Immigrants Struggle with Federal Programs
New Laws and Broken Promises Complicate Immigration Issues
Feb 26, 2009
Regulating the United State's immigration has been a volatile issue in the legal, political, and law enforcement circles. Yet, the solutions proposed have, according to immigration advocates, made it more difficult for immigrants to cooperate through reducing options and failing to follow through on promises to compromise. The failure of the 2000 visa law to aid victims cooperating with law enforcement, the decision against promising competent legal representation, and the new policies to collect the DNA of any detained immigrants are cited as the latest examples of a government unwilling to compromise in order to fix unresolved issues.
2000 Visa Law
In an attempt to encourage many illegal immigrants to aid in federal investigations, a law was passed at the turn of the century that promised visas for illegal immigrants' cooperation with federal authorities. However, according to an MSNBC report, only 65 visas have been granted for over 13,000 people that cooperated under the new law.
For many advocates of immigrant rights, this sends a clear message that the reforms being offered are simply empty promises. The fact that immigration law cannot be carried out by the federal authorities also suggests an inability to apply any reforms that may be passed.
DNA and Legal Representation
Another report by MSNBC details two new rules pushed by the Bush administration in its waning months. The first rule mandates that all detained immigrants have their DNA sampled and stored in a law enforcement database. According to advocates, this rule is an invasion of privacy and promotes a further distrust of authorities which has complicated many of these issues.
The second rule has a far heavier impact on future legal precedings for immigrants. According to a ruling by former Attornery General Mukasey, immigrants facing deportation do not have the right of appeal on the grounds of poor legal representation.
This precedent not only denies full legal rights of persons seeking permanent citizenship in the country, but also opens to the door for victimization of immigrants. As lawyers no longer face the threat of consequences due to poor preformance, they conceivable can proceed in a case in whatever manner they choose. This undoubtedly leads to worse representation in courts and further discouragement from using the United States court system entirely; putting the country back in the situation of not being able to garner cooperation from incoming immigrants.
With the economy looming large on the Obama Administration's agenda, it is yet to be announced how U.S. immigration policy will change under new leadership. As it stands, the new administration has many failed attempts to promote cooperation to overcome before any reform can be effectively enacted.
