Self Deportation As Farce; Tougher Immigration Laws Push Undocumented Further Underground

Salon.com:

Chalk it up as one of the unexpected consequences of the intense media attention devoted to the Republican presidential nomination race. When Mitt Romney announced his support for the concept of “self-deportation” during a Florida debate last week, reporters instantly shone a bright spotlight on a strategy for removing illegal immigrants from the United States that had hitherto been mostly flying under the radar.

The word "self-deportation" has an agreeable, voluntary ring to it, suggesting that undocumented workers will happily decide of their own free will to return to their home countries, without the necessity for direct government action by ICE agents. The truth is something different: Self-deportation, as practiced today, is supposed to be the only choice left available to immigrants whose life has been made miserable by new, punitive laws put into place at the state level.

Read the whole story: Salon.com

Comments

[AZ Stang]

09:52 AM on 02/04/2012

Whatever works...

[BlairCase]

12:40 PM on 02/03/2012

According to a Huffington Post artilce that went online Jan. 31, Alabama's new immigration law has forced up to 80,000 undocumented immigrants out of the state in just a few months. That is an impressive number of self-deportations, considering that Alabama's undocumented immigrant population was 120,000, including dependents. .

[randyjet]

10:49 AM on 02/03/2012

I am outraged at this authors lack of concern for his fellow Americans who are the ones being hurt the worst by illegals. He is concerned about the poverty of illegals, but cannot give a damn about American workers who get their wages driven down. This is the worst form of racism, since those who are hurt most are Mexican Americans, black Americans, and unskilled poor whites. This author is NOT of the laboring class of people, so I can see why he has such crocodile tears for the poor illegals, since he is the main beneficiary of their cheap labor, while the rest of us pay the price to subsidize his gardener, maid, etc..

[Elecktra001]

10:21 PM on 02/02/2012

Someone forgot to light up the HAVE PITY sign for this article.

[chtobo]

08:57 PM on 02/02/2012

Romney has talked to the "other romney"(the person who help writing the Arizona y Alabama laws) about illegal immigration, no knowledge about anything. Ignorante llama a Ignorante.

[randyjet]

10:44 AM on 02/03/2012

According to Hufpost and other articles, the AL law has worked rather well in getting illegals to leave the state. Adios!