Lourdes Salazar-Bautista of Ann Arbor speaks at a press conference on ICE policies in Michigan on July 8, 2017.
Photo: Hunter Dyke/The Ann Arbor News
In the face of intense community opposition, immigration officials are vowing to push ahead with plans to deport a 20-year Ann Arbor, Michigan, resident.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ordered Lourdes Salazar-Bautista, 49, to leave the country by August 2. The local community and elected officials have rallied in support of the mother of three, but ICE spokesperson Khaalid Walls told The Intercept that the agency will not back down.
“In a current exercise of discretion, the agency has allowed her to remain free from custody while timely finalizing her departure plans,” Walls wrote in a statement. “ICE focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security. However, as Secretary Kelly has made clear, ICE will not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention, and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.”
The Mexican native says she’s not done fighting.
“I’m not a threat to this country,” said Salazar-Bautista, choking back tears during a vigil at St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor on Tuesday evening, broadcast on Facebook live. “I want to have a chance to continue guiding [my children] and educating them so they can reach the future, since I come from a very humble environment, I wasn’t able to reach.”
Salazar-Bautista immigrated to the United States in 1997. An immigration judge ordered her deportation in absentia in 1998. She says she never received the notices from the immigration court regarding her deportation, and she continued to live her life, raising her children and performing odd jobs — cooking, cleaning, and ironing for people in her community — until ICE picked her up in 2010. She was detained for 23 days, she said in the speech in Ann Arbor, and was released on the condition that her husband return to Mexico and that she check in annually with the immigration agency.
Immigration officials have routinely granted Salazar-Bautista a stay of removal since then, she says. But a new president was in office when she checked in with ICE in March, and she became one of many immigrants nationwide targeted for deportation after years of being considered low priorities for removal by the Obama administration.
Protesters marched through the streets, demanding that Lourdes Salazar-Bautista’s deportation be stayed, in Ann Arbor, Mich., on July 18, 2017.
Photo: The Lucha Por Lourdes campaign
The president has broad authority over immigration enforcement efforts to remove individuals present in the country without legal status. Citing the Department of Homeland Security’s finite resources, President Barack Obama’s administration set priorities for removal in a 2014 memo. Former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson laid out a three-part hierarchy, prioritizing the removal of national security threats, serious convicted criminals, and recent border crossers. The administration also listed factors to be considered for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion (a decision not to take action against an otherwise removable person), including strong community ties and length of time in the country.
That meant that immigration officials did not prioritize deporting people like Salazar-Bautista, who had no criminal history, contributed to her community, and had three American children. As such, ICE routinely granted stays of removal, temporary postponements that prevent DHS from executing a deportation.
In one of his first steps toward dismantling Obama’s legacy, President Donald Trump issued a January executive order on “enhancing public safety in the interior of the United States.” That document and a subsequent memo from DHS Secretary John Kelly explaining the directive rescinded all previous policy related to removal priorities. In effect, the White House chose to target a much broader group of unauthorized immigrants for removal and granted individual ICE agents with broad discretion over apprehending individuals suspected of being in violation of immigration law.
In other words, the new DHS enforcement guidelines make anyone present in the U.S. illegally equally fair game for deportation, including those charged, but not yet convicted, of “any criminal offense,” and those like Salazar-Bautista with final orders of removal.
Kelly’s memo “leveled the playing field” in terms of susceptibility to deportation, said Patricia Zapor, communications director at CLINIC, an immigration advocacy group.
“If they keep saying the focus is on the bad guys, the bad hombres, that’s not really the way it’s playing out,” she said. “The people who definitely feel at risk now are those with U.S. citizen kids, with families, with businesses. It’s really changed the level of fear.”
Salazar-Bautista bought one-way tickets to Mexico for herself and her children for August 1, according to Luz Meza, an organizer of the Ann Arbor campaign to support her, called Lucha Por Lourdes. Salazar-Bautista’s lawyer, David Newman, presented the tickets to ICE on Wednesday to show her intent to comply with the order, even as they continue to ask Detroit ICE Director Rebecca Adducci to stay the removal, Meza told The Intercept.
“Please, if someone can talk against these authorities to be able to get a change not just for me, for so many people who are in the same situation as I am,” Salazar-Bautista said in a Facebook video recording of the Tuesday vigil, acknowledging that her case is one of many.
The southeast Michigan immigrant community, like many across the country, is feeling the burn of the recent changes in immigration enforcement, Meza said.
“We’ve seen a lot of raids that are separating families and causing emotional harm to children,” she added. “We think in the long run this is going to have a very terrible impact on the kids who will grow up without their parents here.”
The case has become a rallying cry for local activists and elected officials at odds with the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
As of Friday, more than 8,000 people had signed a petition asking the Detroit ICE field office to stop the deportation. The Ann Arbor City Council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution asking ICE to stay Salazar-Bautista’s deportation, describing her as a “lawful, positive, contributing resident and taxpayer of Ann Arbor for close to 20 years.”
“Lourdes’s threatened deportation is a breach of faith and a disgrace,” said Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor on Tuesday in a speech delivered at a rally and broadcast on Facebook. “It won’t protect American jobs. All it will do is devastate an already separated family and impoverish a community that values her.”
American leadership “will not endure” if people like Salazar-Bautista are deported, Taylor added in the rally speech. “It is up to us to do everything we can to keep this family together, that we tell the administration that its fearful vision of immigrants and refugees is an affront to our history and our values, and, finally, that it is up to us to do everything we can to tell the world that Trump is not America.”
Michigan delivered its electoral college votes to Trump, as he edged out Clinton by just over 10,000 votes. Clinton, however, annihilated Trump in the liberal enclave of Ann Arbor, outpacing him by nearly three to one.
