In an effort to
curb a soaring rate of illegal immigration and to stem a rising
tide of crime, the US Supreme Court has ruled on April 28 that
even legal immigrants convicted of felonies may be jailed to
ensure they do not flee or commit new crimes while awaiting
deportation hearings.
The 5-4
decision, written by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist,
applies to non-citizens who have already served their
sentences. Nearly 100,000 such people have been ordered jailed
without bail since the law allowing such detentions took effect
in 1996. Most are Latin Americans. Of these, 85 percent are
from Mexico.
Thousands of
legal permanent residents are now out on bail while they await
deportation or try to evade it. This process can take months or
years. Federal appeal courts covering California and a dozen
other states had been granting bail in some cases, despite the
1996 edict, and most of the bailed felons could be returned to
jail under the Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling is
considered a victory for the Bush administration, which also
claims the right to jail immigrants and others possibly linked
to terrorism, and to halt deportation hearing indefinitely.
"Congress,
justifiably concerned that deportable criminal aliens who are
not detained continue to engage in crime and fail to appear for
their removal hearings in large numbers, may require that
[certain] persons be detained," Justice Rehnquist wrote in
his decision.
Illegal
immigration, now at an all-time high, has fueled a nationwide
debate and ignited passions on both side of the fence. As the
war in Iraq is winding down, serious unresolved problems face
the nation. The federal budget deficit is at a record high.
Most states, especially California, are facing their most
severe budgetary crisis in decades, as school and jails
overflow with undocumented aliens. Large numbers of US-born and
legal resident workers continue to lose their jobs.
These stark
facts, and a palpable wave of rancor sweeping the US, are at
the root of new statutes being quietly introduced in state
legislatures across the country advocating immigration policies
that would immediately reduce the number of social service
users and save jobs.
HR 946, a bill
that would cut legal immigration from one million a year to
300,000, and take swift action to seal the borders and deport
illegal immigrants, is currently stalled in Congress.
Conversely, SB 60, a bill passed by the California State Senate
Transportation Committee on April 1, would grant driver's
licenses to illegal immigrants. Advocates of the bill, argue
that illegal immigrants will continue to drive with or without
a license.
"Are they
saying that we should give our house keys to burglars because
they will trespass anyway," quips Yeh Ling, executive
director of Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America.
Recently, US
Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) warned: "It's hard to imagine
terrorists not trying to come in through our borders."
The cost of
porous borders transcends national security. American taxpayers
spend about $2 billion a year just incarcerating lawbreaking
illegal aliens. Hospitals in many states are filing bankruptcy,
as they can no longer afford to provide illegal immigrants with
free emergency health care. The annual cost of educating the
children of illegal aliens is also in the billions of
dollars.
"Is it
responsible, let alone fair, to cut programs and services which
adversely impact legal immigrants and US-born Americans,"
asks Ling, "while we continue to pay for the high cost of
services for illegal immigrants?"
As the debate
heats up, the exodus north across the Rio Grande continues
unhindered, with Congress blaming the Immigration and
Naturalization Service with "wholesale failure" to
respond to rising crime among immigrants.
W. E. Gutman is a veteran journalist.
He lives and works in southern California.
Also in this
section:
Panama News Briefs
Chiriqui, Bocas governors in
trouble
Tougher US immigration
laws
