re: "But It’s Just 19 Murders"

Mark Krikorian at The Corner ("The one and only.") was almost ready to miss the Bush Administration.

Money quote(s):

"The House Judiciary Committee has released a report on how many immigrants identified by the Secure Communuties fingerprint-matching system were released (i.e., not deported) after being arrested by local police, and how many went on to commit additional crimes. (The report is here and the Washington Times story is here.) According to the report, over a nearly three-year period, just in the jurisdictions using the Secure Communities system, almost 47,000 illegal aliens were arrested but released because ICE chose not to take them into custody."

&

"(T)he administration refuses to ask Congress for more funds to increase deportations — funds that would be approved. So they’re intentionally setting the ceiling on how many people they can deport lower than necessary, and then pointing to that ceiling to justify the release of illegal aliens who go on to kill Americans."

7/31

re: "On Newt Gingrich; and immigration questions"

Dr. Jerry Pournelle at Chaos Manor ("The Original Blog*") insists on applying logic and reason to political issues.

Money quote(s):

"There are about 20 million illegal aliens living in the United States. Suppose that Congress and the President decided tomorrow that "they all must go." How would that come about? Merely transporting Twenty Million People is a non-trivial task. Assume that of the 20 million aliens in the US, ten million will require transport of 1,000 km (621 miles). That is ten billion passenger/kilometers. The total annual rail passenger traffic in the US, including commuter travel, is about 17 billion passenger/kilometers. They would have to be fed. Many would have medical needs. While many of them could be transported by rail to the Mexican border -- in boxcars? or must there be at least day coach transport? -- many would have to go elsewhere, some to Latin America, but many to Asia and Africa, and many to places that will refuse to accept them.

A non-trivial task, even assuming that we could identify them all, and assuming there would be no expensive legal actions required: just identify, apprehend, and transport. It would take an enormous budget to accomplish.

Now add political realities. It's all very well to grab some thug with a long criminal record and say "Enough! Out!" to the general applause of a vast majority, but even then there are going to be problems with the ACLU as well as various immigrant rights organizations. Assume that it can be done: what fraction of the 20 million will that account for?

Of course advocates of amnesty or the dream act like to show the example of a teenage girl brought to the US at age five, brought up to speak English and assimilate to American customs, earning a high school diploma with an A- average, and in general an all-American girl who ought to be college bound. Or the young oriental boy with much the same record. We don't have to concede that people with similar stories will be a very great fraction of the 20 million, but it is not zero, and every one of those will be paraded by the media as soon as apprehended."

Discussion of the logistics? Check.

Discussion of the costs? Check.

Discussion of political opposition? Check.

Discussion of likely poster children? Check.

"(A)n operation this large will require a lot of police agents. Do we insist that they all be capable of handcuffing teenagers and putting them on the train to the border? Do we want a lot of people with that attitude to have police power? And what of illegals who have joined the Armed Forces? Veterans? Active duty soldiers? An operation this large may well require action from the Legions: will they pay more attention to the orders of their officers or the appeals of their comrades? Of course that's a silly question, but my correspondent did talk about crossfire and punishing treason, which probably means civil war, and the Legions, both Regulars and various reserves and militias and National Guard are certainly not going to be idle while that happens."

This is why I don't favor a "big round-up" solution to illegal immigration. The cure is worse than the disease. Dr. Pournelle isn't afraid to think past the it-couldn't-happen-here emo-llectual linders about civil-military conflict.

"The problem of the illegals amongst us will not go away simply because we don't think about it.

Note, incidentally, that Newt distinguishes between the right to be a legal resident and citizenship. This is not brought up in most "amnesty" discussions, but it should be. Citizens have rights, including the right to sponsor other immigrants. The Supreme Court has held that illegal immigrants have rights very similar if not identical to citizens, but that is not the plain language of the Constitution. A sane immigration policy will make that distinction -- including entitlements.

I am not going to "solve" the illegal immigrant problem here, but I will say that denouncing as "amnesty" anything other than a policy of 'deport them all and deport them now' is not useful. We aren't going to deport them all, and no Congress or President will do that, nor could even if it were thought desirable. The United States is not going to erect detention camps nor will we herd people into boxcars. We can't even get the southern border closed."

