Adriana was still breastfeeding her daughter Riley, when officers came to her home in Texas and arrested her, her husband, and his brother. Adriana, who was in a different room with her children at the time, said the officers seemed to know exactly what they were after when they went into her brother-in-law’s room; they found a small amount of marijuana. Adriana, a 23-year-old mother of two, was jailed for a month, then held in an immigration detention center for six months, and finally deported to her native Mexico. Riley, the 10-month-old weaned by force when Adriana was arrested, is a U.S. citizen and remains in Texas. “It didn’t matter to them at all,” said Adriana.
Orlando crossed into the U.S. when he was 13 and spent much of the next 33 years in Texas. Initially, Orlando worked in agriculture, but eventually he opened a mechanic shop and helped his wife open a beauty salon. He was so used to life in the U.S. that when he got into an argument with his brother, Orlando forgot “the cardinal rule” of many undocumented immigrants: “Never call the police.” He ended up in jail with a domestic assault charge, despite his brother signing a statement declaring that Orlando never hit him.
There are others. Alfredo had been brought to Utah as a toddler. When he was 17, he returned to Mexico to take care of his father, who was severely ill, but has been unable to return to the U.S. in his five attempts to cross the border. “I had my whole life over there,” he said. Twenty-seven years ago, Guadalupe left her small children in Mexico, sending money back for them until they finally joined her in Alabama as teenagers. At 56, she returned to Mexico to visit her aging siblings and became stuck there, getting caught twice trying to get back into the U.S. to join her children — and grandchildren.
And there are others still — many of them. Adriana, Orlando, Alfredo, and Guadalupe are four of the 226,119 men, women, and children deported from the U.S. in 2017. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security released its end-of-year immigration enforcement numbers — “the results of a year-long return to enforcing the law, upholding the integrity of our lawful immigration system, and keeping America safe,” the agency said in a statement.
A review of this year’s deportations published by Human Rights Watch on Tuesday — which includes interviews with Adriana, Orlando,
“Guadalupe G.” speaks with Human Rights Watch researchers at the Instituto Tamaulipeco in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
Photo: Provided by Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch found that the number of people detained inside the U.S. rather than at the border — meaning that they were not new arrivals — increased by 42 percent over last year, while immigration arrests of people with no criminal convictions nearly tripled.
As The Intercept reported earlier this year, the Trump administration has gone out of its way to portray its immigration crackdown as a matter of public safety. Former Secretary of Homeland Security and current White House Chief of Staff John Kelly at one point directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials across the country to highlight to the media the “most egregious cases” of criminal apprehensions. From Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day to the end of this fiscal year, 110,568 people were arrested inside the U.S., compared to 77,806 during the same time period in 2016. Among those, 31,888 had no criminal convictions, compared with 11,500 during the same period in 2016.
The Human Rights Watch review, confirmed by the figures released by the DHS on Tuesday, shows that the arrest and deportation of immigrants with deep ties to the U.S. and minor or no criminal history was not an exception — or a matter of “collateral apprehensions,” as ICE has sometimes dubbed arrests of immigrants who are not targets of enforcement actions — but the norm.
“These are mothers, fathers, spouses of U.S. citizens, long-term immigrants who have been ripped from the interior of the country under a system that takes very little count of their ties to the U.S.”
“The recently released numbers by DHS confirm what we know from interviewing dozens of people who were recently deported: that these are mothers, fathers, spouses of U.S. citizens, long-term immigrants who have been ripped from the interior of the country under a system that takes very little count of their ties to the U.S.,” Grace Meng, a Human Rights Watch senior researcher, told The Intercept. “We see this as a serious human rights issue and one that’s been exacerbated by this administration.”
While the U.S. government has much leeway to remove noncitizens — and particularly undocumented ones — it has an obligation to protect fundamental rights like family unity and due process, the report notes. Former President Barack Obama deported millions of people during his tenure. But in his second term, Obama focused deportation efforts on those who had recently crossed the border and those with serious criminal convictions. (Nonetheless, fewer people were deported during Trump’s first year in office than during Obama’s last — largely because of the record-low number of people crossing the border, deterred by the fence and dwindling opportunities in the U.S., but also because of a monumental backlog in immigration courts.)
As soon as he took office, Trump, whose anti-immigrant vitriol was a campaign trademark, signed two executive orders making nearly all undocumented immigrants target for arrest, detention, and deportation regardless of family ties, time they spent in this country, and criminal history. In September, Trump also rescinded stays on deportation granted through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, putting 800,000 young people brought to the U.S. as children in limbo and at risk for deportation.
