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Kelly Hartzell Pd.4 February 2, 2012

"In Deportation Policy Test, 1 in 6 Offered Reprieve" by Julia Preston //New York Times// Summary

In the past three years, 1.2 million deportations have occurred. However, a new docket review trial run has been established by Obama and will start up soon. This docket review intends on allowing immigrants with little to no security risk to stay in the United States. This affects about 1,300 of the 7,900 cases being reviewed in Denver. Some think this trial run is an effort to please the general public in his re-election year. However, this will help aleviate backup in immigrant courts and lessen the impact of deportation enforcement. The problem now is that those spared from being deported have no legal status, which means they cannot get a job or legally drive a car. In a way, this "safe haven" is not one at all. These people will have an incredibly difficult time finding a job and have no means of going to one, if they somehow can get a job.

Revelance

This article is relevent to what we just learned in class. We discussed how being an immigrant in America was difficult because of the job competition. The same is still true today. The immigrants from the past came with nothing and sought out a better life here. It is hard to say that is true for immigrants today, but one could guess they would try to be here illegally for a good reason like making a better way of life. The immigrants of the 1890's all had a rocky start to their life in America. They had little to no money. They had no jobs. They had nowhere to live. Nowadays, immigrants can easily find jobs in physical labor because most Americans choose not to be in that field of work. Sure, the pay is not great, but it is somewhere around minimum wage. This kind of job competition is relatively low. In the past, people worked anywhere and everywhere to earn a living and support themselves or their family. This kind of docket review never happened during the time of those immigrants because most people came over legally. This article is the modern day version of immigration. It doesn't involve going to Ellis Island for days on end. It virtually doesn't involve incredibly long ship rides. These days, our largest problem with immigration involves Mexicans hopping the border and crossing over into the United States. Although the times have changed and the ways of immigration have changed. immigration is still a big part of the United States.

Explanation

The American Identity is what it means and what defines being an American. Maybe it's the diversity of the nation and how we have transformed into a many-faced country. Maybe it's racial inequality and how even after anti-segregation laws have been passed people still treat blacks differently than their white friends. The Constitution could fall under the nation's identity. Not many other nations have rights guaranteed to them as of 250 years ago. Inside of the Constitution is the First Amendment, which addresses Free Speech. This is a large component of how America has been shaped and how we are different from many other countries. In places like South Korea and China, certain actions are not welcomed and people have paid the price and continue to. The Westboro Baptist Church abuses this right in places many see unfit for it, however everyone is entitled to voice their opinion in a peaceful manner, whether it is an unliked opinion or not. Ideas like this are what makes up the American Identity.

Questions

1. How is it determined that the immigrant is of "no security risk"? 2. What background checks do they perform to establish this? 3. Will those who have been allowed to stay be monitored to ensure no dangerous actions? 4. How would six immigration judges possibly handle 1,300 cases each? 5. Why was Obama's deportation program so much more stricter than presidents from the past?

Preston, Julia. "In Test of Deportation Policy, 1 in 6 Offered Reprieve-NYTimes.com." //The New York Times - Breaking News, World News, & Multimedia.//