“US: Mandatory Deportation Laws Harm American Families”

News Release  Full Report  Download the Interviews

 

If you are unable to listen to this program, download the latest Flash Player

Audio Transcript

Chapter 1:

The US government has deported hundreds of thousands of legal residents since 1996 for committing crimes ranging from murders to misdemeanors. Two of those affected spoke to Human Rights Watch..

Marco: It’s been.. Tough… It’s been, I mean, I don’t even know what words to use to explain... The experience… To open my eyes in the morning and be here.

Jimmy: We left Laos as refugees of the Vietnam War. We had like major family problems. So my parents finally divorced and when we split up we came out to LA. I was twelve, and urban life in LA ain’t no joke.

Alison Parker: Do you think it’s right for the United States to deport people who have committed crimes? Marco: I can honestly say that… I would have to say yes, that it’s right for them to deport people for committing crimes… are they doing it the right way? No, I don’t think so. I think that a lot of things have to be taken into consideration depending on the crimes.

I’m Ashoka Mukpo, Associate in the US Program at Human Rights Watch. The voices you just heard are those of Marco and Jimmy, two men, both 30 years old, with histories in 2 different countries, but who now share a few things in common.

Marco, a legal immigrant, was 5 months and 8 days old when he arrived in Miami with his family. Marco’s mother and sister are US citizens.

The second voice you heard was Jimmy’s. Jimmy asked not to be identified by his real name for fear immigration authorities would hear him speaking out about his situation.

Marco was deported to Chile in January 2007, and now lives in Santiago.

Marco and Jimmy are both legal permanent residents, those immigrants who’ve completed the correct paperwork, waited in line to be processed, and are on a solid path to becoming US citizens.

Before they were called into deportation hearings, Marco and Jimmy had lived in the US for most of their lives.

But in 1996, a new immigration law was enacted to expand the group of immigrants deemed “deportable.” Marco and Jimmy, two men who before ‘96 would have been treated almost the same as US citizens are now in a large, rapidly growing immigration dragnet.

Chapter 2:

Alison Parker, senior researcher in the US Program of Human Rights Watch has just completed a report on the deportation of all non-citizens convicted of crimes.

She estimates that between 1997 and 2005, over 672,000 non-citizens have been deported for criminal offenses. However, she hasn’t been able to figure out how many of those sent back to home countries are in fact legal permanent residents.

Alison, could you explain what’s changed since 1996? And in particular, how has it affected legal permanent residents, or those we otherwise describe as “green card” holders who are on the path to becoming US citizens?

Alison Parker: What happened after 1996 is that Congress changed two very important things when it comes to legal permanent residents or people with green cards who are facing deportation because of criminal convictions. The two things that Congress did is, first: it expanded greatly the list of crimes that could render somebody deportable, so that now someone can be deported for a very minor crime such as shoplifting or a drug offense. The second, important thing that Congress did in 1996 was to deprive legal permanent residents of hearings, that they used to be able to have, in which they could raise the reasons why they wanted to remain in the United States, and have the immigration judge look at those reasons, such as family ties, ownership of a business, service in the US military, or other links to the community in the United States against the seriousness of those crimes. Now the deportation is mandatory, and those hearings never occur.

Chapter 3:

Ten years ago, Marco had been convicted of possessing a stamp of LSD. A few years later, he was found guilty for possession of a small quantity of marijuana.

After the new immigration law began being enforced more stringently, Marco was suddenly deemed “deportable.”

Since he had always lived in the United States as a green card holder, he had little idea he could be ordered deported.

While on a business trip back from Europe, he was interrogated for his two convictions. Marco was then asked to appear at immigration in his hometown of Miami.

Shortly after, Marco was sent to an immigrant detention facility outside the city. He stayed there over a month, after which time he was transferred to Texas.

His girlfriend Camilla remembers the ordeal–

Camila: So I went to the immigration building with him (because I happened to be an interpreter, I had a card to go in with him) and when he was inside to show the paper, the officer came back outside and… he gave me Marco’s credit card, his belt and his keys… and he asked me to get his asthma medication. Marco has a sever case of athsma. So that’s how it happened. They told me that he was just going be gone for 30 days. They told me that it was just going to be like, like a vacation for him. That it was a beautiful place, where he was… he was going to be able to entertain, and read and learn…

Marco’s family traveled to Texas for his deportation hearing. They brought 100 letters of support from families and friends attesting his good moral character. Before ’96, good moral character was one of the bases an immigrant could use to contest a deportation order.

