There is a bit of a misconception on the part of some commenters here. I know of a man who came to this country quite a few years ago on a tourist visa and illegally overstayed his welcome. With a fake social security number he got a job at a local restaurant and attended college at night. He fell in love with a woman and they married. He obtained a green card via his marriage to a US citizen, never leaving his job, always paying all of his taxes. Many illegal residents of our country pay all of their taxes, they are not freeloaders. This man graduated college and now has a much better job, and pays much more in taxes. Immigration can bring wonderful people who contribute to our country.
Congress and the President need to work together to create a legal system of immigration reform instead of using it as a wedge issue. Immigrants are not an issue, they are people. I am tired of these tweets and articles, we need a solution.
6
So, the entire U.S. becoming a gigantic gated community?
3
So Dems have officially made it clear that no one can or should be deported even after being told to do so by our court system. Okay then. Have fun with your second Trump term. The American public does not agree with Dem extremism on this issue. Every single person living somewhere unhappily is not entitled to come here.
10
One single migrant deportation process to Mexico from, let's say, Iowa, wil cost the taxpayer $20000. Imagine 11 millions, spread into the world from different part of the country. The US will be bankrupt. It would not be the first time DJT will have bankrupted something however.
2
Deporting millions will produce significant economic disruption--besides being heartless & cruel. The world economy is already slowing down & Trump's tariffs have had a lot to do with it. He could have us in full blown recession before the election next November.
1
@Bill We're not going into any kind of recession if cheap, greedy employers are finally forced to pay the real cost of labor.
5
The government is enforcing our borders and immigration laws. Only in this country would this be remarkable enough to make the news (and be met with horrified resistance).
12
Border between the U.S. and Canada is OK. But why is the border between the U.S. and Mexico not OK?
These immigrants come to the U.S. primarily to escape problems in their native countries (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama) which includes a stagnant economy, high levels of crime, political corruption and widespread drug use. There is a legal way to request a green card to enter the U.S., however unlawful mobs entry is not allowed. Shame and disgrace of all these central American countries and their governments who fail to feed their people, to give them medical care, good housing, and jobs. These central American countries and their governments are the ones at fault.
Sorry that your country does not love you anymore. To find true love you need to find and walk on God’s Holy road which will one day open the gate to His Kingdom in Heaven. The road you are currently walking is man made and will only bring you tears and despair, darkness and regrets.
2
@manoflamanchaAfter we slashed legal immigration limits and cut off aid to governments in Central America what response do you expect from families facing violent crime and death threats from both organized crime and police?
1
@Ed I expect able bodied men to stand and fight not flee and invade. We have violent crime and incompetent police here.
3
Perhaps ICE should start with all of Trump’s properties.
6
"We are taking this latest tweet extremely seriously."
This must go down as the most outrageously absurd statement ever made in the past forty or fifty centuries. Tweets are what tiny birds emit. Tweets are peeps. Teeny burbles from tiny feathered flyers. No tweet from such a wee creature has ever been known to threaten man; no little winged creature's tweet has ever been taken as a weapon of mass destruction -- a threat to an entire nation.
We are being led by a person who tweets what's in his brain. And the people listen. And the people are afraid.
This is where we are after many, many thousands of years.
8
It will be very interesting to see how many of these raids occur in rural, agricultural districts-- especially in a harvest season, when valuable crops may rot in the field without the help of their labor.
14
The farming of most commodity crops like soybeans, wheat, and corn is highly mechanized. A GPS enabled tractor combine harvester can do the work of thousands. Tariffs and flooding are bigger problems for these farmers.
For other crops, farmers have access to temporary agricultural workers through the H1A visa program. There is no cap on these visas and over a hundred thousand were issued last year. Most workers come from Mexico and the Caribbean.
Many American farmers grew accustomed to a plentiful supply of illegal workers and their immediate availability. They’d use labor brokers to secure hundreds of workers in a day. Nowadays, they just have to plan ahead to fill their labor needs. And most illegal immigrants aren’t farm workers. They work in and around cities in standard low income service sector jobs.
5
Millions pledge to deport Trump in 2020, in a new crackdown on illegal obstruction and ethics violations.
