{"id":14595,"date":"2017-07-26T15:53:49","date_gmt":"2017-07-26T19:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=14595"},"modified":"2018-12-28T12:42:47","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T17:42:47","slug":"never-ending-story-immigration-judicial-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2017\/07\/26\/never-ending-story-immigration-judicial-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Never Ending Story: Immigration and Judicial Activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge<\/a> in Detroit recently stayed the removal of 1,444 Iraqi nationals arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Most of the affected Iraqis are Christians, who claim that they fear physical harm if forced to return home. ICE has been prohibited from removing them while the federal courts review their cases \u2013 to determine whether they qualify for political asylum or any other form of relief from deportation.<\/p>\n

It is a virtual certainty \u2013 even after further court proceedings \u2013 that 99 percent of the affected individuals will still be found deportable from the United States. Nearly all have criminal convictions<\/a>. Their offenses range from murder to rape and child molestation. The immigration and nationality act clearly places the safety of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents above alien criminals\u2019 fear of persecution. Most felony convictions \u2013 and a large number of misdemeanors \u2013 render an alien ineligible<\/a> for relief from removal.<\/p>\n

The one shot that most convicted criminals have at remaining in the U.S. is protection under Article III of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT III). And CAT III requires a showing, via a submission of objective evidence, that an alien would, more likely than not<\/em>, be tortured, by the government, if sent home. That is a tough standard to meet. Even though conditions in Iraq are worse than those in a Western democracy, the U.S. Department of State reports that terrorists \u2013 not the Iraqi government \u2013 committed the vast majority of serious human rights abuses in 2016.<\/p>\n

This case isn\u2019t frustrating to average Americans because the U.S. can\u2019t afford to be generous to a group of foreigners facing repatriation to a homeland that is in disarray. It\u2019s maddening because the United States has already been more than sufficiently gracious. \u00a0All 1,444 members of the group have previously had a hearing before the U.S. Immigration Court<\/a> and ample opportunity to have their cases reviewed by the Board of Immigration Appeals.\u00a0 Yet, they\u2019re still claiming that they haven\u2019t been given due process.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s more than a little galling. This particular group of Iraqi Christians was given a chance at a new life in the United States. But rather than seizing that opportunity and contributing to their adopted communities, they behaved in a most un-Christian fashion.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s even more galling is that, yet again, a federal court<\/a> has prioritized the personal safety of criminal aliens over the public safety and national security concerns of the American public. And this is only the latest in a long line of cases where activist courts have frustrated the efforts of the Trump administration to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act in order to provide aliens with \u201cdue process.\u201d Of course, the average taxpayer may wonder how much process is due to foreigners who commit crimes in the United States?<\/p>\n

Sadly, far too many federal judges appear to believe that criminal aliens are entitled to more protection from the constitution and the federal government than the American citizens whose hospitality has been so sorely abused.