Are you being deliberately dense? Nobody is saying that overstaying a visa isn’t illegal.
But if you’re a police commissioner who doesn’t have enough police officers to arrest every law breaker and you have to choose between catching murders and catching overtime parkers, you tell your officers to catch the murders. You’re not condoning overtime parking; you’re not saying it’s legal - but you’re recognizing that you go after major crimes before you go after minor crimes.
No, but countries that have that have the most visa violators should have further visas limited.
Apparently, the consequences aren’t serious to stop people from overstaying. Perhaps, they should have to put up a bond and forfeit it if they overstay. We can finance all that free education Bernie talks about. Or perhaps, we should penalize them the same way their home country does?
For some reason, liberals think our borders are meaningless.
Ever hear of meter maids and parking enforcement? Police officers who deal with serious crimes don’t worry about parking. Likewise the people who issue visas need deal with visa overstayers any way they can including hunting them down. That’s their job.
Yeah? I’m a liberal, and I don’t think borders are meaningless. My wife and I are doing everything by the law with her visa, same as other liberals of my acquaintance.
The US already penalizes them more than their home country. If I overstay my visa in Thailand, I’m subject to a ban from reentering the country for 1-10 years. In the US, it would take a miracle for you ever to enter the country again.
How do you propose you track visa holders? Ticketing parked cars isn’t even close to the same thing.
And what does this police chief do when the city council won’t give him enough money to hire the meter maids and parking enforcement?
Pearl Clutching Provocateur and adaher, not to mention the OP, know absolutely nothing about this subject other than what Der Fuehrer Trump has ordered them to think.
Who gets caught? 2500 out of millions? And the penalty is that you go home where you were supposed to go in the first place?
Actually, I’m just calling for fairness here. If visas are in effect a blank check to stay as long as you want, then just make visas like that in practice. You get a tourist visa, you can stay as long as you want. Who could object to that?
But Tourist Visas are NOT a blank check to stay as long as you want. That, to a large extent, is what Immigrant Visas are for, and the criteria for those are even stricter than for Tourist Visas. Believe me, I know.
Blank check indeed. There has never been a case of an overstayer being caught and the authorities saying, “Well, let’s see. Your visa expired a long time ago. [Or you don’t have a visa.] Tell you what, we’re a bit busy, so we’re going to let you off with a warning as long as you promise to get this taken care of soon.” No, that does not happen. Anyone who is caught is in trouble. They can kiss their chances of seeing America again goodbye.
Oh. You’re one of THEM…
:dubious:
This has always been the case. Hence visa waivers for EU members, very strict requirements for Thais, Dominicans and Guatemalans.
I am not sure you have any idea what you’re talking about.
And for the record, many EU people also overstay and work in the US. I know a few.
Yet so few get caught. Less than 1%. How is that fair to the law abiding?
How does it affect the law abiding one way or another?
The law abiding that do want to stay are stuck in their home countries, waiting in line the legal way, while those who cheated face a whopping 1% chance of getting deported.
Ever notice it’s the same people screaming for enforcement that refuse to fund it, in the name of cutting spending and smaller government?
Funny that!
If you don’t think it’s fair, the solution is easy. Don’t vote for the party that cuts spending for law enforcement. Don’t send Republicans to Congress.
Indeed. You want better enforcement, it’s got to be paid for.
Immigration issues are always a favorite of the conservative rabble-rousers, because they know the average American knows fuck-all about how the system even works. “Oh my god, illegal immigrants are storming the country left and right! The system is broken! It’s the Democrats fault and only we can fix it!” Pandering to the mouth-breathers who wouldn’t even have a clue about how to fix something like that even if it were broken, which quite honestly it’s not.
What good does funding do if the President would simply rather not deport anyone but felons?