Where Do You and Your Ancestors Fit in This Picture
Immigration and Trump-Pence vs. the Public's Best Interest
The New Man at The Center of The Old Fire Storm
Quite a long post, but needs to be said. Re: The
following is from the NY Times … eye opener Trump would not have much
state or local support to help him “deport” 2-3 million immigrants that he
described in his 60 Minutes interview with Stahl (see his quote below):
During the 60-minutes interview Trump softened on his stance to secure
the border with a much-ballyhooed wall, but he renewed his campaign pledge to kick out undocumented immigrants —
starting with those who have committed crimes.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have
criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people,
probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our
country or we are going to incarcerate. But we’re getting them out of our
country, they’re here illegally.” Then he said added the punch line: “After
that we secure the border and make a determination on the millions of others
here illegally.”
When
it comes to getting tough on immigration, Republican candidates talk the talk,
but Obama walks the walk. President
Obama has removed or returned NOT
“deported” more people than any U.S.
president before him, and almost more than every other president combined from
the 20th century.
Immigration-flow
numbers are staggering in both directions. In 2014, it’s estimated that more
than 200,000 Central Americans tried to immigrate to the United States without
documentation. The Obama government has been deporting them as fast as it can.
Since
coming to office in 2009, Obama’s government has removed or returned NOT “deported” more than 2.5 million people — that is up
23% from the George W. Bush 8 years. More precisely, Mr. Obama is now on pace
to removed or return NOT “deport”
more people than the
sum of all 19 presidents who governed the United States from 1892-2000 and that
is according to official government data
(122
page report FYI).
NOW THE POLITICAL
STUNTS:
The use of the word “deportation.” In
actuality, that word and category has been obsolete in immigration law since
1996.
Prior
to 1996, immigration law distinguished between immigrants who were “excluded,”
or stopped and prevented from entering U.S. territory, and those who were
“deported,” or expelled after they had made their way into U.S. territory.
After
1996, both exclusion and deportation were rolled into one procedure called
“removal.” At that point, the term “deportation” no longer had any meaning
within the official immigration statistics. Its continued use in media reports
is part of the confusion and political raw meat sound-bites (sounds strong and
decisive).
The
large number of immigrants who are apprehended, usually but not exclusively
along the southwestern border, and prevented from entering the country were
part of a category called “voluntary
departure” before 2006. Now that is
called “return,” which also includes the subcategory of “reinstatement.”
There is also a large category of “expedited removals” of persons that do not
appear before an immigration judge but the procedure carries all the sanctions
as a judge ordered removal.
These would-be immigrants accept this sanction that forgoes a court
appearance before an immigration judge because formal removal — in which the
U.S. government runs them through legal proceedings and pays for their return
to their home country — would result in a multi-year bar (five to 20 years) on
their eligibility to legally reenter the United States. Critics deride this
policy “as catch and release.” The consequences of a return are much less harsh
than a formal removal because the returned immigrant could come back legally,
and presumably illegally, at any time.
Thus, comparing the deportation statistics across different
presidential administrations is dicey because it is unclear what categories of
people are actually being counted and categorized. Moreover, different
administrations choose to emphasize different statistics.
The Bush administration seems to have reported removals and returns
together, but Obama’s administration has emphasized only its number of
removals.
Meanwhile, many media reports continue
to use the term “deportation” when they mean either return or removal or some
subset of those.
DHS issues official statistics and has to try make new legal categories
fit old data, and even it cannot excise the term deportation altogether because
pre-1996, there were, in fact, deportations.
If you combine the Obama’s return and removal numbers, he is well over
the controversial 2 million mark. This confusion enables political spin if you
want to portray Obama as weak on enforcement, use the removal numbers, which,
compared to his predecessors, are lower. If you want to make Obama look tougher
on enforcement, combine the return and removal numbers like Bush apparently did,
or use the now meaningless “deportation,” both would conflate return and
removal — and boost the overall number of expulsions.
NOW THE REALITY OF TRUMP AND ‘DEPORTING’
2-3 million: “What we are going to do is get the people that are
criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of
these people, probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting
them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate. But we’re getting them
out of our country, they’re here illegally.” Then he said added the punch line:
“After that we secure the border and make a determination on the millions of
others here illegally.”
