U.S. Steps Up Deportation Of Immigrant Criminals

In 1996, a new immigration law dramatically increased penalties for immigrants convicted of crimes. The law established that immigrants -- even those who have obtained permanent residence -- can be deported if they are convicted of "aggravated felonies," a term for offenses labeled as serious under immigration law.

Christopher Bailey, 23, a Jamaican man convicted of armed robbery last year in Montgomery County, is among the local illegal immigrants whom ICE promptly identified and placed in deportation proceedings last year. ICE expects to deport him after his expected release from prison in 2011.

Damion O. Brissett, 23, a permanent legal immigrant from Jamaica, was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation for a marijuana possession charge in 2003. But the Baltimore mechanic was recently placed in deportation proceedings because of the case.

His criminal record came to the attention of a customs agent who processed his arrival in October on his return from a visit to Jamaica. Because he had been a permanent resident for more than five years, he was ultimately permitted to remain in the country, according to his attorney, Mary Ann Berlin. The process, however, cost his family $7,000 in attorney's fees and kept him in jail for two months, said his father, Junior Brissett.

"It was crazy," Junior Brissett said. "He'd never been in jail before. He was far away from home."

Didi Bonilla, 29, a Salvadoran mother of four, was never convicted of a crime but came to ICE's attention because of charges brought against her. Montgomery County police charged her in April with failing to report child abuse to authorities.

Bonilla had failed to renew her legal status two years earlier and was ordered deported during a 2005 hearing, which she did not attend. If not for her arrest, Bonilla and her lawyer said, her illegal status could have gone undetected for years, as hers was one of hundreds of thousands of outstanding deportation orders.