I don’t know about Panama (paging Colibri), but both Costa Rica and Belize are inmigration recipients; I wouldn’t be surprised if Panama is as well. That doesn’t mean nobody wants to move to The Land Of Golden Sidewalks, but a lot of people figure out that it’s not worth it. Some of these are aided by the stories from those who lived there for a while and went back home, a setup which is a lot less common for less-stable countries.
Central Americans can certainly travel through Mexico to get to the United States. It’s just hellishly dangerous to do so, especially for women and children.
The migrants are mainly from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and they are fleeing widespread gang violence as well as poverty. Costa Rica and Panama have plenty of the latter, not so much of the former.
You should see a doctor!
To piggyback Crazyhorse’s cite, relevant This American Life podcast. Plenty of legal and illegal immigrants are being held in federal detention/deportation centers all over the country, for months at a time. Sounds like ICE is trying a different solution, both to address human rights concerns and to alleviate overcrowding. Putting people in camps is not kosher.
Like it or not, most of these people are NOT going to be deported. And yet, I still can’t muster any sympathy for the protesters in Murireta.
Irrelevant question unless they can be stopped, which they can’t. I hope we’ve all learned that by now.
My land, sir, but you are a caution!
That was seriously considered at the end of the Mexican-American War. [url=]However:
Quiet down, folks! We’ve got an expert here!
The U.S. did, of course, annex a good half of Mexico.
Or a vet. Sounds like he has a hairball.
thank you for that excellent post!
And we dont have poverty and gang violence here? Arent there many people in the US already who if they had a choice would pick up and move?
Sorry but the US accepting hundreds of thousands of refugees from those places is NOT going to help anyone. Many times they bring those problems here with them. I’ve been reading many reports of known gang members infiltrating with the other refugees.
No, what we need right now is to bus them to the airports and fly them home. Its cheaper in the long run than keeping them here and those still at home will get the message and not try and come. Maybe they will also work to improve their own countries conditions.
Yes, but it’s not what’s on the package. The package says “opportunity… land of the free… TV series where blue-collar families live in houses where every person has his own bedroom and bathroom and there’s even extra guest rooms…”
The fine print on the package says “A land of lazy people who got rich hiring immigrants to do their hard jobs so they could focus on education, arts and sciences. Qualified candidates will be willing to work their assess off, accept wages our average citizen would scoff at and receive no other benefits. Must be able to work well in an environment of racial discrimination, lynch mob mentality and general intolerance from those who were too stupid to take advantage of their access to education, arts, and sciences. Some travel required.”
Apples and oranges.
Urbanredneck seems to be referring to all persons released with a court date for a detention hearing. Crazyhorse replies with a statistic about a subset of that group - those placed on an alternative to detention program.
Most are not released to an alternative to detention (ATD) program such as posting bail or electronic monitoring.
Requiring a person to post a bond, make regular check ins, or wear an electronic monitor does greatly increase compliance rates for attending deportation hearings.
Two statistics are often used, and it is important to understand the distinction. If you compare those who fail to show for a deportation hearing against all illegal immigrants in the United States then there is only about a 5% absconder rate.
But if you compare those who fail to show for a deportation hearing against all illegal immigrants actually in deportation hearings then the rate is much higher - about 59%. Of course the vast majority of illegal immigrants in the United States are not currently in removal proceedings.
So 90% isn’t the right statistic for absconding, but it isn’t right for attending the hearings either if you look at all those detained and released and not just those in ATD programs.
We couldn’t handle occupying Iraq; what makes you think we could occupy a much larger nation like Mexico?
It’s a much easier commute.
The only ones who will be detained or put in the ATD program are those deemed to be a flight risk or who have criminal backgrounds in the first place. Many are children who can be placed with family in the US to await their proceedings. Their family will almost certainly not be near the processing center they are being taken to, so even if 99% of them failed to appear they won’t be “let loose” in the community that is protesting their arrival.
Sure, some of those sent off to family in the US might still fail to appear but if so they will be among those who have no criminal backgrounds and some form of family/support system available to them within the US. If and when they ever decide to apply for residence or asylum or take advantage of an amnesty or work program their failure to appear will be an obstacle. Other than that what’s the problem?
Not much to be done about it either way but my guess is the women and children who are released to family legally residing in the US are probably no cause for Urbanredneck-like folks to panic.
Once inside the US, by simply being human beings they have gained inalienable rights. Those include the right to due process for criminal matters and immigration matters. We have bail/bonds in our criminal justice system because the jails could not possibly hold everyone awaiting trial if they pose no immediate risk to society. Some of them fail to appear too. A bus full of immigrants has a bus full of rights and the ICE facilities could not possibly hold everyone awaiting their day in court when they pose no immediate risk to society.
Criminal matters, yes. Immigration matters… well… maybe not.
Illegal immigrants can often be removed without a hearing at all. There is a voluntary departure process that critics argue is not very voluntary but which may involve an appearance before an immigration judge. And there is an expedited removal process that leaves a black mark on the person’s immigration record and denies them a hearing.
Fewer than a quarter of deportees see a judge.
Illegal immigrants do not have the right to an attorney to represent them at a removal hearing if they cannot afford one themselves.
Gang violence in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala is far, far worse than anything encountered in the United States. El Salvador and Honduras routinely compete for highest per capita murder rate in the world. Migrants aren’t irrational. They wouldn’t undertake an extremely hazardous and expensive journey facing uncertain prospects in the U.S. if they weren’t desperate.
In any case, I wasn’t advocating for any particular policy response. I was responding to a post about differential migration rates from Central American countries.