Migrants Know the Solutions
If you want to know what’s wrong with the U.S. immigration system and how to make it work, don’t ask Congress. All they have done is over-fund the out-of-control agencies. Ask the immigration lawyers, and former immigration judges, agents, and immigrants who have been on the inside — some of whom have been violently discarded after building lives here for decades.
That’s what Demba Ndiath did while researching his new book, From Welcome To Deportation: A Story of West African Immigrants Who Crossed the US-Mexico Border. This is what he heard:
“‘Please don’t go, I beg. ‘Don’t make this dangerous journey.’ And what do they say to me? ‘We are dead already.’” (from “We are people. We are not ghosts.' Migrants 'dying to live',” by Abdoul Mbow, Columbus Dispatch)
“It didn’t feel like hiding. It felt organized — like they expected me to be here.” (Modou in From Welcome To Deportation, by Demba Babaly Ndiath)
“The American police stopped us, put chains on our wrists and ankles, and imprisoned us. I turned around and saw my friends standing, some crying, some handcuffed, put on a plane and dumped at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana. And my heart broke.” (from “Dark Journey” by Souleye Ball)
Demba’s book is a must-read. And it doesn’t just diagnose problems. It offers solutions. Between Demba’s book and OIA’s original research series “Behind Closed Doors: Black Migrants and the Hidden Injustices of US Immigration Courts,” the following list of improvements comes directly from immigrants, lawyers, and former Immigration Judges:
Guaranteed legal representation for people with cases in civil immigration court.
An asylum system that is simplified and responsive to current modes of repression and violence, rather than an outdated World War 2-era frame.
A truly independent immigration judiciary, rather than one fully controlled by the Executive Branch.
Confirmation of compatibility between respondents and interviewing agents and court interpreters, including in dialects.
An end to “civil” immigration jail and the deployment of ICE agents within communities, carrying guns to enforce civil laws. Instead, immigration laws should be enforced in court and conference rooms, like other civil laws.
Opportunities for mitigation of civil law violations, rather than providing only a punishment (deportation) consequence, as in other areas of civil law.
Opportunities to apply for humanitarian immigration, work-based immigration, and extended family-based immigration, from one’s native country without requiring advanced degrees.
Flexibility to change one’s immigration status from within the United States as circumstances change.
Faster access to work permit with 5 years’ validity.
Imagine a world where a system that is suppoed to facilitate immigration and protect refugees from harm actually does so. Imagine it, and create it.