Any amnesty must be exceptional. That is, exceptionally positive candidates for amnesty receive it, others not-so-much. The honor students and military veterans who'd qualify would self-identify, come forward, and receive it. Bio-metrics and police checks, &tc., would have to apply. Age limits and a prior-to date sometime in the past would be necessary as well, otherwise it only encourages even more illegal immigration.

And I would quibble with former-Speaker Gingrich about the "right to be a legal resident." In what Constitutional article may I find that "right" ennumerated?

Certain classes of person, qualifying under specific statues, have the "right" to petition on behalf of other persons (usually relatives, sometimes employees) to obtain an immigration benefit, including legal permanent residence (LPR). That can include self-petition in certain circumstances.

"We can and should do more to enforce employment laws; but do we really want police coming around to demand "your papers" from our gardeners and fry cooks and homemakers? For if "your papers, please" becomes common practice, there will be demands for equality; for not profiling; for equal opportunity harassment -- but you get the idea."

Just keep the pressure on. Require proof of legal residency (I had to do it whenever I applied for a job) and when it's found out, terminate employment (or fine the employer). If an employee is so blessed valuable that the employer is willing to pay the fine, then perhaps they should be sponsoring (i.e., petitioning on their behalf) them for LPR status. Make both the fine about double the cost of the immigration petition, and that not insignificant (but not necessarily punitive).

The idea is to take them "out of the shadows" and get them enrolled in our public life. Document them. Fingerprint them. Hell, DNA-sample them; but limit that to out-of-the-shadows illegal/undocumented immigrants, line-crossers, and deportees.

And if they break other laws, commit felonies (or three-or-more un-related misdemeanors; that is, not stemming from the same offense) then they get on the conveyor belt to deportation.

IIRC, deportees are barred from legal travel to the U.S. for a period of 10 years (the first time). Apologies: my immigration law book is still in a crate somewhere.

"(P)erhaps, perhaps, there will come a time when there is an actual serious discussion of the subject, and we can come up with policies and tactics that have a chance of working and of actually being adopted.

But we will never get there so long as bringing up the subject for discussion makes you a traitor."

Gingrich? A traitor?

(Nah: just someone I wouldn't want dating a family member.)

_____

Note: Chaos Manor has moved!

re: "What If the ObamaCare Mandate Isn’t Struck Down?"

Frank J. at IMAO ("Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated.") worries about Constitutional over-reach by Congress (and the president).

Money quote(s):

"(T)he 11th circuit is discussing Obamacare and whether it’s constitutional for the government to force people to buy things.

That answer is “No”, by the way. Not just “No”, but “If you even contemplated allowing this, you should go to the nearest mirror, stare yourself in the eyes, and punch yourself really hard in the face.” This is just insane in a free country to think the government can force you to buy things, so much so that we really need to start deporting people for completely not understanding the concept of America." (Bold type added for emphasis. - CAA.)

That's what I love about IMAO and Frank J. He never beats around the bush, letting you guess at what he really thinks.

The problem is one of ideological orientation. If you think government exists to do stuff, whatever stuff you think needs doing, then requiring people to do what they don't want (this is known as coercion) is fine. After all, you know best.

If, on the other hand, you think that the purpose of government is to do those things for The People (who are, by the way, sovereign) that they can't better do for themselves and that you've helpfully listed those things, as well as the methodology to be employed in their implementation (this is known as a Constitution); well, you can see where there'll be some disagreement.

"Not sure what to do if the courts don’t strike it down. We’d need to get an amendment in place immediately. Otherwise, Republicans will just have to make liberals choke on it by forcing people to buy things like gun and ammo, gas guzzling SUVs, and bacon. Maybe all our money will be spent, but at least we’ll have cool stuff."

re: "Immigration; Voodoo Science"

Dr. Jerry Pournelle at Chaos Manor ("The Original Blog *") discusses the problems associated with discussing amnesty.

Money quote(s):

"Any hint that there can be some form of amnesty enormously increases the incentives for others to come here illegally. Even discussing the subject can produce an increase in the flood of undocumented migrants aka illegal immigrants. The system is already saturated, and we should do nothing to worsen the situation.

It has always been the position of Republican -- and some, although lately fewer, Democratic -- politicians that amnesty cannot be seriously proposed or debated until the borders are closed. The problem is that even talking about it can worsen the problem.

