running a red light is against the law too, so its a crime... including talking on your cellphone while driving; oh let me guess, its not THAT kind of a crime, until you run over someone in the street. EVERYONE has done something against the law... some crimes though should be considered dif from others... were all people, we make mistakes, sometimes it isnt our fault. im NOT talking about major crimes.

and Dave, immigration already has the info concerning who is a "flight risk" or "dangerous to the coumunity"... why dont they follow those "laws"...

personally they put me and my father an ankle bracelet, i HAD to stay home for 16 hours and only allowed to be outside for 8 hours. i couldn't leave NYS, even though some of my dad's jobs were in NJ. i had to appear at Federal Plaza 3 times a week for 3 months (until i surendered my passport)... neither my father or I had any criminal record.

the irony was that the immigration officer told me "hey ur lucky ur not inside, u can go to school and still go to work"... and i was like "yea, go to school and work when your only allowed to be outside 8 hours a day"... haha

but they have no problem accepting the taxes i pay, sales, property tax, social security, medicare; i guess not...

Elliot Folley, laws are made by PEOPLE. those people have their own opinions. its a bureocracy, dont think that they care about you Elliot. they have to feed their families, and trust me, if you get in their way, weather ur an immigrant or a citizen, they will squish your little head till u start questioning what kind of country you live in.

Though many immigrants who are here illegally do not have criminal convictions, that gives no one an excuse to overstay their visas. A law is a law. We must follow it whether or not we like it. If certain laws are either unfair or just plain ridiculous, they need to be fixed, not gotten rid of. Take the flight risk list. It is a good idea, it just needs to be handled more carefully and be more precise so it won't pick on individuals who simply have the same name as the one who is a threat. But back to the topic, If the immigrants who are here illegally truly want to become citizens, they must follow the same steps that immigrants who enter legally do. You cannot grant citizenship to anyone and everyone who simply want it. To become a citizen of another country is not a God giving right it is a privilege. If I was to go to Mexico, or, Argentina, with no criminal convictions and a desire to become a citizen of that country yet get denied, would you fight for me?

to Luis Ramios,

#1 - most overstayed their visas and applied for asylum within the time allowed. (theres no sutch thing as a asylee visa, therefore people have to find the legal means of coming here 1st.

#2, - if law is the law, wich i know it is, it MUST be followed by both sides. the Immigration Of Nationality Act of 1996, its the general law today. You can see that neither ICE or who ever else have followed that law.

#3, - the lawyers and the judges that sit on the throne, YOU elect them, and YOU give them their licenses. its YOUR job to make sure they follow the right procedures and do not base their decisions on personal opinion.

#4, - Immigrants before and immigrants now are 2 diferent things. Dont look at how your parenets came and how you are a citizen, (your probably from a Latin descent)...

#5, - It IS a privalege, but make sure you enforce those rights that are in the "law" book. Every country has to follow the international laws. When you go and bombard a country, and kill inocent civilians, expect a huge line of refugees... or wether you go and exploit other nations just so you can buy things for cheap, expect to get a payback by having everything made in China.

#6, - in the end its all about business. if Americans are told that they should be scared, Americans will pour billions to be defended. Sometimes that fear is imaginary. thats how DHS got more power, later forming ICE.

#7, - were talking about children, not CIR, thats something more broad. make humane laws. thats the reason you dont get the death penalty for rubing a pack of gums.

#8, - never be a hypocrite, do your hw and educate yourself about the issue and put yourself in other people's shoes. IF you want to make the world better.

Luis Ramos, many Latinos in general got their citizenship from the Amnesty of 89, they should NEVER forget how they lived before that and look at the ones right now as if their bad.

And just a further correction: immigrants are citizens of other countries.

Dave, I'm so glad you mentioned this article. I read it yesterday and was outraged because the public discourse of deporting people back to their home countries has always been focused on getting rid of criminals that are terrorizing the United States. This is what the public was told is the main concern of the US government. From the Migration Policy Institute's report, its obvious that what we're dealing with is a very different agenda, when 75% of those people who have been arrested under this Operation have been the nannies and the gardeners who had no previous criminal histories and most of them no active deportation orders. Aggressively seeking the "easy targets" becomes very dangerous as lines get blurred and these raids become overwhelmingly anti-Latino.

