I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE GET SO AFRAID FROM BEING DEPORTED.IN THE UNITED STATES YOU WORK WORK WORK GO HOME EAT WAKE UP THE NEXT DAY WORK WORK WORK GO HOME EAT WAKE UP.COLD LIKE HELL AND WHEN YOU RETIRED YOU CAN'T ENJOY YOUR RETIREMENT BECAUSE YOU SO BEAT UP.BECAUSE YOU WORKED ALL YOUR TEENS YEARS.COMMON THIS IS NOT A LIFE.IN YOUR COUNTRY YOU GO WORK GO TO THE BEACH LISTEN TO MERENGE MUSIC. GO HOME SLEEP WORK AND COME BACK HOME EAT AND GO BACK TO WORK AND YOU ALWAYS HAVE FUND.

Hi, I agree with Illfg. Latinos or Hispanics are not a one size fits all. There are many countries in Latin/South America and they are all different. Europe, for instance, is made up of people who speak different lannguages, have different life philosophies. In Latin/South America, there are people who speak (mostly) Spanish but their parents, grandparents came from many places, including Europe. The accents are different. I do believe that some immigrants get deported without having a criminal record. This is sad. Eugenia Renskoff

@ Gregory...anyone being deported because of criminal activity should be investigated by Interpol and the FBI or if they're claiming unfair persecution the Dept of State. But if they feared the "home" state so much, why are they freely going there with an expectation of returning to the United States..illegally of course?

You should know that, in certain situations, deportations are actually death sentences. Upon arrival in their countries, deportees are met at the airport by their police, escorted into cars and either never seen nor heard from again or their corpses turn up in some ravine; this is common knowledge among people from such countries. The 2009 movie "La Soga" from the Dominican Republic depicts this custom, and although it is fictional the sources used for its inspiration are factual.

There's simply no way American politicians will change the law to allow immigrants with criminal convictions stay in the country. It's got Willie-Horton-potential written all over it. If anything a comprehensive immigration reform bill might make this sort of provision harsher.

What do they want the president to do? Ignore the fact that they are here without the proper papers? Should he wave a wand and just make them citizens? Deport all illegal and support legal immigration

I don't understand how the percentage of Latino citizens voting for Obama has anything to do with this.

they should have done this in the 20s and 30s with the mafiosi, who needs Tony Soprano and his ilk.

Wow, good subject, terrible guests. Simplistic opinions. Clinton bad immigrant good. URGH

there is no such thing as a Latino or a Hispanic. Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto ricans and Dominicans are not a homogenous group. it is an invented group made by lawyers to give Spanish Speaking peoples a unified voice when they do not even agree amongst themselves on many issues.

Isn't US residency (by immigrants) a privilege, not an inherent right? If that is the case, if you commit a crime, you put your privilege at risk.

my family came here legally and i respect immigrants tremendously. However, all illegal immigrants should be deported. to hear this guy defending DR illegal immigrants makes me wonder why we tolerate this kind of talk.

It was the Gingrinch Congress that created that law - Not Clinton. It is not just Domincans, it's the rest of the Caribbean that has been affected with deportees.

We don't want another country's criminals - how shocking. Immigrant's right's supporters shoot themselves in the foot with this kind of nonsense.

Brian,

You should be more informed on a subject if you arer to do a show on it. It is NOT just people with significant criminal records being swept up in this, that is just BS

This Frontline piece about this subject was very good
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/lost-in-detention/

Brian, these people are not innocents. Please dont sugarcoat these people.

How is it that "Human Rights" or humanity equals the right to an illegal status in another country?

One of the few reasons I might vote for Obama again is his increased use of deportation of illegals, which kind of almost cancels out his constant rebuke of Israel for "settlements" in Jerusalem. I believe all Jews here illegally should be deported too, to Israel, so I am not against any particular ethnicity. People who have a homeland have no right to sneak in here illegally.

The impact of these deportations is overall negative. The people deported bring with them the criminality they learned in New York. Many are hardened criminals.

The same happened in Puerto Rico in the 60's and 70's, parents would send their kids back to PR, hoping to correct negative behavior and it backfired on the island.