I’m simply horrified by the hatred and racism surfacing in these comment. America is all over the world, creating chaos, conducting illegal wars, looting resources from poor countries, killing millions of innocent people. You disgust me.
Is there even a way for an undocumented/illegal immigrant to apply for citizenship? I was recently told that trying to apply would simply identify the applicant as an illegal and leave him or her vulnerable to deportation. Was whoever told me that wrong?
If one can live in the US for 20 years and make a life for oneself, then one has had ample time and opportunities to apply for permanent citizenship or permanent residency status under far more ‘tolerant’ administrations and policies. There is no excuse otherwise and no tolerance should be offered now.
Open border anarchy is merely an invitation for gangs, criminals and the dregs of society to infiltrate what would otherwise be a safe haven for everyone granted lawful entry under a controlled comprehensive immigration system. In ironic and self-defeating hypocrisy, the policies of open borders endanger the very people they claim to protect. Criminal elements that infiltrate the US (freely with open borders) prey upon the poorest of recent immigrants from similar backgrounds, as demonstrated in both the US and many EU nations that have failed their citizens with liberal immigration policies. Under a properly controlled border these criminal elements can be denied entry and permanently removed otherwise. The tiresome leftist canard that ‘illegals’ are afraid to contact police thus the violence and oppression continues with the only solution being open borders and amnesty is both ridiculous and self-defeating. By ignoring the obvious revolving door that criminals and gangs enjoy on a lawless, porous border and the enticement of amnesty drawing both victims and criminals alike like flies to dung, the left simply promotes a self-feeding cycle of crime and oppression against the people they claim to protect. In further amusing irony, the only real solution to this leftist utopia is a leftist opposed larger and more oppressive police state with more prisons to hold foreign-born criminals (because you can’t deport them and expect them to stay out). And as a head smacking finale, the left has even suggested that police in sanctuary cities not arrest illegals for “lesser” crimes to keep them out of the NCIC database and out of the grasp of ICE. Seriously, do these leftists honestly believe real criminals won’t exploit any such policy to the fullest extent possible to the detriment of all?
Leftists like to build a false narrative that this is about white nationalism and racism. That’s complete nonsense. Every naturalized American citizen and almost every green card holder I have had the pleasure of knowing feels both anger and frustration with illegals and the clearly biased double-standard afforded them. Lawful non-birthright citizens and residents all expended time, money and effort to become full citizens or legal residents, some waiting in line for years for their turn, and they have zero tolerance for the illegals that bypass the rules and flout the laws that all citizens and residents are expected to follow.
Stories like the article are sad but not surprising. It’s time people accept responsibility for their actions and follow the laws of the land they claim for their own. If that means they must leave and apply for entry, then so be it.
These are real people, not abstract or cartoon stereotypes. Where is your human compassion? Do you just like to blame “leftists” and hard-working people who want a decent life for their families? Most of us have immigrant ancestors.
There are over 7 billion on this planet and many in China, India, Africa, S America, Mexico all want a better life. Should we have no borders and immigration controls and let everyone in?
What about the hard working applicants who have applied to come legally? Should we allow the cheater to stay and make them look stupid for applying to come legally? Why not just cut in line like the rest of the illegals because they get to stay.
Immigrant ancestors is no excuse for sneaking into the US. Bottom line, we have a country now with immigration laws in place that need to be followed. This woman and the rest of the illegal aliens deserve deportation.
btw, I am an immigrant and not an illegal alien. I earned the right to be called an, “immigrant.”
Great. When all the mexicans are out of mexico and firmly planted in their occupation of the US, I will go to mexico and claim the vacant land for myself. And then i will build a wall.
Boo hoo. Sorry – she is not a “lawful” citizen. She has been in this Country, illegally for almost 20 years. She has had 20 years to do something to change her status to that of a legal citizen, but she has not done that. Instead, she whines and frets every time her deportation status comes up. Frankly, she should be thankful that she has been allowed to stay here as long as she has. I am really tired of hearing these “sob” stories. I also know far too many people who have gone through the proper steps to become PROUD legal citizens. The people who have gone through the legal immigration process are the proudest Americans that I know of. And NONE of them have any patience for people like this either. It’s a lot of work to become a legal citizen, but it’s worth it. Again – boo hoo. “I snuck in this Country illegally 20 years ago. I haven’t done anything whatsoever to try to become legal. But, I haven’t broken the law so I deserve to stay.” – You have been breaking the law for the last 20 years, lady. You could have changed that, but you didn’t even try.
How about a deal?
I think Americans could be OK with accepting 8.6 million extra Mexicans, above the usual quota, as new residents and citizens. That’s about 7.2% of the Mexican population. In exchange, we want one little thing; you’ll hardly miss it:
Baja California and Baja California Sur. Together they make up 7.2% of the land area of Mexico. They contain 4 million residents – really, we should count them against the 8.6 million count, though maybe the illegals could pay off some of them to leave so they get more spots for themselves, being relatively so wealthy from living in America they should have the money.
I mean that’s fair, right? We take 7.2% of a country’s residents, of their own free will, why shouldn’t their land come with them? Why should we get a surplus of people and a deficit of sovereignty?
Give us 20 years, nay, TEN, and the real estate developers will be all over that peninsula like flies. There will be new roads, new sewers, lots of federal funding, relatively honest government (I mean, for Mexico), and the main complaint will be gentrification. We’ll grow the tax base and decrease deficit as a fraction of GDP without having to pay anything off. It’ll be beach houses and mountain estates and celebrities dodging papparazi all the way down both shores. Mexicans will be getting themselves smuggled so they can go live there. And after that … we could try again.
