Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Immigrants' Rights Activists Up in Arms Over Deportation Quotas
NEW YORK - Immigrants' rights advocates are up in arms Thursday over an apparent gaffe by a senior government official suggesting that immigration authorities would use a "quota system" to determine the number of people it would deport - followed by a "clarification" from higher-ups that appeared to confirm the quota approach.
The reference to the quota approach was contained in a memorandum written by James M. Chaparro, the director of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO), part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency within the Department of Homeland Security. It directed DRO officers nationwide to boost deportation numbers, make maximum use of detention and detain more people.
The American Civil Liberties Union and a number of immigration groups met earlier this week with ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton and his senior staff to discuss the reported quota policy and DRO priorities.
At the meeting, Morton reportedly denied the use of quotas, stated his commitment to work together in a "spirit of candor and transparency" and asked to be "judged on the record, not on rumors."
But when asked how ICE arrived at its goal of deporting at least 400,000 people this fiscal year, Morton reportedly said ICE had deported 387,000 individuals last fiscal year and needed to increase this number because Congress had given the agency increased resources.
And, in recent testimony before Congress, Morton said ICE intends to reduce the average length of stay of detainees in custody to allow ICE to remove a higher number of undocumented migrants.
"Recently, we have taken steps to reduce the average length of stay from 33.5 days as of January 2010 to 28 days by FY 2011. This efficiency is increasingly important as the Secure Communities program leads to the identification of more criminal aliens," he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement, "These enforcement priorities are in direct contradiction with those set forth by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton who have both repeatedly testified, for much of the past year, that ICE's priority is the deportation of dangerous criminal offenders."
The group called on leaders in Congress and in ICE to establish transparent immigration enforcement and detention policies that respect the rule of law and constitutional values.
Mary Giovagnoli, director of the Immigration Policy Center, an arm of the American Immigration Council, told IPS, "The idea of deportation by quota is disappointing. It is sad to see ICE falling into the trap of measuring success by the numbers of people detained and removed."
That sentiment was echoed by Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. She said, "ICE should not be arresting people just to fill detention beds."
Giovagnoli added, "DHS is operating on borrowed time. It is amassing a history of failed enforcement initiatives."
"This is unsound government policy and an imprudent use of American taxpayers' money that can very easily lead to civil liberties abuses," said Joanne Lin, ACLU legislative counsel, who attended the DHS meeting.
"Immigration enforcement practices should be tied to the needs and demands of America, not driven by arbitrary numerical goals set by ICE. The preoccupation with reaching the number 400,000 has placed intense pressure on all corners of ICE to step up immigration enforcement operations," she said.
"The ACLU is very concerned that ICE agents, in the name of meeting specific numerical goals, will feel pressured to cut corners and improperly target people who look 'foreign' for stops and interrogations."
Another immigrants' advocate, Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum and chair of the Reform Immigration for America campaign, said, "ICE has a serious credibility problem as they continue to say one thing while doing another."
"ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton cannot effectively lead an agency when he doesn't know what his field representatives are doing or when his subordinates are delivering messages directly at odds with the purported goals of the organization and the president," he said.
The Chaparro memo, he said, "is only the latest in a series of agency mishaps that have undermined the administration's credibility on immigration enforcement policy."
And in Washington, a coalition of immigrant rights groups has demanded the ouster of the nation's top immigration official, charging that underlings at Immigration and Customs Enforcement were thwarting Obama administration policy by setting a quota on deportations.
"The reality is that ICE has gone rogue and needs to be reined in with dramatic action," said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Community Change. "The agency charged with enforcing the nation's immigration laws is systematically deceiving the president and the American public."
14 Comments so far
Show AllUndocumented immigrants are breaking the law. It's that simple!
Furthermore, we don't need them in this country to help corporate America bring down wages.
If they want to earn a living, they should protest for jobs in their own country. And they can start with the bogus "Free Trade Agreements" their political leaders signed on to, which were designed to put more money in the pockets of the super-wealthy.
Like the people in this country, they need to get a grip on reality and how they are being shafted by their own political leaders.
Since WHEN do Americans have any authority or credibility to speak about the LAW? They break international law everyday, invading, bombing, incinerating defenseless countries. They illegally INVADE countless nations but HATE to have 'illegal aliens' in their own land, don't they?
Unless you're a Native American, you have NO RIGHT or authority as far as the US land is concerned. You're an illegal invader just like any Mexican crossing the border.
Exactly.
the only "real americans" are the Native Indians. this is THEIR LAND...everyone else is a GUEST! from columbus onwards!
