The most recent episode of "Little People, Big World" featuring the Roloff family on TLC, featured the heart-wrenching story of their long time farmhand finding out that he was being deported back to Mexico. The emotional episode featured tearful goodbyes between Camerino and Amy and Matt Roloff.
Matt Roloff has a petition asking fans to sign to stop the deportation of Camerino and demand a review of the case.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/866/349/208/stop-the-deportation-of-camerino-and-demand-a-complete-review-of-his-legal-case./
There is a publicly available legal document that may shed more light on the situation.
In his petition, Matt Roloff does mention this:
"Then nine years ago Camerino was falsely accused and convicted of drug possession. New evidence has since come to light that will overturn his conviction if only the immigration officials would review his case.
But ICE doesn’t seem to want to investigate or know the facts or care that how this attorney negatively affected his right to fair consideration."
Matt Roloff has a petition asking fans to sign to stop the deportation of Camerino and demand a review of the case.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/866/349/208/stop-the-deportation-of-camerino-and-demand-a-complete-review-of-his-legal-case./
There is a publicly available legal document that may shed more light on the situation.
In his petition, Matt Roloff does mention this:
"Then nine years ago Camerino was falsely accused and convicted of drug possession. New evidence has since come to light that will overturn his conviction if only the immigration officials would review his case.
But ICE doesn’t seem to want to investigate or know the facts or care that how this attorney negatively affected his right to fair consideration."
The legal document can be found here: http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/A150573.pdf
We encourage you to read it for yourself and form your own conclusions.
However, I think it is interesting because what was portrayed on the show was of course not the whole story in the case and the reason for the deportation.
Basically to summarize, basically, 9 years ago Camerino was convicted of "unlawful possession of cocaine, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and reckless driving, arising out of an incident in which he drove his car into a ditch."
Police arrived and the vehicle was partially on the road and partially in the ditch. The police determined that the car needed to be towed. Before towing, police performed a search and found cocaine.
The document states the police gave Camerino his Miranda warnings in English and Camerino proceeded to make incriminating statements.
They are arguing that Camerino's lawyer failed to argue that the search of the vehicle was invalid because the car was not a hazard and didn't need to be towed and therefore searched. They also argue that Camerino's lawyer should have had him tested for English proficiency to demonstrate that he couldn't understand his Miranda warnings.
After the crash, Camerino called Matt Roloff. Matt arrived and states he saw the position of the vehicle before it was towed. Matt wanted to testify that the vehicle was not a hazard, did not need to be towed by police, therefore the search of the vehicle when they found cocaine was illegal. Matt says he and his son could have towed the vehicle. Police say the Roloffs never made their presence known to them.
Now in his petition, Matt states that new evidence has come to light that could overturn Camerino's conviction if they would hear the case.
We just think it is an interesting document for people to read. It gives a different picture of the case simply because the television episode never mentioned a drug possession charge as a reason why he was being deported.