Christine O'Donnell - Chris Coons debate: Immigration

Democrat Chris Coons said he supports a path to legalization for illegal immigrants.

He started by noting that immigration is a federal responsibility and that the government has often let down states, including Arizona and Delaware. He said whole industries depend on illegal workers and that if workers have not committed crimes, there should be a process for them to eventually become legal residents.

Coons said the first step is to strengthen the border, to make it harder to enter the country illegally and to crack down on employers who hire such workers. He said a better ID system was needed to ferret out illegal workers. Undocumented workers who have not committed any crimes would have to learn English, pay a fine and go through a formal process to obtain citizenship.

He did not recommend blanket amnesty for illegal workers.

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Photo: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Facts]

Ignorance is Bliss: Those who have NO CLUE or QUALIFICATIONS about Immigration are those who show their IGNORANCE :)

There is NO SUCH WORD AS 'ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT" in Blacks Law Dictionary, or In Merriam Websters Dictionary. Get Educated .

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that the claim by some conservative activists that illegal immigration is to blame for all of the state's fiscal problems is ignorant and bigoted."

Arturo E. Ocampo of Tracy has been a practicing attorney since 1985, In the 20-plus years I have spent studying, lecturing and litigating immigration issues, two things have always amazed me. The first is the amount and intensity of hate spewed against undocumented workers. The second is the amount of misinformation that is published about them.

On this second point, the quote from Mark Twain is illustrative. "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." I suppose this may be true in part because misinformation, like a lie, requires no accuracy, validation or research; all of which are time-consuming practices.

The recent letters alleging that all undocumented workers are "criminals," and specifically Veronica Suarez, whose plight was written about in the Tracy Press recently, is a criminal are factually incorrect.

According to the facts (as stated in Sharon Franceschi’s Sept. 7 commentary) Saurez entered the U.S. on a valid visa, overstayed her visa when it expired, resulting in her unlawful immigration status. None of these acts, as stated by Franceschi, constitute a crime under federal or state law. Overstaying a valid visa under the Immigration and Naturalization Act is a civil violation of the law, not a criminal violation. Being in the U.S. in under undocumented status is not a criminal violation, but a civil violation of the INA.

The facts, as stated by Franceschi, do not indicate that Suarez has committed any crime. To call her a criminal is erroneous at best, and libelous at worst.

Furthermore, it is an Americanism that a person is innocent until proven guilty. So until Suarez (or any other undocumented person) is charged and found guilty of a crime, it would be inappropriate to call them "criminals."

It is important to note that there is a very large difference between civil and criminal violations of law. The distinction is so important that the law makes the erroneous allegation that one has committed a crime of slander or libel, (which means liability is automatic even without proof of damages). One who violates the civil law is no more a criminal than someone who has breached a contract or accidentally damaged another’s property.

It is true that entering the United States without inspection is a misdemeanor under the INA. The misdemeanor is completed once an individual’s entry is complete. Suarez, according to Franceschi, did not enter without inspection; she entered with a valid visa. According to U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services statistics, about 40 percent of undocumented persons enter legally and overstay their visas (which, as stated above, is not a crime). Consequently, at least 40 percent of the undocumented population has committed no crime in regards to their immigration status.

Therefore, one cannot assume that a person has committed a crime simply because they are undocumented.

Franceschi is also in error in her allegation that getting married and having children while being undocumented in the U.S. is a violation of the law. It is not. Franceschi goes on to say that Suarez "apparently bought a house illegally." It is unlikely that Franceschi knows exactly how Suarez purchased her home. Consequently, any allegation of illegality is, at a minimum, irresponsible.

It is also important to note that the Immigration and Citizenship Services doesn’t consider all undocumented persons criminals. When the Immigration and Citizenship Services publishes information about its enforcement activities involving undocumented workers, it are always sure to make a distinction between "criminal" and noncriminal aliens.

Another myth is that the term "illegal aliens" is a term of art or is legal jargon. This term is not found anywhere in the INA or in Blacks Law Dictionary. The INA refers to undocumented persons as either an EWI (entered without inspection) or as someone who has overstayed their visa. "Illegal aliens" is a term invented by anti-immigrant groups designed to put undocumented persons in the worst possible light and to instill fear in Americans. It is intentionally designed to associate undocumented persons with criminality.

