Politics divide, delay immigration reform

Two-part series: Immigration roundupSaturday: Local farm workers fear ICEToday: U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan's fix for immigrationNORWALK — President Donald Trump started his campaign for the White House by making the issue of immigration and border security its centerpiece."When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people," he said, announcing his candidacy on June 16, 2015And when it comes to the issue, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, shares many of President Trump's opinions on illegal immigration and its effect on the country."There are people who want to come to America legally to work and I think most Americans are for this, but illegal immigration is unfair to the people who want to come here the right way," Jordan said.When federal agents raided Corso's Flower and Garden Centers in Sandusky and Castalia in 2018, many of the more than 100 workers detained lived in Norwalk, inside Jordan's district.Trump recently announced Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) would increase its number of removals, leaving many immigrants in Erie, Huron and Sandusky counties fearful. But Jordan told the Register the removals were like any other law enforcement action since it targeted people with removal orders."The fundamental issue is about the rule of law," Jordan said. "These people have already been through the immigration court process and do not qualify to stay in the country."He also believes it could have a ripple effect by reducing the incentive for people to come here illegally and adding more stress to already over-burdened immigration department, especially at detainment centers at the Southern border.The Border Patrol does not take information about who it apprehends or the outcome of their cases available and is not subject to Ohio's Public Records Act, which regulates how law enforcement agencies and other public agencies operate in the state.Fixing Detainment ConditionsConditions at detainment facilities have been under scrutiny more recently as claims have surfaced of children and adults being confined and living without soap, beds, toothbrushes and other necessities. On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence visited the McAllen Border Patrol Station in McAllen, Texas.Men were being kept in cages where there was only standing room and the odor was overwhelming. Some of the men called out to Pence saying they'd been kept there for weeks without access to showers, toothbrushes and other basic necessities."This is tough work. It's overwhelming our system. It's overcrowded here at McAllen," Pence said, blaming democrats, after the awkward visit. "This is the center — the epicenter — of the crisis on the southern border."U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, courted controversy when she called detainment facilities concentration camps, a term that has become synonymous with the Holocaust."It's just completely wrong and frankly it's offensive to folks who survived concentration camps," Jordan said. But several academics said the term — which predates the Holocaust and means anyplace where people are held because of nationality, ethnicity, religion or characteristics other than a criminal conviction — fit detainment facilities, according to a Newsweek article.Jordan said Ocasio-Cortez's comments were just one example of misinformation. He recently talked to the acting secretary of Homeland Security about misleading photos tweeted by some Democrat lawmakers."Just the other day Democrats on the House Oversight Committee tweeted out photos of children in cages from 2014 under President Obama and passed it off to promote a hearing on the current facilities," Jordan said.Jordan said his party worked to pass a bill to give money to improve conditions at the facilities, but several Democrats opposed it. In a Vox article, progressive Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez and others took issue with the bill not having enough measures to ensure accountability."Just last week we voted and passed a bill to give $4.5 billion to pay for necessities at the border facilities, but it was a bunch of Democrats who didn't want to make sure families have basic needs," Jordan said. "It wasn't money for a border wall, it was simply for humanitarian aid and nearly a hundred Democrats couldn't agree to it because of politics."Changes to ImmigrationPeople on both sides agree immigration laws need to be updated but disagree on how it should be done.Progressive Democrats and advocates like Lynn Tramonte, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance director, believe a legal path to citizenship should be created for people who have been productive members of the country."Congress needs to create that, but in the meantime, the Trump administration does not have to do mass roundups and raids. They do it because they want to," Tramonte said. "That is the type of nation they want us to be."On the other side, President Trump and many Republicans like Jordan want to increase border security and close "loopholes" with a regular target being asylum."Applying for asylum is a legal right," Tramonte said. "President Trump doesn't see it that way, but that is the law. His administration has been systematically gutting the asylum process because they do not want anyone to get a safe haven here."Under U.S. law anyone who fears persecution on account of race, religion, nationality and/or membership in a social or political group can apply for asylum at the border.Many people believe this process offers an incentive for people to come to the U.S. because they believe they'll be released while their case is processed."Asylum laws need to change," Jordan said. "About 80 to 90 percent of asylum-seekers don't have legitimate claims … they need to apply for asylum in Mexico first and Mexico has started to help us out."The congressman didn't say where he got the figure for the percent of legitimate asylum claims, but it mirrors other lawmakers' comments, which were based on a statement by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he said 80 percent of claims were without merit.But Poltifact, a nonprofit which reports on the accuracy of politician's comments, said Sessions' statement was false because it was based on a flawed analysis of data that didn't take into account all the reasons why asylum may not be approved besides lack of merit."We need to build a security wall on the Southern border and fix the Flores decision," Jordan said. "But Democrats are just all about politics."The Flores decision, a 1997 court settlement the U.S. government made, which set standards for the conditions children could be held in and required the government to remove them from holding facilities as soon as possible.The president's administration said the controversial separation of children from families last year was based on its interpretation of this court agreement. A California judge ruled the only way to supersede the agreement was through legislation.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterU.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums in Fremont in 2017.