Posted on 07/18/2007 11:39:22 PM PDT by Daralundy
WASHINGTON — An estimated 1.6 million children and spouses have been separated from family members forced to leave the country under toughened 1996 immigration laws, a human rights group said Wednesday.
The separations have taken a toll on families who have sold homes, lost jobs, lost businesses or been thrown into financial turmoil, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.
The widespread impact on American families has been truly devastating, said Alison Parker, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch.
In 1996, Congress toughened immigration laws making immigrants, legal and illegal, deportable according to an expanded list of "aggravated felonies."
Congress made the law retroactive even to those who had served their sentences, and also eliminated hearings in which judges could consider an immigrant's family, community roots, military service or possible persecution in his or her native country.
Since this law was passed, 672,593 immigrants have been deported for crimes, according to statistics cited in the report from Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Homeland Security Department. Human Rights Watch used those numbers and Census data on foreign-born households to estimate how many family members were left behind in the U.S.
Opposition to Senate Immigration Bill Republicans Upset Over Video on How to Hire Cheap Immigrant Labor Immigration Reform Could Be Key to Influential Latino Vote in 2008 According to statistics from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE), 64.6 percent of immigrants deported in 2005 had been convicted of nonviolent offenses. An additional 20.9 percent were deported for crimes involving violence against people, and 14.7 percent were deported for "other" crimes.
"How do you explain to a child that her father has been sent thousands of miles away and can never come home simply because he forged a check?" Parker said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It was an obtuse reference to ‘Brother Where Art Thou’.
ping
Why is this "News"?
Every "separated" illegal has the option to follow their illegal family back home.
Any "separation" is self-imposed.
I hate to admit that I’m not wimpering or sniffling. The only place I can locate sympathy for these folks is in the dictionary.
You don't.
You just forge another check, buy a coupla tickets and go join him!
Just saying.
Total BS!
It may be today but from first hand experience I know this was not the case just a very few years ago, before the illegal flood became too large to ignore.
Any negative changes to the system in the last 5 years Has been the direct result of the massive abuse of the system by the illegals themselves.
Just saying.
DAMN!....
Where’s my violin?? :)
Another 10.4 million to go?
No, choosing to break the law separated those families.
Because the article was about those deported for aggravated felonies. Those convicted of such are not "playing by the rules". The people you give as examples are not committing felonies, are they?
There problem with the 1996 law and who is considered convicted. Someone may commit a misdemeanor, but, depending on the crime, the 1996 law can interpret that misdemeanor as an aggravated felony. Secondly, a foreigner may be arrested and charged, but then the charges are dropped or the case is dismissed can still be considered convicted by immigration. All it takes is a vindictive spouse to claim domestic violence and unless the alleged perpetrator is acquitted, the foreigner is at risk for deportation.
In other words, somone who is convicted in criminal court can still be found to be convicted by immigration. That is an example of a broken immigration law.
See my previous post. What the states and the feds don't consider as aggravated felonies, the 1996 immigration laws may be considered aggravated felonies by the immigration system. I you got 1 year and 1 day probation for a misdemeanor, you have committed an aggravated felony in the eyes of immigration.
I you = If you
Examples of misdemeanors carrying that penalty? Are you talking of things such as DWI? If that is the type of misdemeanor you are talking of, I won't weep for their deportation.
Immigrating here is a privilege. If you can't keep clear of lawbreaking long enough to earn it, I don't particularly want you here. If that means you need to choose to leave your family behind or bring them back with you, tough; you should have thought about that before engaging in illegal behavior.
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