Thread: U.S. May Punish Nations That Refuse Their Ex-Cons

Congress considers denying visas, cutting aid until countries take their citizens back.

By Eunice Moscoso

WASHINGTON BUREAU


Tuesday, May 06, 2008

WASHINGTON — The United States is facing a major obstacle in its efforts to deport thousands of illegal immigrants, including many convicted felons: Their home countries don't want them back.

This does not sit well with Sen. Arlen Specter, a veteran Republican lawmaker and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Specter was stunned at the situation after touring several prisons in his home state of Pennsylvania, where taxpayer dollars are paying to house foreigners who have served their sentences but could not be deported. In response, he drafted legislation that would punish countries that refuse to take back illegal immigrants.

"There is an enormous problem of public safety, which is slightly under the radar screen," Specter said.

He noted that once convicted felons serve their sentences in the U.S., they can be held for only six months before they are released into the general public.

Specter's measure was recently introduced in the Senate and the House.

The proposed legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress every 90 days on the countries that refuse repatriation. Those nations would automatically be denied all immigrant visas until they take their citizens back. The measure would also deny certain foreign aid to the countries.

As of February, at least eight countries were refusing to take back 139,000 illegal immigrants the U.S. has ordered deported, according to Specter's office: Vietnam, Jamaica, China, India, Ethiopia, Laos, Eritrea and Iran. They include 18,000 convicted felons.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he supports the idea of punishing nations that refuse to take back illegal immigrants but has not read the specifics of Specter's legislation.

NOTE:

I find it offensive that Mexico and Central American were NOT included in this list.

This:

Those nations would automatically be denied all immigrant visas until they take their citizens back. The measure would also deny certain foreign aid to the countries.

Should be this:

Those nations would automatically be denied all immigrant and work visas until they take their citizens back. The measure would also deny certain foreign aid to the countries.

Overall, though, it is a long-standing sore point in US foreign relations that has gone without being addressed for way too long. India and China are the worst offenders BTW...

Well thank goodness Congress is doing SOMETHING!

So are Mexico and Central America taking their prisioners back? Is this why they are not on the list?

WorriedAmerican - Not so much really. They are not listed because they are (relatively speaking) not a big part of the problem.

Big countries (with big populations) are the ones more likely to be identified as part of the problem. {I'm editing in a better explanation than the one I added a few minutes ago initially}

[Old: Hence, India and China (whose large populations produce large groups of IAs [to us], and a certain % of those end up doing crime here).]
[New: There is both a strong reluctance for large countries to add more people into their already very large populations - knowing that these are criminals to boot - AND, that both nations have strong economic leverage in negotiating the outcome as well. The size of the populations is sort of important, but not the main factor really]

Other cases like the relatively smaller countries as Iran, Vietnam, etc. have a different set of issues associated with their unwillingness to repatriate their deported nationals. These typically have more problems in the area of pure diplomatic relations, protocols for doing the logistics, etc. involved with the process.

The other group, is sort of a hodge-podge mix of various situations but are usually much smaller countries that are not as large a contributor to the overall problem (Eritrea, Jamaica, Laos, etc)

here we go again. another law to replace the SAME LAW already on the book.
blame the state department for not acting on this and letting anyone do anything.
CHINA for years has refused their citizens in this country who have been jajiled adn thus have been released onto the streets of America

Big countries (with big populations) are the ones more likely to be identified as part of the problem.

Thanks for the explanation PhredE. I considered Mexico big with a huge population there and here (illegally.)

I would still deport them. They are their nationals they are responsible for them.

Originally Posted by CCUSA

I would still deport them. They are their nationals they are responsible for them.

He He They can live at those countries airports! There's everything they need there.