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[Previous entry: "Court discusses Ineffective Assistance Rendered by Non-Attorney"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Religious Organizations Request Expedited Treatment for Religious Worker Adjustments"] 08/02/2008 Entry: "Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) encourage undocumented people to turn themself in!" Not funny! ICE announces a pilot program it dubs "Scheduled Departure" to ask those with final orders of deportation to turn themselves in for removal. The announcement by ICE of a program to "encourage" individuals with final orders of deportation to report for removal is the latest bit of strangeness in the increasing loss of rationality in the way the U.S. deals with immigration. Offering no true inducement to do so, the agency simply asks that people turn themselves in. It is unclear why this even warranted an announcement. "To encourage the undocumented to turn themselves in, some meaningful incentive must be offered," stated Charles Kuck, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). "We have long advocated a safe, orderly system of identifying who should leave and who should be allowed to stay. That was what last year's efforts at comprehensive immigration reform were all about. Congress failed in those efforts. But, the fact is, no effort at enforcement will be successful until there is a viable means for people who want only to build a better life for their families and fill jobs that go begging in the U.S. to do so. Congress needs to step up and do its job." The agency cites the weakest of incentives to induce people to come forward: asking that people turn themselves in for definite deportation in order to avoid the possibility that someday they might be detained, and "allowing" them to bring their families with them to in effect deport those U.S. citizens and permanent residents. It is not clear why the agency even bothered to announce such a non-program.
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