Yes, Obama deported more people than Trump but context is everything

[Auburn85 432]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/13/politics/obama-trump-deportations-illegal-immigration/index.html

 

 

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Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump wants to deport a lot of people this weekend. "You know what? They came in illegally. They have to go out," he told reporters Friday as he confirmed that planned immigration raids would go ahead in certain cities starting this weekend.

That's triggered a national outcry and anxiety in immigrant communities.

But immigration advocacy groups criticized then-President Barack Obama as the "deporter in chief" during his bid for reelection in 2012. It's a perception that former Vice President Joe Biden will have to answer for as he campaigns to carry on Obama's legacy.

The issue is complicated. The Bush administration moved toward removing people from the country with a court order. What's more commonly known as deportation is referred to now by the government as a "removal."

This sparked increased criticism from immigrant rights organizations. In previous administrations, far more people attempted to enter the country, and far more were turned away, often without a hearing before an immigration judge. That procedure used to be known as a "voluntary departure" but is now called a "return" by the government.

They all have the effect of a deportation, but there are more legal consequences for a removal than for a return. In totality, President George W. Bush deported even more people than Obama -- and President Bill Clinton deported more than Bush.

According to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, more than 12 million people were "deported" -- either removed or returned -- from the US during the Clinton administration. More than 10 million were removed or returned during the Bush administration. Far fewer -- more than 5 million -- were removed or returned during the Obama administration.

Those numbers alone don't tell the whole story, though, according to Obama administration officials.

"A straight numbers-by-numbers comparison doesn't provide an accurate picture of what was going on in the administration," Cecilia Muñoz, who was a top domestic policy adviser to Obama and is now with the left-leaning New America Foundation, said in a phone interview.

She argues that Obama prioritized deporting people convicted of serious crimes and recent arrivals who had no criminal records.

"If you're not targeting and focused on people who recently arrived, then the border is effectively open," Muñoz said, adding: "It is more humane to be removing people who have been here two weeks than it is to be removing people who have been here for 20 years and have families."

Trump, by contrast, she said, has rejected the policy of focusing on new arrivals and criminals and instead wants to deport as many people as possible.

It's impossible to ignore his rhetoric. He infamously called some Mexican immigrants "rapists," and focused his presidency around the idea that he would build a wall, get tough with Mexico and deport as many undocumented immigrants as possible.

Trump's planned raids come after years of claims that American citizens are harmed by the presence of undocumented migrants -- from inviting crime victims to the State of the Union address to his recent effort to add a citizenship question to the census.

Obama used executive action to temporarily give protected status to undocumented people who arrived in the US as children, and curbed deportations from the interior states of the country. His focus, particularly toward the end of his administration, was on quick "returns" of new arrivals at the border who were perceived to have had fewer ties in the US -- though that,controversially, included the same types of Central American migrants whose arrival has swamped the border this year.

The libertarian Cato Institute crunched the data and demonstrated that deportations from the interior of the country -- meaning away from the border, so, people who have likely been in the country longer -- were on the downswing during most of the Obama administration.

 

Why mass deportations haven't happened under Trump

Trump has sought to end Obama's program shielding undocumented young people from deportation and has reversed the trend on internal deportations as he's sought to remove more people, including those who have been in the country a long time.

However, Trump still has not reached anywhere near the level of interior removals as the early Obama administration, according to Cato's analysis of data through 2018.

That has created a headache for Biden, who is now paying a political price for that Obama record. His campaign office in Philadelphia was briefly occupied and six immigration rights activists were arrested Wednesday. He's been confronted on the campaign trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biden: 'Immoral' to compare Obama deportations to Trump's01:06

He didn't mention Obama's record on deportations when he laid out an immigration policy in a meeting with the Miami Herald in June.

At the second night of the Democratic primary debate in June, Biden said there's no comparison between Trump's and Obama's records.

"President Obama, I think, did a heck of a job. To compare him to what this guy's doing is absolutely -- I find close to immoral," he said.

Muñoz argued it is Trump's lack of priorities about who to deport that is causing chaos in immigrant communities.

"People are in terror," she said. "They're scared of sending their children to school. That is a very, very different dynamic. There are no enforcement priorities in the Trump administration. That's the point. In the Obama administration there were clear priorities."

 

 

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[Auburn85 432]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/12/biden-immigration-2020-1411691

 

 

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Biden under fire for mass deportations under Obama

 

 

MILWAUKEE — Joe Biden has had a two-word retort to recent questions about his record on civil rights and race: Barack Obama.

But when it comes to Latinos and immigration, Biden is learning that the Obama defense doesn’t do the trick: The former Democratic administration’s mass deportations of 3 million people provoked fear and fury in the community at the time, and the bad taste has lingered even with Donald Trump in the White House.

“Biden needs to be accountable,” said Joe Enriquez Henry, vice president of the Midwestern region of League of United Latin American Citizens, which is meeting for its annual convention in Milwaukee this week. “Biden needs to make it clear, if he wants to be president, that he has compassion and understanding and he needs to ask for forgiveness.”

