Thread: Bush admin to ask illegal immigrant in 5 cities to surrender

Illegal Immigrants Have Chance to Self-Deport

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 31, 2008; A17



Federal authorities yesterday urged illegal immigrants living in the United States in violation of deportation orders to turn themselves in under a pilot program planned for five U.S. cities next month.

The self-deportation program, called "Operation Scheduled Departure," gives immigrants a chance to avoid the risk of being caught and jailed, have up to 90 days to put their affairs in order and in some cases leave with some family members, said James T. Hayes Jr., acting director of detention and removal operations with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It runs Aug. 5 to 26 in San Diego and Santa Ana, Calif.; Phoenix; Chicago; and Charlotte.

The program is limited to illegal immigrants with no criminal record who pose no threat to their community or the country. Hayes estimated as many as 500,000 of the 572,000 illegal immigrants recorded as living in the country in violation of court orders -- deemed "fugitive aliens" -- could be eligible.

Immigrant advocates called the plan a gimmick that is unlikely to reduce the estimated U.S. illegal immigrant population of 12 million people. While federal raids at workplaces and neighborhoods have spread fear, there is little incentive for illegal immigrants to go into "permanent exile," or to check in with ICE first if they wish to leave, said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

Noorani called the offer a "harebrained scheme," adding: "This is nothing more than a modern-day Trail of Tears."

Hayes said the program was inspired by critics who accuse ICE of using punitive tactics and say that fugitives would surrender themselves.

"This is a great opportunity for those advocacy and faith-based organizations who have asked us to look at other ways to conduct fugitive operations to really step up to the table and bring their clients to us and work with us to schedule their departure," Hayes said.

www.washingtonpost.com

U.S. to launch program allowing illegal immigrants not wanted in crimes to turn themselves in

Santa Ana and San Diego are among five cities where people who have been ordered deported can surrender from Aug. 5 to Aug. 22 to avoid being arrested and detained.

By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
8:08 PM PDT, July 30, 2008

Federal authorities are launching a pilot program next month to allow noncriminal illegal immigrants with final deportation orders to surrender rather than face possible arrest and detention.

Two Southern California cities -- Santa Ana and San Diego -- are among five cities nationwide where immigrants can turn themselves in from Aug. 5 to Aug. 22.


Certain immigrants who do so will be given up to 90 days before being required to leave the United States. And in some cases, the agency will pay for the flight for the illegal immigrants and their relatives.

Activists on both sides of the immigration debate expressed skepticism.

"I wouldn't expect them to have to turn people away at the doors," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Immigration officials said the program is in response to criticism from advocacy groups, who have said that early-morning raids by armed agents disrupt families and communities.

"We want to show advocacy groups and community-based organizations that we're open to suggestions and we are open to different approaches," said Jim Hayes, acting director of detention and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Hayes said the program could also cut the agency's detention costs, because the immigrants would otherwise be detained if arrested. It could also help reduce the number of immigrant fugitives on the government's list.

Hayes said more than 500,000 people are eligible to participate. The other three cities in the pilot program are Chicago, Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C. He said the agency is reaching out to immigrant-rights and faith-based groups for publicity.

"From our perspective, this is a realistic opportunity for noncriminal aliens," Hayes said.

Angelica Salas, executive director of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said despite people's fear of being arrested, she doesn't expect immigrants to come forward because they have families, jobs, homes and lives in the U.S.

"It's more of public relations for the agency that has come under severe attack for the tactics that they have used, the violations for human rights and the denials of due process," she said.

Salas added that immigrants who want to leave could leave whenever they want without first turning themselves into federal authorities. She warned immigrants to be cautious about blindly signing paperwork.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it will continue to track down fugitives in Southern California and throughout the nation, arresting and removing immigrants who have criminal records or who have failed to abide by deportation orders. Last fiscal year, fugitive operations teams arrested more than 19,000 immigrants nationwide, including more than 15,600 who did not have criminal records.

Mehlman said the program is intended to save the government the trouble of going out and finding the illegal immigrants.

"It should not in any way deter ICE from enforcing the law against those people who are not anxious to depart on their own," he said.

www.latimes.com

Illegals off the hook?
ICE tells aliens 'Deport yourself'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 30, 2008
11:00 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Now illegal aliens can get a free ticket home by turning themselves in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement rather than spend time in prisons.

