Musings on Immigration

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other law enforcement agencies to challenge the practice of shackling immigrants before being led into a courtroom.  See “ACLU Sues ICE for Shackling Immigrants in Court”, http://www.newamericamedia.org , May 14, 2012.  The lawsuit was filed on the basis that there would be an unfair perception of detained immigrants as violent criminals if they are handcuffed.   Further, the lawsuit claims that being handcuffed deprives a detainee’s rights to fair representation and equal rights while in court in that communication with their attorneys will be more difficult, and they would also deprived of the right to take any notes during their proceedings. One of the most obvious issues with this unfair practice is that it is well-established that only violent criminals are subject to being handcuffed, so of course, there is an automatic percept...

Congress is currently trying to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) this week. This Act, as it stands, allows battered spouses to petition for their own legal status, should they be in an extremely abusive relationship where their U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse has isolated them from friends and family, beaten them physically, verbally threatened them with deportation, sexually forced themselves onto them, psychologically demeaned them, and controlled all their marital finances. It is essentially a romantic and mutual relationship that turns into a slave-master relationship. The lack of status makes an awfully abusive relationship worse because the abusive spouse knows he can use the immigrant spouse's lack of a status as a tool to coerce, manipulate, and control. It is not uncommon to hear an abuser tell their immigrant spouse, "If you call the police, they will never believe you because you are illegal - they will deport you and you will never...