The HMA Law Firm - Immigration & Criminal Defense Lawyers

Call: 703.964.0245

  • Home
  • Our Team
  • Practice
    • Immigration >
      • Employment-Based Immigration >
        • The H-1B Visa
        • Investor and Intracompany Transfers (E & L Visas)
        • PERM Labor Certification >
          • Cross Chargeability
          • EB-5 Green Cards
      • Marriage & Fiancé Visas >
        • Special Service for Servicemen
        • Marriage Interview Questions
        • The I-751 Good Faith Waiver
        • Evidence for Filing an I-751
        • My I-751 Was Denied: Now What?
        • Same-Sex Marriage Immigration Issues
        • New 90 Day Rule
      • General Immigration >
        • Filing a FOIA from USCIS
        • Form G-639: How to Complete
        • Re-Entry Permits
        • TPS >
          • More on TPS
          • SYRIA TPS
          • TPS Yemen
        • U Visas
      • Legal Victories
      • How To Choose The Right Immigration Lawyer
      • Waivers (I-601/I-601A) >
        • Drunk Driving (DUI/DWI) and I-601/I-601A Waivers
      • Citizenship >
        • N-648 Medical Waivers
        • Naturalization Pitfalls
        • The Civics Test for Naturalization
        • Exceptions for English Test
        • Criminal Convictions and Naturalization
      • Mandamus: It's Taking Too Long >
        • Mandamus: What to Think, What to Expect
        • How an Immigration Writ of Mandamus Works
        • Petition for Hearing on Naturalization
      • Deportation Defense >
        • Overview of Removal Proceedings
        • Deportation: Preventive Maintenance
      • Deferred Action (DACA) >
        • To Lawyer Or Not To Lawyer
        • Applying for a Social Security Number
    • Criminal Defense >
      • Traffic Offenses
    • Learn >
      • Immigration In A Nutshell >
        • The Visa Bulletin and Family Immigration
      • Criminal Immigration Law 101 >
        • Know Your Rights
      • Eligibility for Citizenship >
        • Citizenship versus Naturalization
        • Why Become a Citizen?
  • Consult/Pay Fees
  • Testimonials
  • Careers
  • Blawg
  • En Español
    • Accion Ejecutiva
    • El Interdicto Temporal
    • Buscar Detenido
    • Reforma Inmigratoria
    • Papeles Por Los Indocumentados

The HMA Law Firm Blawg

    Question? Contact a lawyer now!

Submit

Trump Gave A Deportation Speech, Not an Immigration Speech

9/6/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Donald Trump has allayed all fears of flip-flopping on immigration after his speech Wednesday night in Phoenix. His 10 point plan isn't an immigration plan at all: it's a deportation plan. And a terribly ignorant one at that.

The first glaring hole in Trump's “policy” is due process of law. Trump came through with the same reprehensible rhetoric copied from nearly every failed exclusionary policy that we as a country have historically wound up regretting. Build a wall. Kick out the bad ones. Extreme vetting. Ideological tests. Blanket suspension of immigration from – let's cut to the chase – Muslim countries. And nary a mention of the legal process to do any of it.

Under the Fourteenth Amendment, all persons in the United States enjoy equal protection under the law. And under the Fifth Amendment, no person may be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process. This is well-settled law reaching back hundreds of years – and yes, it applies in removal proceedings. The misconception that an undocumented immigrant has no rights in the US because he broke the immigration law is nonsensical: though the process due may vary, it applies to all.

This means an undocumented immigrant cannot simply be “gone” as Trump believes. Generally, there is a hearing, an opportunity to show cause as to why the immigrant should be allowed to stay. Deportation is not automatic. It's not even quick. And sometimes it's not even possible. Yet Trump – while pointing fingers at the current executive branch for writing their own law, simply says it will be done via a curious process he called “immediate removal proceedings.” This shows his ignorance of the process he wants to carry out about 11 million times. Khizr Khan was right: Trump hasn't read the Constitution.

In addition to his core policy of en masse forced deportations, he wants to asphyxiate the majority of undocumented immigrants by bringing back widely derided policies like 287(g), revoke executive actions that offered temporary reprieve from removal, shut out refugees, and hang a “CLOSED” sign on his new wall. This is simply Trump-speak for Mitt Romney's idea of “self-deportation”: make life difficult enough for undocumented immigrants, and they'll simply leave. Romney was ridiculed in 2012 for saying this, but Trump's outlined plan is effectively the same.


Khizr Khan was right: Trump hasn't read the Constitution.
Trump berated the current administration for not having any idea how many undocumented people are in the US. Yet there was a similar garing hole in Trump's speech: namely, a definition of “undocumented.” He mentions people who enter illegally and also visa overstays. But the line between legal and illegal isn't so simple. Many people who are out of status have viable claims for asylum, withholding, deferral or cancellation of removal, or may qualify for various waivers of unlawful presence. Many people with status may lose it, and yet qualify to regain it.

