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Two More Legal Residents Caught in the Maw of our Immigration-Security-State

By Seth Hoy, Immigration Impact. Posted November 12, 2009.


Opponents of reform say the system's fine as it is ... are they serious?
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Over the past several months, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made concerted efforts to overhaul our flawed immigration detention system—aiming for more transparency and broadened federal oversight. Deserving of equal attention, however, is Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) loose enforcement policy, which also ensnares legal immigrants.

Last week, the L.A. Times reported that ICE wrongfully detained two legal immigrant women who were permitted to be in the country under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). According to the article, Maria de Barrera was arrested in her Los Angeles home after ICE showed up looking for people who no longer lived at the residence. Even though she showed ICE agents her worker’s permit, she was taken to an immigration detention center until her lawyer showed up with VAWA documentation.

Another legal immigrant permitted to live in the U.S., Elvira Ayon, was arrested in Delano, CA and carted off to an immigration detention center in Arizona where she stayed for one month. Again, she was released only after her lawyer arranged for her release.

ICE spokeswoman, Virginia Kice, chalked the wrongful detentions up to ICE’s lack of access to DHS’s databases where information on immigration permits and benefits are kept. Kice also suggested that wrongful detention cases like these “don’t occur very often.”


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See more stories tagged with: immigration, ice, legal immigration

Seth Hoy is a writer at Immigration Impact.

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Just add amendments to the 1986 Simpson/Mazzoli bill
Posted by: Brittanicus on Nov 12, 2009 11:28 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As with E-Verify the politically explosive computer Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program to eject illegal workers from work sites, has definitely proved its worth? The 287 (g) federal training program that deputizes state, county police with a right to apprehend illegal immigrants, has been under continuous flak to rescind it by powerful ethnic caucuses.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been intimidated to undermine ICE raids around the country? But E-Verify, 287 (g) has already embossed itself in the publics eye of it's enforcement capabilities and cannot easily be weakened. Public Outrage is like a gathering storm that is descending upon all politicians, who have given approval and one hundred who drafted a letter to President Obama demanding Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

WE MUST JAM THE SWITCHBOARDS IN WASHINGTON, PUSHING OUR OWN DEMANDS at 202-224-3121 that bars illegal aliens from the health care insurance "exchange" OR ANOTHER TRAVESTY OF AN AMNESTY. YOUR VOICE IS MAKING AN IMMENSE DIFFERENCE TO HOW THE POLITICIANS VOTE? WARN THEM OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORING PUBLIC OPINION.


NO NEED FOR ANOTHER DUBIOUS AMNESTY, ADD AMENDMENTS TO THE 1986 SIMPSON/MAZZOLI ACT.


Other pieces of relevant information contributing to the dilemma of US legal population:

1,200 Illegal Workers fired in Minnesota. House Members Urge President to Enforce Immigration Laws to Lower Unemployment. Friends of Arizona Businesses with Illegal Workers Take E-Verify Law to Supreme Court Senate Census allows to Count Illegal Aliens for Congressional redistricting . CBO Says New Health Care Bill Would Cover 2.5 Million More Illegal Aliens. Sen. Reid Kills E-Verify Amendment to Unemployment extension Bill. Pro-Enforcement Candidates win in Virginia and New Jersey. 68% of Americans Oppose Sanctuary Cities and States


You can learn about the corruption and incompetence of lawmakers at NUMBERSUSA. Court cases, political sleaze and immigration non-enforcement at JUDICIAL WATCH. How population growth will effect future generations at CAPSWEB. SAY NO BLANKET AMNESTY!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Blame the Illegals not the Law
Posted by: DAD77 on Nov 12, 2009 12:36 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Seth, your conclusion is:

Because 55 people were erroneously detained, therefore the US should reform of our entire immigration system (that is reform = provide citizenship to 12 million who are illegally in the country)?

That makes no sense at all.

Thank you for pointing out the cases where mistakes have been made and legal immigrants were detained. No system is perfect and it is a difficult and daunting task with over 12 Million illegal immigrants currently in the USA. No one is perfect and we cannot expect law enforcement to be perfect either. But the US government has charged them with enforcing our immigration laws. 55 out of 12 million is 0.000046% false error rate. Thank you for showing us how accurate ICE has been in avoiding false detentions.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

RE: nike dunk
Posted by: rommeytx on Nov 13, 2009 6:33 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Great advise for Republicans and Nativists, so they might run faster for cover when caught BS'ing on the Internet...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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