A Deeply Fractured US

[The Bread Guy]

... The illegal immigration problem was easy to create; it essentially requires no effort except to stand down from enforcement. It is much harder to reverse (enforce). Political reality intrudes: the administration has at most four years, and maybe only two depending on how midterms go. So they're in a bit of a hurry, and one way of speeding things up is to surge. Admission standards loosen up; training time shortens; and add in whatever else they've done to cut corners ...

All true enough, for sure. Still, as others have said in these parts, legal =/= right.

... People who oppose immigration enforcement and not just immigration enforcement done poorly are also in the wrong.

Fair enough as well.

As for the Democrats dropping the ball, also fair, but also as others smarter than me here have said in similar situations, it's up to the current management to fix things, and there seems to be a bit of what some consider pendulum overswing in the implemtation.

 

[Brad Sallows]

As for the Democrats dropping the ball, also fair, but also as others smarter than me here have said in similar situations, it's up to the current management to fix things, and there seems to be a bit of what some consider pendulum overswing in the implemtation.

How many man-hours of officialdom's time is consumed by one person entering the country illegally?

How many man-hours are (by customary processes) consumed to remove one person who entered the country illegally?

The administration is trying to undo four years' worth of the former (leaving aside the prior decades) in its own four years. If the time/efforts are unequal - and they are - some kinds of multipliers are needed. Then apply the multipliers necessary to overcome passive and active resistance. I do not expect them to come remotely close to removing all the illegals who entered during the Biden administration and since, and I doubt they expect to, either. Focus seems to be on identifying and removing those with criminal histories and associations, starting with the worst (violent criminals). Haste making waste, innocents are caught up. What practical alternatives exist that will remove at least several hundred thousand people? Are any being offered up by opponents of status quo willing to cooperate in order to achieve the aims?

The people in charge right now are very angry at how their predecessors behaved. I can guess that they do not much care about criticism, particularly from anyone associated with their predecessors. They are doing what administrations do: seeking/creating a favourable legal theory and applying it until successfully challenged; if stymied by the courts or Congress, they find another.

 

[Eaglelord17]

An over-reaction is still a reaction.

Here is an article by "Liberal Patriot" contributor Ruy Teixeira, quoting at length another Substacker (Noah Smith - "Noahpinion") here. They identify what they see as an unwillingness among Democrats to confront their own responsibility for sowing seeds. When I write that Democrats have created problems that the administration is trying to fix, I am not pulling that opinion out of my own fundament.

The illegal immigration problem was easy to create; it essentially requires no effort except to stand down from enforcement. It is much harder to reverse (enforce). Political reality intrudes: the administration has at most four years, and maybe only two depending on how midterms go. So they're in a bit of a hurry, and one way of speeding things up is to surge. Admission standards loosen up; training time shortens; and add in whatever else they've done to cut corners. This is, as usual, observation and implies no endorsement. People who oppose immigration enforcement and not just immigration enforcement done poorly are also in the wrong.

It is easy enough to reverse as well. As I said, one law, employing illegal immigrants results in jail time.

Suddenly there is no work and they leave on their own because they can’t survive without work.

The only reason this problem exists is American greed and a love of cheap illegal labour because there is no consequences for the exploiter. Take away the incentive and suddenly the problem goes away.

But we can’t do that, American citizens can do no wrong and instead we need the Gustapo going door to door dragging citizens from their homes and denying proper due process.

 

[Czech_pivo]

It is easy enough to reverse as well. As I said, one law, employing illegal immigrants results in jail time.

Suddenly there is no work and they leave on their own because they can’t survive without work.

The only reason this problem exists is American greed and a love of cheap illegal labour because there is no consequences for the exploiter. Take away the incentive and suddenly the problem goes away.

But we can’t do that, American citizens can do no wrong and instead we need the Gustapo going door to door dragging citizens from their homes and denying proper due process.

I’ve been saw all along, arrest those the employ illegal immigrants. Throw them in jail and seize their company and the problem will be solved within a month.

 

[QV]

I’ve been saw all along, arrest those the employ illegal immigrants. Throw them in jail and seize their company and the problem will be solved within a month.

That sounds super easy. And because it hasn't been done, I can guess it’s because they do not want to actually go after all illegals. They know it’s impossible. They have tightened up the border and they will expel as many really bad criminals as possible and call it a win. And that actually would be a win from status quo.

 

[lenaitch]

That sounds super easy. And because it hasn't been done, I can guess it’s because they do not want to actually go after all illegals. They know it’s impossible. They have tightened up the border and they will expel as many really bad criminals as possible and call it a win. And that actually would be a win from status quo.

The term "really bad criminal" is subjective, and is is often difficult to draw a straight line between the presence of criminals and arrests with publicly available information, but using ICE's own data for 2024, they don't don't seem to have embraced data driven law enforcement.

Arrest for 'criminal convictions' were about 38% of all arrests. Of that, about 6% were in the Chicago district which includes Minnesota. If they really wanted to go after "really bad criminals, they should be in their southern districts which account for almost half of their criminal arrests.

Maybe Minneapolis, Maine and six year olds aren't the droids they are looking for.

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Statistics

www.ice.gov