The newest government plan to cut back on an ever-increasing population of illegals will be unveiled next week, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

ICE director announced the idea to a Spanish television network Sunday.

"The program basically gives an opportunity to those seeking an organized way to self-deport," Myers told Univisión anchor Jorge Ramos.

"Operation Scheduled Departure" will give illegal aliens who don't have criminal histories a chance to turn themselves in and avoid detention.

Myers said the plan was hatched in response to illegal alien complaints. Many detainees said they would rather go home than spend time in immigration prisons.

The illegals can now walk into ICE, schedule departure, have several weeks to pack their belongings and fly or bus out of the country without facing arrest. She said the program helps illegals dodge home and work raids, but it doesn't offer incentives for self-deportation.

According to the Express-News, illegal immigration supporters called the program laughable and said it would not work without providing additional rewards to those who turn themselves in.

"It's pure fantasy," said Doug Rivlin, spokesman for the National Immigration Forum. "An attempt to entice people to sign away their rights and get out of the country as quickly as possible before even talking to a lawyer."

Rivlin said illegals would buy a bus or plane ticket home rather than check into ICE.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, one of the United States' chief anti-illegal-immigration lobbies, said he agrees with Rivlin's point that the government would need to offer an incentive. He suggested allowing illegals the opportunity to apply for legal citizenship in return for turning themselves in to authorities.

"It certainly makes sense to create conditions to make people understand that if they're here illegally, it's not going to benefit them to stick around," he said.

According to the Express-News, the same idea has worked well for the U.S. Marshals Service. "Fugitive Safe Surrender" allows nonviolent U.S. criminals to self-arrest rather than be hunted down. More than 16,000 offenders have turned themselves in.


http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=70982

My thought is, is this being broadcast on spanish radio??

Perhaps we could all send this story to our local papers, police chiefs, sheriffs, and Hispanic papers, etc... It could have some P.R. value or tip the boat of some illegal aliens who have had enough.

We could help spread the word of this program.

I'm from Illinois. I cannot believe that Chicago is one of the cities. The first day, August 5th, many activist are going to be in town to demonstrate against the Chicago police notifying ICE about criminals, apparent abuses of those in custody, etc...

I haven't seen this on the ICE website yet. And I'd like to know how they are going to advertise this program.

Here we go. This article says that they will advertise heavily in the Hispanic press.

+++++
Mr. Hayes said the pilot program will be marketed heavily in Hispanic media, with an 800-number for information and questions. He said ICE was also counting on advocacy groups and faith-based organizations to spread the word.
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U.S. to Promote 'Self-Deportation'
By MIRIAM JORDAN
July 31, 2008; Page A2

The Department of Homeland Security has a new strategy to help deal with illegal immigration: self-deportation.
[A government program called Operation Scheduled Departure will offer illegal immigrants an opportunity to voluntarily surrender to authorities. ]
Associated Press
A government program called "Operation Scheduled Departure" will offer illegal immigrants an opportunity to voluntarily surrender to authorities.

The pilot program, christened "Operation Scheduled Departure," will offer illegal immigrants -- primarily those who have ignored or eluded final deportation orders -- a window of opportunity to voluntarily surrender to U.S. authorities. Those who participate in the program can count on cooperation from the government to enable them to close out their affairs prior to leaving.

For the government, the program comes at a time when there is mounting pressure on immigration courts and detention centers, which have been jammed to the hilt by the Bush administration's immigration crackdown. The government hopes to sell illegal immigrants on the idea of avoiding a long, painful battle with the U.S. immigration bureaucracy.

"This is a realistic opportunity... . We are excited and hopeful that this is going to be a successful operation," said Jim Hayes, acting director of detention and removal office at U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement.

The U.S. is home to more than 570,000 so-called fugitive aliens -- immigrants who have received final orders to quit the country but haven't done so. An estimated 550,000 of them don't have a criminal record, and they are the targets of the pilot program, according to Mr. Hayes

The strategy, which was hatched over several months, is to be launched on Aug. 5 in five cities home to large undocumented-immigrant populations: Phoenix, Santa Ana, Calif., San Diego, Chicago and Charlotte, N.C. It will continue until Aug. 22. Depending on the response, the program could be expanded to other cities.

