Immigration: Lock 'em up
The House of Representatives has been holding hearings on a variety of immigration issues, including farm labor and ramped-up enforcement.
The latest issue to go before the House Immigration subcommittee involves the prolonged detention of immigrants, including asylum-seekers and legal permanent residents who commit crimes and are eligible to be deported.
At Tuesday's hearing, the debate focused on HR 1932, a measure that seeks to strip away key parts of a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision. In Zadvydas vs Davis, the court ruled that an immigrant awaiting deportation could not be held in detention longer than six months if "there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future." Countries that have poor diplomatic relations with the United States, such as Cuba, generally will not take back deported immigrants.
The sponsor of the proposal is Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. A strong proponent of stricter immigration enforcement, he said the Supreme Court's ruling "required dangerous criminal immigrants to be released into our communities. All too often these criminal immigrants have gone on to commit more crimes."
Smith pointed to cases like that of a Cuban man who was released from immigration detention because he could not be returned to his homeland. The man later shot and killed a Florida police officer.
But the bill doesn't seem to acknowledge that current law provides limits on those who are considered a serious danger or a risk to national security.
The Patriot Act authorizes the Justice Department to detain those immigrants it believes to be a national security risk. And state and federal laws already provide for the detention of those who are especially dangerous or mentally ill under civil commitment statutes.
Moreover, Smith's proposal would go well beyond allowing the indefinite detention of immigrants convicted of violent crimes. It would extend to those with convictions such as writing a bad check or minor drug offenses. Under immigration law, aggravated felonies are broadly defined to include nonviolent crimes that carry a sentence of more than one year or if the monetary loss exceeds more than $10,000.
But perhaps the most alarming aspect of the proposal is the attempt to eliminate bail hearings for those detained longer than six months. A number of federal court decisions ruled that asylum-seekers and others in immigration jails are entitled to a bail hearing before an immigration judge.
Lastly, Smith's bill would strip from all federal courts the power to review immigration detention appeals and instead limit review to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The court's chief judge, Royce Lamberth, told CNN, "We plan to try very few civil cases this spring and summer" because of the swelling caseload. The court has been overwhelmed by appeals from terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, CNN reported. It's hard to imagine what would happen to the court if it were charged with reviewing those cases.
One issue the bill does not address is the additional cost of detaining thousands of immigrants for years.
RELATED:
Lee Baca: Let us deport the bad guys
Citizen children and life under the radar
Secure Communities program: A flawed deportation tool
--Sandra Hernandez
Photo: Salvador Santoya Juarez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, answers questions from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Scott Hamelin. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
I favor jail time for any offense more serious than jaywalking. Driving without a license? No insurance? No proof of ownership? Buh bye!
Identity theft? Fake i.d.? See ya!
Domestic violence, robbery, gang banging...hasta la vista, baby!
Posted by: IMHO | May 25, 2011 at 08:14 PM
IMHO can pay for people to be jailed if he wants. Personally I'ld rather my tax went towards improving infrastructure or education.
Posted by: Griffin | May 25, 2011 at 08:24 PM
deport deport deport ALL illegals
Posted by: Amalgamate | May 25, 2011 at 08:25 PM
I say lock them up, speed up the process of any hearings and ship them back to where they came from. For Cuba, drop them off on the beach in Cuba...here ya go...really it's not rocket science.
They would not be treated any better in any other country, if they were in that country illegally.
Posted by: Ugh | May 25, 2011 at 08:30 PM
You want us to be a society of fear and retribution, eh IMHO? How about paying for all those Americans locked up in their own country?
Sickening.
Posted by: Angarei | May 25, 2011 at 08:45 PM
Deport? Okay. Jail? Where? Your house? SCOTUS just ordered this state to lower its prison populations by more than 30K. No place to put them.
Oh, Ugh, Cuban refugees have a special status. They get asylum from the Communist Govt of Cuba. Very few are illegal; only escaped Cuban criminals aren't granted asylum.
Posted by: macbaldy | May 25, 2011 at 10:13 PM
Incarcerate until deportation. Maybe this would get the government to do their jobs and deport illegals, especially criminal illegals, and, yes, knowingly writing bad checks is a crime and illegals doing so should be deported. Duh.
Posted by: dhwj | May 25, 2011 at 11:23 PM
Send the bill for incarceration to their home countries. If we're giving them any kind of foreign aid, take the money out of that gift.
Posted by: NewsHound | May 25, 2011 at 11:35 PM
So...according to LA HOY TIMES, Americans should live in fear of being murdered or robbed by ILLEGAL FOREIGN NATIONALS (who have violated US Federal law) because the LA TIMES doesn't like enforcement of our laws.
Let Mexico (the PRIMARY source), China, India, Russia, Korea, Pakistan and the rest of the Third World poverty exporters worry about paying the costs.
Posted by: Gio | May 26, 2011 at 02:48 AM
yes i understand the law,deport those who comit serious crimes,yes? but dont deport those who work so hard and pay taxes,sometimes the law do mistakes. too.what about the people.from other country,s ?latinos we are pure americans, we re not from asia europe, middle east .we are from america ,continent. here is a crime to be latino.just by the color.of skin. when judment day,comes in 2012 this country will be the first,one because is unfair what this laws do to my people. jesus christ ,is watching everything.so instead of how to make r life s miserable.why dnt you think.how to help this country first.beacuse with out us latinos this country it wouldnt be sh,,,t.?we work so hard . latino america. for ever. like or not
Posted by: edward ramos | May 26, 2011 at 05:42 AM
stop the deportation. to those who we pay taxes. to this country and those mother s and father s we have familly. here is unfair what they do to us. yes deport those who dont work or those who they just get money, every month and party all the time.