9
Such draconian measures are not without precedent. We need only look back to the 1930s and 1940s. It's been done before. These are very sad times for the once enlightened US of A.
10
@Mark Alexander It is not Nazism to enforce our immigration laws against people who have felt free to ignore them.
7
@Clara Beara
Enforcing your immigration laws is one thing, but forcing people out and creating fear is something else.
If you want to enforce your immigration laws, that is understandable; but there are more humane ways of doing that.
1
THIS is in fact the real beginning of Trump's re-election campaign.
Rallies with the left hand, round up immigrants with the right. That's the whole playbook.
If he succeeds again, now that we know without doubt who he is and what he stands for (as if there was ever much doubt) we will wake up a different country.
17
@Paul McGlasson,
Could you please describe that future "different" country?
6
I hope so. I’d like to wake up in a country that enforces it’s laws.
18
@Paul McGlasson Ilegals are not immigrants. Other people do not have the inherent right to break our nation's immigration laws.
13
I am in general very critical of Trump’s handling of the surge of asylum seekers crossing the border, but targeting failed asylum seekers for deportation is reasonable. If we don’t, then we can expect the number of border crossers to keep increasing as people realize that once they’re released by DHS, they can look forward to living and working indefinitely in the US, regardless of the outcome of their asylum cases. Every single Central American family I know has relatives who had resettled here several years ago and could clue them in on how things work in this country. Laws and policies that facilitate the growth of an underground population with limited access to public services like health care is not desirable.
65
Mass deportations - sounds like a logistical nightmare. Where is trump going to deport these people to? Is there a bureaucracy in place now to handle the numbers? Where are they going to be held before they are deported? - holding areas/resettlement camps/concentration camps? How do they get to these holding areas? - trains, planes, buses? Do we deport these folks to their original country of origin or to the southern or Canadian border? Canada & Mexico aren't going to participate.
On the upside - there's money to be made here. The US will have to pay for the holding areas - fixing up, food, shelter, etc; the bureaucracy will in large part be outsourced; transportation needs to be hired & manned. And of course all the overtime for the people doing the work.
The whole thing is probably not going be be "a good look" for the US and will make us very, very ashamed of ourselves.
7
When is enough enough. I do not favor illegal immigration but there are principles such as due process and humane treatment that our country has always embraced. "Fear is power" to quote Trump. Time to make Trump experience some fear by the power of the ballot and criminal justice system.
11
Trump has widespread support on this issue. If you have a deportation order, you need to be sent back to your native country. It doesn’t matter if you have children or a job. You lost your case.
Allowing these people to remain isn’t fair to all the people who follow the rules and enter legally, Nor to those who make valid claims. If you don’t deport people, then more and more will come. It’d be a de facto open borders policy.
31
The enforcement of any law is arbitrary, selective and time-driven...illegal immigration could have been stopped many years ago by arresting whites who lured immigrants here for cheap labor...just like they kidnapped Africans for free labor and sex...resulting in the creation of an ethnicity they choose to deny...African-Americans, who really should be called "African-European-Americans."
3
Give the country back to the Indians. The rest of us are all immigrants and we should all leave.
2
@Doremus Jessup That would include many illegals who are at least part European. It would also include the Indians as they are migrants from other places.
5
'...but along the the way she missed a court date.'
Well that's what happens. You get deported. Waaaaa!
5 years? Making her nervous? As she should be.
Are her daughters illegal too? What a mess or joke our so called 'undocumented' migrant situation is. As taxpaying US citizens, we are so blatantly being taken advantage of it's ridiculous.
So tired of these crying towel, Trump re-election articles.
Oops, so sorry, along the way I missed my court date.
Yup, let's all use that one next time we're in front of the judge.
19
It’s time for Americans to stand up to these thugs. Enough terrorizing people because you don’t like the color of their skin.
2
@Randall This is not a race issue. It's an issue of sending people of any race home once they break our immigration laws.
12
The most sensible thing to do is to immediately expel all illegal aliens from our country. It just makes good sense.
Round 'em up and head 'em out!
14
Why does this sound like American Kristallnacht, 2020. Make the Gestapo Great Again, is that the idea?
