While Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed a law to arrest anyone without valid immigration status, New York Governor David Paterson has set up a pardon panel to prevent the deportation of legal residents for minor crimes.
The panel will review the crimes of immigrants facing deportation. If it finds the crimes as minor and nonviolent, it will recommend a pardon by the governor. With the pardon, the criminal history is erased and deportation process ends. The governor needs no approval from the legislature for granting pardon.
Paterson said his proposal was not a direct rebuke to Arizona, but was a challenge to federal immigration policy.
'The overall standard of symbolism that we're trying to address is that our national immigration laws are seriously in need of reform,' Paterson said. 'Some of our immigration laws, particularly with respect to deportation, are embarrassingly and wrongly inflexible. In New York we believe in renewal. In New York, we believe in rehabilitation.'
The immigration law passed in 1996 during President Bill Clinton's time made it mandatory to deport even longtime legal residents for crimes punishable by at least a year in prison. The law is retroactive, so immigrants are often deported because of crimes they committed many years before the law was written. Even if one did not serve actual jail time, one could be deported.
People punished for stealing a pen worth 30 cents and facing deportation got national attention too. The law was so rigid that nobody could interfere with it.
Paterson said he was inspired to create the panel because of the case of Quing Hong Wu, a Chinese immigrant who came to the US as a 5-year-old. When he was 15, Wu committed a robbery as member of a gang in China Town, Manhattan. He was sentenced to three years in jail. After that, he returned to studies and now at 29 works in the technology industry.
Recently, he applied for US citizenship; he was detained and put into the deportation process. The governor interfered and pardoned him. The deportation process too ended with it.
Paterson, though mostly unpopular, is to leave office in eight months. His successor, possibly the current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is not bound to continue this policy.
"I applaud the bold decision of Governor Paterson. This may lead to similar moves in states like California, Illinois, etc," said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Center for Community Change.
"This is a step in the right direction," said Priya Murthy, policy director, South Asian Americans Leading Together.
"Under current immigration law, it is virtually impossible for legal immigrants who are convicted of minor offenses, such as shoplifting or even writing a bad check, to seek relief from deportation. Immigration courts cannot even consider how long someone has been in the US, the nature of the crime, or the effect of deportation on family in the US. This panel will help restore the ability of affected immigrants to obtain relief. However, it is no substitute for reforming the country's immigration laws. Community members should ensure that federal reform respects civil and human rights."
Monami Maulik, executive director of the New York-based Desis Rising Up & Moving, echoed the sentiment: "I think what Paterson did was a very good thing for the immigrants, especially considering the situation in Arizona."
Top Reasons
The top reasons for deportation during 1997-2007 were entering the US illegally, driving under the influence of alcohol, assault and immigration crimes like selling false citizenship papers, says a study by Human Rights Watch.
Nearly three-quarters of the roughly 897,000 immigrants deported during this period were convicted of nonviolent offenses, and one-fifth were legal permanent residents.
Only a governor's pardon can prevent deportation in such cases, even when the legal immigrant is married to a US citizen and has citizen children.