Perhaps that should be the position to take: we won't talk about this until the borders are under control. It is the position that politicians ought to take, and Newt's speculations, while reasonable from a political philosopher, are improper for a candidate for office. Of course any move to close the borders will do the same -- get in now, they're cracking down -- but there's not much help for that. A comprehensive immigration policy must be implemented quickly and effectively, with crackdowns on employment and employers as well as illegal workers, along with effective control of the borders." (Bold type added for emphasis. - CAA)

&

"The high cost of imprisonment is very much part of the immigration problem. There is little incentive for the recently deported not to try again, and again, and again --- they know we don't want to jail them. It costs too much."

S&S - Haitian immigrants' filings for protected status lag projections

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Haitian immigrants' filings for protected status lag projections

By Trenton Daniel and Alfonso Chardy, McClatchy Newspapers

Stars and Stripes online edition, Friday, April 9, 2010

MIAMI — When U.S. officials granted temporary protected status to Haitians in the United States days after the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, they expected as many as 200,000 applications. But nearly three months later, federal officials say 42,942 Haitians have filed for TPS.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"On March 16, more than 500 Haitians, including several children, showed up at the Miami field office of USCIS to be fingerprinted and photographed — part of the processing of their applications for TPS.

TPS shields undocumented immigrants from detention and deportation. In the case of Haitian TPS, the protection from deportation will last 18 months, though the benefit is expected to be renewed as TPS has been renewed repeatedly for Central Americans.

Applicants can also request work permits, which immigration officials say they plan to start issuing soon. Immigration advocates say the work permits are critical because they allow Haitian nationals here to wire remittances to family members back in Haiti whose homes were wrecked in the quake."

"The total cost of a TPS application is $470, which includes $50 for the application itself, $340 for a work permit and $80 for "biometrics," the fingerprinting and photographing process."

&

"The main reasons for rejection include not enclosing the correct filing fee, not completing forms, failing to include biographical information and not signing forms."

JO - Grappling with broad-brush deportation

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Grappling with broad-brush deportation

Monday, March 08, 2010

WE are told in yesterday's Sunday Observer that more than 12,000 people were deported to Jamaica over the last four years. Many, many thousands more have been deported over the last two decades.

Read the whole editorial here.

Snippet(s):

"Talk never stops about deportations and the consequential difficulties for the Jamaican society. Invariably, Jamaicans focus on the perceived worsening of their country's crime problem as a result of hardcore criminal deportees from the United States, Britain and elsewhere entering the local underworld."

"(S)ince the passage of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act in the United States, even unpaid fees for traffic offences can become grounds for deportation of non-US citizens, including green card holders."

&

"We would expect that the authorities in North America and Britain -- from whence the bulk of Jamaican deportees originate -- have long had to cope with such anti-social behaviour as a direct result of deportation-induced broken homes and families."

WT - SIEGEL: A compromise to please both left and right? U.S. could offer illegals registration but leave amnesty indeterminate.

From my archive of press clippings:

Washington Times

SIEGEL: A compromise to please both left and right?

U.S. could offer illegals registration but leave amnesty indeterminate

Thursday, April 8, 2010

By William D. Siegel

One of the critical lessons of the past year-plus of the Obamacare fiasco is that it is often more practical and reasonable to tackle such issues piecemeal. Another area where such a "noncomprehensive" approach could be helpful is illegal immigration; especially before President Obama commences a long struggle for comprehensive reform this year.

Read the whole editorial here.

Snippet(s):

"The "noncomprehensive" near-term approach proactively establishes a defined class of I/Us and separates it from all others (including all future I/Us) by forcing I/Us to make a choice to come forward first before they know their ultimate legislative disposition. In exchange for exposing themselves to a registration process, they are granted immunity from prosecution and deportation for their illegal entry. All other status questions - including any future benefits or penalties to be granted, such as requirements for citizenship, taxation, health care, employment rights, etc. - are left for future congressional determination, just as exists today.

A period is to be chosen, for instance six months, in which notice to register is given. If one does so register truthfully, he can then live "in full light" without fear of consequence for his illegal entry. The immunity, of course, is limited to illegal entry, not for other illegal acts. By coming forth, these I/Us create a newly defined and limited class. One way, perhaps, to identify this class might be to utilize the tamper-proof ID card currently being discussed. And given the effort afforded the 2010 census, there should be no aversion to requiring I/Us to go through a serious registration process.