This is something we can actually do even DESPITE the decline and fall of America, because even a fall for us is still better than business as usual in Mexico.
Of course Trump and his goons in ICE will continue this meaningless facade of harassing a few thousand undocumented migrants because that creates a spectacle loud enough for his clueless base to think he is doing anything meaningful about illegal immigration. If you are not punishing businesses that continue to hire illegals, there will always be an incentive for migrants to come illegally.
A few thousand? What alternate reality do you live in?
I can’t believe a mother and father could do this to their own children. Break into another country, have a family knowing there are laws already inplace that will deport them. These parent should be ashamed.
She broke the law. The law is being enforced, albeit way, way later whereas the emotional and toll on her is much greater. Still, the law is the law. The law is not known to be compassionate. Illegal immigrants have become a vital part of the healthy of our economy, no doubt, but they also affect how we live (or don’t live). Example: I live in LA and although I know of no studies on this issue, I strongly believe that the high concentration of illegal immigrants in this city is a major factor (aside from a slowdown in affordable housing development) in the housing shortage and the absurdly high rent prices we’re experiencing. Recent estimates put the number of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles at about 1 million. The vast majority are renters. Imagine then, if they just chose to stay in their native countries? There would be more housing for legal residents, a balance in supply and demand, perhaps more in supply. It would be a renter’s market. Landlords would have to compete to attract renters. Lower rent prices means more income saved, more spent, which means economic growth, and more hiring…heck perhaps even better paying jobs. Instead, what you have is a small, old 1 bedroom vacancy going for 2/3 of someone’s monthly middle-class income, with 50+ applicants. All the while, I recognize that if all those illegal immigrants were suddenly deported, California’s economy would tank. I’m not a conservative, right-wing Republican. Hell, I’m not even a leftist liberal. Any reasonable person can take a hard look at this issue objectively and see that, in certain parts of the country, illegal immigration IS a problem. Still, fuck Trump.
20 years and she never thought about becoming legal?
Also her family can accompany her back to her wonderful homeland from evil, bigoted America.
Is the intercept so kind to citizens that are tax cheats, excuse me, have undocumented income?
Either we have a rule of law or not. Glenn Greenwald wrote “with justice for some” – concentrating on the rich and powerful, but the useful immigrants were also excused. I drive drunk, or don’t buy insurance, or miss a tax payment I’m ruined. Illegals just shrug. I have to pay for my family, but also have to pay for the rest that just use the ER and run up tens of thousands in bills and just ignore them.
That is why Trump. And why no one cares about this case. The Clintons get away with things for 20 years including rape and sexual harassment – the left doesn’t care about BC when BC is Bill Clinton, not Cosby, and they don’t care about illegals raping 14 year old girls like in Maryland. But if I was falsely accused they would put it on the front page like Rolling Stone’s Jackie.
I’m subject to all the laws and crushed by even an accusation. The illegals are ignored or subsidized. The rich are ignored or it just goes away.
Have you no decency? No concern for justice? The rule of law? Only pitiful stories, but never of white people who just want to work and raise their families when the Government destroys their families? Promotes divorce rape of white men? You. Don’t. Care. Only if it is a refugee who has been accused of rape, or an illegal that has violated numerous laws, or is a corrupt banana republic Democrat running will you accuse and defend even the most egregious crimes.
You apparently don’t realize that this site is largely populated by educated adults. Bill Clinton got away with rape? Got any evidence for that? Consensual oral sex is not rape. I am no great fan of the Clintons, including his childish affair with Monica Lewinski, but I am more concerned with his institution of draconian mandatory minimum sentences for minor street corner drug dealers, the vast majority of whom were people of color. Obama did not get everything right and that includes his treatment of illegal immigrants, but focusing his resources on deporting those with serious criminal records and newcomers without families was wise. Trump’s approach is a thank you to to the white bigots who voted for him.
Tom – why don’t you Google Clinton’s rape issues and accusations? She wasn’t referring to Monica Lewinsky. At all. Even if you choose to not research a subject before replying to a comment, you do not have the right to be condescending in that reply and basically call someone uneducated, especially when you are the uneducated party involved.
Really there is no simple answer to this situation which is why it has gone on for so long. People kept coming in illegally OR coming in legally as visitors & just staying, and no-one ever tried to find them to move them back home again ! So the reality is it was known world over that there is a way to become a resident here without any threat, except now. While I totally understand people will do whatever they can to help their own situation, it does not make it right that the laws they were breaking were going unpunished – so that made it ok ? I’m an immigrant, but a legal one, I had to wait 2 yrs for my immigrant visa (preference was given because my husband had a brother already here) – but it would not have occurred to me to just arrive & then just not go home ! So now that someone is making sure that illegals are sent back unless they have obtained resident status – this is directly the fault of not dealing with the situation many years ago – this was used as a political football and people’s lives are now getting messed up because Trump’s regime wants to fix the problem. No-one should really be surprised that a law is being now followed – if I were in their situation I would be very unhappy, but not surprised….they all knew this could happen at any time. The primary fact is that they do not have any rights to be in the US under the law, so while I feel sad they are now paying a heavy price, unless laws are modified to accept the prior situation what is now happening is perfectly rational. I have never had anything but friendly relations with people I suspected to be illegal, but it is just time to resolve this one way or the other !
Important facts are missing from this story. She “immigrated to the United States in 1997.” Was it illegally (although we have to assume yes)? Why did a judge order her deported in 1998? ICE picked her up in 2010 – that was during the Obama administration.
This is not so much of an objective article as an attempt to garner support for this woman and throw mud at the Trump administration.
She wishes to live the American dream but doing it by starting off illegally just don’t fly
Come on, this woman had 20 years to get her paperwork in order. Can we seriously blame procedural incompetence for that amount of time? What was she thinking? Regardless of how stupidly we were enforcing immigration, she knew better.
