Why the Obama administration is right to deport migrants ordered to leave

*The Los Angeles Times explains its position regarding the immigration raids planned for January. To hear the LAT tell it, there’s no alternative but to obey a judge’s order. The immigration system is broken, and needs to be fixed, but to ignore the order is to “throw over any notion of enforceable immigration law.” What do you think? VL

By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board

ports out of Washington suggest that the Obama administration is planning to sweep up and deport hundreds of families whose applications for asylum or some other form of permission to remain in the country were rejected by immigration courts. Immigration rights advocates have begun rallying in opposition, arguing that it is inhumane for the government to send back to Central America — the source of many of the cases — people who have fled violence and crime-ridden neighborhoods for a chance at a better future for themselves and their children.

It’s hard to argue with that logic, but it is based on a flawed premise. To not deport those whom an immigration judge has ruled ineligible to remain in the country is to throw over any notion of enforceable immigration law. And that is an indefensible position.

We share some of the concerns that have been raised about the fairness of the immigration court system. It is understaffed, and judges carry excessively high caseloads.

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