

I guarantee you that CTU on 24 would be too busy with office sex scandals to chase after a guy who used drugs years ago. They'd fire the first intern who wasted their time with "Sir, LAX security says guy who used drugs 20 years ago is entering the US. Should I send a tactical unit?"

So if that's how they deal with annoying interns, imagine how they treat REAL terrorists! (Hint: it involves hacksaws, fake video footage of relatives being executed, and Dennis Hopper being sent to the gulag.) 😉

[Gadfly]

"If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail." -- Abraham Maslowe

[DD]

Why would we take the normal stuff and put it on the plate of homeland security?

They get bored with so little to do. After all, there are only so many fake terror alerts that can be put out!

[Will Spencer]

This is yet another travesty of justice that would not have occurred if it were not for the War on Drugs.

If not for the War on Drugs, it would be much easier to separate the real criminals and deal with them appropriately.

Who cares if this guy put coke up his nose? It's not worth the (guesstimating) $100k of taxpayer dollars it cost to hold him for 79 days and try to deport him.

[Menyhart Russell]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
IP: 203.162.3.145
URL: http://preteen-sex.info
DATE: 05/20/2004 10:02:24
Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.