What do you think of the new INS 'Secure Communities' program?

The left wants open borders and those that cross them free to begin voting in the USA, but they can’t say that.

That’s news to this leftie. I must have missed that memo.

Anyway, I don’t see anything wrong with it. People in the country illegally are already subject to deportation due to their undocumented status. They are just checking fingerprint records to determine immigrations status. It’s really no different than running the fingerprints of any other person who has arrested and booked through various databases to see if they have a record or any warrants.

And I don’t know if it’s a typo, but in the article you link to: What exactly is an “excused drunk driver”?

@lillycoyote It’s always risky—maybe just wrong—to speak of broad categories of people as if they are a united chorus all singing the same song in prefect pitch. What I meant to convey is that the breakdown between the left and the right on immigration seems to fall generally along those lines.

I took the “excused drunk driver” to be a typo. Microsoft trips me up all the time with their auto-correct spell checker. It doesn’t even bother to ask you want you meant. It makes its best guess and quietly changes what you typed to what it thinks you really meant. In this case, I’m guessing the author was trying for “accused drunk driver”.

@ETpro

And speaking in broad categories is not just risky, but in this case, downright wrong. I still don’t see that “the left’s” position on immigration supports completely open borders or that “the left’s” position is motivated by the desire to create a circumstance in which massive voter fraud is committed by army non-citizen voters.

And as the the “excused driver,” too bad the internet seems to have lowered the standards for professional journalism in so many ways. What the hell? We don’t need no stinking proofreaders!

Deportation instead of prosecution? Or are they only deporting folks here without proper documentation, simply because they get caught and are accused of doing something illegal? Seems to me that all criminals should be treated appropriately (not necessarily the same). But criminals should be convicted before being punished.

I assume that you get a hearing before being convicted of lacking proper documentation, and if you are convicted, you get deported at that point, unless they want to keep you around to try to convict you of the crime you’re accused of. It all seems like a mess to me. I don’t see that we get much advantage by picking on undocumented aliens.

I think the issue of immigration is a fake issue. People get really hot under the collar, but I suspect that if you took out the issue of immigration, nothing else would change much. I think it’s a waste of time and money trying to keep people out. I think we need to focus on safety on it’s own, regardless of immigration status.

@lillycoyote Rereading the OP, you’re right. I was bending over backwards to try to make this a question the right could read and respond to without going ballistic on me; and that’;s their litany comint through. But the fact is the Obama administration has made major steps in tightening border security and is deporting far more illegals than George W. Bush did. It’s partially because of the Great Recession, but for the first time in 3 decades, the total number of illegals in the country is down by about 2 million.

@wundayatta My understanding is that those accused of crimes here are given a trial. They are deported after being convicted of both entering illegally and continuing illegal activity once here. It is possible to get deported just for entering the country illegally, but that is not what the Obama Administration has instructed the INS to concentrate on.

I am sort of a victim of border policy. In this case, it seems that Canada is not too certain that I am welcome in their country. Many years ago, I was turned back at the border for not having a work permit even though I was not technically working in Canada. I went to Buffalo and entered at a different booth without the over zealous immigration official.

Anyway, I know how it feels to be checked out as if you’re a criminal for just entering a country. I am progressive and for open borders, not because I think the immigrants will vote but because it is the humane and practical thing to do. I am for a North American Union. Unfortunately, I doubt Canada is willing to lower their standards to let us in.

Anyway, I am for the fingerprint program only for people arrested. Otherwise leave them alone.