| Submit your comments on this article |
| Government |
| Champ Cuts Back on Deportations |
| 2014-07-12 |
| A U.S. effort to discourage immigrants' repeated attempts to enter the country illegally by dropping them back in Mexico hundreds of miles from where they were caught has been sharply scaled back after producing only modest gains. Measured how, I wonder? U.S. authorities insist that the Alien Transfer Exit Program has contributed to overall achievements in border security and say that the cutbacks reflected a need to shift resources to deal with Central Americans pouring into Texas. They just can't ship 'em back fast enough, so why bother? The government has flown or bused hundreds of thousands of Mexican men to faraway border cities since February 2008, believing they would give up after being separated from their smugglers. Turns out that's dumb, since they don't pay the smugglers until they get across. Apparently, the smugglers work both sides of the porous border on a daily basis. But government statistics and interviews with migrants in Mexican shelters suggest that the dislocation is a relatively ineffective deterrent, especially for immigrants with spouses, children and roots in the U.S. So clearly, we need to send back the entire family and set 'em up in a nice 3BR - 2BA close to the Toyota factory, so they can get a job. After being dropped off, many get on another bus and head right back to where they started. Once there, they reunite with their smugglers for another attempt, taking advantage of a standard practice that they pay only when they cross successfully. Or, we can catch 'em after they paid the smuggler. Or maybe catch the smugglers? "It's a nuisance. That's all," said Pablo Hernändez, 50, who lingered in the hallway of a shelter in Mexicali, swapping stories with other migrants after the U.S. government took him on a five-hour bus ride from Tucson, Ariz. Hernändez planned to take a commercial bus to the Mexican town of Altar to reunite with his smuggler, who provided a phone number and said he wouldn't demand his $3,400 fee until Hernändez made it across. Just think if we grant amnesty to all those who did make it across.... Despite overwhelming numbers of Central Americans crossing in Texas, the Border Patrol is making strides by some key measures, including a drop in the percentage of migrants who are arrested entering the country again after being caught. The recidivism rate for all migrants arrested on the Mexican border fell to 16 percent in the 2013 fiscal year from 17 percent a year earlier, 20 percent in 2011, 24 percent in 2010 and 27 percent in 2009. Hmmmm.... I wonder if that is more closely related to the US economy than border enforcement? But results for the Alien Transfer Exit Program, or ATEP, were higher: 25 percent last year, up from 24 percent the previous year. Yeah, I'd scrap it, too. Clearly a colossal failure! But read on. ATEP has barely fared better than "voluntary returns," the term for migrants who are simply turned around without being charged. Immigrants who are criminally prosecuted produce the lowest recidivism rates. Whawuzzat? Immigrants who are criminally prosecuted produce the lowest recidivism rates. That's what I thought you said! Abel Delgado, 30, who lived in the Phoenix area for 23 years and was a cook and construction worker before he was deported in 2010, was bused from Tucson after four days of walking through the Arizona desert. He planned to reunite with his smuggler for another attempt in Arizona after the summer heat, determined to rejoin his wife and daughters, ages 5 and 8. "If I didn't have family, I'd stay here," he said. So just send his family to him! |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #2 "Trust me" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-07-12 19:29 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-07-12 14:49 |