In Zadvydas vs. Davis (June 28, 2001), the Supreme Court ruled that the United
States can hold convicted criminals only for 180 days if a country refuses to
take them back. A must read case, has Trump read it? Doubtful…
In the FY-15, 2,166 individuals were released after being held for more than 180 days. Legally, the Secretary of State is required to stop giving visas to immigrants or non-immigrants after being notified the country is hindering the accepting of one of its citizens. That has only happened once: 2001 against Guyana.
According to ICE statistics, 19,723 people living in the U.S. were
convicted of a combined 64,197 crimes in 2015. The data notes that the number
of convictions is higher than the number of illegal immigrants because one
illegal immigrant may have more than one conviction. The top three types of
convictions for people living here illegally are traffic or drug-related
offenses.
Driving under the
influence, traffic offenses, and the use, sale or possession of illegal drugs
account for almost half, 30,104, of all convictions. Violent offenses make up a
smaller percentage of all convictions, but still, add up. There were 1,728
assault convictions, 1,347 domestic violence and 101 homicide convictions,
among people living here illegally, according to ICE.
Crimes by Undocumented
Living Here: Out of all convictions for anyone known to be in the U.S. illegally in
2015: 101 were for homicide; and more than 30,000 were for traffic or
drug-related offenses.
Great
reference to see what
President Obama has done vs. what the GOP refuses to do, and will/maybe get
worse under Trump-Pence ... time will tell on that. But this is interesting to
recall also:
Great Ending to this Post: Every president since President Eisenhower has taken
action to address immigration issues. As a result, many more immigrants have
come, stayed, and contributed to the strength of the United States. Since the
founding of our nation, the strength America draws from generations of
immigrants is a fact that’s woven deeply into the fabric of our history.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER February
8, 1956: “Throughout our history, immigration to this land has
contributed greatly to the strength and character of our Republic. Over the
years we have provided for such immigration because it has been to our own
national interest that we do so. It is no less to our national interest that we
do so under laws that operate equitably.”
JOHN F. KENNEDY 1959: “The
contribution of immigrants can be seen in every aspect of our national life. We
see it in religion, in business, in the arts, in education, even in athletics and
in entertainment. There is no part of our nation that has not been touched by
our immigrant background.”
LYNDON B. JOHNSON October
2, 1965: “Our beautiful America was built by a nation of strangers. From
a hundred different places or more they have poured forth into an empty land,
joining and blending in one mighty and irresistible tide. The land flourished
because it was fed from so many sources — because it was nourished by so many
cultures and traditions and peoples.”
RICHARD NIXON September
26, 1972: “America is a rich mosaic of many cultures and traditions,
strong in its diversity. Each new immigrant has added another piece to the
mosaic of American life — a fresh perspective and a fresh appreciation of what
it means to be an American.”
GERALD FORD December 2,
1974: “Each new wave of pioneers and immigrants had to build a place for
themselves and add their individual contributions to this new life. ”
JIMMY CARTER October
27, 1976: “We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic.
Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes,
different dreams. ”
RONALD REAGAN July 20, 1981:
“Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our
strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome
those from other lands. No free and prosperous nation can by itself accommodate
all those who seek a better life or flee persecution.”
GEORGE H. W. BUSH January
31, 1990: “Our nation is the enduring dream of every immigrant who ever
set foot on these shores, and the millions still struggling to be free. This
nation, this idea called America, was and always will be a new world — our new
world.”
BILL CLINTON June 13,
1998: “More than any other nation on Earth, America has constantly drawn
strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrants… Bearing different
memories, honoring different heritages, they have strengthened our economy,
enriched our culture, renewed our promise of freedom and opportunity for all.”
GEORGE W. BUSH July 24,
2006: “It says something about our country that people around the world
are willing to leave their homes and leave their families and risk everything
to come to America. Their talent and hard work and love of freedom have helped
make America the leader of the world. And our generation will ensure that
America remains a beacon of liberty and the most hopeful society this world has
ever known.”
BARACK OBAMA January 29,
2013: “We define ourselves as a nation of immigrants. That’s who we are —
in our bones. The promise we see in those who come here from every corner of
the globe, that’s always been one of our greatest strengths. It keeps our
workforce young. It keeps our country on the cutting edge. And it’s helped
build the greatest economic engine the world has ever known.”
President-elect Donald J.
Trump, all the time: “Get the f**k out and stay out, and now, Mexico pay up for
this damn Wall.”
So, will Trump take and learn lessons
from our great history? My hunch, probably not. It’s not in his DNA or character.
Thanks for stopping by and as
always stay tuned.
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