Latinos protest deportations at Obama campaign HQ

[xchrom]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/us-obama-immigration-protest-idUSTRE77G00320110817

(Reuters) - Latino activists held a protest outside President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign headquarters on Tuesday to ask him to end a criminal deportation program they say is snaring large number of illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, established the Secure Communities program in partnership with local law enforcement agencies as well as the FBI to deport unauthorized immigrants with criminal convictions.

"They're saying it is to deport criminal immigrants, but in reality, that's not happening," said Xochitl Espinoza, of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities activist group, which took part in the protest on Tuesday.

Obama supports comprehensive immigration reform, boosting workplace enforcement and border security while granting of millions of illegal immigrants in good standing a chance to become citizens if they pay a fine and learn English.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Maybe this isn't a popular view here, but I don't see anything wrong

with deporting illegal immigrants--because they already broke the law by entering illegally.

[moksha]

2. They didn't technically break a law. It isn't a crime to enter without inspection,

it is a violation of statute. But, there is no punishment, like a fine or imprisonment associated with it.

For what it's worth, the US doesn't consider removal as a punishment, either.

[Romulox]

3. "Statute" means "law". I think you mean "they've not committed a *crime*". nt

[moksha]

5. Thank you, you are correct.

[TwilightGardener]

4. I guess I don't see sending them back to their country of origin as punishment, either.

I think it's what they should expect, actually. How many countries simply allow unchecked immigration with no deportations?

[moksha]

6. For me, it depends. When someone has been here for decades,

working and paying taxes and building a family. When someone has been here playing a role in the community. When someone came here without inspection when they were a child, and have no connection or real family in the country of origin, it seems like a huge punishment to me.

[TwilightGardener]

7. I am a supporter of comprehensive reform with amnesty under certain conditions.

But it's not the law yet--and until it is, if ever, this is the way it is. Protesting deportations is like stealing something and then complaining when you have to give it back.

[moksha]

8. Or like sitting at counters, marching and boycotting buses.

We need the reform, we need attention and support to make it happen.

[TwilightGardener]

9. That's insulting to the civil rights movement, to compare a group of people who

were brought to this country against their will and treated like second-class citizens (or not citizens at all) for centuries, to people who sneak over the border and now demand to be left alone.

[moksha]

10. I support human rights and dignity of all people. Immigration rights

are civil rights.

[EFerrari]

12. Well done. n/t

[TwilightGardener]

14. So do I. That doesn't mean you can sneak in and then stay indefinitely, but you knew that.

[EFerrari]

16. No, it's much more noble to rip off these people for their labor

round them up like stray cattle and dump them across the border. That's the American way, after all.

[Lance_Boyle]

13. illegal entry is a crime, not a civil violation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_entry#United_States

[Lance_Boyle]

11. Premise fail - illegal borden crossing is a crime.

Overstaying a legit visa is a civil matter entirely but illegal border crossing is a crime.

[EFerrari]

15. Obama SAID he supported immigration reform

while in reality, his deportation policy is worse than Bush's.

[xchrom]

17. +1

[Romulox]

20. He also said he was going to renegotiate NAFTA. It's all somehow, interconnected...

isn't it? The status quo is bad for workers in Mexico AND in the US.

[EFerrari]

21. Precisely. n/t

[Hangingon]

18. Lets apply Mexican law.

[EFerrari]

19. Hartmann: Immigrants for Sale (Multi billion $ private prison industry)

Axel Woolfolk Caballero, founded/directs/produces Cuéntame. With the economy flailing - there's at least one industry - other than Wall Street and Big Oil - that's booming! And that's the business of locking up immigrants. Not because there's more illegal immigration in America today - there's actually less - but because private prison lobbyists - with the help of paid-off lawmakers who write strict immigration laws like Arizona's SB1070 - are making sure more and more illegal - and sometimes legal - immigrants are rounded up and thrown in for-profit detention facilities around the country. Each new immigrant captured translates into over $70000 a year for the private detention facility - so it's a pretty lucrative industry. As long as profiteers are in control our prison system - and buying off our lawmakers - then a compassionate and common sense approach to illegal immigration - and our legal system in general - will forever remain elusive.

Video at link.

http://www.thomhartmann.com/bigpicture/hartmann-immigrants-sale