Deportation

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March 28, 2012 | 12:35 PM | By

In California, an attempt to keep some deportees’ children out of foster care

Photo by Roger's Wife/Flickr (Creative Commons)

A post last month described some of the scenarios that can befall the U.S.-born children of immigrants who land in deportation proceedings, some better than others. Sometimes, deported parents opt to take their children with them when they leave. Other children remain here with relatives.

But when relatives can’t be located, or the parents are shuffled off quickly into the immigrant detention system, sometimes there’s nowhere for the kids to go. In these cases, it’s surprisingly easy for these immigrants to lose their parental rights. Parents in detention are hard pressed to meet the requirements established by child welfare agencies, such as attending case meetings or court proceedings related to the children, and often fail to meet the strict timelines set. If they don’t meet the terms, their parental rights can be terminated.

Last fall, the social justice magazine ColorLines reported that more than 5,000 children were languishing in foster care following the detention or deportation of their immigrant parents. The numbers make sense in light of a new Homeland Security report issued this week that tracks the deportation of parents of U.S.-born children and estimates that between 1998 and 2007, more than 100,000 parents of U.S.- born children were deported. Since that time the annual number of deportations has sharply increased, leading to more family separations.

In California, a state Senate committee has voted in favor of a bill that’s intended to help some immigrants in deportation hold onto their children through the process, introduced by Sen. Kevin De Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles. From the text of the bill, known as SB 1064:

Existing law sets forth the procedure for terminating the parental rights of a dependent child, including regular review hearings before a court may order a hearing to terminate parental rights. Under existing law, a court may continue these review hearings if it finds that there is a substantial probability that the child will be returned to the physical custody of his or her parent or legal guardian and safely maintained in the home within the extended period of time or that reasonable services have not been provided to the parent or legal guardian.

This bill would authorize a court to extend the review hearing periods following consideration of the parent’s circumstances if a parent has been arrested and issued an immigration hold, detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department of Homeland Security, or deported to his or her country of origin, and, under these circumstances would authorize a court to continue the case only if the court finds that the parent has made reasonable efforts to regain custody of the child or that termination of parental rights would be detrimental to the child.

Among other things, the bill would also ensure that a child can be placed with a relative or legal guardian regardless of the relative or guardian’s status.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Deportation, Family separation, Foster care, SB 1064
February 27, 2012 | 1:58 PM | By

Is prosecutorial discretion leading to fewer deportation cases?

Photo by Jose Cabezas/AFP/Getty Images

Deportees from the United States alight after their plane arrives in El Salvador, December 18, 2008

Are the prosecutorial discretion guidelines issued by the Obama administration last year having an effect on the number of deportation cases that the administration is pursuing?

A new Syracuse University report suggests yes, federal immigration officials say no, and some lawmakers are calling “amnesty” nonetheless.

First, the report: Issued in recent days by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, the number of deportation proceedings begun in the nation’s immigration courts between October and December of last year (the first quarter of federal fiscal year 2012) “fell sharply to only 39,331 — down 33 percent from 58,639 filings recorded the previous quarter,” a drop of more than 10,000 cases filed. The report notes that since filings are typically lower at that time of year, the numbers were adjusted for seasonal drop-off. It continues:

This substantial drop may have been caused by the steps needed to implement the June 17, 2011 agency directive on prosecutorial discretion or as the indirect effect of the review announced August 18, 2011 by the Administration of all pending Immigration Court cases. The objective of these twin initiatives was to better target enforcement resources on high priority cases.

Not necessarily the case, say federal immigration officials, for whom a number of recent Syracuse University reports have been a thorn in the side. As with other recent reports from TRAC, the report uses data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which administers the immigration courts, and this is “essentially incomplete data,” said Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington D.C.

According to Christensen, “their data is only focused on the initiation of formal removal proceedings in the Executive Office for Immigration Review. It ignores the fact that we regularly remove individuals without going through formal proceedings: voluntary return, voluntary deportation, reinstatement of old removal orders. We can voluntarily return someone without going through the formal initiation of proceedings.”

The Obama administration has said that it counts voluntary removals in its overall record-breaking deportation tallies. The makeup of overall removals in any given period can shift, Christensen said, making a quarter-by-quarter comparison difficult to read.

As for the prosecutorial discretion reviews of roughly 300,000 deportation cases to be conducted in the nation’s immigration courts, as announced last summer by the Obama administration, a pilot program began in two cities, Denver and Baltimore, last November. The pilot lasted six weeks, with a little more than 1,600 cases recommended for closure once it concluded last month. But these were already pending deportation cases, which wouldn’t factor into a dip in new cases filed.

