Felons Deported in New Program : Illegal Aliens Are Released Early From California Prisons

The 2 dozen men, dressed in their prison blues, shuffled back to their concrete cells below leaden skies Tuesday. They moved single-file along the chain-link fence topped with rolling coils of accordion wire. A few wore tired smiles, perhaps because they knew they were soon going home.

The men--23 Mexicans and 1 Salvadoran--were all convicted felons who had served up to eight years in the California prison system. All had committed their crimes, from narcotics sales and possession to auto theft and burglary, while in the United States illegally.

On Tuesday, an immigration judge ordered them all formally deported to their home countries.

The deportation hearings, which took place on the grounds of the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, the state prison on Otay Mesa, are part of a novel program that U. S. and California authorities formally unveiled to the press Tuesday. (The initiative has actually been in place since February, 1988.)

Although the vast majority of aliens in the United States illegally have no intention of committing crimes other than being here without papers, there are some who are convicted of felonies. They pose special problems, authorities say, as they must go through both the state penal system and the immigration courts.

Savings for Taxpayers

The program in practice here, said to be in use only in California, is meant to expedite their deportation--and save money. Under the current setup, most illegal aliens convicted of crimes throughout California are transferred to the Otay Mesa prison to serve the last 45 days of their sentences. During that period, those who do decline to contest deportation have hearings at a makeshift immigration courtroom on the prison grounds.

Since it began, the program has resulted in the expedited deportation of 838 criminal aliens from the Otay prison, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Besides sparing the prisoners more time in custody, U.S. authorities say the procedure saved untold thousands in taxpayer’s money: Under previous policy, the aliens would be transferred to immigration detention facilities after serving their state time, adding to the public cost of incarceration. Formerly, they would remain in immigration custody until completion of their deportation proceedings, which can drag on for weeks, with jail costs of $20-$50 daily per alien.

“We have fine-tuned a method for saving taxpayers money,” said John Ratelle, warden at the Otay facility.

Authorities said the inmates have the same rights they would have in a deportation hearings while in U.S. custody. Betty Wheeler, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego, said she hasn’t heard any complaints about the program, but she stressed the necessity that inmates have a right to be represented by counsel and properly prepare for the deportation proceedings.

Ironically, perhaps as many as 40% of those deported from the Otay prison may have been eligible for legal U.S. residence under the amnesty program if not for their convictions. Congress specifically prohibited felons from receiving amnesty.

‘Very Efficient’ Authorities agreed that the men involved--there is no parallel program for women alien felons--constitute a tiny minority of all aliens arrested. “Let us not confuse (them) . . . with those for whom all of us can feel sincere sympathy,” said Harold W. Ezell, INS Western regional commissioner, who called the program “very efficient.”

Of those deported under the program, about 90% have been Mexicans. (Once deported, they are simply bused back to Mexico, about 2 miles south of the prison.) Another 6% were from Central America, 3% from South America and the Caribbean and 1% were from assorted other nations, including Vietnam, Canada, the Soviet Union and Nigeria. (More extensive transportation must be arranged for those not from Mexico.)

Of their crimes, assorted narcotics violations, mostly sales, constituted the majority. Burglary was the next most-prevalent conviction, followed by various violent crimes and miscellaneous other felonies.