Musings on Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency in charge of enforcing our country’s immigration laws, just launched a series of raids in North Carolina, Texas, and Georgia, to deport people (including young children and mothers) who, among other things, entered as undocumented after Jan. 1, 2014, or were ordered removed after Jan. 1, 2014. We have heard (from clients and friends) that young children and mothers are being places in custody and are being pushed to be removed quickly. Many—if not most—of these people are immigrants from Central America who fled their countries starting 2014 because of the violence caused by drugs,  gangs like the MS-13, and the inability of local police to stop these increasing threats. These immigrants fled to the United States, not because they are criminals, but because they have become refugees fleeing their war-torn countries where they sincerely fear they will be killed. The ICE raids that have just started this past weekend will...

While talks of immigration reform continue there is little spoken of the marked increased number of detained foreign nationals by ICE- the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) enforcement arm.   Congress’ expansion of the immigration detention system has created a profitable market for both private prison corporations and local governments.    In fiscal year 2013 almost 244 state and county jails were contracted to house immigrant detainees on behalf of ICE (nearly 70 percent of the detained immigrant population).  Private correctional corporations have gotten in on this boom as well.  These corporations have built facilities strictly to house immigration detainees. Currently, ICE utilizes seven Contract Detention Facilities (CDF).  Considering this reality below is a summary provided by ICE regarding ICE detainers. Q: What is an immigration detainer? A : An immigration detainer is a notice that DHS issues to federal, state and lo...

In an interview on David Letterman , actor Robert Downey, Jr., talked about a problem he had last year in Japan, when upon entering Japan he was detained and questioned about his past criminal record. Downey said: I probably should have seen there was a sign that said ‘No Felons Allowed’ in English and Japanese and I haven’t had that expunged yet,” he said. “You can actually get things expunged but I’ve been pretty busy. So I was detained, I was interrogated. It was a blast. Haven’t you settled up? Haven’t you paid your debts? Letterman asked. Clearly I haven’t paid my debts to Japan, said Downey. While I certainly feel somewhat bad for Mr. Downey, this short exchange gave the impression that nothing similar would ever happen in America! Hah! U.S. Immigration Law contains restrictions that bar entry to people forever, for virtually any youthful indiscretion they have ever had, e.g. simple possession of a marijuana 20 years ago, without regard to whether or not you were actually convi...