Stopping Deportations vs. Passing Senate Bill [blog]

swiftp · 10-26-2013, 06:52 PM

Full article at Prerna Lal's blog

Quote:

Growing Clash Between Those Who Want Deportations to Stop And Advocates for S.744

While the Democrats continue to look for ways to use immigration reform as a way to win more House seats next year, immigration court backlogs have climbed to 344,230 by the end of the fiscal year, an 85 percent rise in the past five years. More data from TRAC this month reveals that less than 1 in 9 persons targeted by ICE detainers have criminal records, and over 62 percent of persons in detention have no criminal records, even though the Obama Administration says it is focusing on only deporting so-called criminals.

Local and state organizing efforts have continued to end Obama’s record-breaking deportations and challenge the growing archipelago of detention policies. In Arizona, protestors chained themselves to three buses in order to stop Operation Streamline, a program that deports every undocumented immigrant caught at the border. Later, 250 protestors marched to the local ICE office while six protestors blocked the entrance to Eloy Detention Center, demanding an end to deportations. In San Francisco, undocumented immigrant activists came together to stop a deportation bus and demand an end to deportations. Advocates from the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, continued to work with families to bring home loved ones who had been previously deported, winning parole for 10 out of 34 persons.

Some of this grassroots organizing has irked the immigration reform groups in the beltway. Recently, during the government shutdown, several of these astro-turf Democrat Party groups organized a street theater on Capitol Hill, complete with a band, where they held a fake civil disobedience actions with members of Congress to salvage hopes for comprehensive immigration reform. They spent several millions of dollars to bring people to D.C., who stuck around long enough to enjoy the wonderful Los Tigres del Norte concert and take photos such as this one:

The mainstream media called it a protest for immigration reform, but even the legal observers at the action complained directly to me that the arrests and charges were pre-planned and pre-negotiated with the Capitol police. The political theater also angered various community members:

Of course, we can’t have photo-op protests for dignity and respect, and fake hopes for immigration reform with the 19 legislative days left on the calendar this year, when 1,100 persons are deported per day and an additional 34,000 languish in detention. After the #ShutDownICE protests, Executive Director of NDLON, Pablo Alvarado, penned an excellent column in Politico in support of stopping deportations:

If his legal authority is not in question, then it’s only a matter of political will. In determining his way forward, the president must decide what side of history he wishes to be on: with the reformers or with the obstructionists. That’s why seven undocumented people handcuffedthemselves to the White House fence calling on him to act and hundreds more shut down immigration and customs enforcement operations in Arizona earlier this month in hopes of spurring the president to follow suit.

Obama should also consider who’s on the other side of this debate: fringe lawmakers who have vowed to oppose him no matter what. The lesson from last week’s budget showdown is clear: The president must no longer capitulate to a vocal, irrational minority in Congress. With the stroke of a pen, he has the power to advance the immigration debate and do right by thousands of families who just want a chance at a better life. What is he waiting for?

Even Rep. Luis Gutierrez has admitted that the President must stop deportations. Thus far, the President and his team of advisors have refused the deafening calls to stop deportations, pointing the finger on the GOP’s refusal to pass S.744, while still asking us to keep the pressure on everyone. One can hardly blame him for continuing to shift the blame on the GOP, especially with beltway groups such as America’s Voice and the Bipartisan Policy Center providing cover for the continued detention and deportations. Their logic is that stopping deportations by providing the 11.7 million undocumented with deferred action so that they can work, drive, travel without facing deportation would kill any chance of comprehensive reform. Caesar Vargas, founder of DRM Action and a fellow undocumented person, counters that logic in The Huffington Post:

In the end, Congress must take action for a permanent solution. No one disputes that. But we must live with the realities of deportation records being broken every year. The Obama administration has accumulated this legacy as a concession to the least reasonable members of government who are controlled by their primary voters. If President Obama were to halt deportations, it could serve as a model for Congress, and would put pressure on Congress to create a solution that would then displace the President’s discretion.

As President Obama made another speech for immigration reform, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) had the undocumented mothers of the DREAM 30 — who are currently detained in Texas after trying to come back to the U.S. —arrested after a sit-in in his D.C. office. The undocumented parents were trying to get the Democratic Senator from New Jersey to make a phone call and write a letter to the President requesting an exercise of discretion and parole for the detained Dreamers. Various members of Congress have already written letters in support of the Dreamers who are detained. The arrested parents could have been subjected to detention and deportation too had it not been for the Capitol’s non-immigrant detainer policy. The parents of these Dreamers have sworn to be back on the Hill this coming week.

In the meantime, Silky Shah, interim ED of the Detention Watch Network (DWN), put the spotlight on detention by informing us that even comprehensive immigration reform could leave thousands in detention. That’s probably an understatement given S. 744, in its current form, criminalizes entry without inspection with up to one year in prison, re-entry with up to three years, and expands avenues for targeting and incarcerating the undocumented. For example, one of the amendments to S.744 mandates that ICE receive a weekly list of persons that failed e-Verify, most likely for fresh witch-hunts against the undocumented. But it is heartening that DWN recognizes and is vocal about how comprehensive immigration reform won’t do much for detention.

In my opinion, the chances of passing comprehensive immigration reform are dismal in the current House. Administrative action by the White House in the form of stopping deportations is a more realistic and achievable goal by the end of this year.

IamAman · 10-27-2013, 09:56 AM

"not one more" is horrible for immigration reform. Why wouldn't we want MS-13, rapists, burglars, drunk drivers, and those convicted of other violent crimes deported? Why should we be lumped in with them?

Pianoswithoutfaith · 10-27-2013, 01:38 PM

Because a good margin of them are citizens? You're assuming every undocumented alien is a violet criminal.

a CiR should pass and people who apply who do have a history like that should deported though

IamAman · 10-27-2013, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pianoswithoutfaith

Because a good margin of them are citizens? You're assuming every undocumented alien is a violet criminal.

a CiR should pass and people who apply who do have a history like that should deported though

No but you (and other no deportation folk) are assuming that every undocumented person is just a great otherwise lawful person who wakes up to go to work and head home to his family who all work, study English, and want to be a part of this country.

Criminals deserve to be deported. They make us look bad.

Pianoswithoutfaith · 10-27-2013, 04:37 PM

Lets just agree people here undocumented who have a criminal history should be deported

IamAman · 10-27-2013, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pianoswithoutfaith

Lets just agree people here undocumented who have a criminal history should be deported

I'll agree to that.

IamAman · 10-28-2013, 11:05 AM

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...op-4928745.php turns out the two who shot a police were illegal. Can you imagine what would happen to public support of immigration reform if these two were not deported after serving their time? Better hope these clowns aren't on DACA.

swiftp · 10-28-2013, 05:21 PM

I think the issue is not to stop all deportations but the plea is for Obama to actually follow through with what he's said repeatedly in public speeches and the basis for our own deferred action--to prioritize administrative resources on those with significant criminal records.

If you look at the TRAC data, "less than 1 in 9 persons targeted by ICE detainers have criminal records, and over 62 percent of persons in detention have no criminal records." This is a serious contradiction to his stance on only targeting those who pose serious risk to public safety or national security.

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Stopping Deportations vs. Passing Senate Bill [blog]