News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Jan. 11, 2013: Dear Mr. President,
With just 10 days to go before you are sworn in for a second term on January 21st, there is still not much movement towards getting a bill introduced into the House on immigration reform – despite promises for this to happen before your inauguration.
The time is definitely right! The reality is that the immigration laws in the United State have been enforced more strictly under your watch than under any other President.
More immigrants have been removed from this country during your administration than any other – and that stands for both Republican and Democratic administrations.
The number of annual removals, according to analysts, including from the Immigration Policy Center, have more than doubled over the past decade.
In total, there have been more removals during the last ten years than during the previous 110 years combined. In fiscal 2011 alone, nearly 70 percent of removals involved non-citizens who were given no opportunity to appear before an immigration judge before they were sent packing.
An IPC analysis claims the number of annual removals now exceeds the number of border apprehensions, suggesting that more non-citizens are being deported from the country than are caught trying to illegally enter in the first place.
At the borders, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement patrols are catching fewer non-citizens trying to enter the country illegally and the levels have fallen to levels not seen since the early 1970s, according to IPC.
So why is it so hard to now simply grant work permits and travel documents to the roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States and put them on a pathway to citizenship?
There is no better time than now to make the case for immigration reform to help these upstanding, hardworking immigrants. The borders are safe; the criminal immigrants deported!
Now on to bringing those 11 million plus good souls out of the darkness and stress pits of illegal immigration and into a system that rewards hard work and sacrifice with legal working papers.
Our country needs this; the immigrant community deserves this and you must deliver on your promises sooner rather than later!
Respectfully,
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
