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Sheriff’s Office defends treatment of woman who gave birth while in custody
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 1:09am
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall's office says immigrants' advocates have distorted the story of a woman who gave birth while in police custody. File
The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office defended its treatment of a woman who was found to be an illegal immigrant living in Nashville after a routine traffic stop and later gave birth while in custody earlier this month.
Responding to a story published over the weekend in the New York Times, the Sheriff’s Office said it treated Juana Villegas DeLaPaz appropriately after she was jailed on July 3 for driving without a license.
Karla Weickal, the office’s director of communications, said DeLaPaz was treated as any other prisoner would have been if she were to go into labor while in custody.
Weickal also said that immigrants’ advocates have distorted the story.
“Advocates have sensationalized the circumstances to further their cause,” she said. “Some advocates would like to see only certain and immigration laws enforced. Any one in any correction facility in the country would be treated similarly.”
Weickal’s comments are in response to a statement from Nashville attorney Greg Ramos, a prominent immigrants’ rights advocate.
Ramos spoke out against the year-old 287(g) program, which allows Sheriff’s Office employees to check a foreign-born individual’s residency status once they are in county lock-up. If a person is found to be an illegal immigrant, they are referred to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and potentially deported.
Ramos was quoted in the Times story as saying, “Had it not been for the 287(g) program, [DeLaPaz] would not have been taken down to jail. It was sold as something to make the community safer by taking dangerous criminals off the streets. But it has been operated so broadly that we are getting pregnant women arrested for simple driving offenses, and we’re not getting rid of the robbers and gang members.”
DeLaPaz was stopped in Berry Hill on July 3 and found to be driving without a license. Although the choice is left to the officer’s discretion, DeLaPaz was arrested instead of being issued a citation.
School board candidate and Berry Hill Police Officer Tim Coleman was the arresting officer. The Berry Hill department said that Coleman followed proper protocol when he arrested DeLaPaz.
A background check performed by the Sheriff’s Office in accordance with the 287(g) program showed that DeLaPaz was an illegal immigrant who had been deported already in 1996 out of San Diego.
After that DeLaPaz was turned over to ICE custody, and she then went into labor on July 5.
Weickal gave a slightly different account from the Times report of how DeLaPaz was treated by deputies while in labor. Weickal emphasized DeLaPaz was not handcuffed at all during her hospital stay.
Although DeLaPaz was shackled to her hospital bed, Weickal said the restraints did not restrict her movement any more than being bed-ridden would.
“The restraints worked as such that she could roll over and was not limited in her movement while she was in the bed,” Weickal said, adding that DeLaPaz was not restrained two hours before giving birth and six hours afterwards.
The Times’ story said DeLaPaz was away her newborn for “two days” after being released from the hospital. Weickal said DeLaPaz was away from her child for 34 hours.
Eventually, DeLaPaz was reunited with her child and is waiting for her deportation case to be heard.
DeLaPaz has three other American-born children.
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Filed under: City News
According to the Tennessean's July 15 story:"Weikal said the sheriff's office knew the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency planned to release Villegas on her own recognizance because of the pregnancy, but she had to stay in jail until she had seen a judge on the local charges."Sorry, Karla, that's just lame. Forcing a woman and infant to endure labor in custody, infections and jaundice when it's unnecessary is inexcusable. What was the bill to taxpayers, by the way?
You honestly believe the sheriff's office wanted this woman to stay in custody six days? You are mistaken if you believe the sheriff's office has any control on who comes into jail or who is released from jail. Police bring people to jail, the courts release people. Ms. DeLaPaz came into jail the day before a holiday (July 3). She was scheduled to go to court the very next day, but courts were closed. Had that not been the case, her time in jail would have been less than 24 hours. She went into labor the next day. The day after she got back from the hospital, she went to court, was served with her federal paperwork and was released a few hours later.
1. Ms Villegas was breaking the law by re-entering the country. Should we ignore the law? Can I ignore stop signs, speed limits, pot possession, drunk driving? 2. Poor reporting. Her name is Juana Villegas de la Paz. Customarily, the patronym is used not the matronym. She should be referred to in the article as Villagas.
What will be the bill for 4 kids she illegally downloaded here? School, foodstamps and whatever else she will/could get?Think jimmy carter will build her a house?
Pregnant, in labor, whatever - this illegal immigrant certainly deserves NO SPECIAL TREATMENT - she broke the law and should be deported AGAIN. If she had crashed into a law abiding citizen's car who 1) had a driver's license 2) had insurance and 3) was legal in our country guess who would be paying the bill? The law abiding citizen! As far as being shackled to the bed why shouldn't she be? She already broke the law and there was no credible reason to expect she wouldn't try to escape. Kudos to our officers who take these people off the street. The officer followed the law and didn't DISCRIMINATE because she was pregant - the law is equal for all.
Don't you get it? She doesn't care. The kid is now a legal US citizen and that's all that matters to her. I want Robin Williams for President.
One anchor baby or four. It is too late now to get rid of her, isnt it?
She deserves no special treatment. In fact, she got free medical bills, more than I would get. imdyinhere- I doubt she had the baby in a jail cell. Nevertheless, I agree that the bills to tax payers were enormous. She broke the law!
Because she was already in violation of federal law by re-entering the country after being deported in 1996, she will be deported again.
