Exiled In America
Sergia Santibañez, a Legal Permanent Resident in the U.S., was held in a Detention Center and then deported to Mexico, leaving behind her five children who are all U.S. citizens. The reasoning? She was driving in a car with people she did not know were undocumented immigrants. This short documentary reveals the impact of zero tolerance laws on one family.
For more information on deportation see Samhita's recent post.
h/t to Seth Wessler.
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First-Samhita, thanks for your post as well, that video made me sort of sick inside.
This is a great illustration of how a large number of conservative whackadoos (and I'm looking at you, Lou Dobbs, I don't care if you're on CNN) have made a huge bugbear out of the "illegals" and how the "illegals" are sucking up our jobs and our healthcare and our education and so forth ad infinitum. I caught part of a town hall meeting in Lebanon, PA on TV this morning, and illegals getting health care was the number one concern (besides taxpayers funding abortions) and it was incredibly frustrating to watch. I'm not sure why people can't see that this is really a top down, class issue rather than a problem with immigration and people fleeing their own countries to a country BUILT on immigration.
Ironically I think a lot of it is a top-down class issue. This is not a Republican/Democrat issue, its a blue collar-white collar issue. Lots of white collar Dems & Reps are supportive of immigration either for business reasons or cultural reasons (ie, they like the added diversity), or both.
Lots of blue collar Dems & Reps hate immigration either because they view it as competition for jobs and services ( which in all candor it certainly is ) or they hate the change in the culture (more non-English speakers, more taquerias, more tejano music on the radio, etc).
While this is certainly a country built on immigration, its not a country that at any time did it without angst.
True points. I think I didn't say this clearly: immigrants have always been scapegoats-Chinese coolies, irish catholics, mexican laborers-for the working class. If you're not getting ahead? It's because of immigrants! I definitely agree that it's not a party issue.
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You mean a country built on LEGAL immigration.
Yes, because disposessing Native American Nations of their land was technically _legal_ at the time, of course. And this woman WAS a legal resident.
As for your comment below, I'll ask you one other question: why is my tax money going to bail out mega billion dollar companies who don't care about me, that pollute the environment and exploit people and basically drive this country into the groun by unmitigated greed? There are systemic issues, yes. But I'd rather that some of my money go towaards healthcare and education for illegal aliens than bonuses for AIG executives. I understand and symapthize with your point-I just don't really think that this country has a right to bitch about it at this point.
I completly agree that this woman's situation is completly messed up and unfair, but why should people's taxes have to pay for health insurance and education for others who are not contributing financialy as well?
It's a just sentence, there are plenty of people in prison for being accomplices to a much greater crime. Like most criminals, many of them scream up and down they are innocent (I didn't know *sniff* *sniff*), hell even serious offenders proven guilty beyond the pale of doubt say they are innocent, or there were special circumstances that should of been taken into account.
Are you advocating we pardon and free all the accomplices as well? That's what we would have to do if we wish to call our justice system "fair".
So, do you interrogate all of your coworkers, friends and acquaintances for proof of legal citizenship? This woman wasn't running illegals across the border; she was just riding with friends. Sheesh...
She violated her terms of residency.
She agreed to the terms, she was caught breaking them, and now must pay the price.
Legal residence status is like being on parole, if they break the terms, even innocently, there are consequences.
If she didn't like the terms of residency agreement, she should of never signed/applied, it really is this simple.
As you well know not all rules are reasonable or even practicable. You try asking every single person you're with every single time if they're a citizen. Not as if they'd be truthful anyways. Hell, businesses & policeman routinely are deceived with respect to citizenship and you expect a civilian to figure it out? You must be smoking crack.
And the penalty for stealing a cup of coffee should be the same as stealing a car, and giving someone a ride in a car is exactly the same as transporting them in the interest of fostering illegal immigration. The law was designed to target 'coyotes' who transport illegal immigrants across borders - it should not be used against private citizens who did not do a background check on everyone in their car. Would they prosecute a city bus driver for transporting illegal immigrants? A cab driver? No. Did it occur to you that the question is not whether she violated any statue but whether the statue and ruling policies are balanced and fair? Besides which, she immigrated 25 years ago, when the zero tolerance laws were not in effect. 20 years ago, she probably would not have been deported for this.
"...The law was designed to target 'coyotes' who transport illegal immigrants across borders - it should not be used against private citizens who did not do a background check on everyone in their car. Would they prosecute a city bus driver for transporting illegal immigrants? A cab driver? No..."
Indeed. Sounds like a law was written with good intentions (cracking down on human trafficking - don't some of the "coyotes" and their counterparts on other borders deliver would-be immigrants into slavery?) but not written well enough to avoid these nasty side effects.
First, I gotta say that this kind of analysis is why I like intersectionality. This case is one place where feminist causes and immigration reform causes overlap, either feminism or immigration reform ignoring it would suck, and meanwhile just saying "so all feminist issues are immigration issues" or "so all immigration issues are feminist issues" would dilute the focus of a movement and make it less effective.
Now, back more closely on topic!
"Sergia Santibañez, a Legal Permanent Resident in the U.S., was held in a Detention Center and then deported to Mexico, leaving behind her five children who are all U.S. citizens. The reasoning? She was driving in a car with people she did not know were undocumented immigrants..."
WTF? That's beyond penalties for illegally immigrating. That's like drafting everyone else to enforce immigration laws and then penalizing people like Santibañez as if they've gone AWOL or something when they continue to behave normally instead of playing cop and asking everyone around them for identification papers all the time. o_O