Camas resident Anna Miller shares her perspective on our immigration crisis
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
In a recent letter, Anthony Teso stated “Yes, immigrants are protected by the U.S. Constitution. Key provisions, such as due process and equal protection under the law, apply to all persons, including both documented and undocumented immigrants.”
Technically, they are entitled to due process. Let’s take a realistic look at what that looks like in 2025.
- Legal scholars explain that due process for undocumented persons is delivered through civil immigration hearings. Each person must be given notice and a chance to be heard, but in practice it is limited by resources and backlog.
- The Biden administration (2000-2024) claimed that they detained 10.8 million, but in reality, due to their “catch and release” policy, they weren’t really detained. They were released into the country with a notice to appear for processing at a later date.
- The catch (no pun intended) is that no one was keeping track of where they went. Many just moved and left no forwarding address. Millions simply disappeared into the huge expanse known as America.
- Let’s say for arguments sake that all 10.8 million plus did report back. Immigration courts face millions of pending cases now, with average waits of 4+ years, rendering due process practically impossible for millions.
- What about criminals who have entered our country. How does that happen??
- Why screening doesn’t eliminate criminal activity
- Database limits: U.S. checks only reveal crimes recorded in American or partner databases. Many migrants have no prior record in the U.S., so they appear “clean” even if they committed crimes abroad that weren’t reported or shared and therefore were “released” into the US.
- Volume strain: Millions of encounters overwhelmed US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Even though fingerprints and names are run through systems, the sheer scale means errors, delays, and incomplete data.
- Future crimes: Screening only detects past offenses. Someone with no prior record may still commit crimes after release.
- Roughly an additional 2 million migrants during Biden’s term were “gotaways,” seen but not apprehended, so they were never screened at all.
So, there we have it. Due Process. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Democrat and Republican presidents as well as Congress from both parties let the due process system go to hell by not stopping the flood of people at the borders.
Enter Donald J Trump. A great businessperson who sees a broken dam and the water flooding in instinctively knows the first thing that has to be done is stop the flooding. President Trump has stopped the flooding.
With legal authority given to him by the Constitution of the United States he has instructed law enforcement to look for hardened criminals that are hiding here and creating havoc and remove them from our Country.
When the awful mess created by the flooding is cleaned up, maybe we can build a new dam that works for everyone. That will happen only if the will of the people is to not allow the dam to ever burst again.
“When politicians talk about immigration reform, they usually mean amnesty, open borders, lower wages. Immigration reform should mean something else entirely, it should mean improvements to our laws and policies to make life better for American citizens.” Donald J. Trump
Republicans seem to understand what happened and are grateful for leadership that will push to finally get it fixed. Democrats seem to be arguing to leave the broken dam alone and ignore the flooding.
Anna Miller
Camas
Also read:
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Elizabeth New (Hovde) argues that Washington lawmakers continue to turn to new taxes instead of addressing state spending priorities, particularly in health care policy. - Opinion: IBR administrator receives generous Christmas gift on his way out the door
Ken Vance argues that IBR leadership avoided accountability on rising project costs as Administrator Greg Johnson announced his departure without providing updated estimates. - Opinion: ‘If you tolerate lies and dishonesty from the government, you’re guaranteed more’
Lars Larson criticizes state officials for refusing to disclose updated cost estimates for the Interstate Bridge Replacement project, arguing that a lack of transparency guarantees further government dishonesty. - Letter: ‘President Trump has stopped the flooding’
Camas resident Anna Miller argues that the immigration system’s due process framework has failed under volume and backlog, and credits President Donald Trump with prioritizing enforcement to stop illegal border crossings. - Letter: ‘If we want workable immigration reform, we must first restore basic human dignity to the debate’
Vancouver resident John Ford argues that restoring human dignity to public discourse is essential before meaningful immigration reform can occur.