1
This does nothing to address the root causes of illegal border crossing. In the case of the Northern Triangle of Central America, it is rampant gang violence and poverty; for all but a select few (such as H1b visas), legal entry is a difficult process that can drag on for years. What do you expect is going to happen?
2
@Davy_G I expect Americans not to be told to open our borders to every single unhappy Central American.
9
@Davy_G
Davy_G, you neglected to mention a more direct root cause: illegal alien relatives, in frequent phone calls, saying, “Come on down; there’s no law enforcement here.”
5
@Davy G — Many of the current wave of migrants are fleeing Guatemala. According to USAID, we slashed our aid appropriations to Guatemala, which total $82 million for 2019 — one third what they were before Trump. We spend more than that per annum shuttling Trump back and forth to Mar a Lago. And we’ve budgeted close to $30 billion to prop up farmers who are losing money because of Trump’s boneheaded trade wars. Coffee farmers in Guatemala are leaving because the price of beans is depressed and so low they cannot survive. It would take a pittance to support those farmers and keep them at home, which is where they want to be anyway - not picking lettuce or plucking chickens or running from ICE in the U.S.
Trump wants a ‘border crisis’ to whip up his crowds. He has no intention of stopping migration, except by violent means.
3
Every time Trump opens his mouth it's to spread fear and ignorance.
These people only want the same thing that anyone would wish for, to have a roof over their heads, food in their belly and clothes on their back, and for that we're suppose to be afraid of them.
I think not.
@BTO
Trump’s worse than you say; he’s a textbook psychopath, spreading chaos and ultimately, death; yet even he is more rational on illegal immigration than any and all of the 23 Democratic candidates. After all, even a stopped psychopath is right twice a day; but ideologically compliant Democrats never are.
Even left leaning NY Times commenters are against illegal immigration, and you’ve made Trump the only port in a storm - congrats.
1
And how many bona fide US citizens will be swept up in this mass arrest, and will anyone really care?
1
Spread fear of deportation just ahead of the 2020 U.S. Census, in which on of the questions will pertain to citizenship status.
Genius. Cynical genius.
In World War II, the US depicted the Japanese as cockroaches, making it so much easier to round them up and detain them.
The responses to this article seem to suggest that readers view Hispanic immigrants and their families in a similar way -- as less than human.
If the US has a problem with immigration -- and I believe we do -- then fix the problem on all fronts (yes, including at the Canadian border and at our airports -- and those businesses such as the Trump organization that like to exploit undocumented workers for their own financial gain).
But don't attack innocent people who are only trying to work for a better life for themselves and their family. Readers of the NY Times should, at minimum, be informed enough -- if not humane enough-- to see this in a much larger perspective.
5
It’s terrible that people, especially children, have to live in fear of their lives.
The USA should pull it resources and time from the Middle East and launch a full scale takeover of the triangle countries in Central America. Kick out their corrupt and racist leaders in government, law and security forces. Install security and reform their society.
It would be a 10 to 20 year effort, but it has to be done. Those countries are death camps ruled by an uncaring, unrepentant and corrupted elite that is not capable of reform.
2
There are two different stories here.
First, there is a need to reform immigration laws. Employers who hire illegal workers need to face much more severe punishment; there needs to be a speeding up of the process by which both asylum and immigration cases are heard and decided, etc. All of this is in the hands of the legislature, which has not done anything significant in over 30 years, during both Republican and Democratic administrations and control of the Congress.
Second, however, is the arrest and deportation of those who have violated the law by entering the country illegally or by defying court orders; either to appear for hearings of to leave after loosing the hearings. These are lawbreaking individuals and, as such, deserve punishment. The fact that they have evaded punishment for years or decades should not be looked at as a reason not to punish them now but as their good luck so far and a condemnation of the agencies assigned to enforce the laws.
18
I read this as: "Fugitives fear capture from immigration enforcement effort." What am I missing?
31
@Mario
What you are missing is compassion. People who were formerly tolerated and have spent their lives here, who are often relatives--even parents ofUS citizens are being ruthlessly hunted down.
2
@fragilewing They weren't tolerated. They weren't invited. They ignored our laws and took it upon themselves to move here against the wishes of the American public. It is time for them to stop evading our laws and go home.
