Links: A. Foreign Criminals Allowed To Stay In The U.S.
B. Almost 31,000 Foreign Criminals Released In U.S.
Forgive me; the two links I have chosen tonight deliver almost the same exact message. I chose to include the second link because the source of the first, The Daily Caller, makes no bones about its decidedly anti-Obama perspective. Occasionally another less-political source can provide a bit of seriousness to an issue. The debate regarding President Obama's determination to utilize an "Executive Order" to reform Immigration Policy is in full swing. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the results of the most recent midterm elections were a referendum on President Obama's intentions, more than an indictment of his record. I'm sure some folks who are directly impacted voted in support of the Keystone Pipeline, and persons in parts of Kentucky voted for Mitch McConnell because of fear that a Democratic Senator would support Obama's anti-coal agenda. But one issue resonated in every precinct from San Diego County to Bangor, Maine. The majority of Americans do not support an Amnesty for persons living in the United States illegally. Here is a news flash for the Beltway Politicians from both parties. The average American does not get caught up in the weeds of an issue. How long has the person been here illegally? Have they spent any time in jail? What were the living conditions like in their home country? Why didn't they pursue resident alien status during their time living here sin documentos? Who cares? At the end of the day, it is the simple case of an adult making the decision to predicate his first visit to this country with the breaking of one of our laws.
The average American, God Bless Him 'Em, likes to keep things simple. If someone purposely and illegally crossed the U.S. border from Mexico as an adult, and lived in this country for any particular amount of time, then they are subject to deportation according to the laws of the United States of America. This basic, concise declaration should be the platform for any conversation regarding illegal immigration. We should not allow persons with different viewpoints to confuse the issue by removing words such as "illegal". I have spent a good part of my life living in the third world. I am well-aware of the hardships most people face everyday just to feed themselves. Mexico is a paradise in comparison to most African countries. While special interest groups go before Congressional Committees and groan and sob about the lack of jobs in Mexico, the average man or woman on the street in Burundi would do anything to have the opportunities available in Mexico. The truth is, its all relative. The world is full of suffering people, and I am convinced that the United States has a role to play in alleviating some of that suffering, particularly over the long-term. But we cannot solve the problem by allowing every foreigner to become a U.S. citizen. If you show me a 36-year old citizen of Honduras who has been living in Chicago for 15 years, working construction jobs off-the-book, I will introduce you to a 36-year old Bangladeshi who digs through garbage dumps everyday to try and find enough food to feed his pregnant wife and their two children. Now you tell me who is more deserving, or in need of, U.S. citizenship? Does the fact that the construction worker has been able to avoid the authorities for 15 years somehow make him more legitimate?
This issue to be a very sensitive subject to MB. For a year of my life, I processed foreign national felons for deportation out of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Holiday Unit in Huntsville, Texas. If someone committed a crime in Texas that required incarceration, I worked with the deportation officers to prepare the paperwork to deport the individual after time served. Everyone needs a passport, and the gang banger originally from El Salvador isn't going to volunteer his passport to the authorities. So someone has to contact the Embassy or consulate of El Salvador to inform them that so-and-so is being returned to his native land after completing jail time, and is in need of travel documentation. At one time this job was the responsibility of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The INS died an unfortunate death after 9/11 and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Deporting criminal aliens who had completed their time was now the job of DHS. To most folks, it just seemed like a change in uniform and title, and for the first decade, the United States continued to aggressively remove dangerous criminal aliens (yes, I consider someone on their third and fourth DUI/DWI to be a dangerous criminal alien). But the Obama Administration started slowing everything down. An order from above required that all deportation orders be reviewed. This was followed up by moratoriums on deportations in certain sectors. Entire deportation offices were no longer functioning as designed. This process continued, with fewer and fewer criminal aliens being deported after time served. Its almost too crazy to believe. Not only does this Administration want to end deportations of illegal aliens, it has now embarked on a mission to end deportations of CRIMINAL illegal aliens. The actual statistics provided in the links is not political in the slightest. It is clear and clean data collected from the Department of Homeland Security. If a Mexican national kills another person during a robbery attempt, and is found guilt by a jury and sentenced to 25 years in prison, that Mexican national MUST be deported after serving his time. But its just not happening, at least not in most instances.
I don't like this issue. There is no enjoyment in expressing my shock and frustration at what has been allowed to happen over the past 6 years. When I was a child, national borders denoted a sea change, from one society, culture and sometimes language, to another. The border separated currencies, histories, and in some cases political ideologies. A passport, and in many cases, a Visa was required to enter another country. American history in Grade School taught me that corruption and taxation without representation convinced the founders of our great nation to take up arms and put their lives in jeopardy to make a better future for their children. In 2014, the young men and women in Mexico are aware that the system in their country is corrupt and that a small percentage of families control most of the wealth. Are they encouraged to march in the streets, and take up arms if necessary, to create a better life for their children? NO. They are advised to enter the United States illegally, find a job as a landscaper, construction worker or in fast food, and send whatever money they can afford back home to their parents. I remember that this particular reality truly mystified my late father. He could not understand why the young men of Mexico, who obviously love their heritage and traditions, would not rise up and take the country back from the thieves who currently run the show. It is no great secret that Mexico is blessed with natural resources. Besides the oil (the easily accessed stuff is about used up), Mexico is a nation of tremendous livestock and agricultural potential. Every week, Mexican fishermen catch enough fish to feed Latin America for a year. As for industry, Mexico produces and produces and produces....cars, microwave ovens, tile, cell phones, clothes, etc. And yet, for some reason, Mexican workers have to sneak into the United States to find employment that will pay a decent wage. If the wealthy class in Mexico would steal just a little bit less every year, then Mexico might avoid another revolution indefinitely.
Again, I am in agreement with the average American on this subject. I like it kept simple: if you are in my country illegally and you are an adult, then you need to be removed and returned to your own land. If you decide to return as a tourist or even on an Immigrant Visa, then you should be required to reimburse the U.S. government the money that was spent on your deportation. We cannot have an open border policy, nor should we accept that federal law enforcement releases foreign national felons on our streets after they have completed their sentence for their crime. Hey, I'm glad so-and-so turned himself in and completed his 3-year sentence for domestic abuse, but what about the sentence for his original crime? You know, the "entering the United States without documentation or alternate authority" crime? I can only imagine what the next couple of years will be like.
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