CMM is obsessed with breaking rules and is in immigration jail for an aggravated assault conviction. She poured alcohol on her partner’s back and set him on fire using a cigarette. The partner sustained burns on his head, face, and torso and had to be placed in a medically induced coma.

CMM requested that the immigration judge grant her a bond so she could get out of jail while her immigration case proceeded. The judge granted a $15,000 bond and for some strange reason, the judge did not believe that igniting a human being on fire poses a danger to the community. The government appealed the granting of a bond arguing that she was a danger to the community and a flight risk. The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) agreed with the government and reversed the Immigration judge’s grant of bond.

The BIA noted that CMM has an: “extensive and lengthy history of immigration law violations, including multiple removals and illegal reentries.”  The BIA also stated that CMM:

“Poses a significant flight risk, such that no monetary bond would be sufficient to ensure her appearance at future immigration hearings and, if necessary, her surrender for removal from this country. Additionally, the applicant has a lengthy criminal history in this country, which includes three convictions for shoplifting.”

Let’s review CMM’s immigration history:

1. First ordered removed in 2001 and has since reentered the United States on four known occasions and has been removed three additional times.
2. The record reflects that the applicant was advised multiple times that she was prohibited from entering the United States for a set period of years, with the final warning informing her that she was prohibited from entering the United States for 20 years.
3. The applicant has two illegal reentry convictions and has twice lied to Immigration Officers, alleging she is a United States citizen.
4.  On the second illegal reentry attempt, she presented her United States citizen daughter’s birth certificate and identification as her own. The applicant admitted to the Immigration Officer that she knew it was illegal to present herself as a citizen or use a citizen’s documents to attempt entry into the country.

Keeping CMM in custody and permanently removing her from the United States will keep other people from becoming the next human torch.