Hot Topic (10/15): Amnesty for illegal immigrants?
From CSMonitor.com (The Christian Science Monitor):
Some illegal immigrants to be held in old hotels, nursing homes
The Obama administration announced new reforms Tuesday aimed at improving the standards of detention facilities for illegal immigrants.
By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the October 6, 2009 edition
Los Angeles - A new initiative by federal authorities to temporarily house illegal immigrants in converted hotels and nursing homes is the latest effort by the Obama administration to overhaul how the US treats people being detained for entering the country illegally.
In June, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) directed local law enforcement to release on their own recognizance illegal immigrants caught on minor charges and not deemed a national security risk.
Tuesday, DHS and one of its agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, released their plans for further reform. A statement says the measures focus on creating greater federal oversight of the detention system for illegal immigrants in order to improve detainee care, ensure uniform standards at detention facilities, and sort detainees by the threat they present to the US .
Immigrant- and human-rights advocates have argued that illegal immigrants are being held in inhumane conditions. But critics argue that the reforms go too far.
"We seem to be moving from detention to hospitality," says Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). "The administration doesn't seem to be all that serious about enforcing laws against anyone unless they are hardened criminals and that is the problem," he says.
"While you want people housed in appropriate facilities, it also has to be kept in mind that they must be kept in custody until removed – and these are not facilities designed to detain people," he adds.
Immigrant-rights groups, however, welcome the attempt to improve the conditions of detainees, though some see it as only an interim step. "These measures, albeit positive, will, at the end of the day, only relieve some of the suffering our community feels as they are torn apart by our unjust and inhumane immigration laws," says Jorge-Mario Cabrera, spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
More broadly, however, some academics suggest that the problems facing DHS point to the need for reform of America's immigration laws.
"That DHS is having trouble finding enough room for all of the detained immigrants ... suggests that rounding up all illegal immigrants is not at all feasible," says Tomas Jimenez of the New America Foundation. "This latest news speaks to the logistic difficulty and the cost of doing so, and I think it points to the need for a more comprehensive overhaul of our immigration system – one that includes some pathway to legal residency for certain unauthorized immigrants."
The idea of some form of amnesty is politically explosive. But critics of current US immigration policy note that the immigration detention system is the fastest growing segment of the US criminal justice system.
Princeton University professor Doug Massey calls it the creation of "the new American gulag."
"Detaining and deporting 400,000 people per year for non-violent immigration infractions is a bad idea," he says. "Where these people are housed is less important than the fact that so many are incarcerated."
But a "pathway to citizenship" for illegal immigrants – an idea backed by President Obama – is not the answer, says Mr. Mehlman of FAIR.
"We need an expedited process from the time they are apprehended to until they are moved out of the country," he says. "The more you let them sit around and file frivolous appeals, the more problematic the process becomes because you are filling detention beds."
* * *
How do you feel about the United States immigration laws?
Are you in favor of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants?
I believe that anyone should have the right to come here LEGALLY. If you are here ILLEGAL, you are committing a crime and should be treated as such and should be removed from the country. I also believe that if they come illegal, they should never be allowed to be here on legal terms. That might deter some from trying it illegal first. They need to go through the proper channels to get here.
My ex is from Costa Rica. We went through the proper channels. We did it right. He is now a US citizen.
Check out Jacob's jouney on my home page!
I agree with the pp
stephanie/cloth diapering/full term bfing/extended harnessing mama
I have a question since you've been through this. What does it take to be allowed to come here as a legal resident? I am not talking about getting citizenship. I am talking about having documentation that means you are a legal immigrant. How difficult is it?
Quoting home-sweet-home:
I believe that anyone should have the right to come here LEGALLY. If you are here ILLEGAL, you are committing a crime and should be treated as such and should be removed from the country. I also believe that if they come illegal, they should never be allowed to be here on legal terms. That might deter some from trying it illegal first. They need to go through the proper channels to get here.
My ex is from Costa Rica. We went through the proper channels. We did it right. He is now a US citizen.
