The term “Illegal Immigrant” Dehumanizes the Person

For some time now there has been a campaign (Drop the I-Word) advocating for people  -- including the press -- to stop using the terms “illegals,” “illegal alien,” or “illegal immigrant” to describe foreign nationals present in the United States without authorization.  Their motto is:  No human being is illegal.  The campaign has pushed for the term, “illegal,” to be used only to describe actions and not to be used to describe individuals. People concerned with immigrants’ rights can learn more about the “Drop the I-Word” campaign, by visiting http://colorlines.com/droptheiword/.  Although the use of the terms has decreased, “illegal immigrant” still appears to be the way many refer to undocumented people.

For more information, visit: http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/06/19/2181301/illegal-alien-terms/ and http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/17/illegal-undocumented-unauthorized-news-media-shift-language-on-immigration/.  

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests People for Following the Law

ACLU (October 17, 2013)

Although in the past several years, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has issued several policy memoranda directing its limited enforcement resources at removing (i.e., deporting) serious criminals, people with final orders of removal, and recent illegal entrants, as opposed to going after people merely for being undocumented.  The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California reports that ICE has engaged in raids at area court houses arresting foreign nationals who have appeared to pay tickets, to attend hearings, or even to get married.  Many of the people arrested are long-time residents with no criminal histories. The ACLU fears that these raids will create a chilling effect on people exercising their civic duty to appear at courts. The ACLU has written to the Acting Director of ICE, John Sandweg, asking him to stop these raids and asking him to add courts to the list of “sensitive locations,” like churches and schools, where ICE should not engage in raids unless there are exigent circumstances.

For more information about the raids, visit: http://www.aclusocal.org/arrested-following-law/. 

For more information about ICE’s memo on raids at “sensitive locations,” visit: https://www.ice.gov/doclib/ero-outreach/pdf/10029.2-policy.pdf. 

For more information about the ACLU letter to ICE, visit: http://www.aclusocal.org/letter-to-ice-kern-county/. 

For more information about ICE’s enforcement priorities, visit: http://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2011/110302washingtondc.pdf and http://www.ice.gov/doclib/secure-communities/pdf/prosecutorial-discretion-memo.pdf and https://www.ice.gov/doclib/secure-communities/pdf/domestic-violence.pdf.  

High Rate of Deportations Continue Under Obama Despite Latino Disapproval 

Pew Research Center (September 19, 2013)

Although President Obama has come under attack by conservatives for his support of comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship and for his 2012 policy on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that permits certain young people present in the United States without authorization to remain in the United States temporarily with work authorization, President Obama nevertheless still deports more people each year than the George W. Bush Administration.  That fact alone should alert readers that President Obama is not “soft” on enforcing the immigration law.  He continues this policy despite opposition from many Latinos. 

For more information, visit: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/19/high-rate-of-deportations-continue-under-obama-despite-latino-disapproval/. 

To see ICE’s removal statistics, visit: https://www.ice.gov/removal-statistics/. 

What is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)? 

With Congress stalling on immigration reform, advocates are calling on President Obama to take executive action, similar to his executive action announcing in 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), to defer enforcement of the immigration law against (i.e., stop the deportation of) undocumented people.  DACA is a form of prosecutorial discretion, which is the authority of the immigration authorities to choose how to focus their limited enforcement resources.  For example, the immigration authorities can choose to prioritize who should be deported from the United States.  Currently, ICE’s top priority for removal from the United States are serious criminals, repeat immigration violators, and immigration fugitives.  The lowest priority for removal are those foreign nationals whose only offense is to be present in the United States without authorization (i.e., undocumented people).  On June 15, 2012, President Obama announced that certain young people who had arrived in the United States before their 16th birthday and who remained here without authorization through no fault of their own, were a low priority for deportation from the United States. He determined that these young people could come forward to apply for protection from deportation and, if granted, they could remain in the United States for two years and obtain work authorization. They will be able to apply to renew their status before their two years are completed.  This program is known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) because the government is deferring action temporarily against a targeted group of people who arrived in the United States as children.  It does not extend to all undocumented people in the United States. It does not give the beneficiaries legal status in the United States. 

For more information about DACA and its eligibility requirements, visit the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website at http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-process.

Justice for Immigrants Campaign National Call-in day to Congress in Support of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

On November 13, 2013, the Justice for Immigrants Campaign, a broad network of Catholic institutions supporting comprehensive immigration reform including a broad legalization program, will coordinate a nationwide call-in to members of Congress to have them support comprehensive immigration reform and to oppose the Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement (SAFE) Act (H.R. 2278), a bill introduced in the House of Representatives that would make it a crime (punishable with jail time) to be present in the United States without authorization.  It would also impose harsher penalties on people who violate the immigration law.  November 13th is a feast day to honor St. Frances Cabrini, patron saint of immigrants. 

For more information about the call-in, visit http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/index.shtml. 

To learn more about the SAFE Act, visit the Immigration Policy Center of the American Immigration Council at http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/cracking-safe-act. 

Legalization of U.S. Unauthorized Residents:  A Rule of Law or Access to Justice Issue?    

By Donald Kerwin, The Huffington Post (October 30, 2013)

Many people who oppose legalization of undocumented people state that the undocumented people who legalize would be jumping ahead in the line before others who have been waiting patiently in line to lawfully immigrate to the United States. In fact, many of the undocumented people are the very same people who have been waiting in line to immigrate lawfully to the United States but the broken immigration system leaves them languishing there. The law as it currently exists does not afford sufficient visas for family members to immigrate legally to the United States. As a consequence, many family members come to the United States to be reunited with family members but remain without authorization. Many of these same people might be eligible now to regularize their status but they do not know it because they cannot afford or access legal assistance to help them resolve their immigration issues.  One of the outcomes of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is that many undocumented people who sought legal assistance to apply for DACA (a temporary relief from deportation) discovered that they were eligible for more permanent forms of relief.  Foreign nationals in the United States do not choose to be undocumented. They seek to regularize their status but either the law does not afford a pathway or they cannot access the legal services that would adequately guide them through the labyrinthine ways of the immigration system. 

For more information, visit Donald Kerwin’s blog post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donald-kerwin/legalization-of-us-unauth_b_4175108.html. 

Alabama Agrees to Permanently Gut Immigration Law

In 2011, Alabama signed into law HB 56, reportedly the strictest anti-immigrant law in the United States.  The law made it a crime for undocumented immigrants to seek work;  for people to give undocumented immigrants a ride in their car or to rent to undocumented immigrants; and for undocumented people to fail to register their immigration status.  The law also prohibited people from entering into contracts with undocumented people and required schools to verify the immigration status of students in kindergarten through 12th grade.  It requires law enforcement officers, who during a stop or an arrest have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the United States without authorization, to determine the person’s immigration status.  Multiple groups challenged the law. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a number of provisions of the law. Alabama appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court but earlier this year the Supreme Court upheld the 11th Circuit.  Earlier this week Alabama agreed in a settlement to permanently block the provisions that were overturned by the court. 

For more information about the law and the settlement, visit: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/29/241685794/alabama-agrees-to-permanently-gut-immigration-law and http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/civil-rights-coalition-victorious-in-suit-against-alabama-s-anti-immigrant-law.

For the text of HB 56, visit: http://legiscan.com/AL/text/HB56/id/321074/Alabama-2011-HB56-Enrolled.pdf.