“The impact of these actions has been immediate and severe,” the Human Rights Watch report notes.
As the figures released by the DHS on Tuesday show, while the number of people arrested on the interior has soared, the number of those arrested while crossing the border is the lowest in decades, undercutting Trump’s argument for his signature campaign promise of a border wall. While immigration officials credited Trump for the drop in border crossings, and the anti-immigrant climate he has fostered is undoubtedly a contributing factor, the declining numbers are actually consistent with an ongoing trend, as fewer people cross the border, turned away by already effective fences and patrols. Fewer Mexicans, in particular, have been trying to reach the U.S. — while many have been making the journey back home — as opportunities dwindle here and economic prospects improve there.
Border Patrol agents made 310,531 arrests in 2017, down from last year’s 415,816. “The walls we have now work,” said Ron Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. “The walls we’re asking for are going to help us do better.”
While the wall has not yet received a green light, six companies were chosen to build prototypes and, last month, the House Homeland Security Committee approved a border security bill that includes $10 billion for the wall. Estimates for the wall’s cost vary widely, with some reports calculating that it will soar as high as $70 billion (plus $150 million a year in maintenance) and others placing the number between $27 billion to $40 billion. Trump has promised to build it for a much cheaper $12 billion.
“Today’s report from DHS show that with border apprehensions continuing to decline to a 45-year low, there is absolutely no need to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on an unnecessary border wall,” Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Administration can try to twist these numbers into whatever they please, but the fact remains that after unprecedented investments in border security over the last decade, the border has become harder to cross and fewer people are trying.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Republican senators introduced legislation offering protections for those currently covered by DACA — though no path to citizenship — in exchange for more immigration enforcement agents, technology, and judicial resources, as well as the elimination of sanctuary policies and provisions for the expedited removal of certain individuals.
Despite widespread support for DACA recipients, Republicans have kept the fate of hundreds of thousands of young people brought to the U.S. as children hostage to an effort to push an anti-immigrant agenda. Adrian Reyna, membership director of the immigration advocacy group United We Dream, slammed a bill introduced by Republican senators as “a white supremacist Trojan horse filled with anti-immigrant policies.”
“The bill would result in mass deportation and mass terror — coming after most immigrant youth, our parents, families, and friends,” Reyna said.
For those interviewed by Human Rights Watch and their families, that terror has already become a reality.
Adriana, the woman who was separated from her baby daughter, had been living in Michoacán with her American husband and their eldest
“Adriana P.” speaks with Human Rights Watch researchers at the Instituto Tamaulipeco in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
Photo: Provided by Human Rights Watch
In Texas, Adriana sold home-cooked food while Ricardo worked in landscaping. Riley, their second daughter, was born there. On the day she was deported back to Mexico, Adriana told Human Rights Watch that she has no plans to stay there. “Of course I’m going back to the U.S.,” she said. “My children are there.”
Top photo: Members of the immigrant removal task force of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside a home, during an early-morning raid to arrest and deport an immigrant.
The longer they’ve been here, the more egregious their crimes.
People should have come to America legally its pretty simple really .
This is super awesome news! Legal immigrants are very welcome here.
I am not sure if deporting people is justified when it comes to growing the economy. The US needs labor and manpower if it is to compete with major population centers like India and China. Moreover, the US needs cheap low-cost labor, and this type of activity undermines the economy and the industrial sector.
Look at all the sheep commenting. All the white privileged and entitled. Too stupid to see that these political punks are getting rich off your insecurities. 100mill for border enforcement in the Texas area in 2006 to 900 mill in 2008. You do that think some of that federal money is going to ppl pockets or their businesses that sell their bs to the authorities. Setting up cameras and asking hillbilly Gung ho civiliana to monitor in their spare time and call BP if they see any suspicious activities. In 2 years and 3 million dollars later they caught 11 ppl. Instead of sending the immigrants that are hard working and have been here for years to a system to get them legal they’d rather spend 100s of mill in taxpayers money to enforce something that they will never be able to eradicate anyways. It’s like being in a war with thousands on each side and wanting to snipe each enemy one at a time one bullet at a time. You’ll be there forever and you’ll never win. But you’ll have a huge supply of bullets left. Where’s all the money going. Wake up ppl.
Excellent work by DHS!
They are here illegally….that is a crime….they should return to their home and do what tens of others in the world do, apply and do it right. I bet she got the baby a social security card in order to get the entitlements…..
When we as a people start treating others like in human animals we are going to hell fast. Might doesn’t make right, right makes right.
Too bad for your propaganda they’re not “residents.”
