Deporting Daddy: Yes, This Is Very Sad, But Violating Laws Others Have To Obey Should Not Be Rewarded
A bit of perspective on the notion that we should allow illegal aliens to stay here rather than deporting them: We sentence bank robbers to jail time; we don't give them free housing and new furniture.
I have a number of friends who came here from other countries and went through all the steps to get green cards or citizenship. It's not a fun process, but they jumped through all the hoops, submitted all the documents, waited, waited in line, and waited in line some more, and then some.
This legal immigrant to the U.S. did that -- in other words, she gave us a choice as to whether we'd take her as one of us. She didn't force herself on us.
So while it's heartbreaking to see families torn apart, violating our immigration laws should not be rewarded with EZ-pass residency or citizenship in the U.S. And the responsibility for sad situations like this man's lies with him and others who violated our immigration laws -- those who are being deported.
Michael Sangiacomo writes for The Plain Dealer of a Cleveland man who "says goodbye to wife and four children in deportation crackdown":
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Jesus Lara Lopez had tears in his eyes this morning as he said goodbye to his wife and four children and went to meet immigration agents who took him to a waiting Delta flight at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to return him to Mexico.Lara Lopez, 37, is an undocumented immigrant who has been living in the United States since 2001 working various jobs including picking crops and most recently, packing cookies and crackers for Pepperidge Farms in Willard, Ohio.
He was caught by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through a police tip in 2008, but was permitted to stay and work in the country -- even after a 2011 deportation order was issued.
His family and about a dozen supporters were at the airport this morning to say farewell to a man who was never charged with a crime in America and had spent the past 16 years working, worshiping and raising a family. His children were born Americans.
...Present was Lynn Tramonte, director of the immigrant defense group, America's Voice, which has been helping Lara Lopez and his efforts to remain in the country.
"I can't believe the people who run the government have no compassion at all," she said. "His children, who are Americans, will have to go through life without a father."
Again, very sad, but that's on him.
Oh, and it seems he was hired by a temp agency, not Pepperidge Farm.
Also, there's a Go Fund Me page for the family, and it says: "My dad, Jesus Lara, was just deported because of a traffic ticket he got many years ago."
Um, we don't deport people because they get traffic tickets. We deport them because they're here illegally.
Also, per a NYT story by Miriam Jordan, it doesn't sound like his wife is here legally:
He fell in love with Anahi Salinas, a fellow Mexican, and they eventually married and had American-citizen children. He became rooted in the community.
The traffic ticket thing:
In 2008, Mr. Lara was pulled over on his way to the dentist. Unable to produce a driver's license, which is not issued to undocumented residents in Ohio, he was jailed. A sheriff's deputy contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Deportation proceedings followed, culminating in a removal order in 2011.The government granted Mr. Lara a deportation reprieve because he was otherwise law-abiding, and he was placed under an order of supervision with a work permit, requiring that he check in with ICE annually and renew it.
In January, after the Trump administration announced that no one in the country illegally was exempt from deportation, immigrants like Mr. Lara became vulnerable.
On March 28, when he arrived for his check-in with ICE in Cleveland, officials tethered an electronic tracking monitor to his ankle over objections from his lawyer, who argued that he was no flight risk.
When Mr. Lara raised his trousers to reveal the black, clunky device -- he charges it every 12 hours -- Elsiy blurted out: "That's a thing the police put. My Daddy isn't a criminal!"
His application for a "stay of removal" included several letters of support, including one from an official at a center where he studied English, learned how to operate a forklift and enrolled in a machine workshop. Such efforts were "testimony of his great desire to better himself to be able to thrive in his community," the letter said, aiming to prove "good moral character."
Why should he get to cut the line when others are made to obey our laws?
Feel free to answer that question if you disagree -- or if you don't.
Every time a reporter writes an advocacy piece such as this i email him and thank him for helping guarantee a Trump reelection in 2020. I am in favor of all illegals being deported, no matter how old or how young or what their circumstances might be. The increased deportations and enforcement we are now seeing is a direct result of Trump being elected president. Amy, I totally understand that you did not vote for him and disapprove of him, and with good reason, but he was the ONLY politician last year willing to even talk in public about illegal aliens and the effects they're having on the United States. I grant that he is an imperfect vessel, but I would vote for him again tomorrow, for what he's doing with the illegals, if nothing else.
roadgeek at July 21, 2017 10:14 PM
Think about the role of minimum wage law in cases like this.
If you have a choice between registering an employee per Federal tax and employment laws, accounting for her time to comply with the Affordable Care Act -- and getting work done, what do you think happens?
Employers are actually required by law to verify that a person they hire is eligible to work here - but as we can see frm the travel "ban" ruckus, the law is not enforced. Instead, it is hooted at.
