They are also going after legal immigrants who have any crime on their record, even just a misdemeanor from decades ago. There was one a few weeks ago for example of a Canadian who has lived here for something like 30 years, since he was a child, on a permanent resident visa. As a teen he participated in some normal but illegal high school shenanigan and got a misdemeanor on his record. When returning from a business trip to Canada he was stopped and deported over that high school misdemeanor.
They are also trying to make it hard for these people to defend themselves. For example in another case they are trying to deport a legal permanent resident who came here is a kid from the UK something like 40 or 50 years ago. She has an American husband, American children, and American grandchildren. A decade or two she wrote a check for a small amount and failed to ensure enough money was in the account. She pleaded guilty to the lowest level of passing a bad check and served probation. This is the only blemish on her record.
Not only have they decided that she needs to be expelled as quickly as possible, they put her in a detention facility far from her home even though there are facilities with room much closer to home, making it hard for her family to visit. I believe I read they have also moved her at least once, making it hard for her lawyer to visit. (I believe she also may have spent time in solitary, because she kept asking for someone to be allowed to bring her prescription medicine, but I may be mixing that up with another case).
Even if you can somehow make a case that every non-citizen who is legally here no matter how long should be deported if they have any blemish on their record, no matter how minor, I don't see how you can make case that they should deliberately make it hard for them to get a hearing.
I also don't see how you can make a case that they should even be in detention. If you really think there is a risk that they would run rather than stay around until their hearing, an ankle monitor would be sufficient and cheaper.
They specifically call out why the semantics matter in the actual article, in the first paragraph.
> President Donald Trump premised his mass deportation agenda on the idea that he will be “returning millions and millions of criminal aliens.” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has repeatedly claimed that they are arresting the “worst of the worst.”
When speaking to Trump supporting friends who employ illegal immigrants they specifically defend that it is only the "bad ones."
> When speaking to Trump supporting friends who employ illegal immigrants they specifically defend that it is only the "bad ones."
They still feel this way because their news sources don't tell them about restaurants being raided and the entire kitchen being arrested or ICE raids on agriculture.
Problems aren't problems until it happens to them.
Yes- that's a big problem. The business owners are getting away with massive employment fraud, tax fraud, and any number of OSHA/employee law violations. They need to be arrested and brought to trial.
If you can't run a business without breaking the law (including illegal labor), then that business shouldn't exist.
I agree, however the law must be applied uniformly and consistently for an even playing field. It is not, which allows the government to “pick” winners and losers via selective prosecution.
I hate how everyone overlooks the fact that most "illegal immigrants" are committing a civil offense that is not supposed to allow for any detainment like a criminal offense. And the criminal offenses that are mentioned in the study are mostly state offenses that are supposed to be handled by state law enforcement. There are a very small number of people who have actually committed federal criminal offenses that justify any detainment at all by ICE.
Wait- are you seriously arguing that everyone in the country illegally CAN'T be detained? That illegals are required to remain free, and stay illegally as long as they want?
That's a border control policy known as "no border control at all".
Overstaying a visa, which is the most common way to be "illegal" is literally not a crime and is not handled by criminal courts in the US. It is strictly a civil matter handled by civil courts (which can't impose jail time, by definition.) Sneaking into the country is a federal crime (a misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for the second) and is handled by criminal courts.
I would rather no border control at all than a secret nazi-like police who are loyal only to their dear leader. We have law and order. There is a proper way to do things. Only fools think dismantling the system will work to their advantage.
If they enter it illegally, that's probably a crime (I have no idea of what it's like in the US).
Of course visa violations aren't a crime, did you ever had to fill administrative papers? What if misfiling your taxes was a crime, regardless of intent? Do you want everyone who made a mistake on their taxes to go to prison preventively? Or only fraudsters?
They are also going after legal immigrants who have any crime on their record, even just a misdemeanor from decades ago. There was one a few weeks ago for example of a Canadian who has lived here for something like 30 years, since he was a child, on a permanent resident visa. As a teen he participated in some normal but illegal high school shenanigan and got a misdemeanor on his record. When returning from a business trip to Canada he was stopped and deported over that high school misdemeanor.
They are also trying to make it hard for these people to defend themselves. For example in another case they are trying to deport a legal permanent resident who came here is a kid from the UK something like 40 or 50 years ago. She has an American husband, American children, and American grandchildren. A decade or two she wrote a check for a small amount and failed to ensure enough money was in the account. She pleaded guilty to the lowest level of passing a bad check and served probation. This is the only blemish on her record.
Not only have they decided that she needs to be expelled as quickly as possible, they put her in a detention facility far from her home even though there are facilities with room much closer to home, making it hard for her family to visit. I believe I read they have also moved her at least once, making it hard for her lawyer to visit. (I believe she also may have spent time in solitary, because she kept asking for someone to be allowed to bring her prescription medicine, but I may be mixing that up with another case).
Even if you can somehow make a case that every non-citizen who is legally here no matter how long should be deported if they have any blemish on their record, no matter how minor, I don't see how you can make case that they should deliberately make it hard for them to get a hearing.
I also don't see how you can make a case that they should even be in detention. If you really think there is a risk that they would run rather than stay around until their hearing, an ankle monitor would be sufficient and cheaper.