More and more I realize what this country is really based on: economic freedom for those on top. To respond to Dave Avery's question of "Why does the Untied States only deport about 1% of illegal aliens?" Because they don't really want to. Wealthy people who own companies and have friends in the US government enjoy the ability to take advantage of undocumented workers' vulnerability. I mean they get such a great deal, right? A workforce that works very hard for very little pay, and are too scared to leave. A work force that often believes that they have no rights, they have no voice, and are forced into accepting their conditions and remaining loyal. And whenever they want to act up, just hold it over their heads that they can always call INS and have them deported. Isn't that the ideal workforce for a money-hungry executive and his government friends?

And Alex, your #5 is right on point. We must not forget that we live in a GLOBAL world. The decisions made in the US affect China, Japan, and countries across Latin America, Europe and Africa. A long history of foreign policy that only benefits the US and takes advantage of smaller, less wealthy, and less powerful governments that were stripped of their natural resources and are now unable to provide for their people, is what shapes the economic, political, religious, push-pull factors that bring people here in the first place. The US does not exist in isolation, lets not forget that.

Hi Dave,
            First of all, I am an immigrant. Or better said, I was, because I consider myself now absolutely American, with no loyalty or feelings for any other country in the world. Since the first day I came here, I was shocked after seeing the amount of illegal aliens free on the streets. I was shocked with the one thousand and one techniques immigrants use in this country to steal money from the federal institutions and get benefits. Bottom line, ANY third world country has at least ten times better border protection and ten times tougher immigration laws.

That lady, Mrs. Bernstein, is an ignorant. And this is why: How is it possible that you can call an illegal alien "somebody with no criminal record" if being an illegal alien makes him automatically a criminal?? I really don't know what happened with common sense in some people. I don't know if journalists like her are trying to play stupid? or they are so smart that they play with words to manipulate the ignorant population with sensationalism?? I really cannot understand. Crossing the border into the United States without and official authorization and even worst, hiding from authorities, IT IS A CRIME. Period. It is written in our laws and must be enforced at all costs. If an illegal alien is cutting grass or dealing with drugs here, that is absolutely secondary. The primary issue here, is that both are illegal aliens and both of them MUST BE DEPORTED as soon as possible. If some day we are going to give them the benefit of apply to come here legally, that is perfectly fine, BUT they must wait outside like averybody else does.

This is not anymore the late 1800's where people was coming here from Europe to a new world, where they could begin again a new life, forget what they left behind, become Americans and melt their backgrounds to make a bigger and richier culture. Today, MOST of the people comes here to take advantages of the so called opportunities. A country, simply cannot afford to be the welfare of the world. Our immigration system should give the opportunity to everybody around the world to come here and become Americans, but we need to ensure first, through different filters, procedures, that we are letting the right people come in.

If an illegal alien is cutting the grass is a good person and should deserve to be here, that is perfect. Perhaps in the future we will let people like him come in. In the meantime, under the United States laws, he is commiting a crime by staying here illegaly and must be deported. Just like I get a ticket if I cross with red light.

"How is it possible that you can call an illegal alien "somebody with no criminal record" if being an illegal alien makes him automatically a criminal??"

Crossing the border without inspection is a misdemeanor, overstaying a visa is not a crime.  There is no recognition in the Immigration and Nationality Act of the term "illegal alien."  "Being an illegal alien," as you put it, does not make someone automatically a criminal.  So no, that lady Mrs. Bernstein is not an ignorant.

All these negative comments are getting me down.  This is not intended to be a community of people happy with the current regime of raids, imprisonment, and fear.  That's not change, that's the status quo.  There are other communities for that--you know where they are.  I'm not interested in battling each and every restrictionist troll who stumbles by.  And like weeds in the garden, you constrict the positive discourse this site is intended to facilitate.  I'm tired of dealing with it--it's a real downer at the end of the day. 

Mr. Dave Bennion may I ask you a question?
WHat is the reason you delete the post you don't like and you leave the ones that you like? I mean, I know this is your article, you own it, but with those actions, I don;t see any type of prefessionalism coming from you. If you really have strong evidence and arguments to defend your position of open borders, amnesty and socialism, then you should levae everybody express their opinion and debate. That is how grown men deal with an issue. Remember our constitution provides the freedom of speech to each American.

I think by deleting posts you are trying to hide something...

