A test case on deportation shift (Luis Cervantes, who is autistic)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110828/NEWS01/708289907/-1#a-test-case-on-deportation-shift

Published Sunday August 28, 2011

By Cindy Gonzalez
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Luis Cervantes was pushing a shopping cart and collecting recyclables from curbside trash cans when two Omaha beat patrol officers stopped him.

The 30-year-old "kept ignoring" them, the officers said in a report. Though he eventually gave his name to a Spanish-speaking officer, Cervantes offered conflicting birth dates and had no ID on him. He was taken to jail, where he spent two days and was booked on suspicion of stealing a grocery cart.



Luis Cervantes

Only later would officials realize that Cervantes — who has been diagnosed as autistic and moderately mentally retarded — can't communicate much. He pleaded guilty, was fined $25, and the misdemeanor case was closed.

But by that time, the U.S. Homeland Security Department had been contacted, and the Mexico-born Cervantes last October joined the crowded court docket of illegal immigrants the government wants to deport.

FULL story and more photos at link.