Some Positive Changes, But the Deportation Beat Goes On

One would think that the U.S. government might conclude that immigration enforcement efforts might be reduced (and money saved) given that migration patterns, due to the lagging U.S. economy, are changing dramatically.  Mexican migration patterns reportedly are changing, with the estimated net migration to the United States at or near zero.  Moreover, the undocumented population has decreased by an estimated 1 million, from 11 to 10 million, in the last few years. 

To its credit, the administration has announced (and here) some positive reforms to the political process.  Still, there continue to be distressing reports of the immigration process run amok, including, but not limited to,

—  the apparent deportation of a U.S. citizen teenager to Colombia;

—  deportation of an undocumented quadriplegic injured in a workplace accident in Chicago to Mexico where he now is in a hospital unequipped to meet his medical needs;  

—  the threatened deportation of a college graduate to a country that she does not know; 

—  the abuses of the private mass detention industry

—  harsh asylum positions taken by the U.S.government, with threatened deportation of noncitizens who face physical violence in their native land.

And these are just some of the reports from the news over the last week or so.  The persistent reports of abuses in the U.S. immigration system suggest that there are some deep institutional flaws in the immigration bureaucracy that must be corrected.  It is dismaying to hear consistently about deaths on the border, wrongful deportations, detention abuses, etc.  The reports are so constant that, sadly enough, they are neither surprising or really news.  They are a sad commentary on immigration justice American style.

KJ