US Government Deports American Citizen

This is just another case of incompentent and uncaring government officials. The bad thing is that it is our government and officials. In 1994, Duarnis Perez was convicted of drug possession. He was deported to the Dominican Republic, his birthplace, because of the drug conviction. In 2000, Perez tried to reenter the U.S. and was arrested and incarcerated. After being incarcerated for three and a half years, Perez faced a second deportation.

While preparing for the second deportation, it was discovered that Perez was a United States citizen. It seems that he became a citizen in 1988 when his mother was naturalized - he did not know it though. To make matters even worse, the U.S. officials tried to keep Perez in jail even after discovering he was a citizen. They argued that Perez was at fault for not knowing he was a citizen.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn released Perez saying, "In effect, the government is arguing that an innocent man who was wrongly convicted should not be released from the custody of the United States." Judge Kahn ruled that Perez should not have been deported the first time.

I don't understand the thinking of the federal officials. How can you fight to keep a person incarcerated after learning he is not guilty of your charges? I wonder if this is not an example of officials so worried about the rules, that they can no longer tell right from wrong. Rules should be enforced, but that enforcement must be done with ethics and common sense.

Perez is now trying to sue the government for his deportation and incarceration. I hope he wins a nice fat monetary award. The government actions in this case were ridiculous and unacceptable. Controlling immigration should not include abusing U.S. citizens.