Posted on 06/08/2006 1:34:36 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
WASHINGTON — Texas lawmakers filed a bill Wednesday that would overturn a longstanding court injunction and make it easier to deport undocumented immigrants from El Salvador and other countries who qualify for temporary protected status under federal law.
The legislation would close a legal loophole under which criminals, including members of a violent Salvadoran gang, have been allowed to stay in the United States pending court hearings, the bill's sponsors said.
“We must not allow terrorists and criminals from around the world to abuse loopholes in our legal system, turning our Southwest border into a revolving door,” said Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio.
Groups representing immigrants and Latino rights said the legislation would reverse the Orantes injunction, issued in 1988, that grants Salvadorans and others fleeing persecution the right to an asylum hearing.
“It's a pretty outrageous effort to overturn a decision by a court,” said Cecilia Munoz with the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino rights organization.
“It's another example of members of the House overreaching on this issue at a time when the House ought to know better,” Munoz said.
The bill filed by Bonilla and Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, comes as the country is wrapped in a bitter debate over immigration reform proposals.
President Bush traveled to the Southwest border this week to tout federal efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, and to urge lawmakers to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would eventually provide citizenship for nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants.
A Senate immigration reform includes a provision by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, which would make it easier for federal officials to deport undocumented Salvadoran immigrants.
A House border enforcement bill passed last December does not include provisions addressing court protections for asylum seekers and full deportation proceedings for Salvadoran immigrants.
Bonilla said the White House backs the legislation.
The lawmakers worked with Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security officials to write the bill that would remove legal hurdles that have kept federal agents from deporting undocumented immigrants who are “Other Than Mexican,” or OTMs, Bonilla said.
Undocumented Mexican nationals apprehended by Border Patrol are routinely returned to Mexico. Those from other countries are detained and some released with notices to appear before immigration judges.
More than 80 percent of those released never return to court.
According to the Border Patrol, about 160,000 OTMs were apprehended last year, and Salvadorans represent the largest number.
The Bush administration has filed a motion in a federal court in Los Angeles that would end the Orantes injunction,which entitled Salvadoran immigrants fleeing a civil war the right to an asylum hearing.
That injunction has made it difficult for U.S. federal immigration authorities to deport undocumented Salvadoran immigrants, 11 years after the civil war in that country ended and a democratic government installed, Bonilla said.
But there are still a substantial number of Salvadorans with good faith asylum claims that should have the right to a court hearing, said Linton Joaquin, a Los Angeles attorney with the National Immigration Law Center who helped win the Orantes injunction.
Joaquin said the proposed legislation would go even further, limiting the court to address violations or relief or consideration of cases.
Angela Kelley with the National Immigration Forum in Washington, an immigration advocacy group, said the legislation is an attempt to limit the courts' jurisdiction.
“They are trying to do an end run around the courts,” Kelley said.
The Orantes injunction, in particular, was the result of a disproportionate number of denials by federal immigration authorities of Salvadoran claims for asylum and a hearing.
“This is not an arbitrary court ruling,” she said.
Smith, however, said the Orantes injunction has become a loophole that has been exploited by members of drug cartels and Mara Salvatrucha, a violent Salvadoran gang known as MS-13, to thwart immigration laws and win release after apprehension by immigration authorities.
Smith, a member of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, said the bill would allow federal immigration officials to deport undocumented Salvadoran immigrants under the expedited removal process, which was created in his 1996 legislation on illegal immigration.
“The U.S. government expanded the number of people subject to expedited removal in recent years and this bill will continue the expansion,” Smith said.
Bonilla said the bill would help federal agents end the “catch and release” program, that allowed many Salvadoran immigrants caught at the U.S.-Mexico border to be released into border communities with a notice to appear in courts.
“The efforts of our law enforcement officials to catch, detain and deport those who enter illegally must not be obstructed by those looking to abuse the system,” Bonilla said.
Bush, speaking on immigration reform in Omaha on Wednesday, pledged an end to the catch and release program by increasing the number of detention facilities.
“And I'm working with the countries to encourage their leaders to accept back those who have been caught trying to sneak into our country,” Bush said.
The president spoke Wednesday with Salvadoran President Antonio Sacca about U.S. immigration policy, said White House spokesman Tony Snow.
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gmartin@express-news.net
Troops, tent cities and a fence.
ping
yeah.....another 'court injunction' why am i not surprised?...sooner or later the populace is simply going to have their fill of these black-robed imbecibles who legislate from the bench.....
'Cause it just sounds better than ILLEGAL ALIENS!!
We ought be responsible to only return OTM's to the point where they violated the US border and let them fend for themselves from that point. There'd be a LOT less OTM's crossing Mexico to get to the US if we did.
legislatures make law, judges can only enforce it or overturn it on constitutional principles - at least that's the way it's supposed to be.
OTM Ping!
Munoz, blow it out your ear.
While I like that idea, dropping them off on the other side of the river will only mean they make it back across before the marshals.
Catch and release as usual for Mexicans....
Lamar Smith is good on immigration, expect to see him as a possible conferee and it's doubtful like Sensenbrenner he'll ever go along with any amnesty.
If this ethnic agitator is against it, I'm for it
This POS represents an organization retarded enough to call itself "The Race". How dumb is that?
All they do is whine and complain. If only they would put half the effort in fixing their own countries.
Guess Constitutional prerogatives ---- and the safety and security of Americans ---- just doesn't fit into the Latino agenda.
According to their own words and signage at the infamous street rallies, they are lying in wait to takeover the US government with the vote---or by violence, if necessary.
These hyphenated types have turned the US government, and all its trappings, into psychotherapy agencies designed to mobolize government power---and tax assets---to subsidize and shore-up the self-esteem of hyphenates. Anyone with a chip on their shoulder, who can claim a spurious victimhood, applies for asylum and can tap into financial aid, including tax-subdized daily food intake, housing, reduced mortgages, free medical care, free education, reduced in-state tuition and out of state tuition. We also foot the legal bills when they start suing if we don't provide these goodies pronto......etc., etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.
The 423 pp monstrosity Senate bill provides that invaders will be paid a prevailing wage, Earned Income Tax credits, medical benefits; housing benefits; WIC; anchor baby citizenship; legal representation and amnesty from back taxes owed.
These people are so transparent----reconquista is their game---- to get their greedy hands on the US treasury and to take over the US government with the vote, or by violence.
It's catch and return to Mexico for the M's, so they can try again the next night....
I like that. Mind if I use it?
Why don't they get asylum somewhere else? Why doesn't the rest of Latin America rise up and welcome them?
susie
feel free
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