CovOps
 Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Über Serious
 |  Subject: Idiotic ICE releases Dream activist’s mother and brother; so why the arrest to begin with?  Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:41 am | |
| Friday, one day after agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the mother and brother of a Dream Act activist, the government abruptly released them. This begs the question why were they arrested in the first place? Was someone sending a message?
Erika Andiola is a young woman in Mesa, Arizona is co-founder of the DRM Action Coalition and nationally prominent supporter of the DREAM Act. Ms Andiola is technically an illegal immigrant, but because she was brought here as a child, she has legal status through the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program, initiated by an executive order by President Obama that halts deportations for immigrants under age 31 who entered the country illegally before age 16.
That means Erika's house is divided between her and her two brothers who enjoy some legal status and her mother who lives under fear of deportation. Thursday a knock on the door turned that fear into reality. ICE agents arrested her mother and her older brother in front of Erika’s terrified eyes. The older brother has legal status but was arrested for not showing proof in the “papers please” state. This action left a 16 year old and her younger brother alone, and as far as they knew, forever.
Friday, ICE released Erika’s mother, Maria Arreola, and her brother. So if they were not going to deport her, why this high profile arrest?
ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez told Talking Points Memo Friday that “A fuller review of the cases is currently on-going. ICE exercises prosecutorial discretion on a case-by-case basis, considering the totality of the circumstances in an individual case."
Immigrant rights activists say Erika's experience is only the latest example of the struggles immigrants face as a result of a broken system. A record 410,000 people were deported in 2012. Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, told reporters Friday the president can lead and “ensure that Maria Arreola and the tens of thousands of other immigrants who qualify for deferred action now can get it so they don't have to fear the risk of deportation while they wait for immigration reform.”
President Obama issued an executive order last week to make it easier for immigrants who have family members with legal status to stay in the country while they apply for visas. Perhaps he could issue an order to expand that to include immigrants whose children are eligible for the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program.
A recent report by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute (MPI) found that ICE's spent $18 billion in 2012, more than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined. This money was spent on immigration enforcement programs run by ICE, the US-Visit program, and Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol. This topped the combined budgets of the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Secret Service by about $3.6 billion dollars, the report's authors said.
Since Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in the government has spent more than $187 billion on immigration enforcement according to the report entitled "Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery."
Demetrios Papademetriou, MPI's president, said "No nation anywhere in the world has been as determined, has made as deep and expensive a commitment to, or has had as deep a reach in its enforcement efforts as the U.S. has had," Papademetriou said. "The reach spans from local court rooms and jails all the way to the ability of goods and travelers to the United States to actually be able to travel to the United States."
President Obama promised that comprehensive immigration reform would be a priority this term. He is taking whatever steps he can to reform the system by executive order, but some things will require Congress. That means he will have to deal with Republicans. Almost nothing good comes out of that.
Perhaps the ridiculousness of this latest Arizona episode will shed light on why we need an overhaul of the entire system. We can find better places to spend
$18 billion a year. But we need to see if Republicans shut down the government or default on our debts first.
http://www.examiner.com/article/ice-releases-dream-activist-s-mother-and-brother-why-the-arrest-to-begin-with |
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