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Poll: Can self-deportation solve illegal immigration?
July 31st, 2008, 10:41 am · 38 Comments · posted by Erin Carlyle
Looks like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a new strategy to combat illegal immigration: relying upon people here illegally to turn themselves in.
In an interview on a Spanish-language television station, ICE director Julie Myers said Sunday that voluntary deportation is the federal agency’s latest strategy.
According to the San Antonio Express-News, those who haven’t been arrested will have the chance to walk into ICE offices, be processed and get a few weeks to arrange their affairs, pack their belongings and ship out of the country without being detained.
Sounds a little dubious. What do you think?
Update: I just spoke with ICE and got more details on the program, which will start in Santa Ana Aug. 5 …
The self-deportation program is only for people who have received deportation orders and who have not committed crimes, said Lori Haley, ICE spokeswoman.
The pilot program will begin in five cities — Santa Ana, San Diego, Phoenix, Chicago, and Charlotte — Aug. 5.
Rather than remain in ICE custody before deportation, people who select self-deportation can coordinate their own departure, Haley said.
“We’ve gotten a lot of criticism when we make fugitive operations arrests and go to people’s homes or businesses,” Haley said. “People say that it’s very difficult for their family members to deal with. This is a way people can have control over their own removal.”
I wrote a few weeks ago about ICE raids in Postville, for which ICE has received heavy criticism and sparked the interest of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. But Haley said the self-deportation program is not a response to Postville, nor to any specific event.
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If we enforced our immigration laws and the jobs dried up then they will have no choice but to self deport. When we reached this point, no doubt they will take advantage of this offer. It is always better to provide alternatives for them to choose. Different strokes for different folks….
There is absolutely no way they will turn themselves in!! Its a complete test of honesty which in this case will not be honest. They will continue to run! ICE and Border Patrol need to do a lot more with their positions in handling this situation. Just sitting back waiting on them will not get anything accomplished. Putting the word on the streets that were coming for them will prove a much stronger tactic.
Yeah right, and I’ve got some oceanfront property that you might be interested in also…
common senses tell me that …… would a mouse leave a mountain of wheat/rice to find its own food ????????????
Please…. do they think they are really going to turn themselves in are they nuts or what… of course they’re not… and ICE should just put themselves to better use… and i dont mean just trying to catch illegal people, i mean more like try catching rapist, gang bangers, killers, etc… not honest people that just come to country for a better leaving and all they are trying to do is to find them selves an honest job. it seems to me like ICE is just scared of the bullies and thats why they only go after innocen ones…
is this a serious question??? Yeah I am sure all we have to do is ask them and they will leave! They are going to go through all the trouble to sneak across the border to get here and just turn around and go back
and to the… “The self-deportation program is only for people who have received deportation orders and who have not committed crimes”
isn’t sneaking across the border a crime????
Illegal immigrants will self deport as much as a bank robber will turn himself in. Who thinks this stuff up?
Is illegal immigration the only political issue that the OC Register wishes to publish and comment on? I tried verifying this information but none of my phone calls were immediately returned.
This tactic seems like another band-aid approach to immigration issues. We need the legislative and executive branches of our federal government to thoughtfully work together on immigration policies and practices that are humane and reflect decency.
To Derek: Glad you asked! No it is not the only political topic we write about and certainly not the only one we want comment on. May I direct you to our political buzz at ocregister.com/buzz.
Also, you will find more political news at ocregister.com/politics or ocregister.com/presidentialelection.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Since the offer by ICE has nothing to do with self deportation in general your poll is irrelevant. In fact if you reporting is correct, and I have my doubts, ICE appears to be engaging in another way to release detained aliens by letting them go based on some promise that they will leave the country voluntarily which they probably won’t do.
The only things that will make these people self deport are more raids like that in Postville and taking away the ability to collect welfare by creating “anchor babiies”.