They’re foreign trespassers.
Actual residents have these magical things called a Visa or a Green Card. It means they have permission to be here.
Stop enticing foreigners to make illegal entry and encouraging them to put themselves in these situations.
By “long time US residents,” she means illegal immigrants who remained un caught. Please.
One would have thought a patriotic Mexican would have killed Trump by now!
It breaks my heart to see how cruel and without even the slightliest hint of humanity authorities drunken with their power treat fellow human beings.
@ Alex – Perhaps it would be instructive for you to illegally immigrate to nearly any other country. I can unequivocally say they are far less tolerant than the US. Why is it that individuals that have been here 10 or 20 years don’t acquire the documentation to stay? Certainly, that’s sufficient time.
Mexicans prefer to live in America because it’s better than having crap neighbours.
The hate in this country is terrible. Hell these people would turn in their own grandmother if they thought she was getting something they were more entitled too. How many born here Americans are wronglfully on disability, welfare, food shelves, other freebies. How many lazy Americans find it easier to sit around and complain about others, just because they aren’t like you? How many Americans piss and moan because they go through life feeling they aren’t getting what they deserve? How many Americans don’t even have a clue what their neighbors are like, who they are? We have turned into a spiteful, hateful, greedy society and we have no remorse for bad feelings towards others. You live in your smug little world, watch your reality tv, sports and hunting. I have worked around many Mexicans (some legal, some no doubt not). They work hard to support their families. They are doing many jobs that lazy white Americans refuse to do. They are willing to work, support themselves, go home to their families. Are they really a threat to you? Does it make you feel whiter, or better knowing your were born here and they were not, they need to not be here? They pay taxes, they add to the economy, they contribute to society, more so than many white born Americans as they do not abuse the “system”. How did we become such a hateful society? Such a smug society? Which group of people will you vilifynext when all the Mexicans are sent home? Maybe we can go after the Japanese again, put them back in camps? We have stuck the Native Americans on reservations, we vilify black communities. I am just totally ashamed to be a white American these days as the hate is so out there and not even hidden anymore. Shame on you haters!
You’re an idiot. Illegal aliens are subject to deportation. Try making an argument without resorting to lies and name calling.
Other than Native Americans, and negroes taken as slaves, your entire population is illegal aliens. Get some perspective.
You are right. All these ppl talking crappie have had the good life and sip on their coffee watching football and think that’s how life is everywhere. I’m not saying being here illegal is right but as a compassionate human being I understand why. If your neighborhood was a war zone and you had newborn children you have two choices. Stay there and become abother stat or go across for a better life by any means. US citizens don’t know what real poverty is. They’ve never seen a dead body. In these 3rd world countries the poverty isn’t like US poverty. It’s on a level that the US doesn’t see. And while everyone lives in their protected little bubble they should put themselves in the immigrants shoes. Especially the Mexican immigrants. They aren’t the threat for terror. I don’t get why my fellow US citizens like to be rude and mean entitled pricks. It’s usually because they’re not happy with themselves and need someone to blame their problems on. Remember this country was taken from the Native ppl originally. So ppl need to always remember where we came from
BUT they do not use E-VERIFY…..is it really because it requires you lock up the employers (republicans) with the victims….
Because they then have to come up legitimate pay and end the shortchanging ?? NO HONEST EMPLOYERS??
NO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS….
White corporate CEOs and their Congressional enablers invited these people in decades ago, as cheap labor. For a long time, until Cesar Chavez came along, they were treated as slaves. America has ALWAYS been and remains a deeply racist nation. One day, America will find itself in a place of far less prominence than is has today; on that day, the rest of the world will remember what we did to people like Adriana, and the millions we killed in unnecessary wars. That is the day that America will only *begin* to get its comeuppance; it’s not going to e pretty.
Don’t look at the people who pay you laughable wages, look at these foreigners, they are the cause of your problems, says Trump. This old trick seems to work even though the 11 million undocumented immigrants are a minor problem.
It would be much simpler, cheaper and more humane to give these immigrants citizenship (except violent criminals). Instead, lots of money is transferred from taxpayers to prisons and ICE to enforce deportations. It is true that in 20 years the state would again face the question of what to do with new undocumented immigrants.
It is painful to read that righteous citizens applaud when a mother is separated from her baby, while breastfeeding, because they think that somehow justice is done.
If you break the law, consequences will follow. In here final statement she effectively says “Of course I will break the law again, by illegally entering the US” Explain to me why she was not able to take her child with here, it is as simple as a passport and viola! Crime and consequences of those crimes cannot be justification or a defense from the crimes committed. Your article is missing much to be considered journalistic.
