'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
The pace at which illegal immigrants are deported from the District under a federal initiative is far lower than in surrounding jurisdictions in Virginia and Maryland, even though illegal immigrants make up similar proportions of their populations.
Illegal immigrants are being deported from Washington, D.C., at a lower rate than most states and other big cities under a federal program designed to remove illegal immigrants who have committed violent crimes.
The administration has approved 99.5 percent of applications of those who have applied for legal status under President Obama's nondeportation policy for young adults, granting legal status to more than 250,000 formerly illegal immigrants.
Even as President Obama travels to Las Vegas Tuesday to call for legalizing illegal immigrants, the latest numbers from the U.S. Border Patrol suggest that the flow across the nation's southwest border jumped by 9 percent last year.
Agustina Ocampo is the kind of foreign traveler businesses salivate over. The 22-year-old Argentine recently dropped more than $5,000 on food, hotels and clothes in Las Vegas during a trip that also took her to Seattle's Space Needle, Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo. But she doubts she will return soon.
But it’s the city’s policy that bars the D.C. Jail from honoring ICE detainers filed for inmates that could be a key factor to the District's low deportation-to-submission rate, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors a crackdown on immigrants.
Under Secure Communities, D.C. goes easy on immigrants with records →
"The District has the strictest and most obstructive policy on detainers," said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors a crackdown on immigrants. "Maryland is very lukewarm on honoring detainers, whereas Virginia has more history of cooperation in detainers."
D.C. lags Virginia, Maryland in immigrant deportations for Secure Communities →
