“People like Guadalupe” reflect “the harmful side effects of the removal of prosecutorial discretion.”
133 migrants deported to Nogales in the first five months of 2018. All but one were male. Most of them had lived in Arizona, while the rest came from other states.
“What we found is that on average, the respondents they’ve lived in the U.S. for nearly 20 years,” said Donald Kerwin, the executive director for the Center for Migration Studies.
During that time, the migrants had established families, he said. And as result, nearly three quarters of the deportees taking part in the study had children born in the United States and onehalf had a spouse or partner who was a U.S. citizen, according to the report.
Nearly all of them had held jobs before they were deported from the United States.
“Remarkably, on average they had been working nearly 10 years in the same job, which is really something,” Kerwin said.
Their deportations had severed deep family ties and impoverished the families, the study found.
Three quarters of the surveyed deportees said their spouses left behind did not have the means to support themselves and their children.
As a result, an equal number reported that they planned to return to the United States, despite their deportation.
The report noted that nearly half of the participants in the survey did not have a criminal history and only about 11 percent of them had been charged or convicted with a serious crime.
In addition to the deportees, researchers also talked to nearly two dozen families that had been separated by a deportation at parishes in Florida, Michigan and Minnesota. They found that the deportations had not only impacted the families, but the faith communities where they lived.
Researchers said they were surprised by the extent of deportations that began after interactions with local police.
“It’s clear that people are being stopped for minor crimes on pretext and then that’s feeding them into the deportation system,” Kerwin said. “Really, that’s a bad role because it undermines community safety and terrorizes communities. It’s quite clear that local police should be playing that role.”
Nationwide, the number of people arrested without prior criminal convictions has been on the rise, based on the latest date from 2017, according to the Pew Research Center. While those numbers decreased under Obama because of prosecutorial discretion, they rebounded after Trump signed the executive order toughening enforcement.
ICE has not yet released its enforcement statistics for fiscal year 2018, which ended in September.
The report issued four sets of recommendations based on the survey results, “to reduce to harm to families and communities,” said Joanna Williams, the education and advocacy director for the Kino Border Initiative.
“We think it’s necessary that the Department of Homeland Security go back to de-prioritizing deportations of individuals who have strong tries to the United States and who have no criminal record or a minor criminal record,” she added.
The groups also urge Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform and provide greater oversight of immigration agencies. With looming appropriations battles on the horizon, they’re also asking for funding for legal orientation and alternative-to-detention programs.
In addition, the report is asking local and state law enforcement agencies to collect data on arrests used as “pretexts” to deport individuals, and to limit their cooperation with immigration officials.
Lastly, for faith communities impacted by family separations from deportations, it asks them to create safe spaces and pastoral services for these families, including educating non-immigrant worshipers. It also encourages them to advocate for humane immigration enforcement policies and comprehensive reform.