“In other words, the new DHS enforcement guidelines make anyone present in the U.S. illegally equally fair game for deportation…”
No crap! It is illegal! Why does this surprise anyone? Then the broad left has the gall to suggest these 10, 20 plus year illegal aliens who can open businesses aren’t voting and further that it is asinine to even suggest the possibility? Sorry but that is complete garbage.
CrookdClinton based her popularity and value as a potential American leader based on Illegas! That is the reality– never did anything worthwhile– not even a LibbyLight! How many of these people have the Salehs opened their doors and wallets to?
These human interest stories do serve a purpose as they deflect attention away from the seemingly insane criminal illegal alien protection racket that these activists support and are helping to grow.
The first half dozen illegal alien human interest stories published here were all about how we should tolerate criminal aliens for some unexplained cultural/political reasons but the commenters shot down that BS quickly. Because that meme didn’t work the activists are hunting down the lesser criminal illegals to dilute the reality that their migration also brings in the active criminals.
The new policy of enforcing laws against illegal entry into the country may produce some tears and some reactionary outbursts but there is no more catch and release. This policy has already penetrated to the source areas of these migrants and they have digested the message, The numbers of people trying to cross the border has dropped dramatically .
I’m not American so please forgive what might seem a rather naive question: how did America come to have such a vast number of foreigners living and working in her illegally? How could such a situation be allowed to persist for so long?
Many causes, both push and pull. Short answer is that immigrants, both documented and otherwise, do work that citizens don’t want to do for the wage offered. They have become an indispensable part of the labor market, and their presence is supported by numerous corporations, small businesses and others who want access to cheap, motivated, reliable labor.
Yeah, three industries in particular: farm work, housework, and day labor (illegals will hang out at a parking lot or street, businesses will drive by and pick some out for a days work, often construction, for cash payment). And other menial jobs such as fast food, janitorial, etc.
It’s a dirty situation all around. If all illegals were suddenly granted citizenship they’d be due a minimum wage and other labor protections (and not be scared to seek that as many are now). That would/might cause large damage to the economy in the short term and put thousands of small businesses down. So instead of dealing with things via law, amnesty, etc., politicians and businesses turn a blind eye to the majority. Vested interests don’t want a solution. Current and past deportations are more show than a real attempt at a solution.
I hesitate to compare it to slavery, but it’s sort of the same idea–a sub-class of people without many rights, working for a pittance because they can’t complain or they’ll face dire consequences.
Google “NAFTA” and “illegal immigration”
Everytime they are given a chance, americans show they are the worst scumbags on the planet. After invading and raping the whole world, they complain when honest peope are stupid enough to want to move to the US.
People shouldn’t bother moving to the US because the US is a moral cesspool. But they surely have the right to cross any imaginay line drawn on a map by thieves and murderers(your government), if they want to.
Honest people illegally entering the US? Isn’t that something of a contradiction?
No, you don’t have the right to enter a country illegally. Again, another obvious contradiction. Learn to law.
What you call ‘law’ is just the dictates of murderers and thieves, also known as “your government”. Your laws have as much moral value as any ‘law’ the mafia can come up with. From the point of view of morality and logic your position is a stupid joke. And criminal too.
You can disagree with the morality of a law (which exists, by necessity, in every nation on this planet), but that doesn’t make it non-existent. THAT is faulty logic. Live with it, or change the laws. Anything else is a pipe dream.
It doesn’t look as if you actually know what logic means. Once more : your ‘laws’ are shit and the right thing to do is to treat them like shit. Not respecting the shitty dictates of your government is both logically consistent and morally correct.
free, my point is that laws exist whether or not you, individually, respect them. That’s not an illogical claim by any means. Simply repeating that you think “my” laws are shit isn’t going to sway people to your perspective or change the laws.
Furthermore, by your own logic, laws against rape, murder, and theft should be treated like shit too, since they were devised by a government you deem to be immoral (and, therefore, their laws must be immoral too), which is the only basis you’ve offered for not valuing rights and laws. Not a very sound or morally consistent argument, but hey, you’re entitled to your shitty delusions.
Have a good one, swamp monster!
(P.S. I’m not even American)
Immigrants come for many reasons. Those that have money may come for better opportunities and have the money to come legally. No one leaves their country, their family, their friends, their churches and risks everything without a reason. The poor don’t always have the money to come legally, especially when forced to leave because of danger or lack of opportunity. My ancestors came for many of the same reasons. Politicians need fuel in a common enemy to get votes. Race, religion, economic status and skin color have long been useful to politicians. They can use fear, racism & hate to get votes. Notice that the focus is on Native American looking Hispanics and not fair skinned or even Chinese illegal immigrants. It’s a sad commentary for our country, especially when those that spread that hate, fear and racism claim to be the most Christian.
>my point is that laws exist whether or not you, individually, respect them.
OK, yes, the criminal actions of your (or any) government exist, regardless of me ‘respecting’ them. That’s all of your point I guess. You are just re-stating an obvious fact. In other words, so far, what you said is content-free.
>Furthermore, by your own logic, laws against rape, murder, and theft should be treated like shit too
Those are real crimes, regardless of what the government says. Funnily enough, by *your* ‘logic’, or actually by your absurd legal theory known as legal positivism, if the government decided, for instance, that lynching blacks was not a crime, then it wouldn’t be.
Or, you know, if the government said that slavery was legal, coff coff, then you would have people like jefferson and washington owning slaves.
Learn to logic, history, and morality Jorge. Let me know when you are done learning.
