Should an illegal immigrant have a say in the process of deportation?
in Immigration

DrummerDude · February 2019

Give me your thoughts on when an illegal immigrant should be deported, and why or why not they should have a say in deportation.

MayCaesar · February 2019

Well, if the immigrant has been proven to be staying on the US territory illegally, then they have already committed an offence that makes them legally deportable. Of course they should have the right to defend themselves, or to hire a lawyer to represent them - but in case the evidence is clear, there is not much they can do, short of bribing the judge. And if they have the funds necessary to bribe a judge in the US, then why they came to the US territory illegally, instead of getting a green card through the $500,000 business investment, is an open question.

Regarding an immigrant committing a crime not related to their status here, I am not very familiar with the process in such case. Again, if the immigrant is illegal, then they can be deported simply due to their status; the fact of committing a crime does not change much.

But if, say, the court somehow misses the fact that they are staying on the US territory illegally, yet still recognises them as an immigrant, then, if I am correct, they can be put in jail for the period decided by the court, after which, again, deportation is likely to follow, although it does not have to. I believe the judge has a lot of room in choosing the sentence here, and I have heard of many different cases. Someone tried to bribe a police officer at a traffic stop and was sentenced for 6 months in the "jail for immigrants", deported afterwards. Someone else stole something from a fashion shop and got away with a small fine.

I do not think much change compared to the current system is needed. Although the personal bias of judges could be reduced some. The fact of the matter is, someone's immigration status often factors in the verdict and the sentence decided by the court - while ideally, only the crime itself should be a factor, with the immigration status being completely irrelevant to the case.

YeshuaRedeemed · February 2019

Yes. Immigrants have the right to flee persecution.

AmericanFurryBoy · February 2019

They broke a law and are therefore foreign criminals. The US has the right to send them back to wherever the hell they came from

George_Horse · February 2019

I would keep some. I am against illegal immigration, but for those that are criminals, they should be deported, as for others, they should find a way to LEGALLY be citizens, or get deported.