babylonsister (1000+ posts) Wed Dec-30-09 11:53 AM
Original message
Obama Quietly Changes U.S. Immigration Policy
Edited on Wed Dec-30-09 11:56 AM by babylonsister
Obama Quietly Changes U.S. Immigration Policy
by Edward Alden
SAN FRANCISCO - The Obama administration quietly announced last week that it would overturn one of the harsh immigration enforcement measures enacted by the Bush administration following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Beginning next month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said, those who arrive in the United States fleeing torture or persecution abroad will no longer automatically be welcomed with handcuffs and months in a jail cell. Instead, many of those seeking protection will again be permitted to live freely in the country while their applications for permanent asylum are considered by an immigration judge.
The measure is the latest in a string of little-noticed initiatives by the Obama DHS to reconsider some of the most controversial enforcement policies of the past decade. The administration in August launched an overhaul of the immigration detention system, which had grown out of control as the number of detainees doubled in just five years to more than 440,000 annually. Some of those were simply lost in the system, while others fell ill and died due to poor medical care, and the administration has pledged to stop such abuses. That same month, it moved families out of the notorious T. Don Hutto immigrant detention facility in Texas, which had become a national disgrace after revelations that pregnant women and small children were being held there in prison-like conditions.
The administration has also largely halted workplace raids that resulted in jailing, deportation and even criminal charges for many unauthorized workers, and is focused instead on in-depth audits of companies suspected of hiring those workers. And DHS has curbed the authority of state and local police forces to demand immigration documents from anyone stopped for minor offenses like traffic violations, saying that such checks should be done only for those jailed on criminal charges, particularly for serious criminal offenses. To drive home the point, DHS in October stripped the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona of federal authority to make immigration-related arrests.
more...
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/30-3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x102841Jamastiene (1000+ posts) Wed Dec-30-09 11:57 AM
Response to Original message
2. This is good. Maybe this will start to restore some of our reputation around the world
as a good place with good people.
We have that reputation. That is why so many people want to come here, DUmmie.
MidwestRick (386 posts) Wed Dec-30-09 12:16 PM
Response to Original message
3. Wow
"And DHS has curbed the authority of state and local police forces to demand immigration documents from anyone stopped for minor offenses like traffic violations, saying that such checks should be done only for those jailed on criminal charges, particularly for serious criminal offenses."
Great. Come to the US illegally, and as long as you aren't arrested for some other crime, you are free to live here illegally. Brilliant.
What would you like on your tombstone?
babylonsister (1000+ posts) Wed Dec-30-09 12:20 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. I see; you'd rather immigrants be treated as criminals for minor
Edited on Wed Dec-30-09 12:21 PM by babylonsister
offenses. That's brilliant. I don't suppose there were any immigrants in your family either, or you wouldn't be so judgmental.
Are you an American Indian, per chance?
Hey whoreofbabylon, a minor offense still makes them a criminal.
MidwestRick (386 posts) Wed Dec-30-09 12:22 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Yep.
If they are here illegally, they have no right to be here. It's pretty simple.
And no, none of my family broke any laws entering the country. Go figure.
Keep digging that grave. The alert buttons are getting their workout.
lunatica (1000+ posts) Wed Dec-30-09 12:35 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. THere are millions of generational Hispanic citizens of the US
Edited on Wed Dec-30-09 12:37 PM by lunatic. You're OK with children being held in detention centers that are like prisons because in your mind they must be criminals?
MidwestRick (386 posts) Wed Dec-30-09 12:41 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. If they were brought here illegally
yes, keep them with the people that brought them, or return them to the country of their origin.
shellgame26 (759 posts) Wed Dec-30-09 01:30 PM
Response to Reply #3
17. Stop being Karl Rove's bitch
another wedge issue sucker! This is the one thing they know will divide the working class. dredge up your underlying racist reactions and make you feel justified for having those feelings.
It should unite the working class, but bleeding heart lefties want to ruin the country.
MidwestRick (386 posts) Wed Dec-30-09 02:27 PM
Response to Reply #17
19. Racist? ROFL
Nice strawman. Disagree with illegals in the US, one must be a racist. Gotcha.
