Is Deportation Just? (V 2.0)
An Introduction
The issue of deportation is very much present today. This essay came out of a series of chats on Facebook involving reports of a mother of three, her children now grown, who had been in the US since 1999. She was ultimately deported. As I went browsing the web to confirm the details of this first story, I came across another more article, this one detailing a transgender woman who was recently deported back to El Salvador, where she was murdered. Such stories abound today, and they point to the challenges of the US policy.
RICHARD DREW / AP
The standard, most common argument for the deportation of illegal aliens. . . undocumented immigrants is that we have laws. These laws require all immigrants to apply for the appropriate visa and so forth. If one fails to apply for a visa, if one simply enters the US without such, then you can be removed. and there is a legal process in place for such. That is basically deportation and it is the law.
That. however, does not really answer the question. It only defers to the law. We assume that the law is just, and we know that is not always the case. That is why the US Constitution has processes in place both to amend the Constitution and too simply write new law. It is simply understood that we will need to update and refine our laws.
The concept of justice evolves. Simply look at the tale of slavery in the United States. From a group that were indentured servants to becoming simple property to citizens with voting rights certainly indicates an evolution. Certainly, a progression. Things, including justice, at the very least change.
So, regarding undocumented immigrants, it is routinely seen that deportation is unfair, problematic. The argument is that these people have made lives here. They are part of the community, often with families. Their husbands and wives are often American citizens, their children were raised here, or were simply born here. They work here. They commonly pay taxes here, which often requires them again committing fraud. That is an amazing fraud! They commit a crime so as to pay taxes.
Yet regardless of all that, they did commit a crime, granted what is seen as a misdemeanor, but still a crime. And their continued presence in the US from the day they entered till the day they depart from the US is a violation of US law. In short, the fact that they have established roots here, does not justify it. Such roots and history complicate the story, but it does not justify or allow for the disregard of the law.
We return to our original question. Is deportation just? Is it unjust? It is a law that most of us do not like, but most likewise feel is necessary. Most Americans agree that we need to regulate who enters and who does not enter our country. We do want to have some say regarding who enters the United States. and with that, we do want to have some consequence, and some process for dealing with those who ignore and disregard these statutes.
There is a tension here. Those who point to the law and all it entails, and those who point to the cost of the law. It again brings us back to the question: Is the law, in this case, deportation, is it just?
Three Grounds for Deportation
Now there are three other arguments, at least three, for why deportation is just. These are in fact arguments against immigration, or at the least undocumented immigration, and therefore also support claims for deportation. Those arguments are: 1) the cost of these immigrants is too great, 2) these immigrants are often violent dangerous criminals, and 3) these immigrants are stealing our jobs.
I will address the first two, cost, and criminals simply arguing that they are not true. The third, however, I grant is true, but I believe if you consider it for a moment, you will arrive at the conclusion that deportation by itself is not a satisfactory solution and with that is not just.
The first argument is that it just comes down to cost. The United States cannot afford undocumented immigrants straining our social services, our entitlements and as such we need to deport them to their country of origin. These immigrants illegally enter our country, and take advantage of our healthcare, our schools, our welfare systems, etc. We simply cannot afford this.
They simply are not entitled to the rights and privileges afforded US citizens, and other legal residents of the US. I acknowledge this is something that needs to be addressed, but I believe it need not be dug into here. I will make only two claims regarding this argument. The first is that typically undocumented immigrants in fact do not indulge our entitlements at rates comparable to US citizens. I offer up a CATO Institute’s policy brief titled Immigration and the Welfare State.
Aside from the links above, I am providing no further facts to support the above claim. I rather appeal to my second and larger point, that most entitlements, healthcare, education, welfare, are offered by state and local governments. The point is that within our system, whether an undocumented immigrant has access to our various entitlements is largely contingent upon where he or she resides and whether that state and local government will welcome or challenge such people. And that is a different question from the one I am posing here, whether deportation is just.
The second argument for deportation being just is that undocumented immigrants are criminal not only in their crossing the border, but in that they simply are criminals. It is believed by many that undocumented immigrants simply engage in often violent criminal acts more so than American citizens. They are a violent bunch and we need to get them out of here. That is the argument here.
To such arguments, I simply say no. It is a false claim. Numerous studies illustrate that undocumented immigrants engage in less criminal acts, violent and non-violent, than do American citizens. For further reading on this please consult this article, Illegal Immigration Does Not Increase Violent Crime, 4 Studies Show, found on the NPR site, detailing four recent academic studies involving such.
In short, I do not find either of these arguments, that undocumented immigrants are costly, or that they are violent criminals convincing, and as such neither is grounds to say that deportation is just. As I said above, the cost of undocumented immigrants is a state and local issue, and immigrants in general, documented and undocumented, do not for the most part commit violent criminal acts. American citizens are for more likely to take advantage of the entitlements our systems offer, and likewise are for more likely to commit violent crimes than immigrants.
That leaves us with the third argument. Undocumented immigrants steal American jobs. There is no refuting that claim. A good number of these jobs may be unwanted, but a job is a job. It, likewise, cannot be disputed that the wages for such positions are typically lower than what most Americans would accept. The presence of undocumented immigrants does facilitate such wages. Their presence in the American market does limit the options of some American workers. So, a case can be made that deportation is just, as undocumented immigrants do steal jobs from Americans.
