Due to archaic U S drug laws hundreds and thousands of people are sent away from the country each year due to committing minor drug offenses, even if they had served out the term long ago. This has come to light due to a report which was released some days ago by an international advocacy group.
The report has recorded struggles of hundreds of immigrants and families that were involved in the arrests, non-citizens were majorly arrested for minor drug offenses and then placed into deportation procedures.
An old lady with age of 67 was facing deportation for a conviction in the year 1995 for selling $5 worth of a drug, the report blamed her for dependence on the substance.
“I live in a drug-infested area,” the old lady said about her neighborhood, in the report. She said the death of her mother following a train accident had devastated her, and this sparked off a series of drug use and criminal convictions. In 1995, the lady said that an undercover cop gave her $5 and asked her to buy a small amount of drugs for him. She later pleaded guilty to attempted sale of a narcotic substance.
“Simple possession of cocaine or marijuana were among the most frequent charges in deportation cases against non-citizens whose drug offense was their most serious crime”, according to the report. From the years 2007 to 2012, more than 41,000 non-citizens were deported for cocaine possession, and more than 34,000 were deported for marijuana possession.
If a resident is bringing a close relative to stay in the United States through immigration permanently then legal responsibility has to be borne for financially supporting the relative. The resident can become a sponsor of the relative for the Green Card – a form has to be completed by signing a document called the Affidavit of Support – Form I-864, as a part of the entire immigration process.
As a part of filing for the Green Card the form I-864 has to be filled up, and it is used for:
- Family – based immigrant visa applicants. Petitions are filed using Form I-130 or Form I-129F, including orphans (IR-4, a petition using Form I-600 or I-600A).
The family member who files a petition for the immigrant must be the sponsor, especially for immediate relatives of U S Citizens and family – based preference category immigrants.
- Those who are employee-based immigrants and have close relatives abroad the relative who files the petition should have a significant interest of ownership in the business entity.
THE TERM “RELATIVE” USED WITH RELATIONSHIP TO GREEN CARD
The term “relative” for purposes related to immigration visas is defined as husband, wife, father, mother, child, adult son or daughter, brother or sister.
A hunger strike was launched by a group of angry illegal, immigrant detainees at a detention center in the United States in Arizona state last Saturday morning to protest against the death of a detainee – the detainee died last month. The strike also called attention to the inhuman conditions at the facility.
A detainee died in custody last month, and this was the reason for the protest. At that time ICE officials issued a statement that the individual was found dead in his cell with no injury to his person. But other protesters claim that he was beaten up by the security guards in the detention center. The protestors also stated that a second man died while in custody, but the death has not been acknowledged by ICE officials.
The immigrant’s death has come to become a rallying call for all detainees who state that they were being forced to work at the center for $1 per day and most often, did not receive medical treatment.
“They’re outraged because they’re the ones who heard him scream for mercy,” said a director of a human rights group. “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The detainees asked for an investigation- most of them said that they were scared that something could happen to them too.
Pressure is building on the Obama administration to enhance or as a last measure, do away with the detention of women and children, and whole families. With the pressure mounting officials of the administration have agreed to let some mothers who are illegal immigrants get release from the detention center.
Earlier the very same families had been denied request for release by the U S Immigration authorities – deportation orders were now issued, according to their attorneys.
Family detention was being expanded after an inflow of more than 68,000 families from across the southern border last year, with most Central American families making the illegal crossing through the state of Texas. The impending releases were announced last Thursday.
3 family detention centers are being run at present, by the U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. There is a negotiation going on with the administration by the immigrant attorneys over the case of family detention after a preliminary ruling was issued by a federal judge in the state of California.
The decision to release the families came weeks after 136 members of the Democratic Party in Congress approached the Secretary of Homeland Security to stop keeping families in confinement. A congressional delegation too is expected to make a visit to a detention center in one of the cities soon.
