Why the Obama Administration Is Right to Deport Migrants Ordered to Leave The Los Angeles Times
go to original December 31, 2015

Cries against deportation were heard outside of the White House Wednesday in response to reports of a government plan to target hundreds of families who are living in the United States illegally. (ABC7)

Reports out of Washington suggest that the Obama administration is planning to sweep up and deport hundreds of families whose applications for asylum or some other form of permission to remain in the country were rejected by immigration courts. Immigration rights advocates have begun rallying in opposition, arguing that it is inhumane for the government to send back to Central America — the source of many of the cases — people who have fled violence and crime-ridden neighborhoods for a chance at a better future for themselves and their children.

It's hard to argue with that logic, but it is based on a flawed premise. To not deport those whom an immigration judge has ruled ineligible to remain in the country is to throw over any notion of enforceable immigration law. And that is an indefensible position.

The government has both the right and the responsibility to determine who gets to enter the country, and who gets to stay as legal residents.

We share some of the concerns that have been raised about the fairness of the immigration court system. It is understaffed, and judges carry excessively high caseloads. Studies have found that petitioners who have a lawyer at their elbow stand a much better chance of winning permission to stay than those without lawyers, largely because of the arcane and confusing nature of immigration law itself. Immigration cases typically are civil proceedings, and although those facing deportation have a right to counsel, they do not have a right to one paid for by the government, unlike criminal defendants. So those without means to hire an attorney are at the mercy of the pro bono immigration bar, which is just as overextended as the judges. In that scenario, it's likely that some people who have a legitimate right to asylum wind up getting deported anyway, a regrettable turn of events.

But that shortcoming is an argument for a more robustly funded immigration courts, not an excuse to turn the system on its ear and not enforce a lawful order from an immigration judge.

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