http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-obama-deportations-20140402,0,3514864.st
ory#axzz2xg3nFGOi
Now, the vast majority of border crossers who are apprehended get
fingerprinted and formally deported. The change began during the George W. Bush administration and accelerated under Obama. The policy stemmed in part from a desire to ensure that people who had crossed into the country illegally would have formal charges on their records.
In the Obama years, all of the increase in deportations has involved people
picked up within 100 miles of the border, most of whom have just recently crossed over. In 2013, almost two-thirds of deportations were in that category.
At the same time, the administration largely ended immigration roundups at
workplaces and shifted investigators into targeting business owners who illegally hired foreign workers.
"If you are a run-of-the-mill immigrant here illegally, your odds of getting
deported are close to zero - it's just highly unlikely to happen," John
Sandweg, until recently the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an interview.
Even when immigration officials want to deport someone who already has
settled in the country, doing so is "virtually impossible" because of a
lengthy backlog in the immigration courts, Sandweg said. Once people who have no prior removals or convictions are placed in deportation proceedings,
actually removing them from the country can take six years or more in some
jurisdictions, Sandweg said.
"Deportations of people apprehended in the interior of the U.S., which the
immigration agency defines as more than 100 miles from the border, dropped from 237,941 in Obama's first year to 133,551 in 2013, according to immigration data. Four out of five of those deportees came to the attention of immigration authorities after criminal convictions."
It looks like "life in the shadows" isn't really so bad for illegal
immigrants, particularly once they get established. In fact in many ways they are doing better than native born citizens. Consider that since the government has no knowledge of their whereabouts, they are free from having
to pay any taxes and are able to work at a job AND collect welfare at the same time. If they need medical aid, all they have to do is show up at a hospital emergency room and demand treatment. Since they are undocumented the hospitals can't come after them later for the bill. Finally, as former
acting ICE director Sandweg observed, their chances of being arrested and deported currently stand at near zero. So nothing is likely to interfere
with the illegals ability to live off the fat of the land.
By Epictetus