Incidentally, all these people saying that these long-time immigrants “broke the law” fail to mention any culpability for the corporations who encouraged their illegal entry and paid off Congress to look the other way. Any of those WHITE corporate CEOs or large agribusiness leaders in jail, or fined to a degree that bankrupted them (instead of a tiny slap-on-the-wrist fine)? I thought so.
Also, the anti-immigrant yahoos in these forums were happy – they’re still happy – to enjoy the benefit of the cheap prices of the goods/services they buy that are made by immigrants. I wish every immigrant could go on strike and watch these yahoos wet their diapers. Lets see THEM work in the fields; in the slaughterhouses; in the back kitchens; in the lowest paid construction jobs. They are all hypocrites and I wish them nothing but poverty!
You are absolutely right. Indeed, a great thing we could ever do to fight illegal immigration would be to make sure sub-minimum wage employees get fair legal representation to sue employers for their back pay. The illegals would be perfectly free to collect … at any U.S. embassy. Whether we look at drugs, economics, or immigration, everything in this country is always supply-side, and supply-side doesn’t work. If you’re serious about something that works, you need to go after demand — sting the employers that hire illegals, give illegals incentive to help prosecute them. But that implies also having trade policies that ensure that products from abroad pay laborers a good wage, or suffer tariffs — even if, to try to get a trade deal, those tariffs have to go back to benefit workers and poor people in those countries.
You know, Phil, a few years ago that scenario you mention actually played out in the plantation State of Georgia. The Republicans revamped their racist policies against immigrants to the point that they were leaving the state en masse. Before long, the farmers were screaming that their crops were rotting in the fields because they had no one to do the work. As are all things in disaster Capitalism, the Governor issued a decree that all those collecting Unemployment benefits had to work in the fields in order to be paid and off they went. The reports that came out as a result were absolutely priceless. On day one, all those who reported to the farms abandoned their jobs within a couple of hours and told the government – and the farmers – to stick it and walked out. The grand Republican plan was soon aborted while they pretended that it never happened. And that is the reality that these racist whackjobs don’t want to face, as you so rightfully point out.
It’s not only the businesses wanting cheap labor. It’s the Democrat Party using foreigners here illegally to inflate their legislative apportionment in the State legislatures and in Congress. That’s why both parties have been culpable.
If you think the Democrats aren’t inflating legislative apportionment then I’m sure California would be more than happy to give up at least 4 to 7 Congressional districts and 4 to 7 Electoral Votes because the low ball number of 3 to 5 million foreigners being here illegally.
They don’t need to vote. They’re stealing seats in our government.
I highly doubt that selling home cooked food or working in landscaping were most likely not employed by “Any of those WHITE corporate Chris or large agribusiness leaders in jail” and i soubt that any coorporations paid of Congress so that someone could work for them selling home made foods or landscaping people’s yards.
One of the things I admire most on the Right Wingers is their righteous indignation and condemnation of violations of the law…so much as those violations are not being committed by one of their party. In that case, nothing is too immoral, too disgusting, too low, too lawless for them. May dog bless their hearts!
Illegal immigration is much worse than poossy grabbing :)
Every single day in this country families are “ripped apart” as a result of citizens being incarcerated in jail and prison facilities for the crimes they commit. By and large, those families contributed nothing to the commission of the offense, but they nevertheless pay that separation price due to the offender’s behavior. Based on the ifantile views of those shared by the writer and other apologists I guess that should never happen as well. Committed theft, assaulted your neighbor? Not to worry. You have a family and therefore a ready made waiver from the consequences of breaking the law.
So very nice of you to care for all those blacks, Latinos and Natives that are sent to jail en masse in the US everyday. Who says you wingnuts don’t have a heart!
so amerikkkans are pieces of nazi shit, as the comments here below illustrate. What’s new?
ps: it’s funny how the jew-kristian european land thieves get to deport the actual owners of the land
Picking and choosing the Laws you will obey and those you will ignore is central to this issue. One of the main impediments to “comprehensive immigration reform” is the concept of rewarding lawlessness. Those who have successfully avoided apprehension for many years can’t use that as an argument for naturalization.
Rewarding lawlessness, you say? Last I checked, war criminals such as Bush, Cheney, Obama and the Clintons (just to name a few) are rewarded by their lawlessness every day. So are the banksters that crash the economy and rob from the poor. Not to mention the cops that shoot unarmed black men in the back throughout the streets. Then, there are all the illegal wars raging across the globe yielding millions of innocents being slaughtered for their oil and other resources. Should I continue?