Their no more native than I am,, I was born here, my father was born here, his father was born here. every human on this continent is from somewhere else originally; humans did not evolve in North or South America (Fact) Who owned the land 200 years ago I don't care, I bought it,, Enslaved myself to Chase Bank for the next 30 yrs under the rules of the current government it's mine! If we get a different government with different rules we'll just have to cope.
"They come here at great expence sometimes walking hundreds of mile thrugh snow" both ways.Bah! Let them put that kind of energy into their homes and they never would have had to leave.
It's not about race! if anything it's about language and culture. They want to not learn ours and to force theirs in it's place. I won't accept that. If they want a place like home stay home! How long till they think they can take over like the muslims in Sweeden and Greenland. It is starting to happen in So. California, Noone wants it here.
ACTUALLY..
as history shows...the USA immigration "laws" are really quite arbitrary -- always depending on the convenience of the moment.
for example:
there were times when Chinese Immigrants, legal or otherwise were unwanted..simply because they were "asian"..then they were "allowed" simply because the growing Railroad industry to "connect america" grew but couldn't fill the labor needs enough or fast enough -- at low wages...even with the preponderance of many "emancipated" blacks or hispanics and other indigents...then they were "not wanted" because china was "communist" ....
then there were times when the "irish" were "not wanted" - then the italians....although generally europeans were more "desirable" than others....
it shifts , in other words....but that TOO is not entirely unique to the USA. countries simply have their "shifting" priorities .
but the point is:
where it is the USA that has , for lack of a better word, "entered" other countries, unwanted or not, through its own policies or interferences - which have caused great upheavals or worsened them in other countries....and created landless people or destroyed their livelihoods...
when south americans use the land connections to get to the USA for wages that are comparatively STILL better than back home - partly because of american trade policies towards south america (and elsewhere, such as those through IMF, the washington consensus, the Milton Friedman "disaster capitalism" ideologies...and of course the older root of Manifest Destiny and American exploitations , most famously described by General Smedley Butler, US Marines, 1933) ...
why should that surprise or even OFFEND americans?
america is just reaping what IT sowed ELSEWHERE - when america "Entered" other nations to , in the words of John Perkins - former CIA "economic hitman" :
"render weaker or poorer nations PERMANENTLY subjugated to our will and the will of our Chamber of Commerce"?
CONSEQUENCE .
"illegals" , especially from south america, who as likely as not - travelled hundreds of miles by foot, in hopes of finding a means of earning a living to send back money for their families whose little farms, businesses, livelihoods, communities , and SOVEREIGNTY, were destroyed by AMERICAN corporate meddling and armtwisting "to do the will of our Chamber of Commerce" (perkins)..., if not all, likely are MOSTLY in the USA - because they were FORCED by circumstances largely created BY US foreign and trade policies towards their countries to go to where the "land of milk and honey" is...the USA.....
is it REALLY surprising that the CHIEF THIEVING NATION towards these countries ("we have gotten away with building this empire of ours through manipulation, assassinations, murder, blackmail, covert and overt wars, destabilising uncooperative countries, and PLAIN THEFT of their resources"....John Perkins, Former CIA "economic hitman")
becomes - through its OWN "prosperity" partly gotten - ill-gotten - through the impoverishing of peoples elsewhere - the "MAGNET" for people to TAKE SOMETHING BACK of what THEY were OWED in the first place.....
a means of livelihood after the USA dealt them the RUIN of their economies and their sovereignties and independence from ITS exploitations?
if anything....the "illegals" who seek to earn a living, to eat, to earn to send some money back to their countries and families.... are really only taking back a LITTLE SOMETHING of what the USA owes THEM which
IT has NO intention of paying THEM back....these human beings.
it is the USA that has committed ILLEGAL acts of sabotage on their economies and peoples.
it is the USA that has been the "ILLEGAL ALIEN" in OTHER lands.
people don't have to agree with ME...
but they would do well to listen to the EXPERTS in such acts of illegality and criminality BY the USA:
General Smedley Butler, US MARINES, 1933 - from 30 years of "being the highclass Muscleman for our Money and War Racket....and making the world Safe for our Big Boss: our supernationalistic Capitalism and our Cultural and Economic ASSAULT...what we DO is EVIL"
John Perkins, former CIA "economic hitman".....: "our foreign policy is designed to render other nations permanently subjugated to our will and that of our Chamber of Commerce...what most americans do not really understand or admit is....we are living our lifestyles ONLY because it is part of a very, very vicious system of exploitation that Dehumanizes and Enslaves People EVERYWHERE...and I was part of that Empire Project of ours".