Experts have said it’s too soon to see a trend, but some lawmakers have taken the data to heart. On the House Judiciary Committee website, committee chair Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, said in a statement linking to the TRAC report: “Last quarter’s data confirms what we knew all along: President Obama is recklessly determined to grant backdoor amnesty to thousands of illegal immigrants.”

Also in dispute is whether ICE, as the report points out, is focusing less on criminals. The Obama administration has stated that its goal is to deport criminals, with less of an emphasis on immigrants with clean records. In a similar report last year, TRAC pointed to fewer criminal cases in the immigration courts; ICE’s reply was that those deportation cases in which a crime is pointed out as part of the case make up just a portion of criminal removals overall, since many people with criminal records are removed administratively. From an ICE statement today:

When removing individuals who have been convicted of a crime and who have no lawful immigration status, like those who illegally cross our border or overstay their visa, ICE is not required to file charging documents in immigration court asserting criminal grounds of removal.

The entire TRAC report can be viewed here.

FILED UNDER: Deportation, Deportation reviews, ICE, Prosecutorial discretion, TRAC
November 14, 2011 | 11:01 AM | By

Obama administration’s new deportation policy being applied unevenly

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

A man is prepared for a deportation flight bound for San Salvador in Mesa, Arizona, December 2010

A series of recent posts on Multi-American highlighted how a new deportation policy announced in August by the Obama administration, which promised to potentially spare thousands from deportation, was being applied unevenly.

Homeland Security officials announced that they would review the deportation cases of some 300,000 immigrants deemed a low priority for removal, among them young people who arrived here as minors and had no criminal record. But people who meet the criteria for leniency have continued moving through the deportation pipeline. One prominent recent example was Matias Ramos, a UCLA graduate and student activist who in September suddenly found himself wearing an electronic shackle and informed that he was to be deported to Argentina, where he was born.

Ramos was granted a last-minute temporary reprieve, as have other potential young deportees who have been the focus of social media campaigns by student activists and advocacy groups. But while some like these have been spared, others who meet the criteria and have similar backgrounds and similarly clean records continue to be deported.

The New York Times examined the problem in a story this weekend, citing from a new report from the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Immigration Council. The report collected data from 252 cases handled by attorneys who had asked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to exercise prosecutorial discretion for their clients. From the story:

“The overwhelming conclusion is that most ICE offices have not changed their practices since the issuance of these new directives,” the report found.

“This is a classic example of leadership saying one thing and the rank and file doing another,” said Gregory Chen, director of advocacy for the lawyers association. The report found that training for immigration officers on the new guidelines had been lacking.

Officials at the Homeland Security Department acknowledge the policy’s slow start. Mr. Morton’s June guidelines were followed by a three-month lull, when resistance grew among agents in the field. In late September, Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Morton went on the offensive to press the policy, and since then Mr. Morton has been on the road inaugurating training programs.

“Like any major change in enforcement policy, this is a work in progress,” Mr. Morton said by telephone from Miami, where he was joining in a training session. “I have been handling much of the initial explanation myself, because I feel so strongly about it.”

Some of the immigrants whose cases were documented in the report experienced vastly different outcomes, despite similar legal backgrounds. Included in the story are cases like that of Rubén Quinteros, a 43-year-old undocumented immigrant from Uruguay who was arrested by immigration officials eight days before his planned wedding and deported in late October. The end result of his case was a far cry from that of Manuel Bartsch, an 24-year-old undocumented man brought to the U.S. from Germany when he was 10. After fighting deportation for years, his deportation case was terminated earlier this month, and he will now be able to apply for a work permit.

Last month, Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano announced that a pilot program to begin reviewing the cases of immigrants deemed a low deportation priority would begin “in a few weeks.”

FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, AILA, Deportation, Deportation policy, Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, Matias Ramos, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
August 19, 2011 | 1:58 PM | By

Who is a ‘low priority’ under DHS deportation guidelines?

Photo by davipt/Flickr (Creative Commons)

After yesterday’s announcement from the Department of Homeland Security that it will review some 300,000 cases of immigrants in the deportation pipeline, potentially sparing many from removal, a Obama administration official posting on the White House Blog linked to “common sense guidelines” that will be applied in deciding who goes and who stays.

An excerpt from what was posted by Cecilia Muñoz, White House intergovernmental affairs director:

So DHS, along with the Department of Justice, will be reviewing the current deportation caseload to clear out low-priority cases on a case-by-case basis and make more room to deport people who have been convicted of crimes or pose a security risk. And they will take steps to keep low-priority cases out of the deportation pipeline in the first place. They will be applying common sense guidelines to make these decisions, like a person’s ties and contributions to the community, their family relationships and military service record.