Heather
Proud to be a Witchy Momma
~ The witches fly Across the sky, The owls go, "Who? Who? Who?" The black cats yowl and green ghosts howl, "Scary Halloween to you!" ~
Well, I can speak from 20 years ago, but he had to get a tempory VISA and then when he was here, he got a permanent resident VISA and then after you are here a while they can apply for citizenship.
We had to go to OK City a few time to immigration and have interviews and fill out papers. We were young and did not make too much money, so it was not too difficult.
We had to deal with USCIS for our adoption and we had to fill out papers and send it off and be fingerprinted. (To get our girls here from Russia). We just got our approval.
Anything worth having is worth working for.
Quoting hsteele:
I have a question since you've been through this. What does it take to be allowed to come here as a legal resident? I am not talking about getting citizenship. I am talking about having documentation that means you are a legal immigrant. How difficult is it?
Quoting home-sweet-home:
I believe that anyone should have the right to come here LEGALLY. If you are here ILLEGAL, you are committing a crime and should be treated as such and should be removed from the country. I also believe that if they come illegal, they should never be allowed to be here on legal terms. That might deter some from trying it illegal first. They need to go through the proper channels to get here.
My ex is from Costa Rica. We went through the proper channels. We did it right. He is now a US citizen.
Check out Jacob's jouney on my home page!
No, we should grant amnesty to the illegal immigrants presently in the U.S. It rewards illegal actions. That being said, the immigration laws need an overhaul. The process is not as streamlined as it should be and people fall through the cracks. I have a friend whose fiancee has waited more than 18 months just to get a date to take his oath. He already passed his background check and test. That is unacceptable.
Quoting Merry74:
No, we should grant amnesty to the illegal immigrants presently in the U.S. It rewards illegal actions. That being said, the immigration laws need an overhaul. The process is not as streamlined as it should be and people fall through the cracks. I have a friend whose fiancee has waited more than 18 months just to get a date to take his oath. He already passed his background check and test. That is unacceptable.
Wow. where are they? My friend just brough her daughter back from Russia about a month ago and they went yesterday to do hers. (Over 14 or 15, they have to take the oath) So did a few other families that we know that brought theirs home a little bit sooner.
Check out Jacob's jouney on my home page!
They're in Northern VA. I don't know for certain (because no one would admit this) but I think it's because of his country of origin - Iraq. Don't get me wrong, I'm ALL for making sure everyone clears the background check, but he's been working here (legally) to support his new family. He works at one of the airports and had to withstand an especially stringent background check for that too.
Maybe it's not that at all but some bureaucratic screw-up. Either way something is not working.
It's difficult and expensive. My SO is a brit - he came here for work, which is how a lot of immigrants come. Work visa. As long as you are employed by that company you can hold onto your work visa. There are hoops to jump through.
It gets more complicated when you begin the paperwork to extend that work visa - the next step is usually a different type of visa which allows you to work for any employer in the US, you have something like a few months between jobs. More hoops, takes some time. Then up to the next level and so forth.
He's got a green card now. It took him about 5 years to get that from the time he arrived in the states and got the wheels turning immediately to progress his visa on. He had a corporate immigration lawyer, thank goodness.
Quoting hsteele:I have a question since you've been through this. What does it take to be allowed to come here as a legal resident? I am not talking about getting citizenship. I am talking about having documentation that means you are a legal immigrant. How difficult is it?
Quoting home-sweet-home:
I believe that anyone should have the right to come here LEGALLY. If you are here ILLEGAL, you are committing a crime and should be treated as such and should be removed from the country. I also believe that if they come illegal, they should never be allowed to be here on legal terms. That might deter some from trying it illegal first. They need to go through the proper channels to get here.
My ex is from Costa Rica. We went through the proper channels. We did it right. He is now a US citizen.
NO AMNESTY!
If you want to better your life and come here LEGALLY then by all means do so. DO NOT come here illegally. Amnesty rewards a crime.
As for immigration in the US... it needs a BIG overhaul but amnesty is not the answer.
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on Oct. 15, 2009 at 2:55 AM