Illinois elected officials Gutierrez, Curran, Quinn, and Durbin lead courageous defense of immigrant families.
On Tuesday the Obama administration's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that it has deported 396,906 immigrants in the past year. This is the highest number of deportations in U.S. history.
ICE considers it progress that 54% of the deportees are immigrants convicted of "criminal offenses" (either a felony or a misdemeanor). ICE does not specify how many of the deportees are guilty only of the most minor violations. So let us guess that at least 300,000 of the deportees are either guilty of nothing more than coming to the U.S. to work, or of some minor, non-violent offense. Many more of the deportees are people previously deported who have committed no violent crime but have only returned to the U.S. in order to re-unite with their spouses and children.
Congressman Luis Gutierrez responded correctly to the ICE announcement, saying that the record-setting number is "nothing to be proud of." In fact, the Obama administrations' increased enforcement has resulted in the mass incarceration of Latino immigrants. Recently the U.S. Sentencing Commission released statistics showing that, due to the massive increase of prosecutions for non-violent immigration offences, Latinos have become the majority of prisoners in federal prisons for the first time in U.S. history.
What does this very large number of 396,906 mean for families and U.S. citizen children? Let us assume that at least two-thirds of the deportees are married, with an average of 2.5 children. Thus, from the perspective of ICIRR, the impact of this year's accomplishments by ICE is that 654,895 children -- most of them U.S. citizens -- have lost a parent during just the past year due to deportation.
We cannot verify this number because ICE gives very limited information about who they deport. ICIRR had to wait for months to get a simple answer to our Freedom of Information request asking how many immigrants have been deported from the Chicago region in the last 5 years. The answer is 48,330, which using the same calculation means that in the Chicago area alone there are at least 80,550 children who have lost a parent in the last 5 years due to deportations.
Imagine if this were the result of a disease. The newspapers would be packed with stories about the unimaginable, devastating impact on families and communities of this epidemic, and the sages and pundits would be wringing their hands with angst over the future impact on society of this lost generation of children.
This week the Public Broadcasting System's program Frontline ran an incredible documentary by Maria Hinajosa called "Lost in Detention". This is a must-view for anyone remotely interested in the issue of the destruction of immigrant families and what it means for our society. The program includes a powerful interview with Lake County Republican Sheriff Mark Curran on why he has moved from an outspoken advocate of deportation to a vocal critic of these policies. Sheriff Curran will be honored this Friday evening by the Archdiocese of Chicago for his conversion and his courage. The documentary also features Jerry Stermer, Senior Advisor to Governor Pat Quinn, explaining why Illinois became the first state in the nation to withdraw from the Obama administration's signature deportation program, "Secure Communities".
On Wednesday the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee called Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano to testify. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin challenged Napolitano on the slowness of DHS and ICE to implement the stated commitment of the Obama administration to review pending deportations and terminate those of "low priority" cases, including those of DREAM students.
Meanwhile, even as the Frontline documentary was airing, the Republican candidates for President were debating the issue of immigration. Mitt Romney continued to hammer Rick Perry for his softness for supporting in-state tuition that allows undocumented youth to attend Texas universities. This is the same tactic that Romney used four years ago when he attacked John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Perry responded by pointing out Romney's hypocrisy. Romney was "outed" by the Boston Globe not once, but twice, for using undocumented workers to do the yardwork and clean the tennis courts at his mansion in Massachusetts. Unfortunately there was no mention of any workable solutions for immigrants, or any humanity shown towards the families being destroyed.
At ICIRR we mourn the destruction of hundreds of thousands of immigrant families due to the cowardice of politicians who refuse to solve the problem of our broken immigration laws. Republicans across the nation manipulate racial fear to motivate their base and we thank Republican Sheriff Curran for his courage in standing against this demagoguery. In Illinois we have many Democratic officials to be proud of -- our governor, Senator Durbin, Congressman Gutierrez. But I cannot accept the cynicism and cowardice of many Democrats -- including, tragically, the first African-American president of the United States, Barack Obama of Illinois -- who support and implement immigration policies that have resulted in the mass incarceration of Latinos for non-violent immigration violations; the racial profiling of Mexican and other immigrants by local police departments across the nation; and the destruction of immigrant families at historic levels.
Follow Joshua Hoyt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/icirr
Why is it nowhere to be found in this story where this person’s point of view is coming from? Is this person a "community organizer" supported by the very people he is writing about? Serious balance and disclaimer questions arise if this is true. Does this Author actually get paid by people who are breaking our immigration law to proselytize against that law? If so, why is disclosing this not been done? We expect no less of our politicians and expend huge amounts of resources to ensure it. Is this Author enabling the creation of a group of people in distress so that they can be encouraged to pay him to be a professional protester and complainer? Enquiring minds want to know. We expect no less a level of honesty and transparency from our advertisers. Remember Joe Camel?
Where were the Supporters when those wanting to live in the USA illegally were considering a trek across the harsh desert, telling them the journey could cost them their lives or the lives of any children they bring with? Why were they not at the Hospital warning the mother living in the USA illegally of the problems that lie ahead, of the possibility that deportation could separate her from her child? What about the children forced to leave everything behind by overstaying a tourist visa? Where were the Supporters when those children were ripped from everything they knew, the culture and language of their youth, to be hauled off to live illegally in that foreign land called the United States of America? Where were they when parents deserted their children to illegally work in the USA then paid to have their children smuggled illegally into the USA? The hypocrisy runs deep.
I ask you what is your arguement while immigrants who come here legally and do the requirements and wait 8-10 years to become a citizen....and they are pushed back in line to make room for the illegals. Explain to me how the illegals apply for and win SSI, free education, food stamps, medical care and housing, all at a cost of millions to the USA taxpayers, while the legal immigrants take a back seat and pay $10.000.00 for the right to become a citizen?
Please explain your arguement to me if you can.
Simple - three-hundred, ninety-six thousand, nine-hundred and six less illegal aliens inside the USA. Three-hundred, ninety-six thousand, nine-hundred and six less carbon footprints upon our land.
Three-hundred, ninety-six thousand, nine-hundred and six less unlicensed cars clogging our roads.
Three-hundred, ninety-six thousand, nine-hundred and six less absconded social security numbers.
Three-hundred, ninety-six thousand, nine-hundred and six less possibilities for exploding US population growth.
Etc.
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When the illegal aliens came to this country, they fully understood the risks. That means what all should want, if you are an American Citizen, is a workable solution that is human for the taxpayers. A bazzilion dollars to pamper the illegal aliens is not a bright idea. These two ideas are still current and working and human to the victims of the criminal illegal aliens: the taxpayers..
Cost of amnesty for illegal aliens... 2.6 trillion.
http://www.heritage.org/research/immigration/wm1490.cfm
Cost of deporting... $94 billion.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/estimate-for-deporting-illegal-immigrants-94-billion/
Oh do.. lets detain and deport.
Per the families.. they will be able to get together in the deported spouses homeland very easily. They won't be apart for any more than a couple of days.. and that IS the moral and right thing to do.
Unless of course, you are anti-American.
question - "Why did we have five kids"
answer - "Because we didn't want six"
Why would we deport people, even if they have children? Because the longer you allow people to live illegally in the United States, the more of a problem it is. Amnesty is NOT on the way. If you are living here illegally, you must be prepared to leave. The problems we have with illegal immigration are the direct result of ignoring immigration laws in the past. Ignoring them now only makes the problem bigger going into the future.