His pre-speech hypemen – Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Rudy Guiliani, Sen. Jeff Sessions – all push the “threat” of illegal immigration. Trump shamelessly exploited the Angel Moms, parading them on stage, telling them illegal immigration is what killed their loved ones. The irony of the ease with which the guns that killed them was lost on him. His plan, born of fear, is a poorly scripted act of security theater. It will place even greater pressure on our borders, break down international relations, encourage profiling, institutionalize prejudice, and divert resources away from assessing real threats.

Deportation is the easy, low-fat, instant solution to every bigot's angst at the loss of an America that used to be great. But it is no panacea. It epically failed when MS-13 gang members were deported to El Salvador in the 1980's. These gangs thrived on a diet of blood, drugs, and guns and now has helped create the world's most dangerous countries and a humanitarian crisis on our southern border. Yet Trump believes justice and prosperity will prevail if we deport criminals (many of whom simply re-enter) and break up families.

Yes, immigration must put the best interests of the American people first. But immigrants are the American people. We are who we are because we let people in, not because we shut them out. Every group we've tried to exclude became us. We have to move past this knee-jerk reaction to close our borders every time xenophobia raises its ugly head. We are American, and we are better than this.
0 Comments

It's Time To Rethink Deportation

9/5/2016

1 Comment

 
​Note: What follows is an expanded version of an op-ed authored by HMA Law Firm attorney Hassan Ahmad on September 7, 2016. See the op-ed at The Hill:

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/294576-rethinking-deportation
Picture
No, immigration hasn't really been the central talking point in this election. While there are cries for immigration reform and chants against illegal immigration, the flash point isn't immigration, it's deportation. Think about how different the discourse would be if we were arguing about how to let people in instead of only how to keep – and kick – them out.

Nearly seventy years ago, the Supreme Court described deportation as “a drastic punishment, and at times equivalent to banishment or exile.” Finding the stakes to be high, it refused to read laws resulting in deportation broadly.

Since then, Congress responded by passing broad deportation laws, and continued to expand them. People who have lawfully lived in the US for nearly their entire lives are deported for minor infractions to countries they never knew. Others who flee persecution are deported to their deaths. Sometimes even US citizens or immigrant veterans who fought for this country are swept up in the deportation machine. We are a country that incarcerates children in for-profit jails. Judges lost the power to stop deportation in sympathetic cases. The immigration law now creates perverse incentives for undocumented people to remain in the United States even if they want to leave and come back legally. The enforcement-first approach has been failing for decades, and its primary weapon is the Grim Reaper of immigration law: deportation. And still they come.

What the law used to recognize as strong medicine is now available over the counter. It is used by policymakers, politicians, and self-styled commentators. Don't like what someone says? Deport them! Don't like a religion? Deport it! Don't like a candidate? “Maybe they'll deport her.” How many civilizations have fallen after they fractured over such disagreements?

It's time to rethink deportation as a panacea – or even a prerequisite – toward fixing our immigration system.

For all the talk, deportation is not well understood. In his immigration speech in Phoenix, Arizona (which was really a deportation speech) Donald Trump boomed, “They're gone,” referring to what he says are 2 million “criminal aliens.” In those two words, Trump unwittingly shed light on three misconceptions about deportation. One, that it's automatic. Two, that it's easy. Three, that it's permanent.

Deportation is not automatic. Due process does – and has always – applied to all people within the United States, even if the exact process due may vary. The line between legal and illegal immigration status is not as black and white as the current discourse assumes, and so there must be a legal process to determine who gets deported. Many American citizens were once undocumented, or at least subject to deportation. Many documented immigrants may lose their status, only to find another way to regain it. Others are ordered removed, but are granted limited relief – limbo status that does not result in physical removal. Others may win asylum or cancellation of removal.

Removal proceedings require identification, apprehension and sometimes detention, often for lengthy periods of time while hearings (and possibly appeals) conclude. Even for those with unchallenged final orders of deportation, the actual process of removal from the United States requires obtaining travel documents from the home country – if the home country will accept their citizen back. Given the numbers, it is not as easy as saying “They're gone.” That so many get deported is more a comment on the due process they (didn't) receive rather than actual ineligibility to stay – would it be a stretch to say the deportation machine survives on a lack of due process? Any expansion of deportation necessarily involves loss of due process.