Marco remembers the day his family brought the letters in an envelope.

Marco:He didn’t look at any of that. He didn’t open any of the letters, he didn’t read none... not one. That evidence was never spoken about, because that evidence he was not worried about, because on paper it stated that I was deportable. And that was the only thing that mattered. It made no difference. My ties were not relevant. None of that was relevant. No evidence mattered. That’s the only thing that mattered. Those were the only items he looked at. Everything else was never spoken about. My family wasn’t a factor when they traveled all those miles, after so much. Now I’ve become a financial burden on my family over there, which I used to help financially, now, they have to help me, so... I am going to put up a fight… you know… I just feel that I need to fight to get back home… you know, and… home is where the heart is, and the heart isn’t here. 

Camila:It was such a horrible experience when it comes to feeling powerless, to feeling that … the government, which is an entity who should be protecting its people, who should be helping its people, is .. is doing this kind of thing… meaning.. just tearing apart a family, not taking into consideration that, that they have people who worked really, really hard to maintain unity… Marco’s family is so united, it’s such a beautiful family, everyone came together in such an amazing way. You know, they do not necessarily have all the money, and too many material things but when it comes to the unity they’ve had in the family, it’s beautiful to see. And it’s been tragic for them to lose Marco, it’s been tragic for all of us, you know... And it’s hard for us to hear him so far away and not be able to necessarily tell him, it’s gonna be fine, you’re gonna come home, we’re gonna fix this.. you know.. it’s … it’s difficult.

Chapter 4:

Jimmy X came to the United States with his family when he was four years old. He spent the early part of his life in Texas, but after his parents’ divorce, moved out to LA with his mom. The family was having a hard time making ends meet when Jimmy joined a gang in his late teens.

Jimmy:I was arrested in 1995 for robbery. It was due to hanging out with the wrong crowd… that would be the place where I went to get away my family problems… and so that would be my, you know, my new family… so whatever they did, you’re a part of, because it’s just like family, you know, you always wanna protect them, you always wanna back them up.

Jimmy was 18 when he was convicted of robbery. He was sentenced to 7 years in state prison, and served 4 for good behavior. While in jail, Jimmy finished his GED and worked jobs to earn a little extra for himself and his family.

He remembers his family came to pick him up from prison the day he was to be released.

Jimmy: My sister, my uncle, and more importantly my mother… she’s not mentally stable at the moment. So they were all waiting for me, high hopes and everything and it was just another another thing that not only I had to endure, but seems like my family had to as well.

Rather than being let go, Jimmy was shuttled to an immigration detention facility several hours from Los Angeles. In 2000, after serving a little over a year in immigration detention, Jimmy obtained a supervised release, which means he can be deported to Laos at any time without further notice.

Jimmy: I’ve been told by my attorneys that they don’t even need to notify me. Two days in advance, it’s just when I do go to report in every month, that they can just detain me right there and there and say ‘you’re leaving now’.

Alison Parker: That must be a very difficult thing to think about.

Jimmy: Oh, it is… so much pressure. Being like stuck in limbo. You don’t know where you are going, you don’t know what the outcome is.

For the past year, Jimmy has been working as an educator trying to discourage high risk teens from joining gangs.

He lives with his mother whom he says still suffers post traumatic stress as a result of the war in Vietnam, and has been taking care of her on his own since he left prison.

Chapter 5:

Alison, in your report you’ve said that the INS estimates that over 672,000 have been deported.

How many of them are in fact legal permanent residents?

Alison Parker: We don’t know how many of the 670.000 who have been deported for criminal convictions were, in fact, legal permanent residents. We’ve asked that question to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for a year and half they have failed to answer that question. What we did do, however, is try to estimate how many family members were left behind by those 670.000 deportees. And we did using census data on the average family size for an immigrant household. Using that calculation we came up with an estimate of 1.6 million children and spouses who have been left behind because of the deportations on criminal grounds from the United States since 1997.