of course people in great need....when there is almost nothing left in their countries from what another country has done to them , after meddling with them that destroyed the fabrics of their societies that had long been sufficient for themselves, no matter how "backward", and forced them to "compete" after having ASSAULTED them economically and culturally
(General Butler), will try to find a means to keep LIVING and surviving .........SOMEWHERE ....and THAT somewhere for many of these people from these countries that the USA ITSELF has assaulted...is: THE USA.
if they COULD - they would probably have gone to other places if they could get a boat to cross oceans...rather than be subjected to the racism and xenophobia in the USA...but - especially for the south americans, where perhaps the greatest population of "illegals" comes from because of the land continuity's potential "road" for them ...
they are merely showing the NATURAL HUMAN condition and INSTINCT to use one's FEET to MOVE somewhere where they can find food and shelter and a means of earning...after their own land has been DIVESTED FROM THEM by a foreign power using their local overlords to do it.
what were New MExico and parts of texas and california ---if not already peopled by those that spoke spanish or Native Indian?
that was THEIR land. the USA STOLE it from them.
if they are in california , legal or not, they are merely there in THEIR ancestral homelands that was taken from THEM ILLEGALY and criminally by the United States.
and THAT is no different from the way the USA turned the NATIVE INDIANS into their own way of being "illegals" IN their own land after the USA also STOLE it from THEM.
that is NO different from USA policies of declaring NATIVES of Afghanistan or pakistan and vietnam or iraq - and many other countries where it entered - as "insurgents" and therefore ILLEGALS in THEIR own lands.
so - why should americans get incensed about "these illegals breaking our laws?"
they should first ask about the LEGALITY and morality of the CREATION of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA ITSELF!
no one knows about THAT better than the Native Indians...and the mixed-race indians and hispanics already living in the "USA" continent LONG before these s0-called "immigration laws" of the USA were put in place.
if anything they were put in place to TURN a pyramid on its head! to render what IS truly ILLEGAL and CRIMINAL - the USA entity itself - as "lawful" - after it had immorally and illegally destroyed other peoples for THEIR land and tell THEM and their descendants ....
"you're being here illegally and flouting our laws".
the USA "keeping borders" from "illegals" or "undesirables" from countries it has assaulted with its global economic, trade, military and political policies is like a THIEF railing against people whose homes and resources and possessions were
ROBBED by the Thief doing the complaining about being 'robbed' by "unlawful people".
it is rather like the Thief appealing to "JUSTICE" about the People he has robbed wanting their possessions BACK. ..
and arguing that what he "possesses", which he stole from them, is his because HE deserves to have them and not they....and ultimately -- THAT is the ONLY real justification of the USA and its so-called "immigration laws" . ....:
STEALING from other nations and peoples - and "dehumanizing and enslaving them everywhere" (John Perkins) - and therefore ROBBING them of their humanity as well as their national resources, sovereignty and self-determination - in order to enrich itself with through "our cultural and economic assault in Service of OUR BIG BOSS: our supernationalistic capitalism" (general smedley Butler).
that's called THEFT. the USA often declares it ILLEGAL when it suits it. but NOT when IT's the one doing it.
just ask the Native Indians..especially the millions that the USA ILLEGALY sent to their "home in the clouds" in order to make ITSELF "legal" as a "nation of laws".....
One valid perspective is that US imperialism, 'free trade', IMF & WTO, crop subsidies, etc. have stolen the jobs from the nations to the south and those people are just here to try to get some of them back.
It's not like they want to leave their contries and families behind or that the US has no responsibility for what happened to them: there are a lot of different kinds of 'blowback'. They have a very good grip on reality -- like getting enough food and enough money to live, and who is behind the installation of the 'leaders' they have, and supporting the fascists they have to contend with.
Of course they'd want to monitor the numbers of ilegal alieans/insurgents they get by race and country of origin. As things stand now it's almost impossible for a legal South American/Mexican immigrant to get in as there are so many from that part of the world here illeagally. if ICE can show a large enough mass deported then the quotas for people who want to enter legally from that part of the world will ease some allowing more legal immogrants to come to the US and start new lives LEGALLY!
On the whole I'm glad to see the attiude improve at ICS/INS and more arrests being made, in fact 'd like to see more of the type of acton that was taken in Michigan this week against Americans Taken in regard to businesses hireing Ilegals that should help send the message that WE DON"T WANT NO ILEAGALS!