Why, in 20 years, didn’t this woman attempt to become a citizen? Our immigration system has been vastly incompetent for decades, but she had plenty of time. Murderers get jailed 20 years after the fact too. Crime is crime. You aren’t excused because you opened a business and had some kids.
Wait until you have to flee your country to save your family and yourself for any reason. Are you going to wait for papers? Many people come from places that do not have the know how. You are a prick. Suggesting: “learn to law” (Whatever that means. Do you have no compassion at all? BTW: How did you get here, to this country?
Your kind of “lawyering” is equal to being performed by a robot. No intellectual effort or reflection required.
This kind of anti-Americanism shows a double standard. If some scumbag in office talks a good line about “freedom” and then backs a Somoza or the latest Guatemala coup, then every American is supposed to be responsible for that. But the unfortunate people fleeing from such countries are never responsible for making their local tyrants possible, nor for putting up the other options that made them seem like plausible choices. I mean, if they’re not responsible for their politics then why are we responsible for ours? We all get a handful of violent liars to pick from, and try to do our best, but I think it is the ones actually in the countries with the worst violations of rights who, on average, have the most direct roles in them.
>This kind of anti-Americanism shows a double standard
No it doesn’t. If you as an american are willing to admit that your government has been nothing but a collection of murdering psychos since 1776, when the american ‘free’ slave society was ‘founded’, then I won’t hold you responsible.
As to what happens in other countries, it wasn’t the point at hand. But I guess that like a good loyal american who realizes he can’t defend his ‘country’, you are changing the subject? “Everybody does it!”
As is typical with disingenuous articles like this, we can see from the comments below that we would all be better off if Ms. Salazar-Bautista were allowed to stay, and the likes of @Greg and @Calvin were sent packing. At least she wants to be here, as opposed to the moaning, privileged coastal pinheads who spew derision upon the rest of the country every time their precious little hopes are dashed.
A tragic outcome. If immigration laws had been strictly enforced, rather than effectively ignored for decades, these cases wouldn’t exist.
Reality check. – I do not get you, America. You voted in this government, this cannot be a surprise to you.
Especially Michigan. 2,279,543 citizens in the state elected Trump, a majority of Clinton. There should be crowds celebrating this destruction of harmless illegal families like this, not protests or vigils begging for a stay.
They are not harmless.
I celebrate every time an illegal alien is deported. And for you snowflakes bashing America, you’re free to leave too. Maybe North Korea or Cuba would be more to your liking.
America and Americans are being plundered by a pack of money grubbing thieves and their leader sits seemingly welcomed in OUR WHITE HOUSE?
What? Is it too late for US? Is this the end?
How is it a majority of Americans simply watch as innocent people are bullied, coerced, impugned, torn from their families, friends and communities? Who’s next Catholics, Jews or maybe Native People’s.
I know and I’m sure most of you recognize as well…, this self promoting megalomaniac sitting in our white house is a sick individual worthy of no particular interest nor patience. Time will show he has no particular American loyalties nor political integrity and we owe no fielty to this pitiful creature nor his minion.
It is time for Americans and America to slough off the money mongers and return to a more humane and inclusive Democratic Republic. We need a government “For the People” not a government, “for profit.”
Every protest sign should read, “IMPEACH – NO CONFIDENCE – NOW” Can you see that…?
They aren’t innocent. She committed a federal crime 20 years ago and got caught. Obama was deporting people left and right too. Where were your signs then?
The US seems to be making progress at becoming the type of country to which no one will want to immigrate. It is, of course, tragic for the people caught up in the nets of the law, but these problems tend to solve themselves over time. For a long time, the US was too rich and too free. But the government is working hard to rectify that.
friend sez: all the africans swimming the med to scicily leave a huge deficit in africa. Hey, the mexicans can fill that deficit in africa.
this occupation game game played by africa, mexico and israel is a criminal operation.
Yeah right!! They all must go and enough of the sad stories. In the past they all (illegals) took to the streets and tried to ram this down our throats!! Not working now so we are hearing all their sob stories. I have heard the b.s. for over thirty years. Get out and no we are not separating families TAKE YOUR ILLEGAL KIDS DROPPED HERE WITH YOU!! Anchor babies are ALL ILLEGAL TOO!! No more and never again! Build the wall and make it 50 ft tall if needed they don’t respect our laws. I would never even think of going to another country and doing the same OUT OF FEAR! Trump will only be our President for eight years and then what? That is why a wall and stiffer laws etc are needed now. Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama all sold out this Country for votes by allowing this to run off the rails. I don’t care if Mexico pays a dime I WANT THE WALL NOW AND ALL ILLEGALS DEPORTED!!
Well aren’t you the compassionate heroine.
That makes me sad.
I juse cannot underetand why we even have an immigration policy, if we continue to ignore enforcement of it. Yes, stop the bleeding heart mentality. Can we United States of America, enter another nation and hide from their immigration and be cared for by their public assistance programs, work, and get a freaking drivers license? What about “sanctuary cities ” for us in other nations? Bring our troops home, and deport every last person in this country, no matter where they are from. Period. Full stop. ENOUGH!
Agreed. If nations are to exist, by definition they must have borders and they need to be enforced. If people don’t believe in nations or laws, that’s an argument they’re entitled to make, but it’s not very convincing, moral, or practical.
I understand your fear of being over-run by a bunch of people from foreign countries, who come to invade your land and resorces because they’re escaping persecution and are looking for a better way of life (sound familiar?..).
But I regret to inform you that doubling down on a counter-productive strict immigration policy isn’t the answer by a long shot.
