As soon as President Donald Trump was sworn into office, many of the 14 million illegal immigrants in the United States decided to see themselves out, self-deporting so they wouldn’t be dragged from their homes or places of employment kicking and screaming.
I guess they find maintaining a slight semblance of dignity somewhat important. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have decided to stuff themselves in a box with a mailing label and ship themselves off to whatever country they came from.
That last bit was a joke. However, the data revealed by a new report from the New York Times isn’t. According to the leftist rag, self-deportations are skyrocketing. Of course, they attempt to spin the whole thing into anti-Trump propaganda, so don’t get too excited about the NY Times reporting on this.
To make a real change, as Trump has promised to do, millions of people would need to leave voluntarily. So the administration is urging them — in some cases, trying to scare them enough — to “self-deport.” The Homeland Security secretary tells them in TV ads to “leave now” or be hunted down. Those who comply “may have an opportunity to return and enjoy our freedom and live the American dream.” (This is unlikely, because anyone who has been in the country illegally for a year is ineligible to return for a decade.)
Self-deportation, a longtime fantasy for immigration hawks, was popularized by Mitt Romney in a 2012 presidential debate and often mocked. But for the first time in my 15 years of reporting on this topic, immigrants tell me they’re considering it. Some have already followed through. If the climate here becomes intolerable — if the risks of being caught and severed from their families seem too high — it’s possible many more migrants will abandon the United States. Today’s newsletter is about what I’ve heard in my reporting.
In recent years, Denver has absorbed 40,000 migrants — the most per capita of any city. Most of the newcomers are Venezuelans who fled their broken country. But the city is also home to many Latino immigrants who came long ago. I visited last week to take their temperature.
The article, penned by Miriam Jordan, then goes on to share how most of these individuals aren’t the kind who typically tuck tail and run, as an unbelievable two-thirds of the illegal migrants in this country have been here over a decade.
Jordan shares the tale of Mirna, a Mexican woman who came over the border almost three decades ago. Her husband makes ends meet through a painting business he stated. The couple bought a mobile home and have three children who are considered American children, with a daughter serving in the Navy.
In an attempt to garner sympathy, Jordan points out that Mirna speaks fluent English, before revealing that the woman said she would not go back to Mexico because she’d have to leave her children.
But recent border crossers are much more likely to consider departing. I interviewed several young men from Venezuela who are among them. They see footage of shackled migrants shuffled onto deportation planes. They watch the videos of more than 200 Venezuelan men, accused by the Trump administration of gang affiliation, being flown to a mega-prison in El Salvador. Reporting suggests that some of them may not have been gang members.
Rather than risk subjecting themselves to that ordeal, they want to leave on their own terms.
Prime example provided in the article is Cristian, 29, who has spent his time in the states working as a delivery person and on construction sites. The money he makes he sends to his wife and children who remain in Venezuela.
While he has a valid work permit and an active asylum application, which should protect him from immediate deportation, he told Jordan that the enforcement climate here in the United States has flipped his views.
“With the help of an American friend who escorted him to several immigration offices, he made an appointment to appear before a judge today so he could request a voluntary departure from the United States,” Jordan wrote in her report.
Other Venezuelans contemplating an exit were released into the United States by border officials with orders to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement every few months. Recently, officials have detained and deported people when they’ve shown up for their check-ins.
Jesús, 25, has his next ICE appointment in early May and sees the writing on the wall. After arriving last year, he languished for months in detention until officials turned him loose, probably to make room for others. He found work remodeling homes in Denver. Now he’d rather return voluntarily to Venezuela than be confined again. “I came here to work to help my family,” said Jesús, the sole brother to five sisters. “I just hope to manage to leave before they deport me.”
While Jordan wants to make those of us who believe in having a sovereign country with borders and laws, the truth of the matter is, it’s a good thing these individuals are sending themselves home. It might suck, but that’s where they belong.
Come here through the front door, not the back window.
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