Important Law of the Day:
On January 1, 2014, the TRUST Act, a California State Law was officially put into motion. This law limits the ability of local law enforcement to hold certain individuals subject to immigration holds for federal immigration authorities. In the case of juveniles, local law enforcement may respond to an immigration hold for juveniles who are in the juvenile justice system only in two specific circumstances:
1) if the juvenile delinquent was adjudicated for an offense that was committed when he or she was 16 years old or older and is listed in California Welfare & Institutions Code
2) if the juvenile delinquent is currently registered in the arson or sex registry.
The TRUST Act forbids local law enforcement explicitly from detaining a minor in the juvenile justice system on an immigration hold past the time he or she is otherwise eligible for release from custody. In other words, local law enforcement is never allowed or required to detain a juvenile to the immigration hold. Local law enforcement remains free to release and not report any noncitizen youth. However, if a juvenile is being charged or tried as an adult or is convicted of an offense as an adult, there are a number of circumstances that allow local law enforcement to hold the juvenile for immigration authorities.
Declining Violent Crime Rates Amidst Increasing Levels of Immigration, 1990-2014
Source: Brown, A. & Stepler, R. (2016). Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States. Pew Research Center, Hispanic Trends; FBI’s Crime in the United States series.
Analysis of Noncitizen Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
As we have seen several times before, law is a means of social control. Immigration law is no different. Although it’s heartbreaking to see family separated and juvenile delinquents sent back to a place they don’t identify as home, the law is there to contribute to social order. Immigration law is clear and efficient under the critical legal studies perspective. It’s been demonstrated that immigration law is not neutral, politics do influence local authorities and influence new policies or legislation. Like I demonstrated in an early post, Arizona law has been influenced by their own public officials. They took a side and the side they chose was anti- immigration.
In addition, yes, America is the home of the free but that doesn’t mean that every single human being should reside here. If immigration law did not exist, we’d be more overpopulated than we already are. Our resources would not last. Like critical legal studies also points out, there is no consensus regarding values. There will always be people who view our immigration policies as inhumane and others who view our immigration policies as too weak and lenient.
Most people view immigration law as the iron fist but I view it as a velvet glove. Maybe immigration law and immigration policies have been introduced to its citizens as hegemony, but there is definitely a part of me that can see immigration law as a velvet glove. Like I introduced in my blog, immigration law does not just deport noncitizen in the United States, but it also offers them several paths to permanent lawful citizenship status or at least temporary stay if they are eligible.
This is were the velvet glove is most evident to me. The concept of immigration law is meant to please every one who carries a negative connotation of immigration. The stigma of immigration law itself is all it takes to keep these anti-immigration citizens satisfied. Simply knowing that something is being done to identify and remove undocumented individuals is enough. On the other hand, immigration law, if carried out properly can also be beneficial to undocumented immigrants, if they meet certain prerequisites and circumstances, most can be eligible for citizenship or legal residency. The biggest indicator of immigration as a velvet glove is that even though juveniles have a juvenile record, they can still be eligible for immigration relief programs. The velvet glove is supposed to “satisfy” every party and immigration law does that, it gives both sides something they want and or need.
