By Brooke Wagner | KOLD
In the last week, the Homeland Security Secretary announced the lowest number of Southwest Border encounters ever.
That bears out in Arizona, too.
Here in the 13 News newsroom, we get a lot of questions about the deportation of immigrants, who the Trump administration vowed to target first, versus those who are here without current papers.
Not all border crossings are equal in the eyes of the law.
Criminal prosecutions related to immigration plummeted this summer. That doesn’t mean everyone who is what’s called “out of status” is a criminal under U.S. law.
The reasons are complicated.
We broke down the nuances with Darius Amiri, Chair of the Rose Law Group Immigration Department, who’s handled thousands of immigration cases.
“Just being present in the United States without a visa or without prior authorization is not a crime – they’re not technically illegal,” said Amiri. “Now, it’s definitely a civil violation and there could be immigration consequences – you can be detained, you can be deported – but it’s not a crime being here just without permission.”
