Exactly what some people wanted
I've heard several stories, of people being sought by the government, at work, their homes, wherever they were supposed to be, arrested and unceremoniously booted out of the United States back to the countries of their birth. Even those people who have been here for more than ten years, with no criminal records, living an honest life, most times they are married to US citizens and awaiting their turn to be accepted legally into the country.
When I heard some of these stories, my thought was that someone with a grudge who knew about this person's status, must have told on him/her. Maybe once upon a time perhaps, but not now. Now the government have created a separate department which is different from the Immigration and Naturalization Services department, but they are a part of Homeland Security, whose specific and only job is to locate those people who are here illegally, detain them, then deport them!
These people get no chance to call home, to say goodbye or to even gather clothing. They get no fair trial or hearings, no time to tell why they are here, they are placed on a plane never to be seen again!
That special Homeland Security department is now averaging over 19000 such captures per month, country-wide! Once upon a time, they would be focused on illegal immigrants who were criminals and involved in criminal activities, now its the regular Joe or Jill who wants to be here with their families and live a clean life. The only difference is the length of time it takes for them to be processed. Sometimes after exhausting their petition to stay, if they are denied, they can expect to be picked up immediately and deported.
The sad thing about this is that families are being broken up, divided. Most times because it's the dad who is the main income earner, this puts the families at risk. Another mouth or two to join the legions on the government's tab, eventually.
Most times, these illegals are people who came here legally, but their Visas run out or their petitions are denied and they move and forget that they do need to take care of their status here. I realise that the illegal immigrants in this country are a problem, some of them because of our country's security. But for those people who did come in legally and are living an honest life and they have families - spouses and/or children, they should at least be given a chance to see their families again. Even when the paperwork does finally get approved for the deported family member, because they were deported, they cannot enter the United States again for ten, sometimes twenty years!
Article read in the Orlando Sentinel "Crackdown Divides Family" written by Victor Mamuel Ramos.