What happens when an undocumented person is picked up?

[proud2BlibKansan]

I have watched many families I know go through this and it is heartbreaking. All the people I know are as determined as they can be to live under the radar because the consequences are so severe if they are apprehended by ICE.

I'm not posting links. I'm just relating the process as I have seen it work first hand. I teach in a school where quite a few of our students have undocumented family members.

If an undocumented person is picked up and deported they are immediately turned over to ICE. This is not an automatic process. Sometimes they are released and other times they aren't. Their outcome is up to the law enforcement agency that encounters them. But if they are deported, they are placed in an ICE detention center. They have 48 hours to post a $3000 bond. If they post the bond, they are released on bail and given anywhere from 10 to 30 days to leave the US at their own expense. Once they leave after posting bond, they are free to re-enter the US legally with a visa or work permit.

If they do not post bond, they are deported, usually within a few days but sometimes it is a few months. They may NEVER return to the US, even legally.

Unlike other persons held by law enforcement, they are not entitled to a phone call or to an attorney. I know several families who have had members disappear and until they are back in their home country and can afford to call their loved ones, no one knows where they are or what happened to them. I wish I could count the number of heartbroken children I know who have lost a family member in this way.

A deportation is like a death. The only way the family members in the US can see their loved one is by going back to their home country. Most families I know are very poor and can't afford this.

I also know quite a few undocumented workers who were brought here by US companies and work for very low wages. Many of these companies even provide housing and encourage the workers to bring their families. They are also usually lied to and told they will be legal workers in the US. I know more than a few families who think they are here legally only to find out later they are undocumented.

It's important to note that most who cross the border illegally are poor and desperate. US trade policies with Mexico and other Central American countries have destroyed the economy in these countries and jobs are nearly impossible to find. For many the best option is to come here illegally because the legal process is not only expensive but not available to Central Americans, due to the US immigration quota system. If you're white and European, come on to America. if you're Hispanic and from Central America, you are not welcome.

Anyway, I try to keep all this in mind when we discuss immigration. There are really no easy answers and it's quite ignorant to say 'Come here legally or don't come at all.'

Flame suit on and popcorn served to all with plenty of butter. :popcorn: :patriot:

[Kali]

1. so-called liberals who blithely spout "just do it legally" REALLY piss me off

they have no fucking clue how difficult it is for some poor rural person in Mexico to get the paperwork.

They have no idea what it is like to be hungry and have no prospects. Even worse, to have hungry children.

They are probably the same people who cross the street to avoid homeless people.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Reality is often quite different from our perceptions.

Sigh.

[benld74]

2. NOBODY knows, because the RULE of WHAT to do, was EVER given to law enforcement

[EvolveOrConvolve]

4. I work in a criminal justice/law enforcement related field and here's what I've observed

We often arrest illegals. Not for being illegal, but for committing a crime. Usually something small like driving without a license, DUI, petit theft, etc. We notify the immigration service on all illegals, and they decide whether they are going to deport the person. Unless the defendant committed a violent crime, or is related to organized crime (usually gangs or drug trafficking), the illegal is allowed to be arraigned and is released. My estimate is that not even 1 out of 100 are actually turned over to ICE, other than the violent offenders, who are prosecuted then turned over to ICE - if they come back in the country and are caught, they have to serve their prison time.

I live in a highly conservative area, and there's always an uproar of one kind or another about what we do with the illegals, but if immigration won't take them, we're not going to house them in our jail when they could be out working (under the table) and supporting their families.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I dont know what the stats are here

I have no idea how many are actually turned over to ICE. I just know they are deporting MORE than they did even a year ago.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

9. I think it depends on what the regional ICE office does

Some areas may be more zealous than others in prosecuting illegals. I know that in my area, the conservatives scream about the illegals not being deported, but they rely on migrants to make a lot of money.

[Nay]

8. I also work in a LE environment, and when we snag an illegal, the IRS

yawns at us over the phone. Once they told us that if we didn't have at least 100 picked up, they didn't even want to hear from us. Of course, this is Virginia, where slave labor is welcome.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

10. I'm not sure I'd even consider it slave labor

Many illegal immigrants work hard and are good people. The wages they make in the US are shit, but still way better than they had in Mexico and they send a lot of that money back to Mexico so that their families can have a better life. I respect them a lot - I'm not sure I'd have the guts to smuggle myself across a dangerous border to live in a country where I don't speak the language or understand the culture and would be hated every day for the color of my skin or my accent.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Why do you call the IRS?

[Nay]

12. Sorry--meant INS

[profile this]

5. Sad and lonely

It's my experience, that many illegals from Mexico end up going back to Mexico on their own after a few years because they really can't afford to live here on their low wages. They come because they are hungry and dream of a better life only to find out that America is no longer the land of opportunity that it once was. It's a very sad and lonely experience for them.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. That's very true