In jail or out, we the taxpayers would have been footing the bill for this birth, as we probably did for her other three children. I doubt that a person who is here illegally has medical insurance.
If I give birth in France, early term, because I happened to be on vacation, does that automatically make my baby French...?? Hell no. We need to change that stupid assinine law! And she was a law breaker all the way around, and a repeater at that. Hey, maybe I should break some laws, too. Why not? Bleeding hearts in this country are killing us daily.
Plenty of distortion on this story.The Tennessean says "Weikal said the sheriff's office knew the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency planned to release Villegas on her own recognizance because of the pregnancy, but she had to stay in jail until she had seen a judge on the local charges."NCP says "After that DeLaPaz was turned over to ICE custody, and she then went into labor on July 5."Imdinhere says "Forcing a woman and infant to endure labor in custody, infections and jaundice when it's unnecessary is inexcusable."NCP says she was given hospital care and "DeLaPaz was away from her child for 34 hours". Infections and jaundice? Maybe substandard hospital treatment will let this woman win the lawsuit lottery.I can't tell if either side is giving a straight story.
Villegas was in sheriff's office custody the entire time - was never physically in ICE custody. She had an ICE hold placed on her because of her immigration status, but that had nothing to do with her being held in jail. She had to be seen by a local judge first, which happened the day after she got back from the hospital. The courts gave her time served, several hours later, she was served with her federal ICE warrant and released. The story gets distorted by inaccurate reporting.
I have great crespect for the Sheriff's Dept in many ways -- but also great confidence that it and our other legal apparatus are quite capable of screwing up. She was arrested on July 3 and held for two days, because of the holiday, and she gave birth on July 5th. Nobody should be shackled when in labor. If she was so "dangerous
Who said this woman was treated inhumanely? Your assumptions are unfounded. If you commit a crime you go to jail. Plain and simple. I'm sure she received special treatment due to her pregnancy. I'm find with not punishing the immigrants themselves, as they are just trying to make a better life for themselves. However, We need to punish any employer caught hiring an illegal immigrant. They should loose their business license, be fined heavily, and get sent to jail. Just like I would If i committed a crime. I wouldn't go to Cancun if it wasn't for the beach and they wouldn't come here if it wasn't for the job.
You know, I am glad we have 287(g). If you watch the news, a recent story of an illegal immigrant who had two prior violent felonies as a juvenile was very sad. The man was in SF which is a sanctuary city that does not turn poor juveniles that are illegal so they can have another chance. This man was arrested shortly after his release on a gun related charge, a gun that had been used in a double murder. The MS13 gang member was released, again. Finally, he gunned down a father and his two sons for briefly stopping them from making a turn down a narrow road. I think we can all agree mass deportation won't work. However, we need to deport the criminals and stop the supply of benefits and jobs, and they will self deport. We need to enforce our laws, build a border fence, and then we can change the laws. Until then, I have no sympathy for illegal immigrants, as they have no respect for America.
Jeremiah, read the story, she was not restrained while actually in labor and giving birth.apple, I agree, arresting the employers is the only workable deterrent. And I agree with girliegirl, if you are a legal immigrant then your children born here are citizens, if you are here illegally then they are not. It is possible she returned to the US just to give birth. Also note the last deportation was from San Diego. Now we are a destination city. For that we can in part thank Gaylord, who bought a motel on Murfreesboro Road many years ago to house workers imported from south of the border. When word gets out on our use of 287g and the flood slows to a trickle we can thank the Sheriff.I would like to know how many real criminals and gang members we ARE picking up. It seems there was a story just in the last couple of weeks here that suggested there is some success in that area too.
I am so glad our Sheriff's office did everything it could do to protect me against this monster while she was giving birth. I am so happy to know that all pregnant prisoners are treated this way. Now I can sleep better at night and walk the streets of Nashville during the day knowing that the 3rd world country I live in is keeping me safe from those who would attack me and my way of life. Yippee!!!!
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
The reason the tax payers aren't as upset as the pro-illegal crowd is because we are tired of paying for said child. A while back they tried to deport a pregnant illegal alien and the pr-illegal crowd was furious because she wouldn't be able to have the baby here. That is why they come!
She was not restrained just prior to birth or six hours after, an officer was outside her door (not standing over her as some accounts have surmised), the 287(g) program has removed more than 65 known gang members, 800 DUI offenders, 800 felons, and the list goes on.
The sad story here is that the Nashville newspapers missed this story. It had to come from New York. Sad.
It was in the Tennessean more than a week ago.
They (her liberal lawyers) are already talking lawsuit.I dont see how a person that is here illegally have a right to sue!Of course they get food stamps,free medical care and most of them drive nicer cars than we do.If the government doesnt take control quick,we are going to lose OUR country,if we havent already!If we cant keep them deported,maybe we can have their tubes tied..To Elliot Ozment and Gregg Ramos,I dont know what store you bought your attorney license from,(mexico maybe?)but she is a criminal..she is here ILLEGALLY!Read your statues,if you can read english!
If she had stayed out of the country when she was initially deported, or re-entered legally, none of this would be an issue. Just because she hasn't done anything else to get arrested doesn't mean it's ok for her to be here illegally.
Like I said, if every single one of us were to go out and physically start breaking the laws, holy sh*t, Batman~And notice how many posters are OKAY with what she did???? Man, this country has lost its morals and respect for the law.