Deportation

After sentencing Jose Bourgeon to prison for sexually abusing two children, Judge George Koudelis told the Venezuelan citizen that he would not be moved to speak favorably of him should the Immigration and Naturalization Service come calling. "It's my feeling that, you having been convicted, you are not the type of individual the United States wants to have here," Koudelis said in Delaware County Court yesterday. A jury convicted Bourgeon, 23, in May of two counts of corrupting children.

FIRED ESPN hockey analyst Matthew Barnaby's drunken driving charge jeopardizes an agreement the former NHL player reached to avoid potential deportation following an arrest earlier this year. Erie County (N.Y.) DA Frank Sedita called Barnaby's arrest "a serious matter," and warned it could have consequences on the Canadian's status in the United States because of a previous run-in with the law. The 38-year-old is from Ottawa was fired by ESPN on Monday, a day after being charged with drunken driving near his suburban Buffalo home.

The man who is a "strong suspect" in a simulated sexual act with a toy dinosaur at a Chester County playground faces deportation to Mexico, State Police say. Guadelupe Paramo-Almanza, 39, is suspected of flashing two teenage girls in Pomeroy Park, Avondale, about 4 p.m. Sept. 19, according to police. Following the lewd gesture, Paramo-Almanza allegedly simulated "a sex act on a dinosaur-shaped playground apparatus," police said. Paramo-Almanza was arrested shortly after, less than a mile away, and was believed to be drunk at the time, according to a state police supervisor who asked not to be identified.

Last month, Assistant District Attorney Joel Goldstein made a promise to the Delaware County jury that convicted Victor Maturo of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison. The South Philadelphia man had been accused of plotting with Thomas S. Vile to murder Vile's former girlfriend. "One day Vile will be caught, and I will go before a jury like this and ask that he be found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death," Goldstein said. Last week, Goldstein came closer to fulfilling his promise when an administrative judge in Toronto ordered that Vile be deported from Canada.

The parents of a Delaware County woman who was slain in the parking lot of her apartment development in December have begun a public-relations campaign to force Canadian authorities to deport the former boyfriend accused of killing her. The suspect, Thomas S. Vile, has been in a Toronto jail since Dec. 5, when he was arrested by Canadian police and held on charges that he did not inform Canadian border officials that he was a convicted felon when...

Emmanuel Figueroa, who became the target of vigilante justice after he raped an 11-year-old girl, was sentenced yesterday to eight to 20 years in state prison and five years of probation. Figueroa, 25, will be deported to his native Dominican Republic once his sentence is completed, said Assistant District Attorney Mark Cipolletti. Figueroa, in blue prison clothing, looked straight ahead during his sentencing hearing and barely acknowledged his attorney or the Spanish interpreter who continuously whispered in his ear. In July 2008 he raped the learning-disabled girl after tricking her to come next door to his girlfriend's house on Godfrey Avenue in Lawndale.

Colorado Rockies ace righthander Pedro Astacio faces deportation by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service because of his guilty plea to an assault charge. Astacio, from the Dominican Republic, received a two-year deferred judgment Jan. 28 but federal law considers that the same as a conviction. Under federal law, immigrants convicted of domestic violence and other offenses are subject to deportation. "As the facts stand now, the government is saying that Mr. Astacio is deportable in virtue of the domestic violence offense, and we will pursue that," INS district director Joe Greene told KCNC-TV in Denver.

Because of her life here as a topless dancer and a Christian, deportation to Iran could amount to a death sentence for the woman who falsely accused two Dallas Cowboys of rape, her attorney says. Nina Shahravan, 24, is fighting deportation because of her convictions for perjury and shoplifting. She pleaded guilty last year to a perjury charge in connection with her allegations that she was sexually assaulted by Cowboys players Erik Williams and Michael Irvin. She recanted the allegations and served a jail term for perjury.

A 28-year-old Delaware County woman who faced deportation to her native Guatemala has been given a one-year reprieve by federal authorities. Zulma Villatoro was required to voluntarily return to Guatemala by July 2 or be arrested and expelled. She came to the United States with her mother illegally when she was 14. In 2006, she requested asylum, arguing that Guatemala's gang violence put her in jeopardy as a woman. An immigration judge rejected her argument. Harold A. Ort, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an e-mail Friday: "ICE granted Zulma Villatoro a one-year stay of removal on June 15, 2011.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Ana Jimenez and her husband were so terrified of being sent back to their native Mexico when Alabama's crackdown on illegal immigrants took effect that they fled more than 2,000 miles to Los Angeles, cramming into a two-bedroom apartment with more than 20 other relatives. Now they are among the families returning to cities like Birmingham; the mass deportations never materialized and courts blocked parts of the law. No one knows how many people initially left the state, so it is impossible to say how many have returned.