You see, the US-Mexico border is among the longest, most porous and transited in the world. Efforts to try and make a southern border air tight would probably sink the US economy long before that project is close to being complete. On that same note, it would take a monumental economic and logistic effort to deport the immigrant population already inside, I mean, you don’t really expect those immigrants to pay for their own deportation do you? Not to mention the colossal strain you would be putting on the US labor force that just loss a significant portion of its most productive members. Oh, and what about the social backlash from millions of citizens that aren’t savages and don’t like seeing innocent families torn apart?
You don’t go about telling people to stay off your land while you’ve been ravaging theirs the entire time. The US has treated its southern neigbors as their backyard pissing ground, making sure that those countries never see that its citizens are looked after. Please do try to make the case that foreign aid to those countries is being given when what use is that aid money if it’s being misappropriated by the same corrupt type of oligarchical government official that the US likes to prop up throughout the region- yes, even if it means military interventions to oust democratically elected leaders who just might have improved the living conditions of millions, but posed a threat to a few American businessmen.
So please, save me the “get them the hell out of here” argument which is nonsense. I bet that most of those immigrants would gladly go back to their loved ones in their home countries if they were guaranteed similar or better living conditions than the ones they have access to in the US. contrary to that, there’s always going to be people willing to risk their lives and leave it all behind for a shot at a decent life.
If US foreign policy towards Latin America focussed on truly helping the region they would at the same time solve their own immigration crisis.
You would have saved us all a lot of time had you just said “who is going to mow my lawn if we deport all the lawn-mowers?”???
Let’s speak honestly, Jean, not indulge in this moral preening.
1. If you’re genuinely evading persecution and qualify as a refugee, that’s a totally different thing from illegally entering a country, ignoring the immigration process, flouting legal notices, and then seeking refuge for the numerous laws you’ve broken. Don’t disgrace refugees by comparing them to this criminal claptrap.
2. The US government saves taxpayers roughly $700,000 per year per illegal family they deport, given the rampant tax evasion and abuse of public services necessitated to live illegally in the country.
3. Again, whether or not you “like” seeing illegal immigrants justly deported isn’t really an argument. Every sovereign nation has the right to enforce its borders. Nobody has the right to enter a country illegally. Pretty basic.
“deport every last person in this country, no matter where they are from”
Got news for you mate, no one wants american citizens.
She did not “immigrate” to this country, she sneaked in, there is a major difference.
“In one of his first steps toward dismantling Obama’s legacy”
Eh, well on immigration Obama’s legacy includes deporting the most people ever. Including refugees that should’ve been granted asylum yet were sent back to be raped and murdered.
And issuing a directive is useless. He could’ve fought for amnesty or other things that couldn’t be easily mooted by the next President.
I only point this out because Trump’s horrors should stand on their own. As should have Obama’s at the time. It’s silly to include Obama in this piece as if he’s some kind of mirror of Good held up to Trump’s Bad. Same sort of idea as those now praising Bush in comparison to Trump. Not buying it.
This woman is NOT a “bad hombre”. She’s just a mom trying to raise her kids to be good citizens. Rescind her deportation order.
Virgin of Guadalupe, 1 September 1824. Oil on canvas by Isidro Escamilla. Brooklyn Museum
No more separation. Amazing photograph.
“Tugging at the heart strings is not a legal argument” is both absurd and ignores the bigger issue. ICE is supposed to go after the bad guys like drug dealers but this isn’t what try ‘ re doing. They’re not going after the criminal element such as MS 13 because they are cowards and get their heads blown off. What they love to do is go after the powerless. This is crazy. If I wasn’t wasn’t my mother’s son I’d try to leave this cess pool. But knowing Americans you’d come where I’d moved to and mess that up. God! There is no escaping you people
Terry, is there any chance I could give you a ride out of the US ? I just want to help you leave since you’re not happy. Let me know, sport ! I’m betting you’re all bust and no balls.
My Parents, Wilbert and Laura Selders moved on East 21st Street in 1966. My Father passed in 2005,he had Prostate Cancer at 40 years old,while living at 217East 31st Street ,that later turned to 209 East 31st East 31st after 911 changed the addresses. My mother had a heart attack at 52 yrs old in 1987 . She still has heart disease at 82years old in 2017, 30 years of suffering and back and forward to the doctor. My brother Carl has a spot on his liver the doctor is watching. My name is Barolyn and I have been anemic since my teens. I remember my dads vehicles use to be covered with a film of chemical released from the DuPont/Denka Plant for years. My address is down the street from David Sanders. We have more neighbors who died from Cancer. If you go door to door every family could share their family’s condition. Thanks for caring. Barolyn Selders
Sharon Lerner wrote a series of articles about Dupont for The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/series/the-teflon-toxin/
Thank you for supporting sensible, compassionate protections for all people… we’re all immigrants if we’re not Native American!!!!! I’m praying she doesn’t have to leave!!!!! Let’s be leaders in nonviolence and compassion!!!!!!! Thank you for all your work!!!!!
Keep her in the country. Deport Trump
When Reagan passed his amnesty we were warned that this would just encourage more illegals who would wait for the next amnesty. They were right
Thanks for pointing out about the only thing we can thank Ronnie Raygun for. His one and probably only act of compassion. We are now a more vibrant, open and less xenophobic country than we would have been without it.
Not according to Bob. He seems to have been opposed to the amnesty. I believe in NO borders, and that everyone should have the right to move wherever they want to move. Corporations have the right to move their factories and such anywhere they want, so the same rights should apply to people, who should also be considered above corporations.
Thank you for eloquently expressing what I was trying to convey earlier this morning.
May I add that , especially when it comes to the Finance sector, a tad off topic but, the Law is aOk with hiding 10’s of Billions of dollars in “off shore” tax-free accounts .The law is aOk with rewarding “human Capital ” in the billions to people who produce nothing ! Human Capital is another one of those fancy-smancy economists’ slogans, which conflates Labor with Capital. In other words, if your job is to make more money for the sake of making more money, it’s the same thing as digging a ditch or working at a McDonalds.
