You might have seen on the news about the increased ICE-raids in the United States, and the protests against them. Since I have some experience myself, I thought I’d share my take on it. ICE stands for Immigration Customs Enforcement and are federal agents in charge of deporting immigrants that they think are unlawfully staying in the country. CBP stands for Customs Border Protection and they are in charge of securing the border, ie who is allowed to enter the country. Both belong to DHS, which stands for Department of Homeland Security. When either finds an immigrant unlawfully staying in the country, either by not having the right visa, or even passport, or overstaying the one you had, or not in the same position anymore, you are seemed deportable and taken into custody, where an Immigration judge will decide. Unfortunately, I have been too, 2011-12 in Honolulu, Hawaii, where I studied to a Master’s degree in Organizational Change with a F1-visa in 2010. In my case, the university didn’t transfer the credits from my Swedish university in a timely manner, so I could register in the right classes and not have to retake the same or similar, which not only would be time-consuming and un-necessary, but also much more costly than my Swedish student loan would cover. But the university didn’t approve my right to apply for temporary work-authorization, which one can on that visa, after staying and studying for more than 9 consecutive months, which I had, which gave me no other option to survive financially than to commit a crime. During my immigration detention, it became clear that the problems are a two-way street:

Visas are issued together with a “sponsor”, ie a spouse, a university, or an employer. If this relationship ends, so does the visa, which can be very unfair. For example, even an abused wife without any criminal convictions and who won against her husband in court, still didn’t get a new visa. Likewise, unfortunately, the common way of most businesses and organizations in the United States is that they don’t want to sponsor visas, but only want to employ those who have one, not knowing or disregarding that you can’t get a work-visa without an employer! And, even if you would be married with a green card and get a job or own your own business, would you become divorced, you’d still lose your visa.

To solve this, visas could be issued directly with the USCIS (which stands for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), or even state-wise, regardless of sponsor, but with full disclosure and responsibility to seek employment, start a business, and/or get married, within the allotted time. This way, the individual wouldn’t be bound to a certain company or even spouse, but to the United States directly. This would also allow for direct control of taxes being paid, and the immigrant’s overall status and whereabouts.

The second problem, is that some countries don’t allow receiving deportees and are therefore considered recalcitrant, such as Vietnam and Senegal. That means, that even if a Vietnamese guy commits several severe crimes, he can’t be deported back to his country of origin and citizenship, but only released back into the American society. To solve this, would take a global approach, perhaps through the United Nations, which I think would be most fair, making it impossible for any country to say no.

The third problem, is that immigrants often are called illegal and therethrough seemed justified to be detained in prisons, even when the crime they have committed, or not any, isn’t coming with any time to serve (a misdemeanor for example) or even through trafficking. Immigrants should never be incarcerated based on their national identity. It’s not a crime, to not be American. And this is also what the UN goes against, to not arbitrarily detain immigrants. To solve this, they could build or rent type YMCAs, with curfews and front desk guards, as well as access to the USCIS to be allowed to apply for visas meanwhile, especially those seeking refugee status. Most immigrants have invested themselves both financially and emotionally and don’t have anything to return to, which is why it’s important to be allowed to have one’s case tried on the merits.

Last, but not least. Most immigrants are treated according to which country they come from. I know well that I’m seen upon favorably, as a white, scholarly, woman coming from the EU-country Sweden, in comparison to for example Mexicans. That is discriminatory. A Mexican could be more well off than me, even if you don’t assume so. Either way, we both would need to be allowed to make a living legally, to do so. This is why I’m on the fence of going to San Francisco; it still is my dream come true, but I still need more money first, and preferably enough for three months, to give me time enough to find a sponsor, when there. Unless, I too have to claim refugee status because of what I’ve had to endure for more than 10 years in Sweden, with evidence.

My book The Call for Divine Fathering – flying with the feathers of the eagle can be bought on Amazon and Kindle, and contain real-life stories and examples of detained immigrants. Order it here!