Posted by: edward ramos | May 26, 2011 at 05:46 AM
Edward Ramos:
Gee, it seems to me like you're calling a lot of us pro-deportation people "sinners." What's your excuse for the Latinos who come here by breaking our laws? Is crime not a sin?
And I have big news for you.This country is not, nor will ever be "Latino America Forever." Nor is it "Greek America" or "Arab America" or "Bangladeshian America." It's just America. We Americans do work hard. and we don't like that our employers are so dam.n greedy that they prefer to pay you illegal immigrants a pittance of a wage rather than hire legal citizens and pay them a wage they can survive on. Illegal immigrants are costing legal citizens money and food on our tables.
If your country is so unbearable, then go home and fix it. Don't come to ours unless you do it the right way.
Posted by: Red Williams | May 26, 2011 at 07:17 AM
As of May 26th 2011, The Supreme Court has ruled to make it a black and white issue now so if there are illegals working here they should be deported. Require DNA processing to make reapprehensions and arrests faster.
Posted by: Julian Polecat | May 26, 2011 at 08:36 PM
Hey why not take the criminal element that Cuba refuses to accept back into the fold and "drop" them off 50 miles from land in either direction and wherever they make it that is where they will live. I figure most of them cannot swim 50 miles so the good news is they will provide nutrients for the denizens of the deep.OK so we can't do that. I marvel at how all these practitioners of breaking the law claim to have rights. I feel upon getting a sentence to some penal institution negates any rights you initially had. And should you be a less than desirable who doesn't have a legal leg to stand on, well why should you be treated with respect when you've shown none for your fellow human beings nor the country which you habitate illegally? I'm not heartless, but it appears America is one of the few countries that takes in the detritus from everywhere and then has to breast-feed them. This sort of thing gets thin real quick.Send those incarcerated for felonies off to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan or wherever there is some military differing of opinion and "let them go for what they know".OK I can dream can't I?
Posted by: blackaren | May 27, 2011 at 12:51 PM
Red Williams, nice and succinct. I agree.
Posted by: jamie anderson | May 30, 2011 at 11:19 AM
This editorial is inaccurate. It seems Sandra Hernandez is interested in presenting her opinion as fact no matter what the truth is.
Because of the way current law is written, two Supreme Court rulings have required dangerous criminal immigrants to be released into our communities after a mere six months, unless their removal is “reasonably foreseeable.” But in many instances, removal is not reasonably foreseeable because numerous countries frustrate the removal process.
According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General report, countries use a variety of ways to delay the removal process. For example, some block repatriation by requiring illegal immigrants in the U.S. to produce overwhelming evidence of their nationality. Several other countries impose a slow and problematic travel document issuance process. And some refuse to repatriate nationals altogether.
As a result, the Justice Department and DHS have released thousands of criminal immigrants into our neighborhoods. In the last two years, close to 10,000 criminal immigrants were released because their own countries refused to take them back. Justice Department officials have stated that these criminal immigrants include rapists, child molesters, murderers, and other dangerous criminals.
Congress has the power to fix this problem. The Supreme Court has never denied Congress the constitutional authority to provide for extended periods of detention. In fact, in Clark v. Martinez, the Supreme Court invited Congress to legislate in this area and to amend existing law in a way that clarifies the circumstances under which extended detention is permissible.
The Keep Our Communities Safe Act accepts the Supreme Court’s invitation. Contrary to Ms. Hernandez’s claim, the bill narrowly specifies a small segment of criminal immigrants that may be detained for extended periods of time under special circumstances. These individuals include dangerous criminal immigrants and individuals who are threats to national security.
The Keep Our Communities Safe Act clarifies the law and gives DHS the authority to keep dangerous criminal immigrants off the street.
One of the most fundamental obligations of the federal government is to protect its citizens. There is no reason to leave uncorrected a law that compels the release of some of the most dangerous criminals in federal custody. Often their home countries do not want them back precisely because of their crimes.
There is no excuse for continuing to place American lives at risk. Our government should have the authority to do its job of making our country safer. That means enacting the Keep Our Communities Safe Act.
Rep. Lamar Smith
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee
Washington, D.C.
Posted by: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith | June 01, 2011 at 10:02 AM
Rep. Lamar Smith: "There is no excuse for continuing to place American lives at risk. Our government should have the authority to do its job of making our country safer. That means enacting the Keep Our Communities Safe Act."
IMHO, Exactly!
Rep.Smith, Thank you very much. This is important to protect the citizens & LEGAL immigrants in the US. If a person is in the US illegally, that is enough of a reason to deport them. They should apply for a visa or fix the country they're from.
Posted by: Poster 1 | June 06, 2011 at 07:35 AM
When people cross the border illegally they are breaking the law; they are totally disregarding America's soveignty. Americans are thrown in jail for minor infractions (caught with marijuana) ;while illegal immigrants are existing here in this country illegally and walk the streets with no qualms about being put in jail for working and livivng here illegally.
Posted by: veshti | June 19, 2011 at 02:43 PM