tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post6675176910759097360..comments2023-09-23T11:16:00.352+02:00Comments on The Franco-American Flophouse has moved: Some Thoughts on DACA and Child MigrantsVictoria FERAUGEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-77377636519036688642017-09-17T00:56:23.538+02:002017-09-17T00:56:23.538+02:00Inaka-san, Thank you for providing more informati...Inaka-san, Thank you for providing more information and some insight into why the Thai boy was deported. What to do about child migrants is something that many states are grappling with. I think most agree that it isn't any of their doing though Bhabha points out that they may have more agency that you might think. She tells of one older child who got tired of waiting for his mom who was in the US to come home. So he packed up and went looking for her and found her in LA. That was a damn dangerous trip but he did it. Note that he wasn't so interested in going to the US, he just wanted to be with his mother.<br /><br />How did this Thai family manage to stay for so long? Good question. And I suspect you're right that they had help. I would also note that keeping track of people in a nation-state with a large population is very difficult. Osaka has some dark corners - areas I've walked into where I never see any cops but I do start to hear languages other than Japanese (one of the water districts is not far from my apartment.) I have heard (but can not verify) that organized crime has real power in the city and may have a role in smuggling people in and employing them. I also note that there are many mom and pop businesses here - so many that I can't imagine how the government could stop them from hiring whomever they like. <br /><br />And lastly we need to consider that strong border security which is designed to keep people out also serves to lock them in. What would have been the penalty if that Thai couple had turned themselves into the authorities? Would they have been summarily deported or would they have been detained and punished and their child turned over to agents of the state? They may have deemed it safer to stay - or it may have been the least bad option they had.<br /><br />Eric, Fascinating. Thank you. I would also recommend Aftermath: Deportation Law and the New American Diaspora by Daniel Kanstroom which explains what happens to deportees sent back to their countries of citizenship. <br /><br />Victoria FERAUGEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-45438723576709616362017-09-16T13:26:50.987+02:002017-09-16T13:26:50.987+02:00Undocumented migrants, for example, have a citizen...<i>Undocumented migrants, for example, have a citizenship but not the citizenship of the country they reside in and the home country is not generally in a position to protect them in the same way that they ostensibly protect citizens within the territory.</i><br /><br />On one hand, refusing to offer protection or acknowledge nationality can sometimes be the kindest thing the ostensible "origin country" can do. I'm thinking particularly of Vietnam, which tells Western countries to go pound sand about 100% of the time when those countries try asking for travel documents in order to deport Vietnam War refugees. Obviously there's an element of self-interest there on Hanoi's part (they don't want a bunch of angry South Vietnamese veterans coming back, let alone non-Vietnamese-speaking kids with criminal records), but it also means that the responsibility for dealing with the kids who grew up abroad rests firmly on the countries where they were raised.<br /><br />On the other hand, many countries have allocated consular resources for serving undocumented populations in the US, and also have programs to re-integrate those who get deported (even if those programs can't necessarily respond to a giant surge in demand). Mexico comes to mind: https://www.gob.mx/inm/articulos/el-programa-somos-mexicanos-te-brinda-un-nuevo-comienzo-en-tu-regreso-a-mexico?idiom=es<br /><br />And on the third hand, South Korean DACA recipients, in particular men, get the worst of both worlds. Careless and uncaring legal draughtsmanship in South Korea turned them into criminals (because conscription deferrals only apply to people with legal residence abroad). If they get deported there, their "reintegration program" is going to be either military service in a language they don't speak (with all the other conscripts resenting them because they can't pull their weight), or a prison term. And because South Korea deems them draft evaders, they can't get passports, only emergency one-way travel documents - but some US states, e.g. Georgia, will only give driving licenses to DACA recipients who show a valid passport.Erichttp://isaacbrocksociety.ca/author/quant18noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-42344407073553881172017-09-14T05:04:02.612+02:002017-09-14T05:04:02.612+02:00I guess I don't feel like I have the right to ...I guess I don't feel like I have the right to tell the US how they should handle their DACA kids, so will focus on the Japanese case you mentioned, which seems basically similar. Looking at Japanese reports of the situation, it seems the basic facts are:<br /><br />Utinan Won was born in Japan of Thai parents, who were living in Japan illegally as tourist visa overstayers. He was not sent to Japanese elementary school, and was raised in the Thai expat community. Apparently, in this environment, he never learned either Japanese or Thai properly, until he was 12 and received help from some support group to study Japanese enough that he could enter Japanese middle school partway through, and where he apparently is now.