12
It's just weird that you throw out there that she "missed" a court date like a person who wasn't able to attend a party. She literally committed a serious crime. She is in contempt of court and has a bench warrant out for her arrest. There is nothing casual or excusable about that type of disdain for the laws of this nation. Why should she be allowed to have citizenship?
66
Good, tired of paying for other’s medical care, education, etc...
I want them gone!
47
@William B. So, you don't get that this is just a political siren for his reelection campaign either?
4
@William B.
Hi William! I appreciate your frustration. I'd like to add that undocumented immigrants frequently contribute more money into our country's social benefit systems than they receive in return.
Take Social Security, for example. Because of the United States' aging population, the program is expected to face budget shortfalls beginning in 2020 that will mean smaller payouts for older Americans.
Because Social Security is funded through tax withholding, all people who work for a paycheck (including undocumented immigrants) pay into the system. Undocumented immigrants can't withdraw from the system, though, meaning that they contribute $13 billion every year that directly funds the retirement of American citizens. The same is true for Medicare (to the tune of $3 billion).
It's easy to buy into the idea that immigrants are a drain on the economy, but in reality they bring huge economic benefits to the country. I've attached a couple of links below if you'd like to read more.
Hope you have a great day,
Bill
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/illegal-immigrants-are-bolstering-social-security-with-billions.html
https://www.marketplace.org/2019/01/28/undocumented-immigrants-quietly-pay-billions-social-security-and-receive-no/
4
@Chris If the dems would stop their nonsense about open borders, especially the progressives (term used lightly), then they would beat Trump soundly. Actually, they would have in the last election, but Hillary talked amnesty and open borders too.
16
The reality of how these actions are enforced and who they ultimately affect isn’t as clean and just as people think. Our community has seen the first hand effects of ICE raids picking to the wrong individuals for the wrong reasons and it’s awful.
On the other hard, those that advocate “just getting in line and following the legal path” need to realize how difficult and even impossible this can be.
While we have a challenge with recent undocumented immigrant arrivals, we have a much bigger problem with many more millions of undocumented immigrants that have been here for many years, contribute productively to our society, pay taxes, are part of our country, and whose condition is in no way being addressed by our government.
4
I am appalled by many of the comments on this article. They clearly didn't read the article carefully. The main point being that the Trump administration is targeting noncriminal immigrants and asylum seekers for deportation. His policies on immigration are not meant to be fair or humane, but cruel and arbitrary. Had the policies he is implementing on the immigrants and asylum seekers of today been in place when his family members came to this country, they would not have been allowed in. Further, his wife's parents would not be American citizens. Hypocrisy at it's worst. This isn't about protecting American interests, it is about fear.
6
@Jiminy
The article clearly says that the Trump administration is targeting people who either failed to show up for immigration court or defied orders of deportation. That seems exceedingly fair to me. They had their chance to plead their "asylum" case and decided to skip it.
30
@Jiminy Sorry, but I don't think you understood the article. I actually work in Immigration and the people that are going to be targeted are people with outstanding Deportation and Removal orders. Many of them are years old. The people have known about the orders for years and have ignored them. That is their prerogative, but they had to know that the order might be enforced one day. It is the same with Temporary Protected Status. It was meant to be Temporary and must be periodically renewed. The recipiants cannot claim that they did not know that their status might not be renewed. Sorry folks, but these are not cruel or unfair policies
24
People with deportation orders are being sought for deportation.
This is news? I think most Americans would consider this the basic operational function of ICE. It would be news if this wasn’t happening.
35
Thank You Mr. President. Please keep winning!
18
@BO Krause
Until the put the handcuffs on you,Mr.President.
This is Trump trying to control the narrative: throw a ridiculous story out there (which his base loves) and watch the media chase it. C'mon, media, you're being played.
4
“Along the way she missed a court date” and so is at risk of deportation. Let’s be clear: the likely reason she missed the court date was because she knew she had no legal justification for entering the US.
The “along the way” phrase allows the author to appear to justify an action the author supports without actually justifying it. Imaging that phrase in front of a sentence about an act of a white supremacist or a person opposed to homosexuality and it’s clear how dangerously naive it is.