But if that is your policy, it's fine. I, like millions of Americans, will look for a different way to approach President Obama like we are doing right now as I write.

We are fortunate that President Obama is a smart person, a great American, and now, in the presidency, he clearily understand the issue and will act accordingly.

If you would like to find a solution for this problem, you are more than welcome to expose your proposals and principles. If you are a lawyer, you know we have immigration laws. Let's start enforcing them, and then let's see how we can reform them fr the convenience and prosperity of our nation.

First, this: http://immigration.change.org/blog/view/a_note_on_comments

Also, this site is in no way affiliated with the Obama administration.  You're welcome to contact him if you wish.

I'm an attorney and a blogger.  I'm not a journalist and I don't work for the government.  I don't like what all three branches of government have been doing on immigration since at least the 1990s, I don't like how the media has covered the issue (with some exceptions), and I don't like how nativists have basically run wild unopposed on the issue for the last 5 years. 

This blog is in part an effort to push back against all of that.  If you don't like it, vote with your feet and don't drive up our pageviews.

Also, I don't have time to debate each and every restrictionist who hasn't read any of the last 50 posts or visited the "about" page: http://immigration.change.org/about

Then if that is your agenda, keeping the posts that agree with you and deleting those who could enlight people, you are acting just like a liberal journalist. That is how the drive by media brain wash the ignorant population. Showing just one face of the coin. If your intention is to propose ideas, then start a blog and delete every single comment but not some of them. That seems more like marxism.

Perhaps you should at least provide a link with a blog where you expose your own proposals for the immigration problem instead of  offering a false view of the current situation.

I am sure that the reality is, many of the people here that you don't like, have valid arguments to debate your point of views and that is why you delete their posts. You owning this blog, is easy to use trick cards like racism, hate, "troll" or whatever; when the reality is another, and Americans know that.

By the way, I am saving print screens of the web site with the comments posted and then the comments deleted. Let's see how professional is that. The information is saved, available for the world to decide.

READ PLEASE:

Dave deletes your posts becasue they either are personaly directed or are not intended on the idea of change. he deleted a couple of my posts as well. how you explain that?

Listen b/c you all are getting very anoying. there's a new administration, its slogan is "Change". the law is already being enforced, people ARE getting deported, the ones that are a priority are not being deported first; easy targets are.

ICE was created as part of the Department of Homeland SECURITY. the whole argument here is to find common ground and to talk in a way to providing a realistic solution to the problem. Theres plenty of people that have posted here and expressed their views (that didnt agree with me) i was glad to sit down and talk to them about it, try and see what we can do to better the situation in a realistic and humane manner.

i get on this site to see what some people say and to see their views, sometimes i learn new things, and some times i hear the same old tired argument. theres a couple of things that i agree with some of you, sutch as:

E-Verify,
secure border,
prioritize dangerous illegal alliens,
pay fines,
be under some time of "probation"
pay taxes,
wait in the back of the line
etc.

we cannot do that unless you let us do it. your not even letting us breath. and the whole argument is blah blah their taking our jobs.. BE SMART, my uncle came from hes country 10 years ago, now hes a legal permanent resident, he got a job before the American, are you going to deport him too now?

if you wanted the borders fixed, then you should have done it... you have to understand that people have personalities, theres no right and wrong when it comes to someone's opinion. there IS a right or wrong when it comes to treating people humanely. wether your in the United States or anywhere else in the world.

during WWII, German soldiers just prayed not to surrender to the Russian army, b/c Russia didnt hold prisoners, neither treated them, they just killed them on the spot.

b/c were undocumented doesnt mean we dont make mistakes, the immigration law today, realizes those things and is created in a way that people are treated like people. regardless, you would want to be treated the same way when you go on another country.

if your opinion was the only right one, then every state would allow the death penalty.

to Steve Brown, not even the budget that ICE receives to deport is $330 billion. do you have any idea how much $330 billion is a year??

another point i want to make, education is essential to competing in a global economy, Bill Gates is gona send job overseas and bring people on student visas... you have to invest in education; not cut $60 Billion from the stimulus package.

You've done a stellar job with this blog, Dave. Please don't let the trolls get you down. I think Amy has already expressed what I had in mind to say, but more eloquently.  I just wanted to add that I like what you had to say about your experience with missed court dates. I think it's very valuable to hear from people who actually "working in the trenches," so to speak, and witnessing what goes on (people like you and Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas).  And thank goodness for reporters like Nina Bernstein!  Thanks for sharing that :-)

Older Americans know which way the wind blows!


