Birdsong knows that some things our government does about illegal immigration just will not work. This story is about a big flop that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently initiated. The story was out of Phoenix and reported by the Associated Press:
“Just six illegal immigrants volunteered to leave the United States in the first week of a pilot program inviting nearly a half-million people to have themselves deported. The [ICE] program is aimed at more than 450,000 illegal immigrants who have received but ignored court orders to leave the country and who also have no criminal record. It is available in five cities: Santa Ana, Calif.; San Diego; Chicago; Phoenix; and Charlotte, NC. The six people who signed up by Wednesday, August 13, 2008 included an Estonian, a husband and wife from India, a Guatemalan and a Mexican, according to an ICE spokeswoman in San Diego. The program will be evaluated after it ends on August 22, 2008,” ICE contends.
Birdsong would say the proof is already in the pudding – it’s a flop – 6 people out of 450,000 who have ignored the order to leave. The government does not need to put any more money into this foolishness.
Voluntary departure is a viable immigration law form of relief. Voluntary deportation is a big flop.
Can it!
It’s worrying that government officials were so naïve to think it would ever work.