The Law is aOk with treating a Cooperation as a person and Money as Speech, but when it comes to people who work and do jobs nobody else wants, who pay taxes, oh no, they’re breaking the law..they’re aliens..
People’s governments should protect them from corporation abus as any other abuse. Reason for borders is the same for having locks on your external doors? Real?
Believing in NO borders is a respectable position. Believing in special rights won only by successfully breaking the law is not.
If you believe in NO borders, you do not need to have a special “amnesty” (read, reward program) for illegal immigrants in the country. They don’t need to muscle aside the law-abiding idiots who sit around year after year praying their number comes up in the lottery. Everyone would be able to rush in together.
(I would not particularly mind a _true_ amnesty, which is to say, setting aside some of the five- or ten-year bans for people caught and deported, and allowing them to have the same chances as others, but no better. This dilutes the deterrence of enforcement but it does not negate it.)
That said, a program of NO borders would have a dramatic effect. If we did it only with Mexico, how many Mexicans would rush in and how many would not? What happens if the entire all-star line-up of the Zetas and Sinaloas ends up doing a tour of New York and Chicago? Do we watch Mexico fall solidly under the sway of drug lords and their lieutenants as the civilian population runs here, then watch as the sicarios take over here also? What about the shortages of housing, schools, every other aspect of civil life as the population grows?
Borders, generally speaking, are a military institution. Like all military things they are ugly and unfair. If we erase this border, we may need to consider other military action, like invading Mexico, destroying the cartels, destroying their allies in government, annexing the country, and establishing a military command in the hope of transitioning to transitioning the territory into U.S. states. The alternative, if we do not take any military action at all, is simply watching the cartels and the rich and well-connected crooks who rule Mexico walk into power, doing horrible things all the way, and doing nothing whatsoever to resist, until finally the cartels are launching the ICBMs that we built all over the world at those who won’t submit to them. So the question is — what form of response do you think is best?
Panther, we have many misguided progressives tearing up the country. You and your ilk need to lay off the name calling and reign in your BLM, Antifasta and other thugs tearing our society apart
No we have immeasurable problems bc someone could not correctly and responsibly address the issues and take the necessary actions but kick the can down the road.
I remember reading about this dodge in the 90s – which I suppose makes it relevant. The idea is that the immigration lawyer “somehow” loses track of the immigrant. (“oops!”) Then a notice is given to the lawyer but not received by the alien … and that somehow ends up meaning, the immigrant is free to stay! I don’t think I ever understood how that worked, but obviously it worked in this case … for about 20 years.
You can look for ways to allow more immigration if you want, but they shouldn’t involve the idea that we specifically reward the immigrants who defied orders and broke laws at the expense of those who did not.
To hell with you and all xenophobes. Really. You all make me ill.
No –to hell with you Carolyn. Illegagl aliens who have managed to evade justice all should be deported to their country of origin. If you don’t like the law of the USA you can try and change it or move away.
Carolyn Zaremba, you are so very cool, it must be neat being you.
Good argument Carolyn!
I’m actually moving to Japan illegally, but they’ll be the disgusting xenophobes when then send me home.
I am all for increasing immigration from select countries who share our traditional values or who come here wishing to assimilate and can support themselves.
However the protesters are being disingenuous when they claim that this action breaks apart families. The kids are going with her as they should to see their father so they can be a family in Mexico. Mexico is a great place to live. I love Mexico.
Our traditional values as expressed by our President, i.e. not paying your bill, not doing your job, knowing nothing, and assaulting every female who looks good to him?
Tugging at the heart-strings is not a legal argument. Duration of successful law-breaking is not a defense. The big problem that open borders proponents face is a world filled with sad stories. There are literally billions of them.
I hope the stay is granted. I don’t understand why it’s become a priority for this administration (well, I do, b/c they like to scapegoat) to demonize and remove a “lawful, positive contributing resident” like Ms. Salazar-Bautista. Grant the stay and allow her to apply for citizenship and expedite that. What’s the issue?
Lawful? She entered the country illegally and she knew she was breaking our laws. How can you call her a ‘lawful’ resident?
“lawful, positive, contributing resident and tax payer of Ann Arbor for close to twenty years.”
Breaking the law is one issue. Reasonable accommodation is another issue. We need immigration laws that address both. She was “allowed” to stay for 20 years, she should be granted some form of permanent status. Our laws should be enforced but we need better laws.
Immigration should be control but generous to the point America can accommodate and assimilate new workers and new citizens. If we can not get reasonable immigration law and enforcement any administration can make their own policy/law, too lax too tight or right-fit.
Just remember that most Americans come from immigration ancestors. I am one of them. You probably are, too, unless you are a native American.
*legal immigrant ancestors
Ah, you mean Chinese? Chinese Exclusion Act 1862
Or the Irish maybe from the mid 1840’s – 1930’s? It was Hiberephobia instead of Islamophobia then
Or, Italians, if your elders were here during WW II?
Same goes for Japanese, if they were here during WW II
So are we at war with Mexico now? hmmm
Please address your concerns to your native country President, he is your caretaker. You do not get to decide what is a threat here.
It’s always the same with you jerks. I’m in, now close the gates behind me. Because, the law. Always enforce the law when it’s against others, but expect leniency and accommodation when it is inconvenient for you. Did you support the Bundys? Why don’t you hop back on the Mayflower and sail back to where you came from?
This nation was built on the noble sentiments of the founders, genocide of native people, slavery and the underpaid work of successive waves of immigrants. The saving grace, if there is one, has been the possibility for oppressed people who survived, and their descendants, to become full and contributing members of the society. Let’s stop that silliness immediately, right?
