10-19-2011, 04:58 PM
JoeH wrote:
[quote=cbelt3]
facetious. Keep in mind that "ALL" Illegal Immigrants are technically criminals, since it's a crime to enter the country illegally.
Doubly facetious on your part, "technically" criminal does not equate to having been found guilty in a court. Also ignores the level of the offense, it is like you are comparing someone with a traffic ticket to a person guilty of assault or murder.
Also risky to start overgeneralizing here. It's a crime to cross the border without authorization, for example, but it's not a crime to overstay a travel or student visa... Being in the country without papers is not a criminal offense; it's a civil violation. It's illegal either way, but only crimes get you automatically deported. Generally, to be found guilty of the crime of entering the country illegally, you have to be caught in the act. If we really want to get into the vagaries of the law, i can do that, but the U.S. has all sorts of clever ways of making it simple to deport people while avoiding courts.