Why & How Immigration policies must change

Why & how U.S. immigration policies must change:

The  USA backlog of illegals entering  is huge and the USA decision rate for these cases  is low.

There is a backlog of 660,000 cases. That’s a lot of cases.   That’s a lot of  undocumented individuals  running around finding some sort of employment as they stay  under the radar.

Legal advise is ‘get a lawyer’  (this improves the odds of winning from 10% to 50% currently) and lawyers cost money.  Hence, undocumented person are advised to get a job to pay for the lawyer.

Immigration judges decided 32,000 cases   in 2017.   That rate was the highest in 5 years. Roughly 62% of cases overall are rejected currently.

Do the math. It would take 20 years to decide a backlog of  660,000 cases  divided by a rate of  32,000 a year.

The policy of “catch and release” came about under President  Obama.  Overwhelmed by thousands of  undocumented persons –  largely from El Salvador and other central american countries  — the USA was flooded.

Roughly 330,00  individuals were “caught and released” and these persons  went underground and did not go to their court appearances.  Many did and continue to get   jobs.

These ‘catch and release’ individuals  affect the  overall jobs that are  available to persons legally in the USA.

Why don’t these economic/ political refugees, largely from El Salvador and central america,   go elsewhere?  Mexico rejects rougly  90% of “refugees”.   Same rate for  the Philippines.  Where to go?  Russia only declines 11%.

In March 2018 Attorney General Sessions implemented several  major changes in USA  immigration policies. These changes may  reduce the backlog.

One change:   Judges can now decide cases based on written evidence without a full hearing. That could speed things up.

Another change coming up:  will “economic refugees” continue to be granted special status?

The overall goal is to reduce the backlog of 660,000 persons sufficiently so that persons who are apprehended for illegal entry  into the USA are kept incarcerated until their hearing.

Perhaps — if people who ‘jump the fence’ know that, once caught,  they are in a USA  jail and not free to get a job,  that may slow down the rate of persons who come. Maybe.

Aptos Psychologist:  Yes the USA welcomes immigrants.  In the 1600’s immigrants  came on  boats to escape religious persecution.  Today the USA continues   to welcome  more legal immigrants than any other nation.

Yes,  immigrants are welcome.  Stand in line. Follow the laws.