Home

Main

January 12, 2011

Q: What Is Operation Streamline?

A.  Operation Streamline is a federal immigration enforcement program that combines efforts by components of the Department of Homeland Security (Customs and Border Protection, or "CBP," Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or "ICE") and the Department of Justice - local U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals Service.  As described by DHS, "Operation Streamline II focuses on aliens who enter illegally through a high-traffic area within the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector. Those illegal aliens who are not released due to humanitarian reasons will face prosecution for illegal entry. The maximum penalty for violation of this law is 180 days incarceration. While the illegal alien is undergoing criminal proceedings, the individual will also be processed for removal from the United States."

After its inception in Texas, Operation Streamline expanded to New Mexico (Las Cruces) and Arizona (Yuma and Tucson.)

Operation Streamline has been the subject of investigative reporting and scholarly briefing:

  • "Fortress America," a multi-day, multi-media series in March 2007 by Michael Riley at the Denver Post;
  • "Arrested on Entry," a feature story in April 2010 by the Migration Policy Institute;

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 05:07 AM |

September 10, 2010

What Is "Attrition Through Enforcement," And Can It Work?

For years, restrictionists such as Mark Krikorian and his Center for Immigration Studies ("CIS") have touted the concept of "attrition through enforcement" as an alternative to mass detentions and deportations.  Here's Krikorian's 2005 description:

"Shrink the illegal population through consistent, across-the-board enforcement of the immigration law. By deterring the settlement of new illegals, by increasing deportations to the extent possible, and, most importantly, by increasing the number of illegals already here who give up and deport themselves, the United States can bring about an annual decrease in the illegal-alien population, rather than allowing it to continually increase."

Does this notion hold water?

Decades of in-depth, scholarly research done at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (UC San Diego) gives us the answer, a resounding "No."

"it is the combination of poor job prospects in the United States with higher costs of migration (mainly, people-smugglers’ fees) that has discouraged new migration in recent years, among both legal and unauthorized migrants.  ...[N]either the economic crisis nor workplace raids and other forms of interior enforcement are inducing large numbers of migrants already in the United States to go home."

In November 2010, look for a new book, "Recession Without Borders: Mexican Migrants Confront the Economic Downturn," to underscore this point.

As noted by veteran border watcher Charles Bowden, "The only way you’ll stop Mexicans coming to the U.S. is if you lower American wages to the same level as Vietnam. ... What we’re seeing is something right out of the Bible. This is an exodus."

Posted by Dan Kowalski at 03:18 PM |

February 05, 2010

Q: Is crossing the border without a visa a crime? I've heard some say it's "only a civil offense," while others say it's a crime. Who's right?

A.  In addition to the civil consequence of deportation (now called "removal"), entering the U.S. surreptitiously is a federal crime.  For first offenders it may be a misdemeanor under 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1325, with a penalty of six months imprisonment.  Repeat offenders might be sentenced to 10 years or more under the illegal reentry felony provision, 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1326.  Recently a federal district court judge in Austin questioned the wisdom of such prosecutions and ordered the U.S. Attorney's office to justify future cases.

Dan Kowalski will field general questions regarding immigration law and policy but is not able to answer, in this column, questions regarding individuals’ legal cases. Send questions and comments to dk@justnews.org.

Posted by Ian Chestnut at 02:25 AM |