The criticism of postville was from those who are pro open border like the politicians on the left and right who collect money from industries that use illegal immigrants to fatten their bottom line. Mind you I said fatten their own bottom line because they do not pass labor savings on to consumers any more than Nike passes savings from using five cent an hour labor in Thailand.
The taxpayer of course is left holding the bag for health care and other benefits that these food processors don’t pay for.
The answer of course is simple: A national biometric ID card made so difficult to forge that it would be impractical should be issued to everyone who can prove that they are Americans. This card might have some automatic way of changing its security code every time it’s used or something.The card would have to be used whenever applying for a job or for welfare. It seems to me that with our technology something like this would be possible. In the meantime mandatory checking of peoples soc sec number when getting work would create a mass exodus from the United States.
Some say we will then sink into oblivion. I for one don’t think so. This country survived for many many years before uncontrolled and illegal immigration.
Hahaha.. Free trip.. U kno how many mexicans would love a free trip 2 mexico! Lol.. I may do it.. I haven’t been 2 mexico like in a year!lol
Why should they when they get free medical care
I think this is just another slap in our faces. The other day in Orange, Federal Agents raided a Medical Marijuana Dispensary with automatic rifles in hand. This is was based on the fact that in the feds eyes, pot is illegal. Fine with me, but why don’t the feds start gatheing up all these illegals the same way and sending them home. They are here illegally and are in violation of our laws. Why go after one law breaking person and not the next? This just shows you how stupid the feds are. Illegals are ruining America and turning our cities into a dump. Enough is enough!!!
Dude, you people need to RTFA (Read the F…ull Article) before you post a reply. It says this option is for people who have already received deportation orders. I.e., people who if they don’t take this are going to be rounded up by ICE agents. If it were me I would probably take it. This is a better option than raiding people’s homes, rounding up the parents while the kids get sent who knows where.
“Can self-deportation solve illegal immigration”
Excuse me while I pick myself off the floor from laughing too hard at this question. However, let me answer that question with some of my own.
Would a foreign national from a dirt poor, corrupt nation, in which he/she possibly had no running water or toilet, deport themselves from a modern nation with both?
Would the same person(s) deport themselves when they sneak into a modern nation and have a child and then immediately receive food stamps, welfare and money for that child?
How about the same person(s) finding out that after illegally sneaking into a foreign nation their are newspapers, televisiion, radio stations, and jobs, waiting for them, and they can speak Spanish and even are encouraged by traitorous Americans to speak Spanish–would they deport themselves.
How about finding out they can drive withou a license, attack the police with impunity in mass marches in the foreign nation they have invaded, attack American citizens who are protesting their illegal presence here–all with no consequences to themselves? Would they leave such a place?
How about finding out they have embassies from their nation, in the foreign nation they have snuck into, waiting to help them break the laws of that nation , whenever they need to do so.
Why would anyone leave such a place??? Afterall, it would be like leaving the promised land, compared to where they came from, wouldn’t it?
Sounds to me like ICE has given up. “Leave, pretty please?”
When illegal aliens get legalized, will American citizens then be elligable for free medical care. Just wondering since so much of what affects the American citizenry is dependent on the “good will” shown to illegal aliens by our leaders. Isn’t it?
Enforce our Immigration Laws and Secure our National Borders and the ILLEGALS will not have any other choice but to return to their “home” counties without legal jobs and the ability to sponge off of United States Citizens.
Enforcing our Immigration Laws and Securing National Borders are not partisan, divisive, or polarizing issues! In current polls vast majority of United States Citizens want our Immigration Laws Enforced and our National Borders Secured. Politicians without their own or their Elitist Political “Contributor’s” self serving agenda support their citizens and not their Elitist “Contributors”.
**I can’t wait to see who you losers are going to get to do your dirty work if illegals ARE all sent home. (Look for child labor to make a strong comeback).
They should be told to self deport before the round up begins. They are no longer welcome in our home - this new gimmack has little muscle because it only applies to those that have been ordered deported and should have already gotten the hell out of dodge. What pig leaves a full trough voluntarily?
