Salon.com > Deportation

Is Saudi Arabia deporting men for being too handsome?

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:11:00 +0000

According to a recent Time Magazine report, three men were deported from Saudi Arabia for being "too handsome."

Now The Telegraph is weighing in, explaining:

A statement in Arabic-language newspaper Elaph, translated by The Telegraph, added, "A festival official said the three Emiratis were taken out on the grounds they are too handsome and that the Commission [for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices] members feared female visitors could fall for them.

Obama deportation toll on track to pass 2 million

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:33:00 +0000

At current rates, deportations enforced under the Obama presidency are set to hit 2 million by 2014, according to a new report from the University of California-Merced. Findings highlight that if current deportation rates continue, nearly as many people will have been deported under this administration as during the entirety of the years between 1892 and 1997. These are striking statistics to consider while Congress debates the president's commitment to immigration enforcement.

The report notes that under Obama, the deportation of convicted criminals has been a focus and a point of pride for the administration. However, as immigrant justice advocates have often stressed, the report points out that "many of these criminal deportees are deported after a minor criminal conviction":

In immigration reform, remembering the women

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:00:00 +0000

On Wednesday morning, a few hours after attending President Obama's immigration speech in Las Vegas and then getting on a red-eye, Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, sounded tired but optimistic. "I'm really excited about the urgency and the momentum that there is on immigration right now," she told Salon. But as tough of a slog as immigration reform is going to be, she and other advocates who work with immigrant women have an extra challenge: Making sure, as the details of proposed legislation are fleshed out, that their voices are heard on issues like family reunification and informal employment.

Although elected officials and pundits have been wringing their hands over the GOP's Latino problem -- their apparent motivation for coming to the table on immigration -- and its woman problem, the truth is, President Obama's big advantage was the intersection of the two. Jessica Arons, director of the Women’s Health & Rights Program at the Center for American Progress, points out that Latinas voted for Obama over Romney by 53 points, while his advantage with Latino men narrowed to 32 points, and Latino turnout overall was up.

Should immigrants be deported for a pinch of pot?

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 23:15:00 +0000

When should an offense like the possession of a tiny amount of marijuana be deemed too minor to warrant the deportation of a legal immigrant? The Supreme Court has been hearing a case today that could change immigration officials' response to this question. It all started in 2008 when Adrian Moncrieffe—who moved to the US from Jamaica almost 30 years ago, and is a lawful permanent resident—was pulled over in Georgia. The police found a mere one 20th of an ounce of pot in his possession. Unfortunately for Moncrieffe, Georgia state law—under its very broad application of "people who freely share small quantities with others"—nevertheless allowed him to be charged with felony possession with intent to distribute. "What some people would consider to be a relatively minor offense that does not result in a prison sentence can be classified under federal law as a felony that can lead to deportation," says Bill Ong Hing, a law professor at the University of San Francisco. "When there's language that suggests that it could be more serious and it's not serious, [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] will not give you the benefit of the doubt." The Supreme Court’s eventual decision on Moncrieffe v. Holder, which is due in the spring, could affect the deportation proceedings of hundreds of legal immigrants each year.