Demagoguing Deportation

The political and media demagoguery opposing deportation of illegal aliens is a perfidious force in our country. I recently heard Fox News reporter Bill Reilly characterize deportation as "dragging" illegal aliens back to Mexico or their home country. During the recent Republican debates, someone characterized deportation as "ripping" families apart.

The facts:

1. No child of illegal aliens is required to remain in the U.S. if their parents are deported. Their children born here are dual nationals and enjoy the same citizenship rights as their parents in their home countries, at least to age 18. It's call juste sanguine. It is based upon international protocol to protect dual national children (sometimes called "anchor babies" in the U.S.) and it allows the parents to make the decision on whether to leave children behind or take them with them back to their homelands. Child welfare workers may require court-ordered custodial guardians if the children are left behind.

2. No illegal alien has ever been deported from the United States without Constitutional due process.

3. Deportation Procedure probably has more avenues of appeals than any other legal proceeding.

4. There is a Board of Immigration Appeals that can overrule an immigration judge.

5. If all other avenues of appeal fail, an illegal alien still has the right to judicial review. This means that any case with merit can be transferred to a U.S. Court.

Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of deportees agree to waive a hearing before an immigration judge and request a voluntary departure to Mexico, or to Guatemala. These countries, which have relatively high numbers of illegal entrants into the U.S., do not require their foreign consuls to be notified and therefore consuls do not automatically interview every deportee. This procedure has often been demagogued by the Mexican Government, blaming the U.S. for not allowing all deportees to see their consuls before deportation. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is Mexico's own policy to not give interviews to all deportees. To do so would require the commitment of enormous manpower and monetary resources. Moreover, nationals from these two countries know that it is easier to return to their home countries, then re-enter the U.S. illegally, than to undergo the time and expense of a deportation proceeding, which can drag out for months.

It is easy for political and news media demagogues to make scapegoats of the immigration law enforcement agencies of the U.S. Government. False charges by the media and politicians of violating the rights of illegal aliens is standard fare. Most of the time the government cannot respond to more than a small number of the enormous amount of frivolous and trumped-up complaints. Moreover, the news media has no interest whatsoever in telling both sides of the deportation story, or in telling the unbiased, unvarnished truth. The only chance the public has for learning the truth about immigration deportation procedures is a few blogs like this, but most are mere cries in wilderness. Most Americans, and especially our demagogue politicians and news media, do not even want to know the truth when lies and distortions are easier than doing a little research--and serve their purposes much better. Anyone willing to learn the truth about deportation procedures can research the following sections of immigration law: 8 USC 1251, 8 USC 1225, 8 USC 1324 and 8 USC 1123. All are available on the Internet.

Deportation goes on daily in this country. It is the only fair way to handle illegal immigration. Amnesties only exacerbate the problem and encourage more contempt for, not only immigration laws, but for all of our laws--and the rule of law itself. We have had three amnesties for illegal aliens in the past 35 years [IRCA, 245(i) and Extension of 245(i)], the last one in the past ten years. Those who say we cannot deport illegal aliens are the problem. We can, just as we did when Eisenhower was President, and once we show resolve, there will be a mass exodus of illegal aliens back to their home countries, just as there was in 1954. A national I.D. card with sanctions against employers, and illegal aliens alike, would stop illegal immigration in a heartbeat.

Many illegal Mexicans in the U.S. own free farm land in Mexico (called "ejidos") and free farm implements that they may check out from their government owned co-ops. While they are here illegally, most of them pay friends or relatives to occupy the ejidos in order that it not be re-possessed and re-issued by their Mexican government. A local "Commissario" oversees the farms. These farms are self-sufficient and most produce enough crops and livestock to support their families, just as our own farmers were self-sufficient during the Great Depression (I remember it well). They all produced milk, butter, lard, eggs, garden vegetables, pork and beef. they bartered for such staples as syrup. Most of them made their own bread (biscuits) in those days. If there was no money, chickens were used as a medium of exchange to buy a few necessities.