Enriquez Henry, who is mobilizing Latinos to influence the Iowa caucuses, called the “major deportations” during Obama’s presidency a “terrible time” for Latinos and said Biden “needs to do his penance.”

How Biden navigates the policies that Obama — and he, as vice president — pursued during their two terms could go a long way in determining his performance among Latinos and potentially his ability to win the nomination. Latino voters hold major sway in the Nevada caucuses, the third contest of the primary season, as well as in the delegate-rich states of California and Texas. And there are signs the population is more motivated to turn out than it has been in the past: New data from Univision and L2 showed Latino turnout in the 2018 midterms jumped by at least 40 percent across seven battleground states including Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

So far, Biden has pursued an overall strategy of latching himself to Obama. Asked about the deportations of more than 3 million people at last month’s debate, Biden said: “President Obama, I think, did a heck of a job,” before contrasting the former president with Trump.

Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, took issue with that critique. “The Obama and Biden administration were terrible in their first term,” he said. “His title of deporter in chief was earned.”

Garcia gave the Obama administration credit for implementing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2014. But he said Biden “needs to explain” why they didn’t pass immigration reform within their first 100 days in office. (During the 2008 campaign, Obama promised to push for an immigration reform bill in his first year, but did not do so.)

Julián Castro, Biden’s 2020 opponent who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration, told reporters on the sidelines of the Latino citizens group’s convention Thursday that the Obama administration went too far on immigration.

“I have learned the lessons of the past. It seems like Vice President Biden hasn’t,” Castro said.

Asked whether Biden would have to more fully explain the Obama deportations, Castro said: “That’s inevitable.”

Castro became HUD secretary during Obama's second term.

Some Latino leaders came to Biden’s defense, confident that he and the mainstream of the party have evolved on immigration and deportation as they’ve watched Trump carry out his hard-line policies.

“Let’s not rehash the past,“ said Martha Fowler, a member of the league from Florida.

Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas), who has endorsed Biden, said it would be helpful for the candidate to explain publicly why the Obama administration failed to deliver immigration reform and to lay out what he would do differently if elected. Vela believes Biden has good answers to both concerns, saying he made a strong impression during a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus this week.

“If the public at large, and specifically the Hispanic community, got to hear what we did yesterday,” Vela said Thursday, “I think they would be very confident that we would be well represented with a Biden presidency.”

Still, Biden got a taste of the difficulty he’s in for this week when dozens of activists with the group Movimiento Cosecha protested in the lobby of his recently opened campaign headquarters in Philadelphia. The group brought several family members of people who had been deported during the Obama administration.

Six protesters sat in front of the turnstiles to the elevators to block anyone from entering. After a warning, they were arrested. Outside, on the sidewalk, two activists held a large banner with the Biden campaign logo that read, “We haven’t forgotten 3 million deportations.”

“While Trump is responsible for the current immigration crisis, we can’t ignore that Democrats have a choice to embrace the Obama legacy or choose to address the immigration issue in a humane way,” said Carlos Rojas, one of the protest organizers, who said the organization was demanding an apology from Biden. The group also released a statement: “We can't go back to a status quo of silent mass deportations or kids in slightly better cages.”

The demonstration struck a nerve in the Biden camp. Senior adviserCristóbal Alex, the former president of Latino Victory, tweeted: “Brilliant! Storm campaign office not called Trump HQ to protest detention policies! Meanwhile VP Biden was 140 miles away with the Hispanic Caucus working to reunite families, end child detention & deal with root cause of the problem.”

The deportations under Obama and the lack of action on immigration reform early in the former president’s term came up during Biden’s Wednesday meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Members “expressed frustration” with the Obama administration’s early immigration policy, Vela said. Biden responded that from Day One the president was deluged by crises caused by the economic crash — “Obama had everything short of locusts showing up on his desk,” Biden said, according to a source in the room — preventing him from giving the attention to immigration reform that it deserved.

Biden assured the group that he “absolutely” would spend political capital to pass immigration reform immediately after taking office, if he were elected. He said that within 24 hours of his inauguration he would issue executive orders rescinding several of Trump’s actions, including one that makes it harder for those suffering from domestic violence to seek asylum. He said he would also ordain that children not be held in detention facilities.

And he told Hispanic Caucus members that if he wins he would seek their input on his choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

Biden was the first 2020 Democratic candidate to request a meeting with the Hispanic Caucus and to sit down with the group. He is planning several summer visits to California to highlight and engage the Latino community.

The controversy swirling around Biden’s candidacy offers a window into a broader debate on the left surrounding immigration and a reckoning over the Obama years. The discussion had remained mostly below the surface as Democrats united in opposition to Trump. But it burst into the open over the past month amid reports of squalid conditions at border detention facilities and as the presidential debates brought the issue to the forefront.

Many 2020 presidential candidates are advocating policies that are far more liberal than what the Obama administration supported, such as decriminalizing border crossings and allowing undocumented immigrants to qualify for government health care plans.

Several veterans of the Obama administration, meanwhile, have been publicly defending their legacy and criticizing Democrats for going too far.

