"The Days of Deportation": Slate's Latest Project
Posted on Jun 15, 2017 4:10pm PDT
Like most federal policies, immigration policy affects millions of people across the country. When the discourse about what to do about undocumented immigrations becomes about numbers and abstract ideas, we run the risk of forgetting what we're really discussing: people's lives. Employees, husbands, wives, children, students, grandparents—families who are here and may have been here for years.
Slate took it upon themselves to make sure we never forget the human face of immigration. In their story, "Days of Deportation," their reporters show the stories of 60 immigrants who have been stopped, arrested, or detained by ICE due to the White House's stricter measures. These 60 stories represent the thousands across the country who have been affected by new policies that no longer prioritize dangerous or criminal immigrants over law-abiding residents.
As a result, less than 9% of new detainees are connected to any crime at all. Almost half of the detainees arrested since the beginning of 2017 have no convictions on their record—some of them are detained with nothing but some traffic infractions on their record. Otherwise harmless residents are being targeted while legitimately dangerous criminals remain on the streets.
Immigration Attorneys Have a Different Solution
Some immigration attorneys aren't just opposed to these policies on political grounds—they're opposed for the sake of public safety and legal rights. Attorney Lloyd Bennett, an immigration attorney from Union City, NJ, supports immigration reform that would allow long-time residents to become citizens.
"This would bring an estimated 11.5 million people out of the shadows, produce billions of dollars in tax revenue, and allow hard-working families to pursue the American dream" he said. "We need a 21st-century approach to immigration reform."
Don't forget what's at stake when you next consider how to solve the immigration issue. And don't forget that it's not efficiency or bureaucracy that's at the heart of the issue—it's people.