NY Times on Enforcement

April 2, 2010

Report Faults Training of Local Officers in Immigration Enforcement Program

By JULIA PRESTON

State and local police officers who enforce federal immigration laws are not adequately screened, trained or supervised, and the civil rights of the immigrants they deal with are not consistently protected, according to a report released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general.

The report by the department’s internal watchdog was a sweeping review of a program run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Through agreements signed with about 60 county and state police forces, the program allows local officers to question immigrants about their legal status and detain them for deportation (click here to read entire article)

Reform Hardship Waivers

When U.S. citizens sponsor their husbands and wives for immigration, too many become trapped in the unthinking and counterproductive web of administrative violations that separate them from each other and their children or from America.

For far too many such violations, the immigration system’s only response is long-term or even permanent bars against admission to the United States. Sanctions on immigration violations have a purpose and a place. When the damage they do to families of U.S. citizens and our national interest in their well being is far greater than the damage done by the violation, we have turned the purpose of immigration law on its head. The right of U.S. citizens to marry whom we please, to form families and build a future for our children is far more important than incomprehensible immigration forms, administrative violations, paperwork errors, and minor offenses.

We are working for common sense reform of the existing waiver system (forms I-601, I-212), with uniform, objective standards that balance the national interest in family unity and fairness with the gravity of the offenses. Such a framework could be applied to sponsored workers and family members.