The following is a letter I wrote recently to Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the District of Columbia in regards to deportation delays.
Dear Judge Lamberth,
This is a post script to the case of US v. Smith et al. If memory serves, the defendants were given a range of 46-52 months. They were sentenced immediately after they pled.
At the time, I asked that the defendants be given a further “reduction.” The reason for this request was because upon completing their sentences, the defendants would be held for approximately two additional months in county jails waiting for pro forma deportation processing that could have taken place during the service of their sentences. This suggestion has been made to ICE officials many times, but to no avail.
Well, I was off by twenty days. Two of the defendants were recently released after completing their sentences. They were then further incarcerated for 40 days in a county facility before being deported. At sentencing I asked that the court “reduce” any sentence imposed by two months, noting that such a “reduction” was simply a way to credit the time that would be served awaiting deportation processing.
Perhaps I was asking for more of a reduction than necessary and in the future will ask for only thirty days. That way, defendants would technically serve the last thirty days of their sentences in county jail and perhaps only be detained an additional 10 days. Although it is still unjustified, it is better than being incarcerated for an extra 40 days. Thus, in my client’s case, if his sentence had been reduced to 51 months rather than the 52 he had been given (he has not been released yet), he would be assured that his last month in a county jail awaiting deportation would not be in vain and would meet the sentencing expectations of the court. After all the court did not impose fifty-three months in my client’s case, but that is what he will serve.
In addition to the long wait, the rates the contracted county jails charge the US government are exorbitant. Holiday Inns offer better deals, and they have carpeting. If taxpayers knew that their money was being wasted in this manner, they would be furious.
I believe sentencing reductions might be the only way to resolve this problem and to get ICE to revise their system. It is not right that people who have already served their sentences be further incarcerated for unreasonable periods of time solely because of the inefficiency of an agency. It reflects a surprisingly casual view of liberty. If a defendant is sentenced to 52 months, he should serve 52 months, not 53.
Faithfully yours,
David S. Zapp