If combating lawlessness is your concern, why don’t you start with that?
The subject at hand is Immigration. Other inequities in the world are misdirection in this discussion.
So, John, does that mean that you equally frown upon and disapprove of the rampant lawlessness of the politicians, the rich and the corporations in Americans as sternly as you do on immigration laws?
A qualified Yes. “Sternly” adds the emotional aspect that is so corrosive to any discussion of National Policy.
Good for you then. I look forward to your equally stern comments on all the lawlessness that’s taking place in this country. Coincidentally, what do you think about the agencies that capitalize on the misery of these lawless immigrants while filling their pockets with unlawfully extracted taxpayers dollars? Any thoughts or desires on going after them? How about the policies and politicians that make human calamities such as this possible? Any stern comments on that? And while you’re at it, any comments on all the lawlessness that is being perpetrated against the Native peoples of this country including but not limited to the poisoning of their lands?
Oh, and are you a good loving Christian by any chance?
The problem is, John, that it is those inequities that have caused the immigration problem you now complain of. If anyone is misdirecting the discussion that would be you by ignoring/avoiding the cause and attacking the consequences.
The transgressions of others is not the point, of an article appears with the evidence of said crimes you should be well prepared to address these issues.
Thank you for chiming in with a different face, John. I realize that you can’t address your own hypocrisy. And the transgressions of others is exactly the point; but for those, there wouldn’t be an immigration problem in this country. I dare you deny the fact that any of the things I pointed to above have catapulted the mass migration of people from their ancestral homes or what do you think, that millions of people just get up one good day and decide to migrate to another country just for the hell of it? But addressing the root cause of problems, particularly the ones that are self-inflicted, is not what Americans are best known for – blaming others is. So your dishonesty is duly noted.
Let’s see if you are well prepared to address these issues
please, continue Pepito, your indignation is priceless ;-)
Shame on anyone who calls themselves Christian, yet supports families being torn apart, infants separated from their mothers and honest working people being treated like criminals, simply because they came here as children.
Jabbering about the “Law” is nonsense! There are no human laws, only rules enforced on the powerless. A true Christian nation would never allow Trump or the Republicans to run anything.
The country never had a national religion so we are not a ‘Christian nation’ and never were. The people above broke the law. They knew what could happen if they were caught. Now they are paying the price for their lawlessness.
Wile you happily enjoy the fruits of low-paid immigrant labor? Hypocrite!
“The country never had a national religion so we are not a ‘Christian nation’ and never were.”
This one takes the cake!
Too bad the ones that caused these people to flee their home due to the violence, poverty and weather change created by their imperialist/colonialist actions don’t have to pay the price of their lawless, huh Dogg? I for one, would love to be the one throwing the switch on their electric chairs.
So now the US is a Christian nation?
This one takes the cake! For all eternity, the Christers have done nothing but to scream at the top of their lugs that “this is a Christian nation!” and “god (theirs) bless America!” – Hell, they even managed to put that on the money (the irony, huh) and on public buildings, they force prayers in office, in schools, in the army, they blast the 10 Commandments on courthouses…but now, all of a sudden, this not a Christian nation (which, coincidentally, it’s not but not according to y’all, you religious fruitcakes). Bunch of fucking hypocrites!
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Romans 13:1
So much for your sanctimony, cwradio.
Infants are not separated from mothers. It is the mothers who abandon their children in the USA when the mothers goes back to mexico. Who would leave their child behind? Sounds like very bad mothers to me.
There is a precedent for tearing apart families and communities in the name of law and the interests of economy. It was called slavery, and we abolished it only after a bitter, bloody war. I don’t know what it will take to enable all the inhabitants of the US to gain their full human and civil rights, but what we are doing now to immigrants is shameful and immoral and will some day be stigmatized just as slavery is. Anti-immigrant hysteria is the cutting edge of every rightist and fascist movement today. Those who want a better world than the one promised by Trump and his followers need to prioritize the immigration issue and take a forthright stand in defense of the migrants.
The only hysteria, if that’s what you want to call it, is not anti-immigrant, it is pro-legality. We have a well regulated immigration policy and existing law must be followed. In fact, to become a naturalized citizen, you must swear to the primacy of the law, swear to uphold it. Flouting the law is not a qualification for residency, much less admission to full citizenship, it’s a disqualifier.
If only the wingnuts swore to uphold the primacy of the law in the same way they want others to do… ~sigh~
Is this really supposed to be a well-reasoned argument from the author?
Paraphrasing: “People who have been lucky enough to not have been caught for their illegal activity are now being held accountable”?
