So, the immigration courts have started distributing this flyer. It's being placed on the table you have to sit at for immigration court, and it's being mailed to people with their hearing notices and scheduling orders. The pamphlet is exceedingly inaccurate. I'll do my best to summarize why. 1
Appeals court will have an issue with this
A person in immigration court must remain in the United States while their proceedings are pending. If they leave, their hearings don't just stop. If they leave, then they won't be present at their next hearing, and they'll receive an "in absentia" removal order. This flier claims the opposite. 2
What is more - if you "fail or refuse" to attend your court hearings, you are then inadmissible to the United States for five years under INA 212(a)(6)(B). So the claim that "self-deportation is safe" and you have "future opportunity" to return is already just nonsense.
Calling it "self deportation" is a hint that this is nonserious. There is no such thing under the law as "self deportation." If you leave without a deportation order, you haven't been deported. You just left. If you leave under a deportation order, you haven't self-deported. You've been deported. 4
The notion that you can "keep money earned in the U.S." is also nonsense. It suggests that if you get deported (rather than "Self-deport") the government gets to take away all your money. Which is false. True, the government can fine you $500 a day once you have a deportation order. But that's it. 5
The whole "future opportunity" suggestion also implies that they'll make a way for people to come back if they leave now. And that people who have been deported can never come back. Neither suggestion is true. 6
I don't know if the "subsidized flight" claim is true. I am not aware of any program that is paying for commercial airline tickets for people who want to leave. Someone correct me if there is such a program. All I know of is ICE detaining and then deporting people. Is that the "subsidized flight"? 7
Now the second half of the flyer - "consequences." Let's pause for a moment to poke fun at the super dumb layout of this flyer. It looks to be saying "benefits" of self deporting versus "consequences" of self deporting. But I think they actually meant these are consequences of not doing that. 8
Consequence 1 - immediate deportation. What does that even mean? Some people are eligible to stay here. There is no "immediate deportation" just for fighting for your rights and asking a judge for permission to stay here. #2 involves fines. I have zero idea where they get the $998 number from. 9
I posted the statute above. The penalty is $500 per day. It's not $998 a day. And the reference to $1000 to $5000 is for people convicted of willfully refusing to depart after a removal order. So the government doesn't just get to charge that fee. That's not a thing. 10
"Barred from returning" is also a lie. INA 212a9Ai says that someone who has been removed/deported can't be admitted again for 10 years. But it also says that you can ask for permission to come back earlier. And they grant that all the time - see Form I-212. So, no. It's not forever. 11
Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act
INA §250 removals?
“Future opportunity”? Are we gonna make legal immigration from their country of origin easier in the future?
Can’t they just Civil Asset Forfeiture all your money anyway?
I never in my whole long life would have thought we'd arrive at a place like this in America. This is too sad.
When will they distribute the pink triangles and yellow stars to sew onto their outerwear?
Gross
They left out indefinite imprisonment in a 3rd country labor camp.
I guess that's covered in "possible imprisonment".
Please consider using alt-text when you post images so they're still accessible for visually impaired folks.