If the Health Care debate taught us anything, its that there is no limit to the willingness of right wing pundits and politicians to spread confusion and flat out lies about some of the most contentious issues in our society.
Hate-mongers like Tom Tancredo and Lou Dobbs have been spreading lies and fanning the flames of fear and anti-immigrant hatred for years. This uneducated bigotry is bound to spread as President Obama moves to take up Immigration Reform this year. Its up to us to counter misinformation and bigoted ignorance by spreading the truth about immigration far and wide.
5 Facts About Immigration Detention:
- Immigration violations are civil infractions, not criminal violations. We are incarcerating over 400,000 people for non-criminal immigration offenses. Can you imagine being arrested and detained, often in brutal and inhuman conditions, for other infractions, such as not wearing your seatbelt or littering in a state park?
- In addition to undocumented immigrants, immigrants with documents as well as US citizens are among those detained in US immigration detention facilities. Children born in the US (and thus US citizens) are often imprisoned with their parents who lack documentation.
- The average cost of detaining an immigrant is $99 per person/ per day. Alternatives to detention, which generally include a combination of reporting and electronic monitoring, are effective and significantly cheaper, with some programs costing as little as $12 per day. These alternatives to detention still yield an estimated 93% appearance rate before the immigration courts.
- In places like Maricopa County, Arizona, inmates are fed rotten fruit and forced into public humiliation by local law enforcement who have contracted with the government to detain immigrants under the 287(g) program
- About half of all immigrants in detention have no criminal record.
Get the facts. Spread the truth. Take action for meaningful Immigration Reform!
It fits our needs perfectly the advantage of immigration reform on the country: Greater supply of unskilled workers, a younger workforce, and skilled workers in needed sectors. But there is also a disadvantage of immigration reform like Greater poverty, more educational cost, lower unskilled wage levels, and increased danger of terrorism. Thanks to the post!