25
So tell us Mr. Trump what these “terrible” human beings like Claudia and Walter are doing to damage our nation. Did they do something totally ignorant and dangerous like withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action (Iran Nuclear Deal) jeoprdizing the whole world and insulting the other members of the United Nations Security Council ?
1
The Trump version of Christians being thrown to the Lions.
Seriously.
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Well, then they're just not making "tyrants" the way they used to.
1
@Phyliss Dalmatian No. It is enforcing our immigration laws against people who think they can ignore them. with impunity.
6
Looking at the comments and numbers of "Recommends" it is quite clear that the Democrats need to come up with a centrist message on this issue. If they settle for something that satisfy their liberal base - they give GOP a winner.
41
Tariffs and similar punitive measures against nations who are the source of our illegal immigrants aren't likely to work any better than walls.
First, remove the attractive nuisance: no services of any type other than emergency health care. All service providers as mandatory reporters. All remittances suspended.
Second, punish the source nations. Early release for federal prisoners contingent upon leaving the US and giving up US citizenship. Paid travel, cash, and all paperwork for entry processed by the US government. Two US federal prisoners to any national source of illegal resident aliens for every one of theirs until we run out of prisoners or they stop coming.
12
@EssDee All good suggestions indeed. However, an enforcement focus on the Americans that employ illegal immigrants would be most effective. Mandatory E-Verify and prosecution of those employing illegal immigrants would kill the biggest incentive for illegal immigration - jobs and the dollar$ it brings.
11
@Dan Agree. Might also make employers boost wages and benefits for citizens and legal immigrants.
2
Most Americans welcome LEGAL immigrants, but do not want ILLEGAL immigrants. They recognize that the US cannot afford (or choose not) to support our own citizens: the poor, the ill, elderly, disabled, veterans, et al., and that they and other US taxpayers cannot possibly support the hundreds of millions of foreigners who would like to come here.
US laws allow foreigners to seek entry and citizenship. Those who do not follow these laws are in this country illegally and should be detained and deported; this is policy in other countries, too.
The cruelty lies not in limiting legal immigration, or detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, or forcing those who wish to enter the US to wait for processing. What is cruel, unethical and probably illegal is encouraging parents to bring their children on the dangerous trek to US borders and teaching the parents how to game the system to enter the US by falsely claiming asylum, persecution, etc. Indeed, many believe bringing children on such perilous journeys constitutes child abuse.
No other nation has open borders, nor should the US.
48
@Mon Ray
Hi Mon Ray! I suggested the same thing to William above, but undocumented immigrants frequently contribute more money into our country's social benefit systems than they receive in return. I agree that the US shouldn't have open borders, but immigration has always helped expand our economy.
Take Social Security, for example. Because of the United States' aging population, the program is expected to face budget shortfalls beginning in 2020 that will mean smaller payouts for older Americans.
Because Social Security is funded through tax withholding, all people who work for a paycheck (including undocumented immigrants) pay into the system. Undocumented immigrants can't withdraw from the system, though, meaning that they contribute $13 billion every year that directly funds the retirement of American citizens. The same is true for Medicare (to the tune of $3 billion).
It's easy to buy into the idea that immigrants are a drain on the economy, but in reality they bring huge economic benefits to the country. I've attached a couple of links below if you'd like to read more.
Hope you have a great day,
Bill
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/illegal-immigrants-are-bolstering-social-security-with-billions.html
https://www.marketplace.org/2019/01/28/undocumented-immigrants-quietly-pay-billions-social-security-and-receive-no/
1
@Bill
Hi Bill!
Drug lords, human smugglers, sex offenders, pimps, burglars, and even terrorists might pay taxes, but we don't want their money and we don't want them in our country.
Hope you have a great day.
12
@Bill If what you say is true then why does the Dream and Promise Act of 2019 recently passed by the House cost taxpayers over $30 billion?
6
I would have more sympathy for this position if employers were being penalized for employing illegals. They, including Trump, exploit the workers and get a free pass, enjoying cheap labor. Seeking asylum is a legal process. People should not be put in cages.
