Deportations are long overdue.
There has not been an executed deportation program since “Operation Wetback” during the Eisenhower administration, more than 60 years ago.
Since then there have been two major amnesties in place of deportations. Both failed to produce the promised improved immigration policy that was part of each of the amnesty deals.
Each amnesty was to act as a precursor to improved immigration policy that would stop mass illegal immigration, especially at the southern border. Instead, the new policies gave us an immigration lottery and chain migration.
Deportation should now focus on both those arriving here illegally and those who arrived here legally and overstayed their visas.
Deportation needs to be a policy not a bargaining chip.
Whatever else President Trump does on immigration, he is wrong in dangling “deportation or no deportation” as a carrot for the Democrats.
Deportation is one part of a complete solution to remove those who are here illegally. It is and should be an ongoing immigration control process. Anything less is disingenuous and is an insult to those Americans who want a secure border, and an incentive to those who want an open border.
Deportation of those who have skipped their judicial hearings or who are on any other ICE watch lists need to be removed from the country as quickly as possible. The longer the federal government waits to begin mass deportations the more difficult it will be to deport all those that need to be removed. The longer that the federal government waits to begin deportations the more anchor babies there will be, creating additional familial problems.
Deportation of those already scheduled for deportation has nothing to do with asylum or loopholes in immigration law. Deportations should not be contingent upon fixing bad immigration policy. Stopping deportations because of increased illegal immigration would be the same as blocking the drain in a tub with a leaky faucet. Regardless of the leak, the drain must be kept open or the tub will eventually overflow and flood the house. The American house is flooded. It is time to open the drain.
On the 22nd, just before scheduled large scale deportations were to begin, at the request of the Democrats, President Trump tweeted that he has delayed the deportations for two weeks. The announcement said that the delay was to allow for an opportunity for the Democrats and Republicans to work together on a solution to the asylum and loophole problems at the southern border.
The president stated that that if he and the Democrats couldn’t come together on a solution in two weeks he would give the go ahead on the deportations and they would start immediately.
The Democrats who have intentionally created the current crisis at the southern border, rather than creating a realistic immigration policy, deserve no deference in any discussion about immigration.
Mr. Trump’s actions in announcing already scheduled raids and then cancelling them is blatantly political, inept and wrong.