2,900 Convicted Criminal Immigrants arrested.. In a week! - Page 2

Originally Posted by MalditoDuende

Also, someone who got deported and got caught trying to come back is also a convicted criminal.

Originally Posted by carnivore

Sounds very much like a criminal to me.

Originally Posted by h3wlett

No. The difference between a true DREAMer and your typical Mexican who crosses the border is that the former unwillingly was brought to this country, and just happened to grow up here, while the latter makes a conscious decision to break the law, which is made more evident by repeated attempts to do so.

Now, people like you will try to make the argument that once a DREAMer turns 18, he or she is culpable to the same extent as an adult illegal immigrant border jumper, in some illogical attempt to equate the two groups. Similarly, such an argument is often used by the most anti-immigrant, ignorant zealots of this country.

It is wholly unreasonable to expect an undocumented person, who has lived in this country for the majority of their life, to somehow take it upon themselves to self-deport at 18. Bear in mind, for an undocumented student to make such a decision, he or she would, likely in the middle of their senior year of high school, have to take it upon him or herself to abruptly drop out of school, and self deport to a completely foreign country, regardless of the residency status of their other family members.

Originally Posted by h3wlett

That example and thus the whole premise of your rebuttal is invalid.

The DREAM Act is a narrowly tailored piece of legislation that seeks to provide relief for certain alien students who are long-term United States residents and who entered the United States as children and for other purposes.

Potential DREAM Act beneficiaries must have, among other things, entered the United States on or before his or her 15th birthday and have been present in the United States for 5 years preceding the Act's enactment. The person must also be no older than 35 by the time of the bills enactment.

So, this particular immigration bill precludes the larger undocumented population who are not long-term residents who entered as children. So let's look at two cases that together cover the age range of potential beneficiaries.

• First, a person who was brought to the country as an infant, grew up here, graduated from high school, and enrolled in college, among other things would be eligible for the DREAM Act.
• Second, a 34 year old would be eligible if he or she was brought here when he was a child, before the age of 15, graduated from a U.S. high school, lived in this country since his entry, is of good moral character, was admitted to or already graduated from college, pass criminal background checks, and other factors. So if the DREAM Act were to pass in 2011, that 34 year old would have had to be in the country for about 20 years, needing have entered the country before he or she turned 15 in the year 1991. Such persons do exist.

The DREAM Act targets a specific sector of the undocumented population, namely those who have been students in the United States.

It does not cover in any fashion other undocumented immigrants, such as the undocumented parents of these DREAMers (those of whom are undocumeted; bear in mind that there are countless instances in which a DREAMer is the sole undocumented person in his or her family)

Is this to say that the greater majority of undocumented immigrants be ignored? No. Hence the reason why Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation has been introduced in the past.

HOWEVER, no one, not President Obama, Senator Dick Durbin, or even the most liberal, compassionate leader seeks to provide relief for repeat offenders and criminal illegals, such as those who facilitate drug trafficking, violent crime,or repeated disregard for border security and checkpoints.

It was to this that I responded, because the user MalditoDuende seemed confused or willfully ignorant in seeing the illicit nature of a person who attempted to enter the U.S. illegally after being deported in the past.

Immigration is a contentious, emotional, and above all, complicated topic. There is not one type of undocumented immigrant. There are those who seek relief from actual persecution, those who are victims of corrupt lawyers and an overbearing, antiquated immigration system, those who made no choice in coming to this country but were brought as infants or very young children, those whose parents brought them here out of desperation for medical reasons, those who came here legally, but due to the broken immigration system became illegal, those whose entire families are legal residents but due to miscues with immigration form filings failed to gain legal status, etc, etc etc.

In sum, clearly one can see the different shades of undocumented immigrants in this country. They can't be blanketed as one with the sweeping stroke of a broad brush, although in the simplified public debate and discussion of immigration this seems to be the case. Nevertheless, some undocumented immigrants are more innocent than others.

That one is able to comprehend these distinctions in no way makes him or her a bigot or guilty of harboring feelings of entitlement.