The link leads back to a June 17 memo from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton that urged agency staff to use prosecutorial discretion in the cases of certain immigrants, particularly those without a criminal record, those who arrived here as minors and those who have served or are connected to the military. From the memo, some of the factors to be considered (bold type added):

When weighing whether an exercise of prosecutorial discretion may be warranted for a given alien, ICE officers, agents, and attorneys should consider all relevant factors, including, but not limited to –

• the agency’s civil immigration enforcement priorities

• the person’s length of presence in the United States, with particular consideration given to presence while in lawful status

• the circumstances of the person’s arrival in the United States and the manner of his or her entry, particularly if the alien came to the United States as a young child

• the person’s pursuit of education in the United States, with particular consideration given to those who have graduated from a U.S. high school or have successfully pursued or are pursuing a college or advanced degrees at a legitimate institution of higher education in the United States

• whether the person, or the person’s immediate relative, has served in the U.S. military reserves, or national guard, with particular consideration given to those who served in combat

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, Cecilia Muñoz, Department of Homeland Security, Deportation, DHS, Secure Communities
August 19, 2011 | 11:08 AM | By

DHS shift ‘doesn’t provide permanent status for anyone:’ A Twitter Q&A with the White House

Photo by Tom Lohdan/Flickr (Creative Commons)

The Obama administration’s announcement yesterday that it would back off on deporting “low priority” immigrants who don’t present a public safety threat is being cheered by immigrant advocates, but questions remain as to who will benefit and to what extent.

According to the announcement, the deportation cases of immigrants with no criminal records and strong ties to the United States – particularly young people who arrived as children, military veterans and their families – will be reviewed on a case by case basis, and many could be spared deportation. Some people allowed to stay might even qualify for work permits.

But what kind of long-term solution does this represent, if any? Several pertinent questions were brought up yesterday during a live Twitter Q&A chat with White House intergovernmental affairs director Cecilia Muñoz. Among those who joined the discussion was Jose Antonio Vargas, an award-winning journalist who recently revealed his undocumented status. Here’s a Storify(ed) timeline of the chat via the White House Blog.

(And kudos to the White House for posting this while I was tweaking code on a nearly identical Storify timeline, as it saved me some tech headaches.)

FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, Cecilia Muñoz, Department of Homeland Security, Deportation, DHS
August 2, 2011 | 7:41 AM | By

‘Stop the plane!’ How twitterati mobilized to try to stop a deportation

Photo by davipt/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Last week, blow-by-blow updates on the deportation of a young man to South Africa scrolled across Twitter over the course of several hours. It wasn’t the first time that young immigrant activists have used social media to intervene in a deportation, but in this case, the plane was about to depart.

The emotional pleas contained to 140 characters related to Andy Mathe, the eldest son of an Atlanta family that had sought political asylum since 2007. The family said they had been subject to death threats and the attempted kidnapping of a daughter; their father, a native of Rwanda who left that country following the genocide there, had gone into hiding while the mother and children left for the United States.

Hundreds of activists, students, bloggers, immigration attorneys and other Twitter users participated in a last-minute campaign, urging followers to contact the federal government and the airline. As the clock ticked toward takeoff, increasingly urgent tweets related an unfolding drama. “Stop the plane!” one screamed; others tweeted that Mathe had been drugged, which was not confirmed, though the practice has been employed in the past.

Here are just a few of the tweets, in a timeline:

“ For ANdy Mathe "Help to Save My Son From Deportation ICE" on Scribd http://t.co/K6ide3f #Readcast
AmericanSappho
July 25, 2011
“ URGENT: Call ICE Director Morton 1-800-821-9358, demand he keep Andy Mathe from certain death! http://bit.ly/nA3BZ5 #dreamact #whereisAndy
anjamd
July 26, 2011
“ Update on Andy Mathe : Could go “Home” at any Moment: An update on Andy Mathe, the young man who is facing depor… http://bit.ly/pVClAl
awdiversity
July 26, 2011
“ HELP – ICE is drugging and deporting Andy Mathe to death within a few hours via @Delta airlines. Tell @Delta to refuse to take him onboard.
redhotdesi
July 26, 2011
“ @Delta If Andy Mathe is deported back to South Africa via your airlines, he faces death. Read his story here. http://bit.ly/mTLCvR
urihoresh
July 26, 2011
“ News: Was just informed that ICE has picked Andy Mathe and he is likely to be deported this evening via a Delta… http://fb.me/D63IU5M1
VivirLatino
July 26, 2011
“ Just made the call to ask ICE to stop the deportation of South African youth, Andy Mathe. Will u? http://action.dreamactivist.org/mathefam/
NvrComfortable
July 26, 2011
“ Andy Mathe will be deported today at 7pm through Delta. Call the airlines directly and tell them to not fly Andy to his death (404) 765-5000
UNITEDWEDREAM
July 26, 2011
“ Correction: Andy Mathe is being drugged and deported by ICE and @Delta from Gate E11, S Terminal on Flight DL 200 at ATL airport at 7:20
redhotdesi
July 26, 2011
“ STOP THE PLANE! Andy will be taken to his death if it leaves the airport! Flight DL200 Gate E11 Terminal S @Delta @Atlanta_Airport #immyouth
NYSYLC
July 26, 2011
“ RT @thejval: Will anybody at #ATL @Atlanta_Airport please go to Flight DL200 Gate E11, Terminal S to help save Andy Mathe? @Delta #delta #immyouth
k_e_w1
July 26, 2011
“ Flight DL200 to Johannesburg has taken off #WhereisAndyMathe
anjamd
July 26, 2011
“ Re ICE deportation: We respect your passion, but deportation is the US govt’s decision & as a privacy matter we don’t share pax info.
DeltaAssist
July 26, 2011
“ Andy Mathe has been deported- read the story here: http://bit.ly/qJycNh #dreamact
DreamAct
July 27, 2011

