Migration – Page 291 – immigrationcourtside.com

The Numbers Are In — DHS FY 2016 Enforcement Stats Confirm that Obama Administration is #1 In Removals!

http://immigrationimpact.com/2017/01/04/deportation-numbers-2016/

Joshua Breisblatt writes on Immigration Impact:

“Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued its Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 immigration enforcement data which, coupled with the previous years’ totals under the Obama Administration, show that the total number of removals from FY 2009 to FY 2016 totaled more than 2.7 million. Simply stated, President Obama has deported more people than any other president in U.S. history.

However, underneath those numbers belie some important lessons about the changing dynamics of who is showing up at the U.S. border and how a November 2014 enforcement priorities memo shaped the number of people deported from the interior of the nation.

. . . .

This means, more would-be-asylees are arriving at the U.S. border, rather than economic migrants as in years’ past. Yet, many are being denied asylum or put through expedited deportation processes, both unworthy of the nation’s commitment to protect those in need.

Also of note, the number of individuals picked up and deported from the interior of the country is on the decline, likely due to the 2014 enforcement priorities memo that sought to avoid deporting individuals who posed no threat and have strong economic and community ties in the U.S.”

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How much enforcement is enough? Never enough, according to some. Others disagree and think we’re going way overboard. As the Trump Administration is probably going to find out, “immigration enforcement” is more often than not a “can’t win” political proposition.

PWS

01/04/17

Is Trump’s Plan To Remove 3 Million “Criminal Aliens” Achievable?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-trumps-plan-to-deport-criminal-noncitizens-wont-work/2017/01/03/b68a3018-c627-11e6-85b5-76616a33048d_story.html?utm_term=.4810f9c58fbd

“No,” says Professor and Immigration Practitioner Kari Hong of Boston College Law School in this op-ed in the Washington Post:

“If Trump truly wants to focus on drug dealers, terrorists, murderers and rapists, he should call on Congress to restore immigration law’s focus on those whom prosecutors and criminal judges determined were dangerous in the first place — people who were sentenced to five years or more in prison. That’s what the law used to be, before it was changed in 1996 to cover many more crimes.

Instead of penalizing immigrants for minor crimes, immigration law needs to separate contributing immigrants from their non-contributing peers. Those who pay taxes, have children born in the United States, serve in the military, work in jobs American citizens will not take or help those around them need a path to legalization. Those who cause more harm than good should be deported. Restoring proportionality and common sense to immigration law would certainly help make America great again.”

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Go over to ImmigrationProf Blog and the Washington Post at the above link and get the whole story.

PWS

01/04/17

From Haven to Hell: Venezuela On The Verge Of Collapse After Years Of Bad Government — Neighbors Brace For Humanitarian/Refugee Crisis!

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2017/01/hungry-venezuelans-flood-brazilian-towns-as-threat-of-mass-migration-looms.html

“Oil-rich Venezuela has been an immigrant destination for much of its history. Now it is a place to flee. Chronic food shortages, rampant violence and the erratic and often paranoid behavior of President Nicolás Maduro have turned the country’s border crossings and beaches into escape valves.”

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I’ve blogged about this unfolding humanitarian disaster before. Go over to ImmigrationProf Blog and the Washington Post at the link to read more.

PWS

01/04/17

Family Detention, Raids, Expediting Cases Fail To Deter Scared Central Americans!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/central-americans-continue-to-surge-across-us-border-new-dhs-figures-show/2016/12/30/ed28c0aa-cec7-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html?utm_term=.077ef694fd73

“Immigration advocates have repeatedly criticized the Obama administration for its increased reliance on detention facilities, particularly for Central American families, who they argue should be treated as refugees fleeing violent home countries rather than as priorities for deportation.

They also say that the growing number of apprehended migrants on the border, as reflected in the new Homeland Security figures, indicate that home raids and detentions of families from Central America isn’t working as a deterrent.”

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The “enforcement only” approach to forced migration from Central America has been an extraordinarily expensive total failure. But, the misguided attempt to “prioritize” cases of families seeking refuge from violence has been a major contributing factor in creating docket disfunction (“Aimless Docket Reshuffling”) in the United States Immigration Courts. And, as a result, cases ready for trial that should have been heard as scheduled in Immigration Court have been “orbited” to the end of the docket where it is doubtful they ever will be reached. When political officials, who don’t understand the Immigration Court and are not committed to its due process mission, order the rearrangement of existing dockets without input from the trial judges, lawyers, court administrators, and members of the public who are most affected, only bad things can happen. And, they have!