Is that somehow supposed to be a bad thing?
This is disappointing generally. When The Intercept was first getting up the reporting was excellent – unbiased, hard-hitting, and unflinching.
Now, it has fallen to the level of yet another organ of the Democratic Party pushing an agenda.
This publication had great promise; too bad it is going the route of the rest of the useless “media”.
And id she sneaks back into our country again, she needs to be jailed. This is our country, not theirs, and we Americans tire of these foreigners saying “We don’t care about your laws, gringoes…we’re going to live in your country with or without your permission…and we want welfare and school for our kids when we get there!”
And we bow to you oh mighty Indian chief. No doubt you’re 100% Native American so this is YOUR country which entitles you to be tire (sic) of these foreigners saying…blah blah blah…
It clear that for THE INTERCEPT and Alice Speri the goal of “the struggle for equality” is to end all immigration enforcement and adopt a policy of unlimited immigration. Their constant effort to “humanize” the issue is an attempt to convince you that the pain entailed in the enforcement of US immigration law is NOT the fault of those that endeavor to violate the law.
Wow…you Alice…how’d you do that? And the nerve of trying to humanize a human issue…how dare they?
Excellent! Americans have finally got the candidate they deserve. Trump will be to the US what Hitler was to Germany. It’s been a long time coming but, at last, you’ve got what you wanted and deserve AmeriKKKa.
Feel free to journey back to Mexico, Pepito.
So long as I can take you with me, I’d be glad to oblige. Of course, who knows where I may take you with me since unbeknownst to you, Mexico is not the only country where immigrants come from.
Coincidentally, you should be aware that the Native Americans say the same thing to you. Too bad you can’t heed your own advise.
What Native American tribe are you from, robbercow?
Good.
Perhaps, they’ll sweep you up by accident, Tom Blob.
Just spitballing here but if the federal government is enforcing laws, perhaps the lawmaker is at fault. This is the problem with the government and the lack of true accountability. Both sides pass law after law with the assumption they will never really be enforced so they can go home and say “I did this”.
My sons childhood friend — his best friend – was brought here illegally from Nicaragua when he was an infant. No cognitive ability to break the law when you can’t even form a word. He is now 22 yrs old and thriving. I consider him part of our “American” family . If he got deported I would go apeshit.
one day we will live in a world without borders – like it or not. We are all ancestral “immigrants” descending from an origin elsewhere on this planet . I dont care who you are.
in a world without borders my gay neighbors would be thrown off a roof. Be careful what you wish for
No need to caution me. I’ well aware and would rather live in a world without borders.
We need borders until we can establish blind justice worldwide
I am looking forward when your friend get to go back home so I can see what going ‘apeshit’ looks like. Ship him back home.
Do you need the job so bad Dogg? What’s the matter…trolling websites doesn’t pay you enough?
How pathetic your life must Dogg… I’d hate to be you. How can you survive with so much hate inside you?
Ugh. Stop with producing babies while you’re young, poor and living illegally in the country. It’s not fair to the babies to bring them into the world while the parents are unprepared and may have to abandon them. Just Stop!
Better tell that to the so-called religious right (which are neither) and have them stop forcing women to push out kids into the world they either don’t want or can’t afford to have. I hope you realize you’re preaching to the wrong choir here.
Look honey…here’s another pro-lifer for white babies only American…
Too bad, these pawns of politics suffer but we need to house those living here, stop the flow of dirt cheap heroin smuggled here and fix our drug addicts here. Please intercept don’t sensor my comments today
Yes, you’re right Blob, the only immigrants that come here are those who smuggle cheap heroin to force it into the veins of poor, hard-working, honest and moral Americans.
Could the author explain why she uses the term ‘longtime U.S. residents’ ?
Here in Europe you can only become a resident once you have an official address.
What the author means for say is “long time violator of US immigration law.” Oh, wait that does not sound a good.
Thank you for your racist comment, Jeff. You wouldn’t be that little sorry wing bat and poor excuse for a man called Jeff Sessions, would you?
What did I say that was racist? Making the case that everyone concerned about illegal immigration is a racist is why Trump won the election. If the left was really concerned about workers it would not be supporting unlimited immigration that benefits the 1%.
You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette as the old saying goes. Illegal immigrants are perfect citizens. They don’t vote, they work for whatever they are offered, and they never complain to the police. But to achieve this, a few must be deported every once in a while.
Of course, there is still the problem of natural born citizens to deal with. They can’t be deported, but they can be put in jail. This makes them more compliant and willing to work for even lower wages than the illegal immigrants.
So the plan is ultimately an inclusive one.