<br /><br />Illegal stayers are reportedly sometimes granted permission to continue staying, if they are married to a Japanese national or otherwise show deep ties to Japanese society. He applied for that kind of exception, and was denied. The reasoning? Not explicitly laid out, but there seems to be an inference that the court thought his Japanese ties were not sufficiently deep and compelling (did his lack of Japanese elementary schooling, and being raised in a form of gaijin bubble, hurt?). They also thought that since he demonstrated the ability to cram-learn Japanese well enough to function at school, then he could probably do the same with Thai, so sending him to Thailand would not represent a real hardship for him. (This almost seems as though his efforts to catch up in Japanese ended up counting against him.) I also wonder if the fact that his country of citizenship is Thailand, and not some more oppressive regime, worked against him. They probably would not have been so willing to deport an illegal North Korean, I'm guessing.<br /><br />Personally, I would like to see someone in his situation allowed to stay until he is an adult, and legally responsible for his own actions. At that point, he should be allowed to apply for proper residency (or even citizenship), without his illegal status as a minor being held against him. After all, it is not his fault he ended up in this situation.<br /><br />And whose fault is it? If I were him, I would be pretty angry at my parents for putting me in this situation. Of course, they presumably found living illegally in Japan preferable to living legally in Thailand, and maybe thought they were giving him a better life by continuing to do so after he was born, but in the end they screwed him out of having a decent life in either country.<br /><br />And then one has to ask, how is that they managed to stay illegally for so long? (At least his mother -- his father apparently left the family at some point.) Was there someone benefiting from the mother's cheap labor and willing to fudge paperwork so she didn't get caught? What is that person's responsibility here? Should the immigration system be changed to make it easier for people like the mother to work here legally instead? I think these are the kind of issues that really need to be addressed to find a long-term solution to the problem of illegally-staying minors.<br /><br />Despite my declining to opine on the DACA situation directly, much of the above could probably be transcribed to the US situation more or less directly if forced to do so.<br /><br />Inaka Nezuminoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-2732811513398581962017-09-13T21:49:07.268+02:002017-09-13T21:49:07.268+02:00bubbebustin: That's a good point. And its re...bubbebustin: That's a good point. And its reality - when you are a resident of another country you are effectively under their protection. The home country does not have much to say about it and frankly can't do much to help except offer a loan so the person can go back to the US. This always suprises Americans who think their country is omnipotent but there you have it.<br /><br />Deborah, Thanks for the comment and the information. This does not surprise me and the US isn't the only country where family reunification is under attack. I don't know about Canada but France and the UK have made it harder even for spouses.<br /><br />Have to agree with you about the tribalism. I am finding it impossible to have a civil conversation with a fellow American about politics these days. I give up and I am limiting my exposure for the sake o my sanity.Victoria FERAUGEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16319699673885400472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-27436352056886932132017-09-13T16:24:35.422+02:002017-09-13T16:24:35.422+02:00Limitations on family reunification in the US are ...Limitations on family reunification in the US are already in the offing. The RAISE Act proposes to cut immigration by at least half from current levels. It eliminates family-based immigration preference categories by restricting ability of U.S. citizens and permanent residents to petition for family members. Only spouses and minor children can be petitioned. Parents, siblings and adult children will be eliminated as beneficiaries of petitions.<br /> The current state of tribalism has brought America's ugly side to the fore, as old, white Christian men seek to recreate a time that never really was. I have some solace being in Canada, with my citizenship application pending. I don't think I could return to the States today.Deborah S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15078216183644544899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2424131704277823220.post-57608957766366503562017-09-13T15:37:49.510+02:002017-09-13T15:37:49.510+02:00"And that fact that they may have citizenship..."And that fact that they may have citizenship somewhere else is in a real sense irrelevant because they are no longer under the protection of that state."<br /><br />This will likely be part of the argument for providing status for these children and in turn a viable argument against the US's Citizenship Based Taxation. Cook v Tait claimed that citizenship benefits citizens wherever they are, so therefore the state has the right to tax citizens for thos benefits wherever they are.bubblebustinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01789474207408205280noreply@blogger.com