[plank_time]

I have a friend who works for ICE. She has literally deported assassins for the Mexican cartels. She said the hardest part of her job is that cities like San Francisco give millions of dollars to activist lawyers to help keep these criminals in the US. The activist lawyers and even SF know that these are real criminals but they don’t care. That money could be going to help the cases of real illegal immigrants who are making life better in the US but it’s instead going to defend these criminals. She says it’s really disheartening that they don’t care, they are blinded by trying to beat ICE.

[jacobolus]

The ICE of the past few years is one of the cruelest and most out-of-control institutions in the USA which has regularly operated like a fascist secret police agency. Maybe your friend should try to exert some internal pressure to cut back on the institutional depravity, lawbreaking, coverups, and stream of lies, so that ICE can fix its ruined reputation and start building a bit of trust and support from the society.

[mikeyouse]

Yeah that damn due process. Always getting in the way of extrajudicial punishment.

[zo1]

Yeah, and that damn visa application process! Always getting in the way of crossing the border.

[pjc50]

If one of these "assassins" has an actual conviction in the US before they were deported, I'm sure you can name one and find some proof of this, otherwise it's just accusing people without evidence. ICE have no right to declare someone an assassin.

[spoonjim]

Yes, that’s the difference between an assassin and an “assassin.” With no conviction, a guy could be Mr. Rogers on paper — still doesn’t change the fact that he’s killed 20 people.

[pjc50]

Yes, but how do you know that? And why should we believe it?

We're literally in a thread about wrongful conviction. Evidence. It matters.

[vagrantJin]

Thats certainly in the realm of possibility but the evidence of that needs to be clear. Accusations like that are one step removed from complete paranoia.

[spoonjim]

Well the evidence would have to be clear to deport a single person. But a general trend could be enough justification to shut down immigration from certain countries. That is not a personal punishment like a deportation, so it does not need conclusive proof (which of course doesn’t exist, there is no country which sends exclusively or predominantly bad immigrants to the US).

[TheCoelacanth]

The only difference between an "assassin" and the actual Mr. Rogers is the word of the gestapo-lite thugs in ICE.

[DubiousPusher]

> cities like San Francisco give millions of dollars to activist lawyers to help keep these criminals in the US.

This is HN. Please provide evidence of such a claim.

> The activist lawyers and even SF know that these are real criminals but they don’t care.

This is highly speculative. What possible motivation could they have for this?

[spoonjim]

The people know the difference between Filipina nurses and MS-13 gangbangers, and if there is no constitutional policy that distinguishes them, they’ll crack down on all immigration. If there’s no politically correct way to advocate for this, they will use anonymous forums: Reddit and the voting booth.

[29athrowaway]

If you want to work anywhere as a nurse, the first things they will ask you are:

- To fill USCIS Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.

- To provide a valid nursing license.

USCIS Form I-9 is also required by most jobs. So the remaining jobs that are targeted by undocumented people are informal jobs in agriculture, construction, landscaping, food processing, etc.

From the international news I've seen from El Salvador, it is my impression that Mara Salvatrucha/MS-13 gang members are easy to identify since they use MS-13 tatoos.

[CaptainZapp]

Not that she would be biased in any way, shape or form. Right?

[open0]

Legalize drugs.

[booleandilemma]

Why do cities like San Francisco want to keep assassins in the US?

[kmeisthax]

They don't.

What they do want is for immigrants to not fear deportation, so they want to make a stand that they'll fight immigration enforcement every step of the way. Hence why they'll get involved with these kinds of lawsuits. Even if ICE purely deported only people who committed crimes other than illegal entry or overstaying a visa; you'd still have plenty of immigrants afraid of all law enforcement. Yes, even the legal ones; nobody wants to have to show their papers on pain of having their life uprooted, even if they have those papers.

I don't know exactly what lawsuits SF is filing, but I'm going to assume the actual legal argumentation is less "let the assassains go free" and more "assassains should serve time in American prisons rather than being deported to Mexico where they'll likely escape and reoffend".

[haram_masala]

If someone is legally in the US, why would they fear having their life uprooted by having to show their papers?

[lostcolony]

Given that ICE has deported US citizens before, pretty sure it's a reasonable concern for immigrants to be concerned about ICE agents.

[zo1]

My opinionated and probably-biased answer to your question:

1. Due to their being no real central database, it's hard for physical persons in the US to prove their identity and consequently their citizenship status.

2. There are a lot of illegal immigrants in the US.

3. There are a lot of illegal immigrants in the US that have lived here for a long time so the "legality" of their status is muddied. This then makes the whole debate around this more about "what is right" and the emotions involved, instead of what the laws say.

[cygx]

Allegedly, in the timespan 2003 to 2010, the US detained (in some cases for months) or even deported over 20k US citizen:

https://jacquelinestevens.org/US-Unlawfully-Detaining.Steven...

[maccard]

Not in the US but the UK. [0] a large group of people who moved here legally between 50 and 70 years ago have been deported, detained and refused legal rights. This does happen.

[0] https://www.jcwi.org.uk/windrush-scandal-explained

[kmeisthax]

If someone is honestly paying their taxes, why would they fear having their finances uprooted by being audited by the IRS?

[sjburt]

There's no "papers" in the US. You're not required to have a birth certificate or a Social Security card or a drivers license or a passport. There's no list of who is and isn't a citizen.

[lazyasciiart]

Perhaps ICE should focus their resources on these criminals instead of attempting to deport every person who ever crossed the border. Has she ever considered that this change might even be within their own power?

[plank_time]

They don’t. That’s the problem. All you read about is the propaganda. My friend genuinely cares about making sure that there is justice but the media paints her like she’s some immigrant-hating Trump MAGA warrior. She has worked under Obama and Trump, and her job hasn’t changed.

[lazyasciiart]

No, I read first hand experiences. Your friend can be whatever she wants, but if she is trying to argue that ICE doesn't pursue non-criminals, she is untrustworthy.

[hervature]

Technically, crossing the border is a crime. You should clarify you mean violent criminals.

[mikeyouse]

Most "illegal immigrants" are here on visa overstays, which is decidedly non-criminal. So you should refrain from correcting people about things you yourself aren't fully versed in.

Source for most: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/16/686056668/for-seventh-consecu...

More context: https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/24/politics/undocumented-immigra...

[throwaway_r9RF]

Undoubtedly some of the visa overstays entered with a good faith belief that their stay would be temporary, but my guess would be the vast majority planned to immigrate and lied at some point in the visa issuance or border control process. That would make them make them guilty of criminal improper entry.

The statutory language is in 8 USC § 1325[0] and consists in relevant part of:

"Any alien who... obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation... shall... be fined under title 18 or imprisoned... or both"

It's hard to prove and rarely prosecuted of course, but that doesn't change the fact that many of the overstays are guilty.

[0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325

[hervature]

I said nothing about illegal immigrants. I’m a non-citizen myself. Here is the relevant law for you and other down voters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Ac...

Obviously, we’re talking about ICE so my comment was meant towards non official border crossings.

[akiselev]

No, it's not a crime - it's a civil offense by deliberate design. If it were a crime, it'd have to be judged in a criminal court with juries and a whole lot of inconvenient rights instead of the farce that is immigration courts.

[29athrowaway]

And some of the people being brutally punished by ICE and CBP do not even know what a country border is, because they don't know what a country is, because they're not even 1 year old.

Feel free to jump to pages 7, 8 and 9 of this report. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20190712/109772/HHRG...