My Opinion — Page 6

Don’t Believe the Lies About the Obama Administration: He is Enforcing the Law

August 2, 2012 by Matthew

I just read an article where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) union representatives were complaining that the immigration laws are not being enforced. Yesterday, I read an article where Republicans were complaining that the immigration laws are not being enforced. If you read the news, you would think that no one is being deported. This is far from the truth.

The sad reality is that more people have been deported under President Obama than any other president. More non-citizens are being held in immigration detention centers than ever before. More is being done to protect the border than ever before.

President Obama does not want the immigration laws not to be enforced. He wants to prioritize enforcement. We have an estimated 12-14 million undocumented aliens in the United States. Additionally, there is an unknown number of residents that have been convicted of crimes that they can be deported for. The ICE is only capable of deporting about 400,000 people per year. President Obama wants to focus on deporting the bad people (i.e., criminals and dangers to national security).

Hunting down criminal aliens and individuals who are a danger to national security, should be the goal of the ICE union representatives. However, based upon the statements being made, they would prefer to go after high school valedictorians that are undocumented. The reality is that it takes more man power and hours to go after the dangerous people. It’s relatively easy to catch undocumented aliens. A factory raid can result in hundreds of people being placed in removal proceedings. Ultimately, it’s about statistics. Prioritizing criminal aliens and dangers to national security will result in less people being caught and deported because ICE cannot round these individuals up as efficiently as they can the undocumented aliens. Government bureaucracies are judged by their statistics.

Having practiced immigration law since 1997, I’m not so sure that President Obama’s change in priority is actually bad for morale at ICE. The people who work at ICE are normal people like you and me. The only difference is that they have a very difficult job. It’s not easy to have a job where you separate families and detain people with no criminal history as if they were criminals. On many occasions, I have observed ICE officers that did not appear comfortable with the things that they had to do because of their job. I would think that many ICE officers would like President Obama’s policy of prioritizing enforcement of immigration laws because it makes them less likely to have to detain and deport sympathetic people.

As for the Republicans, they’re just lying because they don’t want President Obama to be re-elected.

DREAMers Need to Wait Until After the Election

August 1, 2012 by Matthew

All over the internet, there seems to be a buzz about President Obama’s policy to grant deferred action for non-citizens who would benefit from the DREAM Act. Everyone seems to be excited about the idea that individuals who are undocumented will have the opportunity to work legally and not fear deportation. Everyone seems to be praising President Obama for his policy. I do not share their enthusiasm.

President Obama has merely issued a policy. This is NOT a law. Once the Obama Presidency is over, the next president is free to discontinue the policy. What President Obama has done is not a wonderful thing. It is an election year stunt that is taking advantage of people who are desperate. During the Republican Primaries, Mitt Romney repeatedly stated that he opposed the DREAM Act, so it should be no surprise that Mr. Romney has come out and stated that he will not continue the policy, if he is elected.

A lot of people may be thinking that if they get their paper work in right away, it will be approved and they’ll have deferred action for 2 years. When President Obama announced his policy in June, he indicated that it would take the Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) until August 15th to come up with a procedure for applying. There is a rumor that there will be a filing fee. I suspect that due to the volume of requests that will be received, as well as the bureaucracy that will be created to process the requests, it will take months for the requests to be processed. It’s very likely to take months for these applications to be processed. If CIS actually begins accepting applications on August 15th, it’s not likely that it will be approved before the election. If Obama loses and your application is not processed before Romney takes office, they you will have wasted your money on the application. If you file before the election and Romney wins, not only is it likely that you will not receive deferred action, but you run the risk of bringing yourself to the attention of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation. The election is a little over three months away. What’s the harm in waiting to file your deferred action request?

Dirty Secret About Criminals Who Sell Fraudulent Immigration Papers

July 27, 2012 by Matthew

It probably shouldn’t be necessary to tell non-citizens not to purchase fraudulent immigration papers, so that they appear to be legal. It’s against the law and you should know not to break the law. I understand that it’s difficult to live in the United States without papers. However, there’s another reason why you shouldn’t buy fake immigration papers.

I have been practicing immigration law since 1997. I regularly see non-citizens get placed into removal proceedings because they purchase fake I-94 stamps, green cards, U.S. birth certificates, naturalization certificates, and U.S. passports. These people always get caught the same way: the people who sell the fraudulent documents keep lists of everyone that they sell fake papers to, so that if they ever get caught they can make a deal with the prosecutors. If you buy these fake papers, it is inevitable that you will be caught. This is because when the Government catches the person who you bought the fake papers from, your dealer in fake documents is going to give the prosecutor your name, so that he spends less time in jail. It’s just not worth it to purchase fake immigration documents.

Moreover, pretending to be a U.S. citizen when you are not is the immigration “kiss of death.” There is nothing that will save you from deportation, if you falsely claim to be a U.S. citizen. Just don’t do it!