Jenny C

What do you think about this....

Immigrants caught and put in detention while they await their removal from the US or try to win their case and remain, can elect to work at the immigration detention facilities and get paid $1 a day. Aside from the ridiculousness of the amount they are paid -- do you see the contradiction? Immigrants who are unauthorized to work, CAN work for a dollar a day while in immigration detention.

What's up with that?

Please read the following article and make your comments. Do you think this was a correct decision?

http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/04/23/Feldmar/

Did you know that people coming from countries in places like Africa who are fleeing torture at home, often jump aboard a ship to come to the US? Maybe you did know that, but did you know that if a ship docks at a US port and a stowaway is found, the ship has to pay a huge fine to the US goverment? So, it might not come as a surprise that if the stowaway is discovered on the sea, it is common for them to be tossed off the ship?

What do you think about that?

Wh.at exactly do you think is meant by the term, "criminal?" I can admit that I have violated laws before -- speeding, ran a stop light, didn't make a complete stop, perhaps some unmentionable (but VERY limited!) experimentation with some herbal substances when I was an undergrad in college.

Am I a criminal?

Entering the US without proper authorization and without proper documentation is a misdemeanor. It is a law that is, frankly NOT enforced. When an immigration judge deports (or "removes") a person, this has nothing to do with the misdemeanor of entering "illegally." The immigration judge only decides if a person can stay or go.

Try to be objective for at least 10 seconds and REALLY think about your answer. Is a person who violates a minor law that is never enforced truly a "criminal?" If so, then I think every single person who reads this and answers it, is also a CRIMINAL!

How can people who clearly do not know even the most basic concepts of immigration make statements about immigration law?

This is a forum for the ranting of the ignorant.

NO! An immigrant is a person who moves to another country and intends to reside there permanently? When they immigrate legally, they first become lawful permanent residents. Lawful permanent residents ("LPRs") do not have the same rights as US citizens. They cannot vote. They can be deported. If they leave the US for too long, they can abandon their permanent residency.

If you are going to continue to opine about immigration issues, please learn at least this basic difference.

PS -- it's not even amnesty.

I don't think so. If someone is undocumented and they get papers authorizing them to work lawfully, they are no longer "illegal." People are up in arms, so to speak, about what they ignorantly and erroneously think is an amnesty bill. There are already a number of ways that people who enter the US without permission ("illegally") can become permanent residents.

A person cannot become a permanent resident automatically when they marry a US citizen or have a US citizen child who turns 21. The law requires they prove they entered the US legally. The policy is clear -- don't reward people for entering the US illegally.

There are millions of undocumented immigrants in the US who have US citizen or permanent resident relatives who have petitioned for them (the 1st step in becoming a permanent resident). Much like this Z visa thing, they would have to leave the US, and get a waiver and come back. The immigration fees are no where near $5000.

GUESS WHAT? Very few of them choose to leave. Hardship, uncertainty of the waiver being granted, etc., all work against them. If these millions of people today aren't eagerly jumping on the next bus/plane/boat to get their residency and maybe come back, what makes you think this Z visa (erroneously called "amnesty" by so many of you) will actually be utilized? It requires them to leave for years.

A Mexican woman meets and marries her US citizen husband in her own country. The couple lives there for a few years. They have a rocky marriage, but she loves him and tries to make it work. After a few years, he decides they should come to the US. He smuggles her across the border. He is a very jealous man. Her life in the US is hell. He locks her in their apartment during the day. They live in a hot, humid climate and she is not allowed to turn on the air conditioning when he's not home. He beats her, rapes her and humiliates her.

She is an "illegal." Do you think she should be allowed to stay, or do you think she should be deported?

Coyotes assist people to enter the US illegally everyday. Did you know that they often abuse the people they bring in?

Imagine this -- big ring of coyotes brings couple from South America. Once in US, they hold couple (along with 30 or more others) in a house, against their will for over a month until one finally escapes and notifies police. While being held by coyotes, they are starved, forced to drink from toilets, tortured, degraded, forced to perform sexual acts. What do you think should happen to the immigrant victims of the coyotes?

The US government has an interest in prosecuting the coyotes, correct? They need witnesses to prosecute. If the victims testify, they are putting themselves in danger if they return to their countries. Do you think they should be allowed to remain legally?

This is based on a real case and this happens all the time.

Are you an "illegal" because you swam across the river from Mexico? What if you entered the country with a visa, but then you stayed longer than you were supposed to? Do you think one category is worse than another?

For your edification -- immigration courts are civil courts, not criminal courts. Immigration violations are not criminal violations, they are civil infractions.

I am shocked that in another question posted here, people actually expressed sentiments that inferred that it is worse to enter the US without permission than to commit a felony.

It is pretty much a general consensus that no one thinks immigrants should be permitted to reside in the US without authorization. Yet, everyone is freaking out about the possibility that the proposed legislation that would provide something very similar to amnesty will become law. The reason I hear repeated so much is -- no one should be allowed to be rewarded for coming to the US illegally.

Since everyone seems to have strong opinions about immigration law, but almost none are actually informed about immigration law, I will let you all in on a little "secret." There are in fact several ways currently in existence that certain immigrants who entered the US without permission can become legal.

Isn't the point is to have less illegals?