January 3, 2007

20-25% of court cases in Gwinnett County involve illegal aliens…more judges and interpreters needed to keep up

Posted by D.A. King at 3:41 pm - Email the author   Print This Post Print This Post  

From the “yeah, sure lets give them a path to citizenship” department:

Gwinnett Daily Post:

Court pleads for help with illegals
12/15/2006

By Camie Young
Senior Writer
camie.young@gwinnettdailypost.com

LAWRENCEVILLE – Estimating up to 20 to 25 percent of their cases involve illegal immigrants, Gwinnett judges made a plea to state legislators to address the problem the only way they can – by adding another judge to the bench.

Not only has Gwinnett’s astronomical population growth caused a larger burden on Gwinnett’s judicial system, but the large number of non-English speakers means cases take longer, Superior Court Judge Melodie Snell Conner said in a presentation to lawmakers Thursday.

A 15-minute plea hearing takes twice the time when interpreters are involved, and criminal cases where the victim and the perpetrator speak different languages can make a trial very lengthy, she said.

Prompted by a question from a legislator, she said between 20 to 25 percent of the cases involve illegal immigrants who could face deportation.

But Conner said she once convicted an illegal immigrant of a felony only to have him appear in her court two years later for a probation violation.
Other State and Superior Court judges agreed with the percentage.
“Every calender I deal with has someone on it that’s illegal,” said Superior Court Judge Tom Davis.

Ahh…the rich blessing of illegals and their culture of family values.

Read the entire article here.