Don’t forget that undocumented immigrants also pay taxes which subsidize the extravagant life styles of the rich and famous and their corporations and get absolutely in exchange for that. Of course, those of us who are here according to the laws, still don’t get much for the taxes we pay but that’s an argument for another day.
Mussolini, you left out the billions it cost American workers to educate and supply medical care as well as keeping the wages lower for legal residents in construction, hotel, meat, farm industries. Those costs are far higher than the taxes they pay.
I’m sure you think your comment makes sense. Perhaps, you care to rephrase so the rest of us are in on what you meant to say.
I think we should respect borders and laws. I came to the US, I got the corrects visas and eventually became naturalized. I fail to see why anyone should be able to go to any country illegally and expect to be allowed to stay when they are apprehended.
I say, throw them out asap. Deportation should be automatic with no right of appeal in cases of illegal immigration. Sorry but obey the laws, it’s not that difficult.
Why is it that immigrants are the most racist of the bunch? It appears the vetting process didn’t work for you, they should have left you out.
Instead of throwing down the race card in every comment, why don’t you think before you post? People from every race become naturalized Americans, they always have.
I’m not sure what your comment has to do with mine. The above individual is a racist and his comment is intolerant. If you’re not one (a racist), then you shouldn’t be offended by my comments. This issue and all the negative comments that follow are about race, much as racists don’t like them to be called on it. And often immigrants are themselves the most intolerant of the bunch. If you haven’t met any, I’d love to introduce you to some, case in point: the one above.
You would call the weather racist if a Mexican got stuck in the rain.
How is it racist for a legal immigrant to support immigration enforcement?
personally, i believe borders are useless and oppressive. however, if anyone is going to try to ‘beef up’ border security, the very first thing they need to do is grant an amnesty and at least a green card to everyone who is already here. second thing,
So Dan you think the right thing to do is to reward illegal behavior. Does your logic apply to bank robbers, do you think that they should keep the money? If you come home from work some day and find people living on your house, do they get to stay? Ya that’s what I thought.
Wow, Dan, you have my sympathy. Embarrassing to have your father parade his own ignorance in public…
the second thing, dad, if you’d let me finish, is rethinking laws which undercut and exploit the labor markets of developing countries for the sake of the wealth of private leeches and blood suckers here.
as in, before the illegal behavior you’re referring to is enforced, i’m saying we need to 1. deal with the amoral behavior that’s leading people to consider supposed criminality as their best bet and 2. grant amnesty to those effected by said behavior.
do you understand? ya, i didn’t think so.
and thanks wait, wat?, but i’m used to it – my dad is a typical slumlord and middle level sycophantic manager.
Perhaps they could dig up some dirt on Trump that he emigrated illegally with his parents.Then they could enforce the law to deport him.
They don’t have to do any such thing. Wife #3, Melania, did exactly that. In fact, Trump was the catch that catapulted her into riches and US citizenship. She truly hit the jackpot. For her, the American dream ™ is alive and well and all the promises of riches and fame came true and through, for the rest of us…not so much.
True, dat. Melanoma got lots of money to marry the Big Cancer, but having to let that fat schlub lie on top of her and thrust his…[email protected]#?
Submitting to THAT has to be worth at least a billion.
LOL…that comment made me laugh.
And you are correct in your observation. I’ve had moments when I’ve almost felt sorry for her but immediately realize that she is in exactly in the position she wanted to be in and she is being handsomely rewarded for it.
I’m sorry for these people, but…. these are consequences they should have considered before illegally crossing the border and creating lives for themselves in this country, in violation of our laws.
They have NO right to be here. This whole story reads like they have been violated. They are the violators. If you don’t feel that the laws of the United States are fair, then vote for legislators that will change them, but don’t cry about how these ILLEGAL immigrants are being abused. They CHOSE to break the law. They reduce the opportunities available to legal immigrants and citizens alike. They allow unscrupulous employers to pay less for more.
I know many of these people. They are generally good, honest people, trying to better their lives, but that is immaterial. This is not their country. Furthermore, by coming here, they reduce the pressure on their own, corrupt governments to improve the lives of their own citizens.
PS, note how one of them was in possession of marijuana. While it should be legal, it isn’t, yet these people are so sure of our own inability to enforce our laws, that they even commit felonies while here illegally.
PPS, Elizabeth Blakley, justice is deportation.
And if the weed is a plant then what. This country is also corrupt.
you all need to walk a mile or maybe 100(for the hard headed) in thier shoes. Better yet just go on Ancestry.com and find iut how the hell you got here. Sign up for free. I suspect you will say there were no laws back then. But you can ask the Natuve American tribes what encroachment means.