25
It takes too many years to qualify for a green card for most people who seek refuge or work to pursue a legal avenue for immigration, and Trump has only made this more difficult by changing the rules to make it even harder. As a result undocumented immigrants make up a significant part of the underground economy. Seeking them out for deportation will adversely affect many small businesses and much of the agricultural industry, for no good reason I can see. There is a problem that needs to be fixed, punishing the victims doesn't seem to be the way to go about it.
16
@Eero
Well Eero, mostly we don’t call lawbreakers “the victims.”
45
@Eero So, you think it's Trump's fault that we have an underground economy made up of illegal immigrants? You thin it's okay to enter a country, illegally, because you want to and it takes too long to do so legally? And you call these people the victims?! Victims of what - countless presidents that avoided illegal immigration, except for Obama who encouraged unaccompanied 'kids' to come to the US?! Victims of where they were born vs. where they want to live?!
13
@Eero Why do you call someone who is breaking the law a "victim?" Are murderers and rapists victims too?
9
What is the outrage here - enforcing immigration law?” Then, on other issues, my fellow Democrats will rightly excoriate Trump for violations of the “rule of law.”
Illegal aliens here phone relatives and friends back home. They tell them that American law does not allow them to be stopped at the border if they claim persecution. They tell them that once they’ve entered our country they will be able to stay, work, send their kids to school, procure false identities and drive illegally.
They tell them that there are powerful people in my party, Democrats, who do not believe in rule of law when applied to illegal immigrants. They tell them that the Democrats and powerful procurers of cheap illegal labor are working to let them stay forever.
They know that they’d have to return home the day the first employer goes to jail for violating eVerify, but that neither Trump nor Congress dare take this step.
You can’t pretend to be against Open Borders while championing the right of every illegal immigrant to violate our laws. I wish that everyone could have the benefit of living in America, but short of inviting the entire populations of South Sudan and Yemen, who are suffering far worse than our Hispanic illegal immigrants, we cannot do so without harming ourselves. And yes, our covenant to help our fellow Americans must mean a lower level of compassion for other world citizens.
58
@Charlierf
Let’s start by prosecuting the powerful for a change. When a single wealthy white farmer, construction contractor, slaughterhouse owner, or golf course operator goes to jail for illegally exploiting slave labor for profit, then let’s talk.
Our immigration system is deliberately designed to create a vast pool of slave labor. So long as those who are profiting from it are not punished, you can do anything you want at the border—including building a wasteful boondoggle of a wall—and nothing will change.
20
@kkseattle
Well said kkseattle, but to implement eVerify with teeth, there’s no one to vote for. Frankly, I just do not understand why not.
6
“Over and over, the people facing removal largely do not have criminal histories and have extensive family or community ties,” So, if someone robs a bank then lives in a quiet community, goes to PTA meetings and doesn't break the law they should not be charged and convicted for bank robbery?
I am against Trumps policies. I think we need to rewrite our immigration laws and that would have to include amnesty for some. But, using the term undocumented versus illegal does not change the fact the immigrant you are talking about does not have a "right" to be in this Country. We have laws regarding how someone from another country can come here and live. We talk all the time about the rule of law when it comes to Trump and his cronies but then ignore the rule of law when it comes to illegal immigrants. Makes no sense to me.
39
@wfisher1
What about the illegal employers who are actually benefiting from this system? When was the last time one of them got even a slap in the wrist, let alone jail time? They’re the ones who are paying the undocumented workers to remain here.
15
Good idea. Deport them. Send them back where they came from and should they ever decide to legally apply to come here the fact that they illegally sneaked into the country should be held against them.
Oh, and don't forget, on the way out the door, take their New York driver's licenses.
54
These people are not undocumented. They have documents from their home country and should return there immediately.
58
As sad as Claudia's story is, she seeks asylum and then misses a court date? What was she thinking? Anyone, seeking legal means of entry knows how serious every single step in the process is, and has to be treated as such. To just blow it off and jeapordize her chance of becoming a resident makes me wonder if she truly was in danger. I am not a Trump supporter at all, but Claudia may not have followed the rules.
66
The author’s site “collateral damage” of people being picked up...usually when the individual is not the original suspect but “happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time”. This is a result of “sanctuary laws”. When sanctuary laws make it more difficult for ICE to find the person they are looking for, they question people in the area & retain people who would not usually be picked up.
