Napalitano announces "three legged stool approach"

In an announcement at the Center for American Progress, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napalitano told attendees that the Obama administration will push for legislation to overhaul the immigration system early next year.

Napalitano’s laid out a so called “three-legged-stool” approach:

“Let me be clear: when I talk about 'immigration reform,' I’m referring to what I call the 'three-legged stool' that includes a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here,” said Napalitano.

In response to the news, two north Texas churches have developed a holiday postcard campaign. The churches hope to send 250,000 cards to members of Congress urging immigration reform. The primary message of the card will be that families in the U.S. are being torn apart by current immigration laws. This separation usually occurs when families are of mixed status. Put another way, when one or both parents are undocumented and children in the family are documented.

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Immigration Detention to be Reformed

High reports of abuse and mismanagement has led the Obama administration to alter the way that immigrants are detained. In one new plan announced on October 5, immigrants awaiting deportation would now be held in hotels and hospitals converted into detention centers. This system would be different from the current immigrant detention system which includes holding immigrants in U.S. jails and prisons. According to an article by the BBC, accusations have been made that current detainees receive poor medical care and are denied due process. The BBC states that, "On 1 September, 2009, ICE had 31,075 immigrants in detention at more than 300 facilities across the US." The article goes on to describe how the majority of this population, 66 percent, were subject to mandatory detention, and that the other 51 percent were felons, and that 11% of those had committed violent crimes while the majority were seen as low risk.

The overhaul to immigrant detention was explained in a New York Times interview with Janet Napalitano, the secretary of homeland security. In the interview, Napalitano said that it was wrong to send those accused of immigration violations to jails and private prisons. "'Serious felons deserve to be in the prison model,' Ms. Napolitano said, 'but there are others. There are women. There are children.'"

In addition, the Fort Worth Star Telegram released an article stating that part of the Obama plan would "permit additional nonviolent illegal immigrants to await deportation proceedings wearing ankle bracelets outside prison walls rather than locked up in costly jail cells." Federal officials were quoted as saying that this process would keep families together, reduce the number of imprisoned immigrants without criminal records, and save money.