More Misinformation from the Media
The new and bewildering policies of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seem more aimed at punishing people simply for being in this country illegally, as opposed to going after truly bad people who deserve to be removed. . . .
Does the nation benefit by forcing people whose only crimes were overstaying visas or entering the country illegally—the two most frequent immigration violations—to separate from their families? Until last year, ICE officers were forbidden by government order from arresting immigrants for either violation. Criminals were supposed to be the priority. – Immigration Crackdown Bypasses Criminals to Punish Family Breadwinners, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Editorial, 3/22/18 [link]
Fact Check: What is bewildering is why anyone thinks there’s something wrong with punishing foreigners with the penalty, proscribed by our law, of deportation. Even if they are relatively nice people, they are just as deserving of deportation as “truly bad people.” Illegal immigration, contrary to what they suggest, is not a victimless crime. Staying in America illegally for any length of times usually entails the violation of multiple laws, and many of them harm American citizens.
Among these violations are taking American jobs, using programs and public assistance at the expense of native-born citizens, tax evasion, and identity theft to create false IDs. Unchecked illegal immigration, in general, creates an atmosphere of lawlessness, which undermines our country’s rule of law.
The claim about “separating families” is the mantra illegal alien advocates use to manipulate emotion and sentiment in favor of their cause. The reality is that illegal aliens commonly separate themselves from the families they leave back home, and in some cases abandon them completely. In the case where they have family members in the U.S., those relatives can go back home with them if they are deported.
When President Obama was in office he used his authority to curtail immigration law enforcement. Now that President Trump is reversing that policy and enforcing the law, illegal alien advocates are outraged. If they think that the penalty of deportation for most illegal residence is wrong, they should have the honesty to call for its repeal. Also, for the sake of consistency, they should call for the end of the United States as a sovereign country. That is what abolition of almost all immigration law enforcement implies.