Recently, Janet Napolitano, the Secretary for Homeland Security led a ceremony for naturalization for over five thousand new Americans at Fenway Park, Boston. The ceremony was also attended by Alejandro Mayorkas, Director for US Citizenship and Immigration Services as well as Sen. John Kerry. The new Americans came from about 150 different nations. Celebrations of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day were also conducted.
With the issue of immigration being a current debate and keeping the above instance in place, Sen. John Kerry proposed for a bill that would ensure that the federal authorities deal with immigration laws with a more humane perspective.
According to the 2010 Families First Immigration Enforcement Act, the officials from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement must provide with a notice in advance for an immigration raid to be conducted. This is to ensure that translators are provided for the detained people.
As per the Kerry bill, all those detained have to be checked by the ICE to make sure that any of the detained need to be released pertaining to health problems or old age, nursing or pregnancy or under any vulnerable groups. He also said that these raids have always come about with reports of ill treatment of the detainees, families being separated along with social and legal services not being available. After all, human rights cannot be violated. Laws could be implemented without inflicting pain and suffering.
Another provision in the bill permits the illegal migrants to be put in custody in the local ICE office as the space needs. This is to keep them close to their families instead of being send hundreds of miles away.
Above all, with an approach which is more humane, reform could definitely have a new perspective and approach which would definitely bring out positive outcomes.