If you were in another country and your life and that of your family were on the life (most likely because of the ill-fated policies of your country on theirs), I doubt you would stop and think of the consequences of taking a step that would bring you and yours to (relative) safety.
As for this not being their country…newsflash! It isn’t YOURS either! This land belongs to the Native Americans, the original inhabitant and rightful owners. I propose that we deport you and yours back too.
These are not political refugees whose lives are in danger. There are laws to help people in those circumstances. The people who are the subject of this article are economic migrants.
Mexico, for example, has 120 million people. The vast majority stay in Mexico, obey the law, and try to improve both their lives and their own country. Good for them. But we don’t owe them or the rest of the world a more comfortable lifestyle, no matter how envious they may be. That’s just reality.
Oh, really? So you mean to tell me that all those who are escaping the violence of the drug cartels or paramilitaries or their own government’s violence (which are all product of one form or another of US meddling) can just come over and you welcome them with open arms? Are you aware of what is involved in petitioning – and being granted – political asylum?
You are both blind and a hypocrite. Most of the misery that Mexicans have to endure is caused by your governments’ policies (i.e. NAFTA) and/or your own consumer habits (i.e. drugs). And that is the problem, that you DO owe them, not only for stealing their land but also for fucking up their economy. In fact, there are very few countries in the world that can actually say that you Americans don’t owe them anything. I’m sure that you’d just be as quick to say that you don’t owe the Vietnamese, Koreans, Iraqis or Afghans anything either because, after all, bombing them all to dust was for their own good.
That’s just just reality.
Native Americans didn’t have much of a choice when whitey illegally drove them from their land, murdered and raped them, then raped the land for profit. Be careful with your rhetoric, and learn the history of a country that is awash in atrocities against those that originally said “they have no right to be here”
I pray for justice for these families.
I too pray for justice. They are lawbreakers. Justice demands that they return to their own countries.
Whcih leads me to assume that you are full blooded American Indian, correct? Thought so.
@EdG – where did your family immigrate from Ed? How fortunate were you? Where is your grace amd humanity and compassion for others less fortunate?
Don’t you just love all the agreements for unlimited immigration?
Absolutely, let’s throw open the doors. Let’s see… I’d guesstimate that we can accommodate the demand of-
120 Million East Asians
150 Million South Asians
20 Million (mostly eastern) Europeans
180 Million Africans and Middle Easterners
100 Million Latin Americans
plus millions more from the West Indies, Oceania, and various other locations.
So, something over a half billion in the next twenty years. Yeah, come on over guys, the table is set, there’ll be turkey and fixin’s for everyone.
I don’t know what the true numbers would be, but they’d be staggering- the sons and daughters of every peasant farmer and urban slum dweller in the world, a candidate pool of billions. Then add the volunteers from the world’s enormous middle class.
Perhaps, you should reconsider your country’s foreign policy and see how that affect your immigration problem. You think there could possibly be a co-relation there? Naaaaaw…
Don’t you love all the demonstrations of compassion?
You’re such a good loving Christian, EdG. May your god bless your shriveled up heart.
So as I understand it Trump was VERY open about his intent to do this (and more) during the campaign. The American people still voted for him knowing this. If specific laws are being violated by ICE I can assure you that liberal attorneys will address those. This is a non-story.
Very sad story, but thanks for keeping us informed Alice Speri.
Its not right to claim the govt are breaking up families. These people snuck into a country, breaking the laws. If they never Did such a risky thing, they wouldn’t be in this situation. Tough rocks.
Vin, you are making too much sense. Please be quiet and mindlessly support unlimited immigration.
Yes, Jeff, Vin1 makes perfect sense…to a racist like you at least. As for the rest of the quip…thank you for the laugh. Now, time to go back to Brainfart and discuss the day’s disinformation/misinformation report.
Guess what, Vin1? Your government invaded their countries and made life impossible for them, in turn causing the present situation and forcing them to sneak into a country breaking the laws. Perhaps, your government should stay within its own borders and stop waging illegal wars, meddling, toppling regimes, robbing and pillages so situations like this don’t continue to happen. It’s called BLOWBACK OF EMPIRE, doesn’t FOX News and Brainbart teach you that?
“..that these are mothers, fathers, spouses of U.S. citizens..”
I was surprised to read this – I had always assumed being married or related to a citizen meant that there was a straight forward way to become a citizen yourself. It turns out that’s not always the case (eg. https://immigrationlawnj.com/can-deported-married-us-citizen).