Further, for I/Us who choose not to register, this approach requires deportation without interference. Congress should make clear its intent that failure to register supersedes any defense against deportation."
&

" "Amnesty" has had different meanings in this context. To some, it means granting anything short of deportation. To others, it has referred to the granting of some pathway to citizenship or other benefits thought not to have been properly earned. A third benefit is that by defining one group of I/Us, amnesty can be refused all others; something that goes a long way to satisfying the right without first determining the ultimate outcome for those who show good faith by registering."

_____

William D. Siegel is a trustee of the Hudson Institute.

JO - A father's pain

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

A father's pain

BY PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, March 07, 2010


AT 40 years old, he is a man in anguish over the loss of the family he had to leave behind in the United States when he was deported to Jamaica in 2008.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"He recalled that when the authorities came to get him, he was in the process of taking his youngest son, age 13, to school."

"(H)is story did not begin with his deportation, which came as a consequence of his not being in the country legally. The man, who is married to the mother of his two youngest children, said he was taken to the US at age five or six by his father. But no sooner did he get there, his father began to physically abuse him. As a result, he was taken into state care where he remained, on and off, for the next 10 years.

He later returned to live with his father until he was 21-years-old, when he was deported, having run afoul of the law over a drug charge. While in custody, the authorities discovered that he had no papers. He was offered bail, which his father -- who had failed to ensure he got his green card and citizenship -- refused to post."

"He was deported, but after only about four months he was back in the States using a new name. He assumed the name of a US soldier, and it was several years before local authorities discovered what he had done and brought him up on charges. He was given two years probation for that offence and went back to using his own name."

"Immigration authorities soon discovered that several years earlier he had also assumed the name of a soldier that had deserted the army.

He was subsequently taken into custody, and deported for the second time in 19 years."

"(A)s he adapts to life on the island, his family struggles in the US."

&

"His other children from a previous relationship -- a son, 19, a daughter, 21, and another son, 22 -- are in no less need of him."

JO - ‘Families in jeopardy'

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

‘Families in jeopardy'

BY PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, March 07, 2010


MORE than 12,000 Jamaicans were deported in the last four years, many of whom have left families behind, with potentially dire consequences.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Over the years the majority of those deported have been men. Last year, for example, of the 3,076 people deported, 2,687 were men aged 18 years and older, according to statistics from the Ministry of National Security. In 2008, of the 3,234 people deported, 2,759 were males, while in 2007, of the 2,984 people deported, 2,491 were males. In 2006, 3,003 people were deported with males accounting for 2,532 of that number."

"(T)here is a current case of a young man in his twenties -- the father of an infant child -- who is facing deportation."

"Such separation, he said, is devastating for children and boys in particular."

"(B)oys, he said, are prone to involvement in crime and delinquency."

""If our government is big and bad enough to face down the powerful United States over a man US authorities say they want for trafficking in narcotics and illegal guns, then, surely, that same government ought to be bold enough to make meaningful representation whenever US authorities intend to deport a US-Jamaican permanent resident who is a model father and faithful breadwinner," he said."

&

"Jurisdictions have taken a hard line against illegal migrants and others who run afoul of the law, especially since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US. But even before 9/11, the United States had begun to crack down on migrants, courtesy of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.

The act provides the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement extensive powers while limiting judicial review of deportation and detention decisions made by immigration judges. At the same time, it has expanded the scope of crimes that are grounds for deportation, according to Headley's Deported Volume I."

JO - 38 J'can women on hunger strike in UK detention centres, prison

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

38 J'can women on hunger strike in UK detention centres, prison

BY ERICA VIRTUE Sunday Observer writer virtuee@jamaicaobserver.com


Sunday, February 28, 2010


THIRTY-EIGHT Jamaican women are on hunger strike in holding facilities in the United Kingdom, in protest of their imminent deportation to Jamaica.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):


"The women -- all of them asylum seekers, some of whom have lived in the UK for as long as 10 years -- went to the European country, having fled their homeland in fear of their lives. According to information out of voluntary groups assisting them, they were either threatened witnesses to murders and/or have had relatives killed in relation to violent crimes committed in Jamaica."

"(A)mong those participating in the strike are also convicted drug offenders and others who have overstayed their visas, in addition to some for minor offences for which no charges have been laid."