This xenophobic view that undocumented persons are "simply criminals" comes from the historical stereotype that the foreign-born, especially undocumented immigrants, are responsible for higher crime rates. This misconception has deep roots in American public opinion and popular myth. This myth, however, is not supported empirically and has repeatedly been refuted by scientific studies. Both contemporary and historical data, (including U.S. governmental studies) have shown that immigration is associated with lower crime rates.

The studies have uniformly shown that recent immigrants (including the undocumented) are less likely to be involved in violent crime, and that when there is an increase in immigration patterns, violent crime decreases. This has been shown to be true in large cities with heavy immigrant populations.

In the most recent of these studies, The Myth of Immigrant Criminality and the Paradox of Assimilation (2007), from the Immigrant Policy Institute, it was found that among men age 18 to 39 (who are the vast majority of inmates in federal and state prisons and local jails), immigrants were five times less likely to be incarcerated than the native-born in 2000.

During the Proposition 187 debate, then-Gov. Pete Wilson published statistics that stated that
12 percent to 15 percent of the state prison population had Immigration and Citizenship Services holds or potential holds. The Department of Corrections analyst who compiled these numbers said Immigration and Citizenship Services holds are placed on inmates who were born outside of the U.S. (therefore 12 percent to 15 percent of the prison population was immigrants). The immigrant population at the time in California hovered at about 25 percent, showing immigrants were much less likely to be incarcerated than the native born in California.

In short, the data shows you are much safer if your neighbor is an immigrant.

Franceschi owes Suarez an apology. I am also surprised that the Tracy Press allowed a commentary to run without checking the facts. Although commentaries are designed to allow for the expression of differing opinions, the First Amendment is not as generous with misstatements of facts — especially when the facts can be libelous.

For the immigration debate to be a healthy one, we should strive for a debate based on facts, not myth or tired stereotypes. We should also not let our position on this topic strip us of one of the great qualities we possess as people — the ability to be compassionate.

Arturo E. Ocampo of Tracy has been a practicing attorney since 1985, with an expertise in immigration rights and class action lawsuits on behalf of immigrants, including the way the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was implemented, Border Patrol’s raids and Proposition 187. He is director of diversity and equal employment opportunity for the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District.

[John Bowman]

Christine O'Donnell also supports a path to legalization for illegal aliens:

"Welcome aboard Legalization Airlines, your path to legality. Enjoy the flight to your home country!!

[John Bowman]

"Coons said ...... Undocumented workers who have not committed any crimes"

EARTH TO COONS: Every illegal alien worker has committed multiple federal felonies, from perjury on an I-9 form to stolen or forged Social Security card to working for cash and not paying taxes to not registering with selective service. Every illegal alien worker has committed many crimes!!!

[John Bowman]

Umm (lack of) Facts:

FACT: Official US Government Legal Terminology:

Alien - Any person not a citizen or national of the United States.

Immigrant - An alien who has been granted the right by the US government to reside permanently in the United States and to work without restrictions in the United States. Also known as a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR).

Illegal alien - An alien who has entered the country illegally or is residing in the United States illegally after entering legally (for example, entering on a tourist visa and remaining after the visa expires).

Illegal aliens are not immigrants of any type, they are foreign intruders, your arguments below talks about immigrants, not illegal aliens, the two groups are 180 degree opposite.

[John Bowman]

FACT: Every working illegal alien commits the same felonies Nicky Diaz did:

"Documents released by Republican California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman reveal that her former maid, Nicandra (Nicky) Diaz Santillan, made liberal use of fraudulent documents in order to obtain employment.

Go to page 12 of the documents to view copies of the fraudulent Social Security card and the California driver's license that Diaz-Santillan used for employment purposes (a felony).

Diaz-Santillan also used the fraudulently obtained Social Security number (another felony) on the W-4 form (p. 13) that she completed and signed.

Finally, Diaz-Santillan apparently presented her employer with fraudulent documents and knowingly falsified her I-9 form (p. 14) under penalty of perjury (yet another felony)."

[tlludwig]

"He said whole industries depend on illegal workers and that if workers have not committed crimes, there should be a process for them to eventually become legal residents."

...ummm...didn't they break our immigration laws when they came here illegally? That means that t