But Associate Judge David A. Wiseman said no.
“The end has come for your stay here. You know that sooner or later you are bound to leave, and it has to be today,” Wiseman told Weider Debengek during a bail hearing yesterday.
Assistant Attorney General Kathleen R. Busenkell, who appeared for the government, moved that the respondent be returned to jail until he leaves for his flight at 3:30 p.m. today.
“The danger of the respondent not showing up at the airport today is too great. We had a hard time trying to locate him through the sketch of his residence or the phone number he provided,” Busenkell said.
She said safety is also a concern, adding that they received numerous telephone calls informing them that the respondent tried to pick up his children when he was drunk.
Debengek, who was in tears, asked the court if he could spend the last night with his children at home, promising to be at the airport at 2 p.m. today.
The court granted him a couple of hours of supervised visit.
“You were given the time since October last year to do what you have to do, but now you have to leave,” Wiseman told the respondent.
Debengek was convicted for two felonies last year.
He was sentenced to three years imprisonment, all suspended except for one year after he plead guilty to theft of a vehicle.
He also got the same sentence after pleading guilty to burglary.
The two sentences ran concurrently.
He stipulated to deportation and the court issued a deportation order on Oct. 20, 2008.
He was given 30 days after he was released from prison on Oct. 26, 2008 to spend time with his family and obtain his travel documents.
But as of Feb. 11, 2009, Wiseman said the respondent had not contacted the Attorney General’s Investigating Unit of any attempt to obtain travel documents so a repatriation ticket could be purchased for him.
He also had not contacted the AGIU three times a week as required and the AGUI had not been able to locate him.
Wiseman signed a bench warrant against the respondent on Feb. 12, 2009 for failing to comply with the court conditions.
