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Governor pardons Jamaican facing deportation
CMC
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
NEW YORK, USA — New York Governor David Paterson has pardoned four Caribbean nationals who are facing deportation because of old criminal convictions.
Among those pardoned is Marlon Oscar Powell, 36, a Jamaican immigrant, who was being held in an immigration jail in New Jersey for a misdemeanour drug possession conviction when he was 15.
While most of the pardon recipients had green cards, the governor’s office said one, Sanjay Broomfield, 28, was a legal immigrant whose past conviction had blocked his application for these documents.
Broomfield, a Jamaican immigrant, was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in 2005 after he shot and killed a burglar trying to break into his home in Suffolk County, New York, officials said.
While he was serving three years’ probation, Bloomfield married an American citizen and applied for a green card.
But even though a district attorney had concluded that the shooting was justified, immigration authorities rejected Broomfield’s application, because his illegal possession of a weapon had resulted in a death.
Immigration officials “may take no account of the New York State criminal justice decisions, but I do,” Paterson said.
The governor also pardoned Darshini Ramsaran, 25, a citizen of both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, who was facing deportation for her participation four years ago in a robbery.
Paterson’s office said that if Ramsaran is deported, her life would be in danger from two men who were deported after she testified against them.
The governor also pardoned, Mario Benitez, 58, a Dominican immigrant and the current Assistant Director of Finance for the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School and University Centre.
Benitiz had pleaded guilty to selling a controlled substance in 1988 and served three years in prison, the Governor’s office said.
The Governor, whose grandparents are from Jamaica and Grenada, said the pardons addressed “shortcomings in our federal immigration laws relating to deportation”.
Paterson began a special clemency process earlier this year with the principal aim of helping permanent legal residents who were at risk of deportation because of long-ago or minor convictions.
“Federal immigration laws are often inflexible, arbitrarily applied and excessively harsh, resulting in the deportation of individuals who have paid the price for their crimes and are now making positive contributions to our society,” he said.
“These pardons represent an attempt to achieve fairness and justice,” he added.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lates...#ixzz17SGSDbfu
CMC
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
NEW YORK, USA — New York Governor David Paterson has pardoned four Caribbean nationals who are facing deportation because of old criminal convictions.
Among those pardoned is Marlon Oscar Powell, 36, a Jamaican immigrant, who was being held in an immigration jail in New Jersey for a misdemeanour drug possession conviction when he was 15.
While most of the pardon recipients had green cards, the governor’s office said one, Sanjay Broomfield, 28, was a legal immigrant whose past conviction had blocked his application for these documents.
Broomfield, a Jamaican immigrant, was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in 2005 after he shot and killed a burglar trying to break into his home in Suffolk County, New York, officials said.
While he was serving three years’ probation, Bloomfield married an American citizen and applied for a green card.
But even though a district attorney had concluded that the shooting was justified, immigration authorities rejected Broomfield’s application, because his illegal possession of a weapon had resulted in a death.
Immigration officials “may take no account of the New York State criminal justice decisions, but I do,” Paterson said.
The governor also pardoned Darshini Ramsaran, 25, a citizen of both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, who was facing deportation for her participation four years ago in a robbery.
Paterson’s office said that if Ramsaran is deported, her life would be in danger from two men who were deported after she testified against them.
The governor also pardoned, Mario Benitez, 58, a Dominican immigrant and the current Assistant Director of Finance for the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School and University Centre.
Benitiz had pleaded guilty to selling a controlled substance in 1988 and served three years in prison, the Governor’s office said.
The Governor, whose grandparents are from Jamaica and Grenada, said the pardons addressed “shortcomings in our federal immigration laws relating to deportation”.
Paterson began a special clemency process earlier this year with the principal aim of helping permanent legal residents who were at risk of deportation because of long-ago or minor convictions.
“Federal immigration laws are often inflexible, arbitrarily applied and excessively harsh, resulting in the deportation of individuals who have paid the price for their crimes and are now making positive contributions to our society,” he said.
“These pardons represent an attempt to achieve fairness and justice,” he added.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lates...#ixzz17SGSDbfu
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