Radwaste at July 22, 2017 3:28 AM
"a man who was never charged with a crime in America"
If he wasn't charged with the crime of violating our borders and working illegally why was he deported? Driving without a license isn't a crime? This line is a flat out lie.
Ben at July 22, 2017 6:14 AM
a man who was never charged with a crime in America
How was he working, since people one may legally employ are either US citizens, or have immigration papers that permit them to work and thus have a taxpayer identification number? so they can pay income taxes, and their employer can pay FICA taxes?
So...he was either being paid under the table and off book (for which the employer should be held liable) or he was committing identity fraud. And not paying those taxes means that social security is being defrauded.
Also, was he on any sort of welfare? section 8 housing?? WIC? all of that is also supposed to bereserved for citizens.
"His children, who are Americans, will have to go through life without a father."
Well, they could move to Mexico. Problem solved. Oh, well, they wouldn't be Mexican citizens, and that bars them from certain activities, such as running for public office, and I want to say owning real estate without having to jump thru hoops. But as US citizens, they can always come back once they reach 18 years of age.
Or live without their dad. Sorry, kids, life is all about balancing competing interests. Contrary to what you've been told, you can't have it all.
I R A Darth Aggie at July 22, 2017 6:15 AM
A common thing for illegal immigrants to do is to get fake ID, but this means they often do identity theft. Not ok.
By the way, try to sneak into almost any country and work illegally, even Mexico, and you will get booted out as soon as they catch you.
The idea that all immigrants have a "right" to be here could lead to 300,000,000 immigrants over a few years if we truly opened the doors. Do you think we could absorb a doubling of our population?
And it isn't just about Hispanics. Middle Eastern and Asian people would love to come here if it were easier. Millions of them. Russians too. So calling it a racial issue is simply saying "shut up". I have never heard of an answer to the response that millions would move in if borders were truly open.
cc at July 22, 2017 9:21 AM
Well.. There's always the option to make life so miserable for everyone that nobody wants to be there, or make passage towards Canada a much more attractive decision than to settle illegally in the USA.
Sixclaws at July 22, 2017 10:36 AM
"it's heartbreaking to see families torn apart"
No, actually, it is NOT heartbreaking to me.
The family "torn apart" is no one's fault but the illegal alien. They chose to have their kids be citizens of a different country than themselves. No one forced them to make that choice.
And if their kids are minors why don't they take them back with them? Isn't it "bad" parenting to abandon your kids?
charles at July 22, 2017 11:41 AM
Jesus Lara Lopez and his wife could move back to Mexico and take their American kids with them. If they'd committed the same crimes in some European country and were deported there's a chance their minor children who were citizens of that country wouldn't be allowed to leave with them.
Ken R at July 22, 2017 12:58 PM
I'm fine with it, but I'd like to see the idea carried through to its conclusion, which would be the elimination of 'guest workers' to pick crops seasonally, which is just a way to get around the law.
A farmer or ag concern should have to pay what it takes to get the crops out of the field, and that should be reflected in the market price. But there's no appetite for that either in the ag market or the consumer market.
Kevin at July 22, 2017 1:21 PM
So, if you're in the country illegally, you're "not a criminal?" You haven't broken any laws? Sounds like a the guy who wrote this article needs to go to the dictionary and look up "illegal" and "criminal."
This is a sad situation, but the other posters are right, the fault here lies with Lara Lopez. And with the prior administrations whose enforcement of immigration laws was lax enough that illegal immigrants were empowered to feel that they have a right to stay here openly and illegally. "Undocumented," they call it.
He was granted a stay of removal in 2014 with freedom from custody, so he's had three years to finalize his departure plans. He's had time for legal appeals, applications, etc.
All of that said, it sounds like Lara Lopez is the kind of immigrant we want, hard working, taxpaying, and, absent the illegal immigration thing, law-abiding. Perhaps he could be fast-tracked for legal immigration back to the US.
Where I'm a little confused is that ABC News says he had a valid work permit. How does an illegal immigrant get a valid work permit? And if he has one, isn't he here legally?
Conan the Grammarian at July 22, 2017 1:23 PM
Point of information: if Lara Lopez did try to take his wife and kids to Mexico with him, would they automatically be allowed in? Or would they have to go through some lengthy application procedure first? And would the kids be allowed to attend Mexican schools?
I could see a case for amnesty for someone like him, so long as it was accompanied by greatly increased border security and enforcement against illegals who haven't put down the roots he has. Of course, it never is.
Rex Little at July 22, 2017 11:15 PM
This is heart-wrenching.
"My Daddy isn't a criminal!" Why doesn't her father correct her? He is, indeed, breaking the law. She needs to know the truth.
Very sad. I hope she doesn't go bad and join a gang of sombrero-wearing banditos, robbing hapless travellers of their tasty corn chip snack bags.
Because that would also be illegal.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 24, 2017 5:03 PM
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