Immigration was a key issue in the election campaign of President-elect Donald Trump. His administration, which takes office on January 20, plans to enforce stricter immigration measures.
During the presidential campaign, Trump promised tougher measures at America’s borders, including more frequent detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants.
“We will end up with the largest deportation in American history. We have no choice, we have no choice. We have no choice because it is not sustainable in any country,” he said during the campaign.
Trump’s possible plans include expanding prison capacity and returning to a policy requiring immigrants to stay in Mexico while immigration proceedings are pending in US courts.
The incoming administration’s top border official, Tom Homan, said tougher law enforcement will be aimed at improving public and national security.
“After the biggest illegal immigration crisis we’ve ever seen in this country, there has to be a massive deportation operation,” Homan said.
Some immigration experts say mass deportation weakens public safety by discouraging immigrants from reporting crimes.
David Beer, of the Cato Institute, says that immigrants are more likely to report crimes to the police than the average American-born citizen.
“However, studies have repeatedly shown that when indiscriminate law enforcement increases in an area, it reduces an already high reported crime rate or a higher reported crime rate among immigrants,” Bir says.
During many Democratic and Republican administrations, immigrants without a criminal record were usually free pending hearings in immigration courts. That practice may be ending with the new administration considering mandatory arrests.
David Leopold, an immigration attorney, gave advice to immigrants.
“If I had a permanent residence permit, if I had a green card, I would definitely carry it with me now,” says Leopold.
Trump officials claim the planned measures will prevent criminals from coming. But Bir notes that that didn’t happen last time.
“Mass deportation will put serious criminals in the background. During the first Trump administration, they did not focus on serious offenders, the most serious ones first, and as a result, unsurprisingly, the immigration service doubled the number of arrests of immigrants with no criminal record.”
Meanwhile, adds Bir, the number of criminals trying to cross the border has tripled. Trump said he would address immigration on the first day of his new term, January 20.
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Source: www.vijesti.me