1965 Immigration act,

Quote:                                                                                                                                                 

(1)Among those who more accurately foresaw the future effects of the change in immigration law was a certain Myra C. Hacker, Vice President of the New Jersey Coalition, who testified at a Senate immigration subcommittee hearing: "In light of our 5 percent unemployment rate, our worries over the so called population explosion, and our menacingly mounting welfare costs, are we prepared to embrace so great a horde of the world's unfortunates? At the very least, the hidden mathematics of the bill should be made clear to the public so that they may tell their Congressmen how they feel about providing jobs, schools, homes, security against want, citizen education, and a brotherly welcome ... for an indeterminately enormous number of aliens from underprivileged lands." "We should remember that people accustomed to such marginal existence in their own land will tend to live fully here, to hoard our bounteous minimum wages and our humanitarian welfare handouts ... lower our wage and living standards, disrupt our cultural patterns ..." "Whatever may be our benevolent intent toward many people, [the bill] fails to give due consideration to the economic needs, the cultural traditions, and the public sentiment of the citizens of the United States." (U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 681-687.)



(2)Hart-Celler Act hearings 1965   Quote: Senate immigration subcommittee chairman Edward Kennedy (D-MA.) reassured his colleagues and the nation with the following:   "First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually. Under the proposed bill, the present level of immigration remains substantially the same ... Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset ... Contrary to the charges in some quarters, [the bill] will not inundate America with immigrants from any one country or area, or the most populated and deprived nations of Africa and Asia ... In the final analysis, the ethnic pattern of immigration under the proposed measure is not expected to change as sharply as the critics seem to think." Sen. Kennedy concluded by saying,   "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs." (U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 1-3.)

(3)"This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this." -- Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy on the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

Daves;I agree with Dave A, but not with Dave B.  Dave A. is presenting numbers, facts, and history.  Dave B. is accusing Dave A of race-baiting, and nativism (whatever that means).  Dave B, should present some facts and figures of his own and add something constructive to the conversation.

Nativism is an opposition to immigration or to specific ethnic or cultural groups because the groups are considered hostile or alien to the natural culture, and it is assumed that they cannot be assimilated.

For a while Benjamin Franklin was hostile to Germans in colonial Pennsylvania. In 1798 the Alien and Sedition Acts limited the ability of immigrants, especially radicals from France and Ireland, to gain full political rights, and they became a major political issue in the 1800 election.

This form of nationalism is often identified with xenophobia and anti-Catholic sentiment.

Anti-German nativism (1840s to 1920)
-------------------------------------

Anti-Irish nativism (1830s to the 1850s) << look at this part,

In the 1870s Irish American immigrants attacked Chinese immigrants in the western states, driving them out of smaller towns.

^^ Despite the fact that Irish immigrants were unwanted here by the people before them, they later attacked Chinise immigrants.

**Bear in mind, that during those times there was no sutch thing as "illegal immigrants", everyone basically came off the boat. and yet people didnt want the ones that came after them.

Dave,

I apologize for provoking the restrictionists on this blog. Pete Coyotl is right: it's not a good idea to debate them (just make your point and let them rail away).  Otherwise, they will argue you all the way down the page, and I know you are getting tired of their rants (highjacking blogs is their m.o.). Now, I don't care what they say about me, but it bothers me when they start picking on other people.  I’ve been called every name in the book: "unpatriotic," "traiter," "socialist," "hater," and most entertainingly, a "racist" against white men (my father is white and my mother Latina). I learned to have a sense of humor about it. But there are times when I take it personally because I have family members and students who are undocumented. My boyfriend was undocumented for many years, and he lived in constant fear of deporting.  His family received death threats in Colombia, so they sought refuge here in the States. It is sadly ironic that asylum seekers continue to live with so much fear when they arrive in the “land of the free.” So, I feel the anxieties of the people all around me in the current atmosphere of fear and intolerance. I suppose this is why I get a bit feisty like a tigress defending her cubs. But I can see that it's counterproductive and I'm sorry.

when i hear them say things that bring me down; all i think is...

its peanut butter jelly time!, peanut butter jelly time!; were it at were it at... lol