Mathe’s mother was scheduled to meet with immigration officials today, according to immigrant activists. The family has lost its bid to remain in the United States and could be deported in the near future. 

FILED UNDER: Andy Mathe, Deportation, Mathe family, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
December 28, 2010 | 5:30 PM | By

Top five immigration stories of 2010, #4: Record deportations

A man waits to be processed at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Arizona.

It was the Obama administration’s strategic trade-off on immigration: A stepped-up approach to enforcement which, the President hoped, would help win over Republican lawmakers for bipartisan support of a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.

In the end, with insufficient support for anything broader, the only thing to stick this year has been the enforcement. The Obama administration has deported nearly 800,000 immigrants in the past two years, more than during any other two-year period in the nation’s history.

The exact numbers for this year have been disputed: The record figure released last fall of more than more than 392,000 deportations in fiscal year 2010, which topped the 2009 record, turned out to include more than 19,000 immigrants removed the previous fiscal year, as well as a small number of repatriations that would normally have been counted by the U.S. Border Patrol.

Still, the administration came close to its expected goal of deporting around 400,000 people in fiscal year 2010. Immigration officials had stated that they would focus on immigrants with criminal convictions, utilizing a pair of controversial programs that rely on cooperation from local law enforcement. A Washington Post story on the deportations cited Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano:

Napolitano credited programs known as 287G and Secure Communities, both of which leverage the reach of local law enforcement officials, for the stepped-up deportations. She said that crime along the border was either stable or falling, and that “some of America’s safest cities are right along the southwest border.”

But some ICE critics say the effort to target criminals for deportation, which often involves assistance from state and local law enforcement officials, has swept up unauthorized immigrants who had committed minor offenses – or no offenses at all.

When it announced its fiscal year 2010 deportations last fall, the Obama administration also announced that about half of the deportees were people with criminal records. But the programs used to target criminals for deportation cast a wider net: One quarter of those deported through the fingerprint-sharing program known as Secure Communities had no criminal convictions, according to one recent news report.

More on Secure Communities and 287(g) this week as we continue reviewing the top immigration stories of the year. The story reviewed yesterday: Last summer’s tragic migrant massacre in Tamaulipas.


FILED UNDER: Politics/Justice, 287(g), Deportation, Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, Secure Communities, Top stories of 2010, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
November 29, 2010 | 11:22 PM | By

Audio from today’s Patt Morrison show: The DREAM Act and student activism

Photo by Leslie Berestein Rojas/KPCC

A sign outside a DREAM Act rally in Los Angeles last summer.

In recent weeks I’ve posted several stories and updates related to the DREAM Act, a bill that would allow a path to legal status for undocumented young people who attend college or enlist in the military. A House vote is expected soon, possibly later this week.

Part of the reason that the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which has been introduced and failed several times over the course of nearly a decade, is getting so much attention this time is because of unprecedented activism among the very undocumented students it would benefit.

During previous DREAM Act vote cycles, the bulk of these youths remained in the shadows. But since the bill was introduced again last year, a growing number of students who have been here illegally since they were children have been coming out publicly about their immigration status to make a statement in support of the bill, attaching their names and faces to it, and generating publicity. Some have risked arrest and deportation by participating in rallies and sit-ins; others have stuck their necks out as well-known student leaders.

This afternoon I talked about what’s driving these students and their risky activism on 89.3 KPCC’s Patt Morrison show, which featured an informative segment on the DREAM Act. Among the other guests on the show were Pedro Ramirez, the CSU Fresno student body president who was recently outed in his campus newspaper, and Luis Perez, a UCLA law school graduate whose story was featured recently in the Los Angeles Times. Ramirez arrived in this country with his family at age three, Perez at eight.

The audio from the segment can be heard here.

FILED UNDER: Health/Education, Politics/Justice, CSU Fresno, Deportation, Dream Act, UCLA