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7 Removal A lot of the guys I work with did nothing but the most complex cases— taking down multigenerational crime families, international crime, drug trafficking syndicates—you know, big fish. Now these folks are dealing with these improper entry and illegal reentry [immigration] cases. It’s demoralizing for them, and us. —unnamed senior federal prosecutor working on the US border H ow is US immigration law used to throw people out of the country ? The United States can deport (lawyers use the formal term remove) all sorts of immigrants, from those who have crossed into this country a few minutes ago, to those who have been living and working in the United States for decades. This chapter examines how immigration law is used to remove tens of thousands of noncitizens every year. We examine the ways in which an individual may be removed, moving from the least formal to the most formal procedures. We start by looking at voluntary return, an administrative device that is frequently used but involves little process. We then study expedited removal, a lowprocess mechanism designed to hasten the removal of some kinds of noncitizens. Next, we consider the higher-process mechanisms of removal and the substantive grounds (such as committing a crime) that authorize removal. We also examine the two most common forms of relief from removal provided by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA): (1) voluntary departure, which allows an otherwise deportable noncitizen to depart the country without being formally removed; and (2) cancellation of removal, which not only halts deportation but even gives the noncitizen a green card. Finally, we will look at a recent trend in immigration enforcement , dubbed Operation Streamline, which uses federal criminal law to enhance the punishment for unlawful crossers and continues to blur the distinction between immigration as administrative law and immigration as criminal law. 134 Removal Voluntary Return One of the most common ways of removing people from the United States receives slight attention in the INA but has developed as a necessary mechanism for Border Patrol officers to manage the flow of crossers.1 Voluntary return is a quick, nonjudicial process offered to undocumented border crossers who lack criminal backgrounds and are caught unlawfully crossing the southern border. This process consists of Border Patrol detecting and apprehending the undocumented immigrant, processing the immigrant at the closest Border Patrol station, and then transporting the crosser back to the Mexican border for release. Border Patrol officers are trained to handle the influx of undocumented immigrants in the most expeditious and least costly way possible. Once a border crosser is apprehended, the Border Patrol checks for criminal histories in IDENT. IDENT is an automated biometric identification system that digitally scans the immigrant’s right and left index fingers and categorizes the immigrant depending on criminal and immigration history . The IDENT system stores names and biographical information. If the undocumented immigrant has a criminal record, removal proceedings are initiated. If the immigrant does not have a criminal record, voluntary return is an option with virtually no stigma attached. Voluntary return takes significantly less time and paperwork than initiating formal removal proceedings , which is required for noncitizens with criminal records. The amount of time it takes to process an undocumented immigrant for voluntary return depends on the experience of the Border Patrol officer and how quickly he or she can obtain and input the personal data into IDENT. Border Patrol agents are trained to offer captured crossers a sort of Hobson ’s choice. The immigrants (typically Mexican immigrants caught crossing the southern border of the United States into Arizona, California, or Texas) are given a choice between jail time (an increasingly credible threat since the advent of Operation Streamline) and voluntary (and immediate) return. The officer informs the undocumented crosser that the alternative to prosecution is to voluntarily return to Mexico, after supplying some personal information. Most often, the immigrant chooses to voluntarily return to Mexico. The cost of return is borne by the US government. Voluntary return does not trigger the five- or ten-year bars for readmission that would keep Expedited Removal 135 out people who were “unlawfully present” in the United States for a period under the inadmissibility rules. The Border Patrol typically allows up to thirty voluntary returns to a single crosser before initiating more formal removal proceedings. Voluntary return is completed at or within miles of the border and is not to be confused with voluntary departure, which is determined and requested in removal proceedings...

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