Yeah, Right, Whatever

Looks like Imigration and Customs Enforcement isn't completely asleep at the wheel.

As ICE agents have pursued criminals who are in the USA illegally, they also have swept up record numbers of illegal immigrants who have committed no crimes other than violations of visa limits and other immigration laws. That helped increase the total number of deportations by more than 45% from 2001 to 2004.

Most of those deported — more than 70% in 2004 — have been returned to Mexico. Most of the rest have been sent back to Central or South America or to the Dominican Republic. ICE now has four jets that in 2003 alone made 317 flights to return more than 18,500 immigrants to their native countries.

So, you mean we actually send some of the people back if they don't belong here? Who knew?

This article tells the sob-story of Ana Ortega, a woman who had it made and blew it.

Ortega, 27, said that she was a legal permanent U.S. resident and that until recently she was an office manager for a chiropractor in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. Four years ago, she was convicted of conspiracy for being a bit player in a drug-smuggling ring. Her husband, a U.S. citizen and repeat offender, received 10 years in prison; she got probation. She was ordered to appear at a deportation hearing, but she skipped it.... Ortega says she was sad to have left the USA. Her son, 8, and her daughter, 5, are U.S. citizens and will live with Ortega's mother in the USA. "It wouldn't be fair for them to have to live in a country they've never lived in," Ortega says.

An immigration judge ruled that Ortega should be banned from the USA for life, but she plans to ask the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic whether there's a chance she could return to the USA.

"People make mistakes," she says. "Now it's not only me, but my kids who will pay."

You know what, Ana? Maybe you should have thought about that before you broke the law. The fact that you are permanently separated from your children is not the fault of the US government. That responsibility sits squarely on your shoulders. And you can bet that your kids will know that, too.