PWS

12/31/16

Deportations Down in 2016 — Focus on Criminals in the Interior is Key — But, Some Question Gov’s Broad Concept of “Criminal”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/barack-obama-deportations-2016_us_58668157e4b0eb5864890a03?section=us_politics

“DHS officials themselves say the falling interior deportation numbers reflect the Obama administration’s policy of focusing their efforts on removing people with criminal histories.

Virtually all of the people deported from within the interior of the United States ― 92 percent ― had been convicted of a crime that put them within one of ICE’s top three priorities for removal.

But ICE’s top priority removal category includes people convicted of the offenses of illegal entry and reentry ― non-violent crimes that don’t distinguish them much from other undocumented immigrants. DHS officials did not immediately provide a breakdown of the criminal offenses deportees had been convicted of.

The number of deportations has also dropped in recent years partly because the number of people trying to enter the country has plummeted. Border Patrol apprehended about 408,900 people in the 2016 fiscal year, which is generally considered an indicator of how many people attempted to enter without authorization. In 2000, agents picked up nearly 1.7 million people trying to cross the border illegally.

A growing share of those who do cross illegally into the United States are Central Americans, who often seek asylum or other humanitarian relief. Their cases can take years to wind their way through backlogged immigration courts and do not result in swift deportations. In 2016, border agents apprehended more Central Americans than they did Mexicans, a switch that happened for the first time in 2014.”

PWS

12/30/16

Wow! Senator Tom Cotton (R-ARK) Wants to Jack Up Wages And Benefits For Lower Level US Workers And Make the “Fat Cats” Pay Their Share — How? — By Cutting Immigration, Naturally

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2016/12/seantor-tom-cotton-r-arkansas-fix-immigration-its-what-voters-want.html

Over on ImmigrationProf Blog and the NYT, Sen. Cotton says that cutting immigration, both legal and illegal, will solve all the problems of working class Americans. Yet, I’m skeptical that the Senator’s Republican businessmen buddies will be paying $25+/hr. plus full bennies for folks to pick veggies, clean buildings, be nannies for their kids, mow lawns, pour concrete, wash dishes, wait tables, clean tables, empty bedpans, make beds, work grocery checkout lines, pick up garbage, cook short orders, cut brush, dig trenches, trim trees, prune shrubs, provide daycare for their elderly parents, etc. But, I’m even more skeptical that out of work coal miners, factory workers, administrative assistants, air conditioning fabricators, secretaries, etc. will be lining up to to relocate at their own expense to take these jobs, even at higher wages. And, even if they did, things like harvesting, pruning, caring for others, and cooking actually take skills that many out of work Americans don’t possess or don’t care to learn, no matter how dire their personal circumstances. If Sen. Cotton thinks that’s what Americans really voted for, perhaps he’s spent too much time inside the Beltway.

PWS

12/26/16

More From Nolan Rappaport in “The Hill” on How the Trump Administration and Congress Could Agree on Immigration Reform

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/310078-to-control-immigration-trump-needs-to-think-outside-the-wall

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/311243-gop-immigration-bill-gives-dreamers-a-break-hardliners-a-bone

I found some common themes:

The Trump Administration needs to “Think Outside the Wall.” Without some fundamental changes from Obama Administration policies and Trump rhetoric, nothing is going to change.
There must be some type of legalization for “Dreamers” and others to get Immigration Court dockets back under control.
Interior enforcement must be reinstated and employer sanctions enforced to cut off the “magnet” for undocumented immigration.
Everyone involved must work together and compromise for our immigration system to be credible.

PWS

12/29/16

No Happy New Year For 65 Million Refugees — Here Are Three Horrible Situations Not Named Syria or Iraq!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/humanitarian-crises-2017_us_58641081e4b0de3a08f6ed8f

Michael Bowers Vice President of Humanitarian Leadership and Response, Mercy Corps, writes in WorldPost:

“The crises in Yemen, South Sudan and the Lake Chad Basin are just three of many that flew under the radar this year, and they are very likely to deteriorate in the year ahead. Despite chronically underfunded responses, Mercy Corps is tackling all three humanitarian crises, helping more than 1 million people with food, water and sanitation, hygiene and other types of support.

We hope that in 2017, in an increasingly interconnected world, closer attention is paid to the stories of the many millions of people struggling every day just to survive and find solutions to build a brighter future for themselves and their children.”