Moreover, deportation is not necessarily permanent. Those who are deported from their lives and families will fight tooth and nail to come back. Penalties for unlawful re-entry are stiff, but people who are desperate will still come. It was the deportation of Central American gang members in the 1980's that caused their transnational growth, leading to the virtual collapse of three countries, which in turn has created a humanitarian crisis on our southern border. And the heavy-handed enforcement-only rhetoric only risks providing fodder for those who openly express criminal intent against the United States. It's also hugely expensive – and one must ask, for what purpose? Is there no other way to promote respect for the rule of law?

The human cost of deportation is immense. Today there are thousands of US citizen children who can't be sure their parents will be there when they get home from school. Family ties are broken for life. Our prisons are bursting at the seams and yet we allow powerful companies to line their pockets with our tax dollars to detain even more.

Obviously, any country has the right to expel undesirable people. But why has deportation become the instant and only go-to cure not only for illegal immigration, but for any perceived social ill? When it's used like so much candy, the side effects become worse than the illness. And when it's not used as directed, it can create more of the problem it purported to solve. Is it wise to have such a broad deportation policy? Why is it always the first – and only – bottle in the cabinet?

Permanent deportation is rarely the solution. When the law broken (unlawful entry) is a Class I misdemeanor, and immigration laws are criminalized, then the punishment should fit the crime. And deportation is severe punishment. Since actual legislated immigration reform is proving elusive, we must use existing laws in a smarter way.

For example, allowing immigrants to apply for advance parole to allow them to leave the United States without tripping the 10-year bar to re-entry. Expanding the use of work permits and parole in place – for both undocumented and documented immigrants. Assessing an unlawful presence penalty to be filed with any such request along with payment of any back taxes. Expanding the use of administrative closure to reduce backlogs in immigration court. Deferred action to bridge the gap for people stuck in lengthy backlogs. There are many options short of deportation – a targeted prescription plan that would allow immigrants to contribute while fostering respect for the rule of law.

It's time to stop relying on deportation as a panacea.

1 Comment
    DISCLAIMER: If a blog post you read here contains case results, be advised that case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case.

    Authors

    Sharifa Abbasi, Esq.
    Hassan M. Ahmad, Esq.
    Humza Kazmi, Esq.
    Faisal Khan
    ​Valeria Prudencio
    Carly Stadum-Liang, Esq.

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    August 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    July 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All
    Appellate
    Asylum
    CBP
    Citizenship
    Constitutional Rights
    Criminal
    DACA
    Deportation
    Family
    Framing
    General
    H 1B
    H-1B
    Hma Law Firm
    Immigration
    Immigration Policy
    Immigration Reform
    International
    Interns
    Muslim Ban
    National Security
    Politics
    Removal
    Syria
    Tanton FOIA Lawsuit
    Trump
    Waivers

    RSS Feed

Quick Links

  • Our Team
  • Practice Areas
  • Executive Action
  • Consult

Contact Info

6 Pidgeon Hill DR., Suite 330,
Sterling, VA 20165, USA

Tel:  703.964.0245

Fax: 703.997.8556
Email: [email protected]

Subscribe to the HMA LawFeed

Picture

​Pay Fees Here

Book you consult online by clicking on this link now!

©2009 - 2021 by Hassan M. Ahmad. All rights reserved. No portion of this website may be copied or reproduced for any purpose without express written permission.

Photos from Beshroffline, Thorne Enterprises, alex-s, swanksalot, 401(K) 2012, hyku, Gage Skidmore, Gage Skidmore, michaeln3, Antony J Shepherd, Korean Resource Center 민족학교, Don Fulano, lewebafricain, Images_of_Money, Lord Jim, Kevinth Nunez, Joe Crimmings Photography, Cohen.Canada, Thane Eichenauer, Gage Skidmore, CGP Grey, digitalshay, anokarina, Debbie Ramone, slightly everything, loop_oh, aaron_anderer, U.S. Marshals Service, tsuacctnt, Andrew Feinberg, Official U.S. Navy Imagery, Soggydan, Keith Bacongco, photosteve101, Emery Co Photo, futureatlas.com, david_terrar, weiss_paarz_photos, juanktru, Anh Le Tran's Photogphy, Amanda M Hatfield, IcronticPrime, Fibonacci Blue, blvesboy, Carl Montgomery, zappowbang, khawkins04, kennethkonica, opensourceway, Supernico26, mynameisharsha, JBrazito, Glyn Lowe Photoworks, Justin A. Wilcox, Wesley Fryer, MAClarke21, khalid Albaih, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rod Waddington, CreditDebitPro, amtec_photos, Ungry Young Man, greencandy8888, Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com, Andrew Cheal, Jens Rost, Tiocfaidh ár lá 1916, State Farm, Daquella manera, wahousegop, ShanMcG213, IndivisibleSF, gruntzooki, Abode of Chaos