Eligible immigrants will have up to 90 days to organize their departure, which must then be physically verified by the government. "We work with them to schedule their departure," said Mr. Hayes. In some instances, the government may assist with or pay for travel arrangements to the immigrant's country of origin, he added.
[Julie Myers]

Over the weekend, Julie Myers, head of ICE, told Spanish-language television network Univision that the operation will allow illegal immigrants without criminal records to essentially "self-deport." She said that the concept was developed in response to feedback from detained immigrants who say they would rather return to their countries of origin than languish in immigration-detention centers.

The U.S. is home to about 12 million illegal immigrants, the vast majority of them from Latin America. Despite the economic downturn, however, it is unlikely that illegal immigrants will rush to accept the offer. Recent surveys have shown that despite rising unemployment among Hispanic immigrants -- they have been particularly hurt by the construction slowdown -- most plan to remain in the U.S.

Since Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform, the Bush Administration has boosted enforcement actions at the border and in the interior of the U.S. Illegal immigrants are being rounded up in raids almost daily. ICE fugitive operations now have 84 teams deployed to locate, arrest and remove individuals who had previously been ordered deported. That has contributed to a sharp increase in overall arrests.

But the government crackdown is crowding detention centers and clogging immigration courts, eliciting criticism from immigration advocates and human-rights organizations. The detained illegal-immigrant population stands at 31,000 nationwide, compared with 21,000 in 2003. In particular, ICE has faced mounting criticism over fatalities among detained immigrants, although the agency says that proportionate to the number of apprehensions fatalities have dropped in recent years.

Mr. Hayes said the pilot program will be marketed heavily in Hispanic media, with an 800-number for information and questions. He said ICE was also counting on advocacy groups and faith-based organizations to spread the word.

Immigrant advocates were quick to lambaste the new policy. "Operation Scheduled Departure is an admission that immigration raids are ravaging communities and wasting taxpayer dollars," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum in Washington, who added that the administration is "resorting to the theater of the absurd,"

Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, called the effort "a piece of fantasy public relations that doesn't understand that immigrants come here to work and want to stay here with their families."

Mr. Hayes declined to say how many people ICE forecasts will take part in the program or how much money it could save the government. The government spends, on average, $85 a day to keep an illegal immigrant in detention.

Write to Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordan@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1217446 ... lenews_wsj

They will not be required to wear tracking devices, she said.

Why not? They are law breakers.

Originally Posted by LegalUSCitizen

Illegal aliens come from all parts of the world.

I think that if President Bush were to stand up and say it in plain view.... that our immigration laws are being enforced and that ANYONE who is in the U.S. ILLEGALLY should return to their country of origin, that it would work to nudge a significant number of illegals to leave, as USPatriot said. It would do a lot of good towards making a larger headway in solving this extremely out of control problem.

Even though these two candidates are playing games back and forth, pandering for votes at the sake and cost of U.S. Citizens, neither one of them is as of yet the president of the U.S. by any means. Both of them would like for us to think and feel that they are.....but they are not.

They are only candidates. The responsibility of dealing with this problem still rests squarely on the person who is the actual president.

He should do and say whatever is necessary to gain control and bring as close to a stop to this problem as he possibly can, as long as he is the actual president.

A speech, or an announcement......it is an important step in proving that the time and money which is being spent on this problem is being done in total seriousness.

The message needs to be that the government is serious about this. Once illegal aliens realize this......for some.....the rest of what needs to be done will be up to them.

For those who STILL don't think they are subject to this country's rule regarding law and order.....then at least all will know that they were warned and advised and that if they choose to ignore it, that the government will not ignore them.

This is Bush we are talking about here. When we are talking about the royal heinass, we know that common sense and logic go right out the window.

Joe Baca of Mexifornia said "It's not ICE's job to write the immigration laws." He is absolutely correct. It is ICE's job to enforce the immigration laws that have already been written. This is what the American People are demanding and this is what we expect. Baca and Guiterrez always start crying when things don't go their way.

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