As I have said many times before, including on this Blog: Every morning when I wake up, I am thankful for two things. First, that I woke up, never a given at my age. Second, I’m thankful that, through pure good fortune and no personal merit on my part, I am not a refugee.

PWS

12/29/16

Writing In “The Hill,” BIA and Congressional Staff Vet Nolan Rappaport Says Trump Must Combine Legalization With Interior Enforcement to Succeed

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/immigration/311994-thanks-to-obamas-immigration-legacy-trump-inherits-our-home

“As of the end of Nov. 2016, the average wait time for a hearing was 678 days. President-elect Trump will have to reduce the population of undocumented immigrants to a manageable level with a very large legalization program before he will be able to address the home free magnet.

Also, so long as immigrants who want to come here illegally think that they will be safe from deportation once they have reached the interior, they will find a way to get past any wall that he builds to protect our border.”

Nolan’s thoughtful article gives a great summary of the prosecutorial discretion (“PD”) programs put into effect by the Obama Administration. Although Nolan is is OK with the concept of PD, he believes that by formalizing and publicizing the PD program, the Obama Administration has given a “home free” signal to undocumented migrants who reach the interior of our country. Nolan believes that this acts as both a magnet for undocumented immigration and a barrier to effective immigration reform legislation.

I agree with Nolan that removal of most of those with cases backlogged on the Immigration Court dockets will prove impractical. I also agree with him that the huge backlogs and lengthy waiting times for hearings have robbed the Immigration Court system of credibilty. But, with due respect, I tend to doubt that addressing “the home free magnet” is the primary answer to a workable system.

First, I think that human migration is an historic phenomenon driven primarily by forces in sending countries which we do not control. Addressing the “root causes” of these problems has proved elusive. Efforts to provide assistance through foreign governments have been largely unsuccessful because of endemic corruption and lack of the necessary infrastructure. Efforts administered by the State Department and USAID within foreign countries have shown some promise, as described in one of my earlier blogs (12/26/16). Yet, to date, they appear to be too labor intensive and too limited in the number of individuals who can be reached to have a major effect on migration patterns.

Additionally, I doubt that migration will be controlled without legislative changes and expansion of our legal immigration system to better match supply with demand. Currently, the demand for immigration by U.S. citizen and lawfully resident families, U.S. employers, and displaced or threatened individuals in foreign countries far exceeds the supply of available visas. Continued immigration is a reality and, in fact, a necessity for our nation’s prosperity. Until there is a better balance between supply and demand, individuals will, as Nolan suggests, continue to breach any walls or interdiction systems that we can construct. And, differing from Nolan, history shows that they also will evade interior enforcement efforts which, in any event, will prove to be costly, ineffective, disruptive, and unacceptable from a civil liberties standpoint.

Yes, I know this isn’t what folks, particularly those “outside the Beltway,” want to hear. But, the fact that my message might be unpopular in today’s climate doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m wrong.

Immigration is a complicated issue that will require thoughtful, creative, cooperative, and human-oriented solutions. Merely doubling down on enforcement, whether popular or not, will not give us control over human migration.

On an historical note, I greatly appreciate Nolan’s citation and link to the July 15, 1976 memorandum on prosecutorial discretion from INS General Counsel Sam Bernsen to Commissioner Chapman, which I wrote. Go to the link and check out the initials at the end. Oh, for the “good old days” of “real” carbon copies!

PWS 12/28/16

From Huffington Post: Here Is What Life (For those Lucky Enough to Survive) is Like in Rivera Hernandez, Honduras, One of the Most Dangerous Places in the World, Where the U.S. State Department and the USAID Are Working to Reduce Migration Push Forces At Their Roots — How Dangerous Is The Gang Violence That Forces Families to Flee to the US? — Check Out This Quote (Not For the Squeamish)!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/honduras-gang-violence-teenagers_us_585d6274e4b0d9a59458288d

“It’s Christmas week in Rivera Hernandez, a place that’s been described as one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world. How dangerous? About two weeks ago, and not that far from this street party, a young woman’s seminude body was found underneath a tree ― just her body. The 18-year-old’s head was resting on a branch a few feet above her corpse. The neighborhood consensus, whispered quietly, is that this latest horror was most likely a message from one of the five gangs that have divided much of Rivera Hernandez into fiefdoms.”

No wonder families are making the dangerous journey to seek asylum in the U.S. And, not surprisingly, they aren’t “deterred” by walls, fences, detention centers, asylum denials, removals, or the dangers of the journey. Not to mention that individuals fleeing for their lives have a right under U.S. and international law to seek asylum at our borders or within the U.S.