I don’t believe that people who already have deportation order have any avenue out of deportation. Crowded facilities will not stop arrests since deportation can occur quickly.
27
"His aim appears to include, for the first time, families who have entered the country and either failed to show up for immigration court or defied orders of deportation."... Seems pretty uncontroversial to try and find folks who are blatantly breaking the law. I'm sure many people on the left will read this and immediately side with the law breakers out of instinct but it's really quite silly to make a big issue out of this. I believe you'd have to be in favor of open borders in order to not have issues with folks ignoring our laws.
45
@Ryan
You're right. People who don't "have issues" with these folks are probably in favor of open borders. You can count me as one of them. In fact, I'm teaching some of them English. No charge. (Except maybe an empanada or croqueta once in awhile.)
3
@Rea Tarr
Good for you, I'm glad you have the opportunity to help others. I appreciate your honesty about open borders; it's quite refreshing. Most on the left refuse to utter those words even when the policies they advocate for are clearly based on an open borders view. Are you in favor of unlimited immigration into the U.S.? If not unlimited, what do you think a fair system would look like?
6
"in a new crackdown on illegal immigration" "aim appears to include families who entered the country and either failed to show up for immigration court or defied orders of deportation."
But a failure to show up for immigration court, or a defiance of orders of deportation are bad, aren't they?
66
@areader
@areader, because of your lack of enlightenment and sophistication you fail to understand that we Democrats, loudly and often, clearly say we’re not for open borders. After all, in our more populous but smaller world, that would be suicidal. But we do champion the right of anyone who comes here to stay here, no matter the law.
See the distinction, see the difference?
12
@Charlierf
so anyone who hops onto a plane has the right to stay? How is that not open borders?
15
@liberty
Liberty, you just don’t understand. Every Democratic candidate, 23 of them, “sees” the difference between Open Borders and letting illegal aliens stay; you wouldn’t want to let mere logic make you the odd man out.
3
Illegal immigrants who have a final deportation order issued by a judge have no legal basis for remaining in the United States, whether or not they have citizen children.
They have the legal right to seek asylum even after crossing into the United States illegally. Yet most of them do not qualify for asylum (domestic or gang violence isn't "persecution") or even show up for court to plead their case. If so, what exactly is wrong with deporting them when they have no legal right to remain in the United States?
83
Those gangs are home grown Americans
1
@malcolm
Ad hominem attacks don't refute the underlying premise.
7
@malcolm It's disturbing but gang violence and drug cartels have been in US neighborhoods for decades. Asylum seekers who sought to escape gangs in their countries are encountering them in the same neighborhoods they go to live in -- don't have to go any further than the suburban schools around our nation's capital to encounter them. Indeed compassion is certainly called for asylum seekers, particularly the women who are subjected to extreme misogny that leads to violence in their countries. Unfortunately migrants coming for economic reasons are conflating the asylum pool with invalid claims and the southern border and courts are overwhelmed to the point that everyone is suffering at the border and many in detention centers across the US.
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As much as it pains us to see deportations of families, there is the issue of the rule of law that cannot be set aside. Legal residency is an absolute. Obama did nothing to resolve the issue of illegal immigrants. The Trump administration was left to resolve it. Immigration enforcement is a must.
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@George Obama deported more people than any other president. The fact that a Republican lead congress failed to address immigration reform that passed in a the senate had nothing to do with Obama and everything to do with Boehner. Trump has made the matter much worse and don't for an instant think this headline is anything like the truth. There is not enough manpower to deal with the hundreds of thousands pouring across the border under Trump.
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@George: Not quite accurate. During the Obama administration those here illegally were being deported at an increasing rate. The failure to enforce our immigration laws long preceded Obama.
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@George
Ah yes, that 'rule of law' that does not seem to apply when people up the ladder in our society (looking at you, inside trading senators and this entire administration).
I would have a lot more confidence in enforcement when I see those in government who blatantly break Federal Law being treated in the exact same way as the least able to defend themselves. Is this OK with all of you strict Law and order types? Or is that too much to ask for?
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