We "cannot, as some Democratic candidates for president now propose, publicly embrace a policy to not deport those who enter or remain in this country illegally unless they commit a crime,” Obama’s secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “This is tantamount to a public declaration (repeated and amplified by smugglers in Central America) that our borders are effectively open to all.”

Cecilia Muñoz, the former director of Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, tweeted that the debate over decriminalizing border crossings was a distraction and a mistake.

“This won't be popular with some of our friends, but I agree that Dems need an affirmative agenda to persuade the country that we can handle migration more effectively and humanely than this lot,” she wrote of the Democratic candidates calling for decriminalizing border crossings.

Biden agrees. Asked by CNN last week whether he supports such decriminalization, he said: “No, I don't. I think people should have to get in line,” adding that asylum cases are different.

Some Obama administration officials have said there’s nothing wrong with reassessing the immigration policies of those years — what was done wrong and how to do better.

"I think it is important to recognize that our approach to immigration enforcement did not always align with our values,” said Andrea Flores, a regional policy director for Hillary Clinton in 2016 who also served under Muñoz as a policy assistant on immigration. But now, Democratic candidates need to put forward “an affirmative plan that focuses on enforcing our laws without tearing families apart."

 

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

it is not the deportations but HOW they are being handled. just another deflection from you folks on the right. if it was white folks and white children being caged like this in another country you would be raising hell unless you are just a sorry human being.

[homersapien 11,373]

Regardless of how many illegals they deported, I don't remember past president's demagoguing immigration like Trump does.

Like (for example) announcing a massive crack down on illegal immigrants - focusing on criminals naturally - before the fact.

To Trump, illegal immigration is much more of a political tool than a problem.

[DKW 86 7,423]

Illegal Immigration is a political tool for both parties. 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

17 minutes ago, DKW 86 said:

Illegal Immigration is a political tool for both parties. 

well we allow it to happen dkw so we are going to have to accept some blame as well. this is why i speak out.

[DKW 86 7,423]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

well we allow it to happen dkw so we are going to have to accept some blame as well. this is why i speak out.

Totally agree. Everyday we dont get an answer, it is on us at some level.

[DKW 86 7,423]

Child seeking asylum was taken at gunpoint and forced to go back to Cuba?
Funny, I dont recall anyone upset with the Clinton Admin back then...

[aubiefifty 16,791]

i could be confused but the child not want to go back? if you know off the top of your head great or i will google it tonight or tomorrow.

[DKW 86 7,423]

No his Dad had to come to America and demand him back. His FL relatives would have raised him. Elian was denied Asylum.

 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

4 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Child seeking asylum was taken at gunpoint and forced to go back to Cuba?
Funny, I dont recall anyone upset with the Clinton Admin back then...

We also didn't have the echo chambers of competing cable news networks (to the degree they are now) and the internet was in its infancy.  Hard to compare the times considering most people were much more openly moderate.

[bigbird 60,524]

11 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

Hard to compare the times considering most people were much more openly moderate.

Unfortunately, the majority of Americans are what most would consider moderate but are fearful to be open about it. Any time one comes out with acceptance, ability to see the other side, or willingness to compromise they are swiftly attacked by the vocal minority that populate the extremes of both sides. 

For example, if one were to say they believe illegal immigration needs to be dramatically reduced or that illegal immigrants shouldn't receive state funded welfare, they would be attacked by the left. If the same person continued and said they thought that the naturalization process was too complex and convoluted and needed to be overhauled and streamlined to make the process easier, they would be shouted down by the right.  There is no reason that the two statements need to be independent. The vast majority of the US would support a attempt to satisfy both statements simultaneously.

[I_M4_AU 7,819]

1 hour ago, bigbird said:

Unfortunately, the majority of Americans are what most would consider moderate but are fearful to be open about it. Any time one comes out with acceptance, ability to see the other side, or willingness to compromise they are swiftly attacked by the vocal minority that populate the extremes of both sides. 

For example, if one were to say they believe illegal immigration needs to be dramatically reduced or that illegal immigrants shouldn't receive state funded welfare, they would be attacked by the left. If the same person continued and said they thought that the naturalization process was too complex and convoluted and needed to be overhauled and streamlined to make the process easier, they would be shouted down by the right.  There is no reason that the two statements need to be independent. The vast majority of the US would support a attempt to satisfy both statements simultaneously.

The Congress is the same way, usually voting down party lines.  It was refreshing to see the border bill for humane treatment pass as bipartisan.  There is hope.

[NolaAuTiger 3,295]

On 7/14/2019 at 8:45 PM, Brad_ATX said:

We also didn't have the echo chambers of competing cable news networks (to the degree they are now) and the internet was in its infancy.  Hard to compare the times considering most people were much more openly moderate.

I never knew swat teams invited cameramen to join in their raids... much less allow them to get situated for the "perfect shot." 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

10 hours ago, NolaAuTiger said:

I never knew swat teams invited cameramen to join in their raids... much less allow them to get situated for the "perfect shot." 

I don't understand your point in the context of my post.

[NolaAuTiger 3,295]

17 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

I don't understand your point in the context of my post.

It was directed towards the meme that someone else posted. My b