Yintang Cao, a Chinese national who served time for hawking counterfeit designer purses, was freed from immigration detention last week after the United States failed to win permission from China to deport him. Emil Al Seryani, a Jordanian citizen convicted of burglary and drug dealing, was released March 7, again after deportation efforts failed.
Their quiet return to their lives in the United States contradicts one of President Trump’s signature campaign promises: to deport criminals, even to countries that do not want them back.
.. A former immigration official said it is ironic that Trump and his GOP supporters are stymied by the same issues they insisted could be solved quickly.
.. Deporting someone can take years, especially for foreigners who no longer have up-to-date citizenship papers. Countries are supposed to accept their citizens under international law, but they have to issue travel documents, such as a passport, before the United States can put a deportee on an airplane.
.. Threats may work. But they’re not going to work on everybody, because some countries are going to refuse to do it,” said Ames Holbrook, a former immigration agent who wrote a book about the release of foreign criminals in the United States.
“And then if we don’t answer those countries that still refuse, then the countries that bought the threat are going to realize that it’s not a threat.”