One of the things that isn’t discussed that much is that the illegal aliens present in the United States aren’t comprised just of Mexicans and from Central America. They are from all over the world. And they don’t all sneak across the border. They overstay their visas. And many are from Europe
(KCRA) Europeans often hid in plain sight as Latin Americans, Asians and others living illegally in America were sent packing. But now they’re starting to realize they are not immune to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, and they’re worried.
The number of Europeans deported this federal fiscal year from the United States could surpass last fiscal year’s total, according to figures provided to The Associated Press by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
From Oct. 2, 2016 through June 24, more than 1,300 Europeans have been removed, compared with 1,450 during all of federal fiscal year 2016 — the last under President Barack Obama. The agency didn’t provide estimates broken down by calendar year.
In San Jose, California, an HIV-positive Russian asylum seeker faces possible deportation after overstaying his visa. In Chicago, Polish and Irish community groups say they’re seeing inquiries about immigration and citizenship-related services surge as people seek legal protections.
And in Boston, John Cunningham, a well-known Irishman who had overstayed his visa by 14 years, was sent back to Ireland last week, sending shivers through the city’s sizeable Irish expat community.
“People are very, very concerned and lying low,” says Ronnie Millar, of the Boston-based Irish International Immigrant Center. “The message is that if it can happen to John, it can happen to anyone.”
If they’re unlawfully present, they need to be deported. And they should be afraid. It doesn’t matter where they are from.
Many believe Cunningham simply forgot the golden rule of living in the shadows: Keep your head down.
Months before his arrest, he appeared on a national news show in Ireland to share his experience of living illegally in America.
Not a bright idea in retrospect, eh?
Many of those living here illegally were lulled into a “false sense of security” by the Obama years, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors more restrictive immigration policies.
“This is a return to more traditional immigration enforcement,” Vaughan said. “There needs to be some level of across-the-board, routine enforcement, in the same way your local police department doesn’t focus only on murder, robbery and rape. They also have traffic patrols.”
It’s a simple concept: if you’re unlawfully present in the United States, you get deported if caught.
But Ali Noorani, executive director of the immigrant-rights group National Immigration Forum, argued the administration is overdoing it.
“It’s pretty clear ICE is removing anyone undocumented they come across,” he said. “The bigger issue is that the Trump administration is wasting really valuable law enforcement resources on many people who aren’t a public safety threat, whether they’re Irish, Latino, Asian or otherwise.”
It’s always some excuse with these people to excuse and protect illegal aliens. Is it a waste of resources for police officers to pull someone over for failing to use their signal, tailgating, and having a broken taillight? No. They’ll probably just give you a warning for the latter, because it’s about safety for you and other people. Is it a waste of resources if law enforcement is playing basketball with neighborhood kids rather than patrolling? No. They’re creating a bond in the neighborhood, showing kids that they are not big bad scary people. Likewise, if ICE becomes aware of any illegal alien, it is not a waste of their resources to come get them. Because they are unlawfully present.
If someone is sitting in Ali Noorani’s backyard, not doing anything wrong, just chilling, no threats, no bad words, but refusing to leave, is it a waste of resources to have the police come and remove the person? According to Noorani’s talking point, yes. I bet Ali would feel different in the real world, because the person would be trespassing. Just like illegal aliens are doing.