I don’t think we will reach a national compromise on immigration until both sides agree that it’s not immoral to have an immigration policy, and that there’s difference between a legal immigrant and an illegal.
There’s a view to the contrary, but it’s not a starting point for compromise. “You jerks [should] hop back on the Mayflower and sail back” is just an asshole’s version of “no man is illegal”: it won’t influence the vote of your neighbour. It makes you seem unhinged and discredits everyone on your “side.”
I think reducing pressure on immigrants can reduce pressure on locals.
Illegals working at bottom-end jobs should be either kicked out of the country, no matter what they “contribute,” or legalized, because their employer’s power over them makes the job market worse for Americans with bottom end jobs. The root of the “xenophobia” unhinged liberals see here is a fear that the conditions of fourth world wastelands, warlord-ruled provinces, and dictatorships amidst civil war will be imported by a race to the bottom. Telling things from the immigrant’s perspective doesn’t address that because the immigration skeptic thinks about the people left behind. Why does our heart bleed only for the person who broke our rules, not for their relatives? It seems more about strutting about your own compassion than actually executing compassion on a global scale, like giving money to a homeless person in front of your girlfriend but voting to shut down mental health and public assistance programs. It disgusts me.
Likewise, H1Bs making professionals into indentured servants is unacceptable. We should not have rolling tides of immobile, “temporary” workers driving down our salaries, and while it’s not immoral to have an immigration policy I don’t approve of pointless hazing done in my name. This is a view that cares about the American, not the person who didn’t follow the rules, so it’s a better start for compromise, but it means we will be expected to kick more people out if we legalize anyone, no more rolling waves of amnesty that allow unbounded migration. The poor have already voted that they find it unsustainable, and your slurs about Mayflower don’t change it, just make you seem out of touch.
Finally, you’re insensitive to the immigrants I know. I’m friends with lots of Europeans who would like to start their lives here, but they’re clothing designers, documentary film makers, actors, and you can’t get a visa for that so they are constantly impoverished by travel expenses and instability, and in the end usually don’t make it and get stuck in Europe. They may have children, too, and if they don’t, it’s because they’re actually responsible and don’t get pregnant until they can offer their children a stable life. I see their lives, from birth to death, as more unfairly disrupted than that of the illegal immigrant, yet the people shrieking “xenophobe” want to throw them under the bus. Frankly, I’m xenophillic: if anything, I spend too much time around these people. When I say I want there to be a policy and I don’t want people to cut in line, it’s because my friends are the ones illegals are cutting in front of. How much could we economically afford to increase programs like visa lottery, or add categories for creative people, if we were able to control migration across our borders?
I don’t trust your judgement because it seems to be based on a boast of how “caring” you are, yet you are not caring. You only care about people who can walk here.
And to own up, although secretly if at all, that because of decades of US intervention – with money, arms, training, overthrowing democratically elected leaders, and installing right-wing dictators who unleash poverty and terrorism on their own people, we are the root cause for much of the migration northward.
That is the least we can do for destroying their country’s future progress, wealth, society, equality, safety, fairness, rule of law, etc.
Yes, Joshua88. To the extent the US is the root cause of northward migration, it fits the “giving a dollar to homeless in front of someone you want to impress” model because ignoring illegal migrants (so long as they don’t come from Southeast Asia and can still walk here) doesn’t make up for destroying another country’s economy and civil society. It’s more like a drunk person, “but I said I was sorry. What’s your problem?”
Instead, first, we should stop causing harm, which, to some extent, ignoring competence, Dubya did. He acknowledged we supported dictators in the past and said that policy has changed with his invasion of Iraq. Since some of the past support was hard to see through the propagandist press, I don’t know if we really did stop. Also I don’t know if the anti-dictator intervention in Iraq should be considered successful, or appropriate atonement for our support of the Ba’ath Party in the Iran-Iraq war, but Dubya did at least announce a “stop causing harm” policy, and I think he referenced our bad record in South America when he did it.
Second, you execute redress similar in scope and magnitude to the harm you caused. Something like Norway’s quasi-NGO aid program might be appropriate.
http://eeagrants.org/What-we-do/Programme-areas/Civil-society/NGO-Programmes-2009-2014
This means setting goals and success conditions, measuring progress, sacrificing something more than your political opponent, like money, or aid capacity that could’ve gone somewhere else. It requires study to improve outcomes, like capacity building vs. direct aid, and acceptance that not all programs will be successful and some may be worse than nothing but your obligation is to give something up for what you say you believe and execute with competence.
The supposed “literal white supremacist invited into the white house”, Steve Bannon, shares my view on this second point: “strong neighbors make good allies.” I would sooner trust an unhinged liberal to soundly execute policy around that statement than those confederate dunces, but the statement itself seems solid.
That makes me think, if you felt the US should stop destroying civil society and promoting dictatorship among its neighbors, and should make up for past support by diverting aid from Africa (which was colonized by Europe) to South America, or increase total global aid through tax incentives or direct grants, you would probably find allies across the political spectrum because evangelical churches are heavily involved in this.
But if your view is that we are selectively not entitled to sovereignty whenever we encounter a liberal talking point because we are generically guilty of stuff, that doesn’t strike me as a sincere way to take responsibility for a moral harm caused.
In fact it seems a bit yucky to me because if you sincerely felt guilt the way I do, I can’t imagine you’d sling it around so sloppily. It feels like you enjoy feeling guilty but don’t much care what you do in response to the feeling.
So what Native American tribe are you a member of?
Doesn’t the word “Alien” scare you? It’s meant to you know?
Do you consider your country’s president, your caretaker?
That’s a sad, sorry idea of existence bubba..
Shame on you!