Check out this video link from last night’s Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” on TBS:
http://www.vox.com/culture/2017/1/12/14250148/samantha-bee-obama-trump-deportation
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Yup, that’s right Sam, for years the Obama Administration has been going after foreign nationals with criminal records, even though, as illustrated by the young lady you profiled, some of them are nonviolent, have paid for their crimes, have rehabilitated themselves, and are productive, law-abiding, tax-paying members of their communities — many with U.S. citizen families — by the time ICE Enforcement shows up.
Perhaps realizing that, contrary to campaign rhetoric, President Obama has already implemented a “get tough” immigration enforcement program, Trump spokesman Kris Kobach promises to expand (by Executive Fiat, mind you) the definition of “criminal” to include foreign nationals who have merely been charged or arrested, not necessarily convicted of any crime. Hey, what’s the presumption of innocence anyway? To paraphrase another great American thinker, “If they were’t criminals, they wouldn’t be in court.” Perhaps the next logical step will be anyone who has ever thought of violating the law or watched a TV crime show!
I think it is safe to predict that many of those who would fall within Kobach’s ever-expanding concept of “criminal” will eventually prove not to be removable under the laws of the United States. Even now, that’s the case in a remarkable number of prosecutions brought by the Obama Administration’s ICE (“Immigration and Customs Enforcement”).
That’s why we need a strong, independent, impartial, expert United States Immigration Court (including the “Appellate Division,” the “BIA”) to insure that fairness and constitutional Due Process are always at the forefront and that any Administration’s enforcement initiatives comply with the law. And, any Administration would find that final orders of removal achieved through such a due-process oriented court system would have great credibility (sadly, not necessarily the case now and particularly in the recent past) and would stand up to judicial review by the Federal Courts of Appeals.
Finally, my friend and former colleague Judge Einhorn has proved what I’m finding out — there is lot’s of “life” out here after retiring from the Immigration Bench, and it’s pretty much “all good.” Will SNL be the next stop for Judge Einhorn? Stay tuned!
Go Pack Go!!!!!🏈🏈🏈
PWS
01/15/17
Thanks so much for the kind words. As many a friend who usually see me in jeans or shorts with Yankees or Giants tee-shirts said of my TV appearance, “Einhorn, you clean up nicely.” My retirement from the federal bench has afforded me an opportunity to speak and write my mind on issues of public law and policy, especially immigration and international human rights, and most especially asylum and refugee law. (I was the primary draftsperson of the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980, the modern law of asylum and refugee protection. I now serve as Chair and President of the Coalition for the Advocacy of the Persecuted and Enslaved (“CAPE”), a nonprofit that seeks to provide free legal and therapeutic assistance to asylum seekers and victims of torture and human trafficking.) I look forward to continuing my struggle for a better understanding of the asylum statute (and this would include the relevant public officials who are charged with enforcing and protecting that statute. ) I also hope to contribute a voice of common sense and compassion in the debates over U.S. refugee policy. At bottom, the purpose of the asylum statute is to defend the defenseless, and afford them opportunities to exhale with relief for the first time in years, and to integrate themselves into the world’s greatest representative democracy. (BTW, not a single person admitted to the U.S. as a refugee has committed or allegedly committed an act of terrorism.) I intend to help in granting those opportunities for those foreign-born individuals eligible for assistance and protection. Anytime you good people want to consider an op-ed from me or to interview me, please let me know. Did I mention that I clean up nicely? Ciao!