[TodPunk]

I'm agreeing with you that "criminal" was too strong a word. I edited a couple words in to see if that could be made more clear. (I also agreed from the get-go that the immigration system needs reform. It's one of the worst in the world by any measure.)

[lambda]

Yeah, I got that you were agreeing about the word "criminal"; it just sounded like you were objecting to her using the term "criminal" for her treatment as well, and I was pointing out that since this is one of the few ways in which a civil offense can lead to detention, that that's actually not as bad a characterization as I think you were making it out to be.

Anyhow, sounds like on the real issue as opposed to arguing semantics, we're in fairly strong agreement. This immigration system is baroque, inhumane, inefficient, and the results actually run counter to what the system is supposed to be doing.