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Texas Matters: Operation Streamline And Problems With The U.S. Immigration System

For those who lawfully want to enter the United States the first question is about obtaining a visa – but for many getting one is virtually impossible. That is the heart of the problem for the U.S. immigration system according to a report released this week by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation.

The paper titled “The Inefficient U.S. Immigration System: A Texas Perspective” examines the breakdowns with the U.S. immigration system and recommends state based solutions.

Katherine Fidler is the author of the report.

OPERATION STREAMLINE:

It was just over ten years ago that Operation Streamline debuted in the U.S. Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector – it’s since been expanded to all federal district courts along the border except for the southern border of California.

Operation Streamline is a controversial approach to dealing with unauthorized immigrants that channels the apprehended into a criminal court system that has been called an assembly line and a kangaroo court.

The defendants are not given a fair trial or opportunity to defend themselves – that only option is to plead “guilty” – face a one to six month sentence in a special immigration prison and them be deported but now with a criminal record so they could never quality for legal entry or a pathway to citizenship.

The criticisms of Operation Streamline deal with humanitarian and practical issues and are laid out in a new book called “Indefensible: A Decade of Mass Incarceration of Migrants Prosecuted for Crossing the Border.”   Published by Grassroots Leadership and Justice Strategies – Bethany Carson is on the contributors to the book.

Bethany Carson is with Grassroots Leadership and Justice Strategies. She is a contributor to their book  “Indefensible: A Decade of Mass Incarceration of Migrants Prosecuted for Crossing the Border.”  Which explores Operation Streamline.

David Martin Davies can be reached at dmdavies@tpr.org and on Twitter at @DavidMartinDavi