BY VICTORIA INFANTE  
In 1988, when he was in high school, Róger Calero sold an ounce of marijuana to an undercover police officer. Arrested and taken to court, he pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $50 fine. The judge gave him three years of probation.

That brought that episode of Calero’s life to an end--or so he thought. However, many years later he would realize that wasn’t so.

On December 3, while returning from a work-related trip, Calero was arrested at the Houston airport. The immigration authorities told him that he had committed a crime 15 years earlier and would be deported to his native country, Nicaragua.

In prison Calero wrote to the editor at the magazine where he worked as coeditor, a Spanish-language publication of a socialist stance edited in New York and distributed in several countries. His case was reported in the following issue and the response was swift.

"Letters of support from all over began to arrive for the director of the Houston immigration center. That was why they let me out," said Calero, who attributes his release on parole 10 days after his arrest--without having to pay bail--to the pressure applied by human rights groups and other organizations.

Calero obtained his residency in 1990. At the time he explained in his application about his teenage conviction. It wasn’t a problem when he renewed the residency in 2000, either; in fact, he traveled several times to other countries.

Nevertheless, a 1996 law, establishing that any immigrant who has been convicted of a crime has no right to legal residency and other benefits, changed Calero’s life.

He believes that the immigration authorities have wrongly interpreted this provision.

"The law doesn’t say if there is a cutoff date for cases like mine, and because of that the INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service] has done whatever it’s wanted to with this," the journalist said.

Francisco Arcaute, spokesman for the Los Angeles INS office, explained that the law was approved in 1996 after it was discovered that many immigrants with criminal records had been able to obtain their residency through amnesty and other programs.

"Now more investigation is being done than before," Arcaute said.

That is precisely why Calero wasn’t arrested before now. Following the September 11 attacks, the agency improved its system and has access to local and state court files.

Before presenting himself to an immigration judge on March 25, Calero is visiting several cities around the country to make his case known and to obtain the support of activists and community groups. He believes that this effort to spread the word and a good defense can save him from deportation.

Calero will speak about his situation today at 6:30 p.m. at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), located at 2845 W. 7th Street. Telephone (323) 841-3255.
 
 
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More unionists back defense campaign
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