“I was U.S. attorney in the Southern district of New York,” he said. “So believe me, I know this. In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding.”
Illegal immigration shouldn't be a crime, either, Giuliani said: “No, it shouldn't be because the government wouldn't be able to prosecute it. We couldn't prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million.
As much as Guiliani scares me in a lot of ways, and though he still wants to “close the border”, he at least recognizes that the criminalization and vilification of immigrants is not helpful. It was good to have him call out Romney on this: whenever some one starts with “Congressman Tancredo had it exactly right” then you know he’s off the deep end.
While it is not a criminal violation to be in the United States illegally, it is a crime to enter the United States illegally. More specifically, it is a crime to enter the United States:
(1) to enter or attempt to enter the United States other than at a time and place designated by immigration officers;
(2) to elude examination or inspection by immigration officers; or
(3) to attempt to enter or to obtain entry to the United States by making willfully false or misleading representations or willfully concealing material facts.
So anyone present in the United States illegally has necessarily committed a crime at some time in the past. I can think of two exceptions:
(1) If the alien entered the United States legally but overstayed his or her visa (this is, I think, pretty common);
(2) If the alien crossed the border properly, answered the immigration officer's questions truthfully, and the immigration officer was asleep at the switch and admitted the alien anyway.
I am no lawyer, but isn’t that excerpt from the civil code not the criminal code?
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In any case, what difference does it make? Does anyone think it would be a good idea to fill our Federal courts with immigration prosecutions, and fill our Federal prisons with illegal immigrants. The cost would dwarf that of the Iraq war/police-action.
I understand why the location of the statute in Tile 8 of the U.S. Code rather than Title 18 could be confusing, but read the statute. It says that violations are punished “under Title 18.” So violations of the statute are crimes.
I don't mean to argue with you about whether it would be a good idea to start prosecuting illegal aliens rather than deporting them. But I think (based on other post such as this one) that many advocates for immigrants incorrectly believe that people here illegally have not committed a crime by entering the country illegally (as I noted, the situtation is different for those who have overstayed their visas). I generally don't have a punitive attitude towards illegal aliens, but I do think it's important to be accurate when describing what the law is.
TedF
No wonder Skiling wants a new trial!
It is a civil infraction vs. a criminal complaint. Both are 'crimes'.
Great.
Whip the base, get those foreigners outa here, well not really since we aren't going to do anything one way or another, just vote GOP in '08.