"in fact 'd like to see more of the type of acton that was taken in Michigan this week against Americans Taken in regard to businesses hireing Ilegals that should help send the message that WE DON"T WANT NO ILEAGALS!"
and
"we don't need them in this country to help corporate America bring down wages. If they want to earn a living, they should protest for jobs in their own country. "
For a minute I thought I had stumbled into a website of xenophobic, right-wing bigots. But then I noticed the date, April Fools, I think that sums it up pretty well.
The tired tactic of of the pro-immigration/neoliberal/latino? -play the race card.
Meanwhile, Gov Richardson dispatched the National Guard to southern NM after an illegal killed a rancher over in AZ. Funny, the rancher was known to help and feed distressed illegals.
They can't incarcerate and deport enough of them for me. I've known the culture all my life and the scams they run and disregard they have for law and civility. They're all about expecting an exception to the rule in every aspect of their lives.
For you that might live further north and haven't really seen the impact, spend some time on the border among the culture and get used to living in Mexico because it's coming to a neighborhood near you.
It would seem that all those "Barbarians" we heard about "Invading" the Roman Empire, were in fact, people whose indigenous trade networks, i.e. livelihoods, had been destroyed by that same empire, moving from the periphery to the center, because that's where the jobs were.
I wonder how this migration will be slandered in the far future, assuming there will be one.
They are not talking about deporting immigrants; they are talking about illegal aliens which is a different matter altogether.
Illegal immigrants violate our laws every single day. They use fraudulent documentation to obtain jobs, welfare and other benefits. Illegal alien females have 400,000 plus babies each year and we're supporting nearly all of them with natal care. The majority of foreign nationals won't learn the common language. Every U.S. citizen--resident in California and nationwide pays a tax for illegal immigration. They aren't poorly educated unless you count the 10K plus per child per year it costs to educate their children. They have nothing to offer but manual labor, which we have millions of American given the chance will do? They will be a huge financial burden on the rest of us if AMNESTY is forced through. Our immigration policy encourages diversity, multiculturalism, which is causing a major upheaval in Europe right now? With chain migration, we'll have tens of million more to support, who will sponsor the sick family members. Their kids are disrupting our schools holding back our English speaking students because they don't speak the language. California--a SANCTUARY STATE is in serious fiscal trouble from years of neglect, attributed to the Sacramento lawmakers giving welfare benefits to illegal immigrant families. This is observed from deterioration of public services, cut-backs in fireman, police and infrastructure erosion. Every state in the union is literary falling apart from not addressing years of neglect of bridges, dams, levees, highways, pot-holed city streets and empty promises from politicians. Ever state has serious consequences from the President Bush, Clinton administration from the illegal immigration invasion. Now we have a national emergency of the coming years Overpopulation, disruption of water supplies, electricity brownouts and reduce in natural resources. Any AMNESTY will immediately bring millions more crossing the border or flying in on tourist visas, with no intentions of leaving.
As foreign nationals have more children, they need more government entitlements, legalizing them will propel our federal deficits into hundreds of billions of dollars. President Obama won't get any kind of amnesty passed as the majority of Americans who don't know about the major impact of illegal immigration. They will surely know about it by the end of any public debates, through TV, unbiased media or radio awareness. We want birthright citizenship for legal residents only, not a contradiction to the law for freed slaves? We want E-Verify permanent and for very worker, even for those who have been employed for 20 years. We want to heavily fine those employ them, with business asset confiscation and even prison. No CEO, executive should be immune from incarceration, if they defy the PEOPLE'S LAWS?. We want our borders secure with the National Guard deployed and armed against drug smugglers, criminals and insurgents. Our US Border Patrol is under-funded, undermanned and will be victims of narcotic incursions in the growing war. The only people who want them here are the real left wing Democrats and ethnic caucuses, so they can keep the Liberals in power and Republicans for cut throat labor. It’s NOT going to happen because the rest of us will fight it, specifically now with upwards to 15 million Americans seeking work.
Here are the two take-away facts:
(1) ICE set a modest goal of increasing their efficiency by 3%, from 387,000 to 400,000—a number that represents about 2-3% of the 12-20 million illegals living in the U.S.—and to do so, not for ideological reasons, but to justify their increased budget.
(2) Groups willing to demagogue, dishonestly represent the facts, and smear people's reputations include:
ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project
Immigration Policy Center
National Immigration Forum
Reform Immigration for America
Center for Community Change