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Dec. 19th, 2002 04:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynLevel Head asked in a comment, when I linked to the Reuters article on Iranian immigrants being detained: "What do you think the real story is?"
I suspect the facts of "the real story" aren't far from what facts are presented in the Reuters article. Thousands of immigrants who are required by a new law to register with the INS did so on Monday, as the last day to comply. Many of these people were then jailed (or "detained" if you like the polite word better. I'd rather be arrested than detained, myself. When you're arrested at least you get a lawyer, court date, etc. We have rules on how to treat arrested people, whereas you can "detain" an immigrant virtually forever).
Why were they jailed? Not much in the way of facts on this one. I would guess that the vast majority of them were jailed because their immigration papers were not in order. In some cases, that's probably because the immigrant neglected a step in the process of renewing a visa, or deliberately stayed in the country even though they were aware that they could not get their visa renewed.
In a lot of cases, I'd bet it's a problem on the INS's end -- the INS is hopelessly overworked for its funding level, and our immigration laws are a horrid, tangled, bureaucratic mess that are a nightmare to comply with and to enforce. (I'm sure Koogrr or Francisco can offer better testimony than I on this point.) So some of these people undoubtedly applied for renewal 18 months before the expiration of their green card and now, two years later, they're still waiting to hear "yea or nay" from the INS. And a few of them are doubtless in the country on perfectly valid, current visas, but the INS has gotten something shuffled onto the wrong pile and now thinks that they're illegal.
And in a few cases the detainees are people with outstanding warrants for their arrest, or who have been mistaken for people who are wanted. I doubt that very many of them are. If you thought you were wanted for a crime, would you come to a government agency and be sure to get yourself registered?
Voice of America says here that "most foreigners detained this week in California while trying to register under new immigration laws are out on bail."
I'm not sure whether I'm glad that they've been released, or disturbed that hundreds of people had to post bail for having an expired green card.
Mind you, I'm one of those people with a violent distaste for our current immigration laws, and I am appalled at the way America routinely treats immigrants, legal and otherwise. So I've got a lot more sympathy than most for those who haven't jumped through all the right INS hoops.
So. I hope this gets straightened out to everyone's satisfaction.
Moreover, I hope it gets lots of press and people upset. Better that we stir a furor over 500 men being jailed for a week than waiting for 10,000 to be marched to be packed off to "relocation" camps before we go 'Hey, maybe this is a bad thing ...'
I suspect the facts of "the real story" aren't far from what facts are presented in the Reuters article. Thousands of immigrants who are required by a new law to register with the INS did so on Monday, as the last day to comply. Many of these people were then jailed (or "detained" if you like the polite word better. I'd rather be arrested than detained, myself. When you're arrested at least you get a lawyer, court date, etc. We have rules on how to treat arrested people, whereas you can "detain" an immigrant virtually forever).
Why were they jailed? Not much in the way of facts on this one. I would guess that the vast majority of them were jailed because their immigration papers were not in order. In some cases, that's probably because the immigrant neglected a step in the process of renewing a visa, or deliberately stayed in the country even though they were aware that they could not get their visa renewed.
In a lot of cases, I'd bet it's a problem on the INS's end -- the INS is hopelessly overworked for its funding level, and our immigration laws are a horrid, tangled, bureaucratic mess that are a nightmare to comply with and to enforce. (I'm sure Koogrr or Francisco can offer better testimony than I on this point.) So some of these people undoubtedly applied for renewal 18 months before the expiration of their green card and now, two years later, they're still waiting to hear "yea or nay" from the INS. And a few of them are doubtless in the country on perfectly valid, current visas, but the INS has gotten something shuffled onto the wrong pile and now thinks that they're illegal.
And in a few cases the detainees are people with outstanding warrants for their arrest, or who have been mistaken for people who are wanted. I doubt that very many of them are. If you thought you were wanted for a crime, would you come to a government agency and be sure to get yourself registered?
Voice of America says here that "most foreigners detained this week in California while trying to register under new immigration laws are out on bail."
I'm not sure whether I'm glad that they've been released, or disturbed that hundreds of people had to post bail for having an expired green card.
Mind you, I'm one of those people with a violent distaste for our current immigration laws, and I am appalled at the way America routinely treats immigrants, legal and otherwise. So I've got a lot more sympathy than most for those who haven't jumped through all the right INS hoops.
So. I hope this gets straightened out to everyone's satisfaction.
Moreover, I hope it gets lots of press and people upset. Better that we stir a furor over 500 men being jailed for a week than waiting for 10,000 to be marched to be packed off to "relocation" camps before we go 'Hey, maybe this is a bad thing ...'
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no subject
Date: 2002-12-19 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-19 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
A few Iranians who are acquaintances of mine did not find the process troubling at all. There was a last-minute rush on the last day, apparently.
I wonder how many people were actually detained, and for how long. Certainly by three days later they were out.
My understanding is that visas are not difficult to get, and not particularly difficult to extend; the green card process is more involved. But, it is against the law to remain in the country when your permission to do so has expired; the extended amnesty period did not encourage enough folks to come in early enough. Unfortunate.
By the way, the comment that terrorists would not come in to register is not likely to be true; I am aware of a number of stings that nab large numbers of criminals, and you'd think they'd know better. It does seem likely that people without outstanding arrest warrants would avoid the place, but from all of the reports, they did come in...and were arrested. That part seems acceptable, at least.
===|==============/ Level Head
Our Immigration Laws Have Problems in Both Directions
Date: 2002-12-20 03:38 pm (UTC)I would prefer to see the US admit far more legal immigrants. I'm not sure exactly how many, but I'd start by making the H-1 visa program for skilled foreign workers much easier to get into and expanding the size to at least 2 million (The FY 2000 cap was 115,000 http://www.ins.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/h1bcapre.htm). Other things that we should probably be doing include establishing a guest worker program into which people can enroll with less effort than sneaking into the US requires now. Naturally, I'd also demand that the INS begin thinking of immigrants as its customers and treating them accordingly. As long as we now have a department of homeland security to handle work associated with the reasons people shouldn't be allowed to become Americans, I want to see another agency take up the mantle of encouraging new Americans. It is inexcusable that the INS considers 12 months to be a normal length of time for someone to wait for a green card renewal.
On the flip side, though, once we have immigration laws that we can enforce in good conscience, I would like to stop pretending they don't exist. I'm not comfortable with our current de facto policy which calls for routinely releasing people (within the US) who have violated immigration laws without at least doing a background check to make sure they don't pose a threat (btw, I'm not primarily talking about immigrants like those in your example who voluntarily turned themselves in).
Telnar