I had plenty of situations involving fears of this type of grotesque harm, in Central America and elsewhere, come before me at the Arlington Immigration Court and the BIA. Yes, it would be great if there were more efforts like the State Department/USAID programs described here to solve the root causes of migration and create incentives for individuals to remain in, and prosper, in their home countries. But, that’s going to take a much larger investment than we’ve made to date.

PWS

12/25/16

Is President Elect Trump Causing a “New Border Surge?”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/central-americans-surge-at-border-before-trump-takes-over-1482489047

This article from the Wall Street Journal suggests that the election of Donald Trump is helping fuel a new “border surge” of migrants anxious to get here before the “border closes.” While I’m sure that Trump’s election has had some effect “in the margins,” particularly as a marketing tool for human smugglers, I tend to doubt that the election has had a major impact. It’s fairly normal for law enforcement and policy officials to overestimate the effect of government policies and under-weigh the root causes of most human migration — conditions in foreign nations that are largely beyond our national control.

Take, for example, the Mariel Cuban Boatlift. While many attributed the cause to President Jimmy Carter’s famous (or infamous) “welcome them with open arms statement,” what actually fueled the migration was Fidel Castro’s unileateral decision to open the Cuban port of Mariel to northbound boats. I was working at the “Legacy INS” at that time. We seized boats (enough to start dozens of marinas), fined owners and operators, opened detention camps for new arrivals, recruited “Temporary Immigration Judges” to handle increased deportations and asylum claims, and instituted criminal prosecutions. But, the flow went on, largely unabated, until Castro decided to close the port of Mariel.

“‘It’s a humanitarian crisis, a drug crisis, a security crisis. We’re going to have to deal with that issue immediately,’ said a member of Mr. Trump’s transition team.” I think that’s correct — migration and border enforcement are complex issues usually with a large humanitarian component. Such problems are unlikely to be solved by building more walls and fences, installing more sensors, hiring more Border Patrol agents, or opening new detention centers.

PWS

12/25/16

THERE IS NO “IMMIGRATION CRISIS” – U.S. POPULATION STABLE – MIGRATION WELL WITHIN HISTORIC LEVELS — IMMIGRATION FUELS A GREAT FUTURE FOR THE U.S.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/us-population-growth-is-lower-than-at-any-time-since-the-great-depression/2016/12/21/5267e480-c7ae-11e6-85b5-76616a33048d_story.html?utm_term=.188da004f316

This article from today’s Washington Post confirms what many of us already knew – there is no “immigration crisis” in America. Rather, our aging population is stable, and immigration (despite a modest uptick since the recession) remains within historic norms. This ties in with respected demographer Robert Warren’s research and conclusion that notwithstanding the so-called “Border Surge” beginning in 2014, U.S. immigration has remained well within historic norms (link below).

Today’s article also states “the United States will need to invest in immigrants who are helping to shore up the younger segment of the labor force.” In other words, we “geezers” are going to need a continuing flow of immigrants to support Social Security and Medicare, as well as to take jobs as nursing assistants, home health care workers, and caretakers for the elderly that few Americans seem to want. When was the last time you heard a high school student say that he or she aspired to a career as a home health care provider – although I see such individuals daily in our neighborhood and know that they are providing essential services to my neighbors in need?

This also fits in with an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal pointing out how Latino entrepreneurs and businesspeople – some of them immigrants – have become a key economic force propelling our future greatness as a nation (see below).

Sure, deporting serious criminals from the United States is a worthy goal and one that I have personally participated in to the extent appropriate under law. The current Administration has done as good job of this. Some would say too good a job, and that cases of relatively minor, non-violent offenders with crimes such as petty theft, receiving stolen property, or possession of marijuana or cocaine, should not have been pushed into an already overcrowded Immigration Court System.

But, the foregoing article suggests to me that rather than fixating on how we might get rid of millions of other undocumented migrants who are law abiding contributors to our society, or looking to further restrict legal immigration as some have advocated, we should be modifying our laws to create additional opportunities for legal immigration that would serve our country’s future. Moreover, a larger and more rational legal system, with shorter waiting periods, would encourage individuals to “use the system” rather than attempting to circumvent it.

PWS

12/23/16

http://cmsny.org/warren-immigration-surge-illusory/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-latino-drivers-of-economic-growth-1482363118

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