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BANGOR – A New Jersey man who drove two illegal aliens to Augusta to get driver’s licenses because Maine did not require proof of citizenship to obtain them will not be sent to jail, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Anderson Dos Santos, 30, of Newark, N.J., admitted that on Feb. 20 he drove two women that he knew were in the country illegally to the Augusta Bureau of Motor Vehicles to get driver’s licenses.
He was arrested in the BMV parking lot after an informant tipped off police that suspected illegal immigrants were at the facility before the women were able to apply for licenses.
At that time the state did not require proof of residency or citizenship to obtain a driver’s license. It now requires proof of residency and may soon require proof of citizenship.
U.S. District Judge John Woodcock sentenced Dos Santos to the minimum sentence of one year of probation to be served in his home state. The U.S. Attorney’s Office that prosecuted the case recommended he spend 10 days in jail.
“This really is punishing Mr. Dos Santos for the state of Maine’s policy,” Woodcock said. “All Mr. Dos Santos did was take advantage of that policy.”
Dos Santos was not paid to bring the women to Maine as others arrested in similar situations have been, Woodcock noted.
A permanent legal resident from Brazil, Dos Santos pleaded guilty Thursday to the federal misdemeanor of being an accessory after the fact to helping illegal aliens elude examination or inspection by immigration officials.
The maximum sentence is three months in prison and a fine of up to $2,500. Under the probation provision, he faced between one and five years of probation.
Originally, he was charged with transporting illegal aliens, a felony. If convicted, he would have faced up to five years in prison. In a plea agreement with prosecutors, that charge was to be withdrawn after Thursday’s sentencing.
If he had been convicted of a felony, Dos Santos would have been deported without a hearing before an immigration judge after serving his sentence. Because he was convicted of a misdemeanor instead, he’s entitled to a hearing in immigration court and may be able to remain in the U.S.
Dos Santos has been in the U.S. since he was 15, his attorney Terence Harrigan of Bangor told the judge. Harrigan described him as a leader in the Brazilian community in New Jersey.
More than a dozen letters of support from Dos Santos’ employers, ministers, family and friends were submitted to the court. The ex-chief of the Green Brook, N.J., fire department wrote to support Dos Santos, who previously was named volunteer firefighter of the year in that community.
“He did this out of a sense of community and family,” Harrigan said. “They turned to him for help and he helped them.”
One of the women Dos Santos drove to Maine was a relative by marriage. Neither woman was charged with a crime and both were released by immigration officials but given court dates for hearings on their status. One of them did not appear and a warrant has been issued for her arrest, according to court documents.
The fact that a witness could not be found would have made it difficult to prove the more serious charge, Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Lowell said.
“I know I made a mistake,” an emotional Dos Santos told Woodcock. “They just asked me to act as their translator.
“I apologize to the United States and the state of Maine,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
jharrison@bangordailynews.net
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