GO HOME NOW AND TAKE YOUR ANCHOR BABIES WITH YOU
Hey Jeannie Brown. I already do my own dirty work. Am I a loser?.
reminds me of Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke where Cheech calls the INS on himself and his family so they can get a free ride back to Mexico for a wedding. What a joke.
Hey fighterj. Ha, Ha, that’s funny.
BTW is that Erin Carlyle in that picture at the top of the page?
Just had to pick up a small item for the house from Ganahl Lumber in Lake Forest about a mile away so I rode my bicycle. There were about thirty dayworkers blocking the sidewalk in various places. My neighbor will not go there because of all the dayworkers and my son says I am lucky I made it back with the bicycle. I doubt if this new ICE will make any dent in a very serious problem
are you kiddng me , what has come to the old usa , another weakness in your are government to act on this problem , bad news , bad idea
Umm, 13ghm13 , coming here illegally makes them criminals, they are all criminals.
The only illegal alien that will turn himself in is one that wants to vacation back in his homeland at our expense. In a month they will be right back in Santa Ana. I don’t know who dreams these idiot ideas up, but it does tell you the mentality of our government workers. Hay, I have an idea why don’t we just ask them to leave.
Try arresting slave worker employers and stop government programs to illegal aliens. I guarantee you most will deport themselves at there expense.
Oldpoet,
Come to the next Lake Forest City Council meeting this Tuesday at 7:00 PM, help is on the way.
Folk, we voted in the pelosi’s, the Boxers, the fienstiens who are screwing this country and state up.. remind your friends and neighbors what the reality is and VOTE THEM OUT …. Punish the people who hire the illegals. Very weak argument that things won’t get done without the illegals.. Come on !!!!
Are you kidding me? This is a joke, right? Where are the cameras…is this Candid camera? Is this the American government that thought this idea up? Are they serious? How dumb do they think these illegals are? I can’t even get free medical care…some screws loose here.
A five-day Federal and local law enforcement operation netted the arrests of 55 fugitive aliens and seven other illegal aliens in Lee and Collier Counties, Florida last week.
This operation serves as a reminder on this first day of Operation Scheduled Departure – an ICE program designed to give fugitive aliens an opportunity to turn themselves in for deportation — that if you do not self deport, ICE is continually increasingly success in tracking down absconders who do not.
Santa Ana is next.
As of today, one person turned himself in from Arizona. So far this whole program has been a big embarrassment to ICE, not only to the cost of man power and planning, but being perceived as idiots.
I think it’s time some people in ICE started looking for other lines of work.
While we are at it, lets let convicted criminals jail themselves. What a freaking stupid idea to let these illegals deport themselves.
What ought to be done is once an illegal is caught, get a DNA sample and fingerprint, check crime databases and if clear, deport him/her with the warning that the next time you’re caught here illegally, you will NEVER be eligible for citizenship.
yea they’ll turn themself in like the crips, bloods and other criminals turn themselves in when they have a warrant our for there arrest.
most illegals just go buy another fake ss/n and g/c and d/l and stay..
they are totally non persons who can disaapear any time they want and reappear as someone else
Illegal imigrants well deport themselfes like priest will take a voluntary polygraph test. Art Torres, Gloria Molina and almost all hispanic politicans have crafted it so they could get the vote from the illegal to legal hispanic voter. Know that they have it what are we gonna do about the problem. Will it be sensable or relatatory. People owe the illegals some gratitude in certain areas and a whippping in others. But it falls back 20-30 years ago when your paper allowed it or should I say had no solution.
If you really want illegal aliens to go back to their original country then maybe you should all clean your own house, do your own lawn, wash your own car, cook your own food. If every one does this then illegal aliens would really do self deportation oh and by the way they never get their taxes checks back because the government gives them a TAX ID NUMBER which means they know their working here illegally but would rather keep their money to get the economy out of debt you know 700 billion american dollars. AHHH the American dream