Pakistan holds border talks ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The Pakistani army held talks with NATO and Afghan forces Wednesday in an effort to improve coordination along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, a sign of thawing relations after American air strikes accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last year. Pakistan was outraged by the Nov. 26 attack on two of its Afghan border posts and contended it was deliberate. Islamabad retaliated by closing its border to supplies meant for NATO troops in Afghanistan and by kicking the United States out of an air base used by American drones.

PHILADELPHIA He's guilty of 2 heists After a weeklong trial, John Gassew, 25, of Frankford, was found guilty by a federal jury yesterday of two gunpoint robberies in December 2007 and October 2009. Authorities said that Gassew robbed Danny Boy's Bar, on Torresdale Avenue in Holmesburg, threatening employees and patrons with a gun Dec. 9, 2007. On Oct. 28, 2009, Gassew robbed a convenience store on Oxford Avenue in Fox Chase, stealing almost $5,000 worth of cigarettes and $140 in cash.

YANELLI HERNANDEZ has tried to commit suicide twice and could do so again if she's deported to her home country of Mexico, where she hasn't lived for nine years and no longer has immediate family, immigrant-rights activists say. They point to the November suicide of Joaquin Luna, 18, of Texas, as an example of an undocumented immigrant who killed himself because, advocates argue, he suffered from the pressures of being in this country illegally....

LONDON - An extremist cleric described as one of Europe's leading al-Qaeda operatives should not be deported to face terrorism charges in Jordan because of the risk that evidence obtained through torture would be used against him, Europe's highest court ruled Tuesday. After a six-year legal battle, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that deporting Abu Qatada from Britain, where he is in prison custody, would "give rise to a flagrant denial of justice. " Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, is an extremist Muslim preacher from Jordan who has been described in Spanish and British courts as a leading al-Qaeda figure in Europe.

FIRED ESPN hockey analyst Matthew Barnaby's drunken driving charge jeopardizes an agreement the former NHL player reached to avoid potential deportation following an arrest earlier this year. Erie County (N.Y.) DA Frank Sedita called Barnaby's arrest "a serious matter," and warned it could have consequences on the Canadian's status in the United States because of a previous run-in with the law. The 38-year-old is from Ottawa was fired by ESPN on Monday, a day after being charged with drunken driving near his suburban Buffalo home.

OVER THE PAST several months, the Obama administration has said it would exercise prosecutorial discretion in determining whom it will deport, focusing on undocumented immigrants who are serious threats to the community. But immigrant-rights advocates say this policy shift hasn't been implemented consistently. Yesterday afternoon, they rallied near City Hall for Miguel Angel Orellana Garcia, 24, who was brought here from El Salvador as a child, and now faces a final deportation hearing Oct. 27 in Philadelphia Immigration Court.

WHEN FACED with violence, victims and witnesses must move quickly to protect themselves, their families and communities. But Philadelphia's participation in a controversial data-sharing program is jeopardizing the ability of some to do that. Philadelphia provides immigration-enforcement agents with real-time access to police arrest records via the Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System. Instant access has instant consequences: People arrested, even by mistake, are immediately subject to detention and potential deportation.

The Justice Department cannot hold immigrants fighting deportation for years without bail hearings, a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Thursday, echoing rulings in two other federal circuit courts. It was unreasonable to detain a Pennsylvania man for nearly three years as he fought deportation to his native Senegal over a 1995 drug case, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled. "We do not believe that Congress intended to authorize prolonged, unreasonable, detention without a bond hearing," Judge Julio M. Fuentes of Newark, N.J., wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel.

An armed man strolls through a basketball game, opens fire on the bleachers, injuring six people, one critically. The shooter is still at large. Of the 500 people present at the game, not one has stepped forward with information that might help the police find the shooter. This week's incident, at the Kingsessing Recreation Center, is a discouraging chapter in the city. We are as upset as anyone - including Mayor Nutter, who offered a $20,000 reward for information (215-686-TIPS) - over the irony of violence occurring in a so-called "safe haven" rec center.