Every day, roughly 33,000 people spend the night imprisoned while waiting to learn whether they will be allowed to remain in the United States. Thousands more are confined on charges of having committed an immigration crime. Others are behind bars because they were already convicted. The substantive law that applies to people in each of these categories differs: civil law governed by the Immigration and Naturalization Act for those in removal proceedings, and criminal law governed by the federal penal code (and, to a smaller degree, its state counterparts). That is largely where the [...]
More humane immigration law
Last week, President Obama ordered his administration to review whether immigration law can be enforced in a more “humane” manner. To borrow a refrain from his first campaign for president, “Yes, we can.” First, he can reduce the number of people detained and second he can reduce the number of people removed from the United States. Here are just a few ideas how the Obama Administration can do that without waiting for congressional action. First, the President should acknowledge that immigration detention is out of control. At last count (fiscal year 2012), 477,523 people saw the inside of an [...]
Report: crImmigration enforcement funding and prison rates rise
A report by the Congressional Research Service tells of increased funding for the federal government’s programs targeting immigrants convicted of crimes, including immigration-related crimes, and an accompanying increase in the number of immigrants arrested and imprisoned. Marc R. Rosenblum & William A. Kandel, Congressional Research Service, Interior Immigration Enforcement: Programs Targeting Criminal Aliens (Oct. 21, 2011). The CRS is a non-partisan unit of the Library of Congress. Between fiscal year 2004 and FY 2001, the report explained, funding for programs targeting so-called [...]