Download the full report - Human Rights Watch

again illegally; such individuals’ prior unlawful stay bars them from the US regardless of family
ties. 122 For the vast majority of these people, there is no legal way to return and if apprehended,
they are often put in expedited removal proceedings that ignore the fact that they have been
long-term residents, making them ineligible for certain kinds of relief from deportation.
Not surprisingly, non-citizens who are barred from returning and separated from their families
are highly motivated to reenter the United States illegally. When they do return, many end up
prosecuted for illegal entry or reentry. Those most desperate to be with their families return
again and again, undeterred even by repeat prosecutions and long prison sentences. The
University of Arizona study of 1,000 Mexican deportees referred to above found that more
than half said they were going to try to cross again; 70 percent who considered the US home
indicated they would keep trying to enter. 123 In several cases we documented, defendants
who had served federal sentences for illegal reentry stated they did not plan to try again,
because they feared getting more time if they returned. But others remain undeterred and end
up serving back-to-back criminal sentences. Said one criminal defense attorney, “There’s a
class of people doing life sentences on the installment plan.” 124 Alicia Estrada, whose brother
is mentally disabled and has repeatedly reentered illegally, recognized the pull his family had
on him: “If we stay here, we’re going to see my brother live his life in jail.” 125
In criminally prosecuting non-citizens who have been separated from their families for illegal
entry and reentry, the US government is giving insufficient attention to the right to family unity,
a fundamental human right. The laws creating criminal penalties for illegal entry and reentry
provide no exceptions for individuals whose motive is to rejoin their children or other close
family members, and the agencies whose decisions lead to prosecutions also do not to take
these ties into account. As Candis Mitchell, an assistant federal defender, noted, “The guy
who is coming in to reunite with family is treated as just as culpable as someone who is paid
to bring drugs into the US.” 126 The failure to protect family unity begins with US immigration
law, and that law needs to be reformed. But the use of federal criminal law against those
seeking reunification with their families also undermines this fundamental human right.
122 8 US Code Section 1182(a)(9)(C)(I)(i) (2012).
123 Center for Latin American Studies, “In the Shadow of the Wall,” p. 15.
124 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Victor Torres, June 29, 2012.
125 Human Rights Watch interview with Alicia Estrada, sister of Reynaldo Estrada-Baltazar, Azusa, California, October 24, 2012.
126 Human Rights Watch interview with Candis Mitchell, assistant federal defender, San Diego, California, July 20, 2012.
47 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2013