Musings on Immigration

Uninformed lawmakers looking to score cheap political points on both the federal and state levels have been pushing legislation that would punish fake “sanctuary cities” (they don’t really exist) or those that do not comply with ICE detainer requests for valid, constitutional reasons. When police arrest a suspected undocumented immigrant for a crime, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will sometimes, but not always, issue a request to hold the individual for 48 hours after he is constitutionally authorized to leave the custody of the local law enforcement agency, so he or she can be picked up by immigration agents to begin removal proceedings. In “sanctuary cities,” many of whom have been found liable for damages for unlawfully holding individuals in this exact scenario, local   police do not always comply with these requests, often because the suspect has not committed a violent or serious crime, and usually because they don’t want to get sued! To increase complian...

Newt Gingrich introduced a unique concept into the Republican primary debate—an attempt at a quasi-rational approach to fixing our broken immigration system.  While Newt has received mostly derisive comments from the Right, focused almost exclusively on calling his idea an “amnesty” plan, the reality of his plan is very different.  It is NOT an amnesty plan.  But more importantly for those who understand the urgent need, Newt’s plan will NOT fix our broken immigration system.  Start with the obvious, there must be willing participants in Congress to work with any president to solve a problem of this magnitude.  As Newt himself has pointed out, both President Bush and President Obama have tried a “comprehensive” approach to immigration reform, and failed miserably.  In today’s Congress, with a large contingent of elected representatives who view any law that in any way assists an immigrant as “amnesty,” Newt’s plan is dead on arrival.  A recent “p...