&


"(S)ome have accepted the voluntary return programme.


"This is a programme where individuals are given a certain sum of money if they agree to return home without fighting deportation," she said.


The sum varies, but there have been reports of sums of up to 5,000 pounds."

MH - Student group fights deportation of peers

From my archive of press clippings:

Miami Herald

Student group fights deportation of peers

Sunday, 12.06.09

By DANIEL SHOER ROTH

dshoer@MiamiHerald.com

The students' efforts were so quick and efficient that after just a few days of being held at an immigration detention center, brothers Jesús and Guillermo Reyes were set free.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Pacheco is a 24-year-old Ecuadoran with a student visa whose family was detained in 2006 for not having their paperwork in order.

On Nov. 14 Pacheco received a call telling her a student from Miami Dade College had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)."

JO - Blame it on the deportees?

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Observer

Blame it on the deportees?

HEART TO HEART

Betty Ann Blaine

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Dear Reader,

For a matter that has such serious national and international implications, it is shameful that the deportee issue should be reduced to political gamesmanship. While there may be some people with an interest in knowing about the volume and frequency of deportee charter flights from the UK to Jamaica, the matter of deportees is infinitely more urgent and more complex.

Read the whole letter here.

AO - Guats pouring into Belize - 33 caught, deported!

Amandala Online



Guats pouring into Belize – 33 caught, deported!


Posted: 13/01/2009 - 12:59 PM

Author: Adele Ramos


The dangerously porous nature of the Belize-Guatemala border along with the continued infiltration of Guatemalans into Belizean territory continues to be a matter of major national concern, particularly at Jalacte, Toledo, which has come to be known as an informal “port-of-entry” for Guatemalans coming into Belize—some of them for work, but others feared to be coming for not-so-legitimate purposes.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Official sources tell our newspaper that an “intelligence driven” operation in the South last week resulted in a major bust of 33 illegal aliens—mostly Guatemalans—as they were being bused into Belizean territory, without proper documentation. Multiple sources tell us that the Guatemalans were not charged, but deported back to their country."

&

"Amandala was able to confirm with police sources that 33 illegal immigrants, who we are told came through Jalacte, Toledo, were processed in Independence last week. There were two Salvadorans who were charged for illegal entry, but the remaining people, all Guatemalans, were deported after being given an OTL – Order to Leave."

LAT - U.S. to reopen Canadian's torture case.

From my archive of press clippings:

Los Angeles Times

U.S. to reopen Canadian's torture case.
Homeland Security's inspector general says new evidence suggests officials may have broken laws by sending Maher Arar to Syria.

By Maggie Farley, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

June 6, 2008

NEW YORK -- A top Department of Homeland Security investigator said Thursday that his office would reopen an inquiry into the case of a Canadian engineer who was sent secretly by the U.S. to his native Syria for interrogation because of suspected ties to Al Qaeda.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Inspector General Richard L. Skinner, who spoke at a congressional hearing in Washington, said new evidence had emerged that U.S. officials may have broken laws related to torture in the case of Maher Arar.

Canadian officials have said Arar was tortured while in custody for a year in Syria, where he says he was kept for the bulk of the time in a dark solitary cell slightly larger than a grave. The Canadian government has acknowledged that it supplied faulty information to the U.S., which probably led to his arrest, and neither Canada nor Syria found any evidence of terrorist links.

Last year, Canada apologized to Arar, who now lives in Ottawa, and agreed to pay him almost $10 million in compensation. The apparent mishandling of his case has resulted in a rare public examination of what is known as "extraordinary rendition," a covert U.S. practice of sending foreign terrorism suspects to other countries for interrogation. Congressional members called Thursday for a special prosecutor to lead the investigation so criminal charges could be filed."

&

"Immigration officials detained Arar in September 2002 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport while he was in transit from Zurich, Switzerland, to Montreal, based on information from the Canadian government. A four-year U.S. investigation found authorities acted appropriately to deport Arar although normal procedures for deportation were not followed, with a rushed hearing without his attorneys present. U.S. authorities secretly flew Arar in a small plane to Syria and handed him over with a list of interrogation questions after receiving only "ambiguous" assurances of fair treatment, the report says. The U.S. has previously said it had independent intelligence that supported the officials' actions, but it refused to release the classified information."