Just Laws and Conspiracies
Yet the above claim can only be true if the law is just. I know we started with the request that a defense of deportation be provided. And it has. Now I am requesting that the law itself, be just. But what is required for the law to be just? Not this particular law regarding deportation, but any law? What makes the rule of law just?
The answer is that all are equal before the law. The law must be fair to all. It must not be the case that it applies to some but not others. For the law to be just, all must be treated equally before it. In this case, it seems that anyone who is defined as an undocumented immigrant should be deported, or in some fashion returned to their country of origin. Deportation is in fact not the only option for undocumented immigrants, but it is our focus here.
Further, considering that there are roughly eleven million undocumented immigrants we probably do want to and need to prioritize. Considering the arguments above, those who are undocumented and gainfully employed should probably be a priority. Likewise, it is probably a good idea that those immigrants, both documented and undocumented, with criminal records should also be deported. I do not believe anyone is challenging that. In fact, the claims discussed in the above section perhaps can help to prioritize the process. That, however, is again a different discussion.
Answering that question of who we deport first does factor into the question of a just law. Starting largely with the gainfully employed seems required, considering what we arrived at above — that deportation is just as undocumented immigrants do steal jobs from Americans. This seems fair or equitable to us.
But when we arrive at this point, the deporting of undocumented immigrants because they steal American jobs, we find ourselves challenged. If it is just that undocumented immigrants who steal jobs from Americans be deported, what of the employers who hire them?
Obviously, if an employer does what is required, verifying their employees’ I9s and supporting documents, using e-Verify and so forth, that is one thing. I am incredulous, however, of the suggestion that of the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants, all of them or whatever percentage are working, are actively able, in today’s environment, to deceive their American employers.
Rather, what I suspect is that we have in many cases, a conspiracy between the undocumented immigrant(s) and their employers. In short, American employers all too often know they are hiring such workers. Further, I would argue, considering the numbers, that many assist the undocumented immigrant / their employee(s) in overcoming the system, the law.
What we have is a criminal conspiracy between the two, between American employers and undocumented immigrants. Whether by choosing not to know or by actively assisting, many American employers are conspiring with their employees to evade the immigration laws and the enforcement agency responsible for them, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Justice or Not. . .
So, we have here two challenges: The first is that American employers engage in a criminal conspiracy with their employees, or at least those who are undocumented immigrants. And number two — and this is the bigger issue: Our justice system today largely ignores the first. In short, we have several million people who are undocumented and defying our immigration system working for American employers who are conspiring with them to defeat that system. Our justice system meanwhile only addresses the former. It ignores the undocumented immigrant’s co-conspirator, the American employer.
This brings us back to the question of whether deportation is just. It is just, if and only if, both parties in the conspiracy, undocumented immigrants and American employers, are both prosecuted by the law. For deportation of the one to be just requires that both parties be pursued by authorities, and that both parties be punished for their crimes. Obviously, American employers hiring such workers cannot typically be deported. Today, however. they are not even typically pursued, much less tried, or punished when found guilty.
The claim that deportation is just then, considering these arguments, is wrong. It is false. It is wrong or false because the justice system largely disregards the undocumented immigrants’ co-conspirators, American employers. The system and the law are unjust. Not only does it disregard and largely ignore criminal acts, but it also disregards and ignores those who engage in these acts. We have not only a disregard for the law but a bias in the law, favoring and protecting American employers.
It is one thing for people who are in poverty to travel thousands of miles, risk their lives and their families’ lives to make it here, and who commit various crimes to make it here — all for a better life. We understand all of that. It is not right, it has created numerous problems and issues, but we kind of understand.
Regarding the employers hiring them, however, what justifies their ignoring of the immigrants’ status, of ignoring US law, or worse yet, helping them evade the law. Are they too in poverty? Did they too feel that they did not really have a choice? Did they believe they had to hire these undocumented immigrants? Were they somehow coerced?
What justifies hiring a person who is not authorized to work in the US for a wage that is often below the minimum allowed by law? And why is our system of justice not pursuing people who engage in such conduct?
A just law does consider such matters. The law does or it should consider who the parties are that are engaged in the conspiracy. It should consider what drove them to engage in such. One’s status and one’s motives, along with one’s actions do normally factor into the determination of guilt and innocence. And yet, with our current system, we have one party who is typically deported and the other who is typically not pursued. The later are allowed to remain free, and often are allowed to continue to engage in such actions, replacing their deported workers with others who are likewise undocumented.
Lastly, if you grant that there is a criminal conspiracy involving some large part of the undocumented community, roughly 11 million people, and they have an active partner in American employers; what of American consumers? What of all the products and services that we buy, which are harvested by, manufactured by, built by, and provided by undocumented workers, and sold to us, the American public, by American businesses?
Are we, the American public, part of the conspiracy? There are laws regarding the buying of stolen goods. Can it be argued that the system is so corrupt that the American public, American consumers, who cry out for the deportation of these ‘illegal’ immigrants, are complicit in this conspiracy?
When you consider the above regarding American employers and American consumers, the assertion that deportation is just, becomes a joke. Sadly, it only raises questions regarding our justice system.
