New Mexico Judge Dismisses Charges, Texas Judge Issues Acquittal in Military Tresspass Cases

NewMexicoConservativeNews.com reports that in the first full judicial test of the Trump administration’s recently established military zones along the southern border, a Peruvian Migrant was acquitted in Texas. This follows multiple cases dismissed in a New Mexico Federal Magistrate Courtroom. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Enriquez  was appointed by a majority vote of the federal district and is serving her 8th year or second term in the state of Texas.

At the start of the trial, De La Cruz-Alvarez, who had been in immigration agents’ custody since her arrest, facing three misdemeanor charges: entering the country illegally, violating national defense property and trespassing onto a military base

She was found guilty of entering the country illegally and was already facing deportation as soon as she was arrested.

She was sentenced to time served plus one business day by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Enriquez. Even though she was acquitted of trespassing onto a military zone, De La Cruz-Alvarez will most likely get deported, said Shane Michael McMahon, her public defense attorney to the Texas Tribune. 

“She knew exactly what she was doing,” Phillip Douglas Countryman, the federal prosecutor, told the judge, asking for a 45-day jail sentence. Crossing the border illegally “should come with some sort of punishment.”

The verdict is the latest blow to the Trump administration, which pursued additional misdemeanor charges in addition to the usual misdemeanor charge of entering the U.S. improperly or the felony charge of reentering the country after being denied. Tacking on the trespassing charges, is the latest tactic the administration is trying in its attempt to deport and punish 1 million immigrants annually, including some who have entered the country legally.

This blow to the Trump administration policy follows rulings from the  Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of New Mexico  dismissing multiple cases in May ruling that migrants did not know they were entering the New Mexico military zone and therefore could not be charged.

A total of 98 people had the trespassing charges dropped. Migrants received 'Title 50' charges for crossing into military defense property, a 170-square-mile strip along the base of New Mexico, also known as the Roosevelt Reservation, according to a news release by the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico.

The corridor was recently transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Defense and is now being treated as an extension of U.S. Army Garrison Fort Huachuca, a news release said.

The government had argued in a criminal complaint that the military had posted signs in the zones stating in both English and Spanish that it was a restricted area and that unauthorized entry is prohibited.

Despite signs indicating restricted access, the court noted that the challenging terrain made it unlikely that the defendants saw the warnings and ordered New Mexico U.S. Attorney to show proof that migrants knew they had entered a restricted area.

"Beyond the reference to signage, the United States provides no facts from which one could reasonably conclude that the Defendant knew he was entering the NMNDA (New Mexico National Defense Area)," wrote the court in a 16-page ruling.

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