Swordsmyth
04-27-2018, 10:51 PM
More and more undocumented immigrants are weighing whether to leave the United States voluntarily rather than face detention or deportation as the administration of President Donald Trump continues to take a hard line on illegal immigration.
It’s not known how many immigrants living in the country illegally have left the United States on their own in the last year, because they feared being deported or because they wanted to join a loved one — often the family's main provider — who had been sent home. However, those who study migration patterns and work with the undocumented immigrant population in New Jersey say they know of people who are planning to depart, or who have already left.
Muzaffer Chishti, the director of the Migration Policy Institute office at New York University School of Law, said he has seen a growing trend of Mexicans returning home, and that Trump’s immigration enforcement policies would likely prompt more people to leave for other countries as well.
“People are making plans to leave, people are making plans to sell their house, people are making plans — if eventually if we leave our children behind, who should get their guardianship, what should happen to their school, to their bank accounts?’’ he said. “This type of practical planning is clearly happening in communities all across the country, and certainly more among Mexicans."
Darren Maloney, director of legal services for Catholic Family and Community Services in Paterson, said he has a client whose father was debating whether to return to Peru after living in the United States for more than 20 years.
For supporters of Trump's hard-line approach to immigration policy, such self-deportations are welcome. Dave Ray, communications director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based organization that favors restricting immigration, said that if the government creates an uncomfortable environment for immigrants who are living in the country illegally, it will give them the incentive to go back to their native countries, saving taxpayers money while also keeping families together.
“Illegal immigrants … are rational individuals who make rational decisions, and they came here because they thought they could get away with it,’’ Ray said. “Once they realize they can’t, they’ll accept the fact that they are wasting their time and they’ll return home. That’s better for them, and it’s better for us.”
More at: https://www.freep.com/story/news/2018/04/27/trump-crackdown-continues-more-undocumented-immigrants-choosing-self-deport/547939002/
It’s not known how many immigrants living in the country illegally have left the United States on their own in the last year, because they feared being deported or because they wanted to join a loved one — often the family's main provider — who had been sent home. However, those who study migration patterns and work with the undocumented immigrant population in New Jersey say they know of people who are planning to depart, or who have already left.
Muzaffer Chishti, the director of the Migration Policy Institute office at New York University School of Law, said he has seen a growing trend of Mexicans returning home, and that Trump’s immigration enforcement policies would likely prompt more people to leave for other countries as well.
“People are making plans to leave, people are making plans to sell their house, people are making plans — if eventually if we leave our children behind, who should get their guardianship, what should happen to their school, to their bank accounts?’’ he said. “This type of practical planning is clearly happening in communities all across the country, and certainly more among Mexicans."
Darren Maloney, director of legal services for Catholic Family and Community Services in Paterson, said he has a client whose father was debating whether to return to Peru after living in the United States for more than 20 years.
For supporters of Trump's hard-line approach to immigration policy, such self-deportations are welcome. Dave Ray, communications director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based organization that favors restricting immigration, said that if the government creates an uncomfortable environment for immigrants who are living in the country illegally, it will give them the incentive to go back to their native countries, saving taxpayers money while also keeping families together.
“Illegal immigrants … are rational individuals who make rational decisions, and they came here because they thought they could get away with it,’’ Ray said. “Once they realize they can’t, they’ll accept the fact that they are wasting their time and they’ll return home. That’s better for them, and it’s better for us.”
More at: https://www.freep.com/story/news/2018/04/27/trump-crackdown-continues-more-undocumented-immigrants-choosing-self-deport/547939002/