Is Deportation A Good Reason To Pardon Someone?

[WhiskeyGirl]

New Paterson Policy May Reduce Deportations

By DANNY HAKIM and NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: May 3, 2010

ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Monday that the state would accelerate consideration and granting of pardons to legal immigrants for old or minor criminal convictions, in an effort to prevent them from being deported.

The move sets up a confrontation between the governor and federal immigration officials, who have taken more aggressive action to increase deportations in recent years. Immigration lawyers on both sides called the step extraordinary and said it could ultimately affect thousands of people in New York.

“Some of our immigration laws, particularly with respect to deportation, are embarrassingly and wrongly inflexible,” Mr. Paterson said in a speech on Monday at an annual gathering of the state’s top judges. “In New York we believe in renewal,” he added. “In New York, we believe in rehabilitation.”

But while immigrant advocates were quick to embrace Mr. Paterson’s initiative, supporters of tougher immigration enforcement sounded a different note.

“There are people out there, maybe the governor included, who don’t want to deport anybody, even people who have committed crimes,” said Jan Ting, a professor at Temple University Law School, and a former assistant immigration commissioner. “I understand the impulse, but it’s an impulse that leads to open borders.”

more here - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/nyregion/04deport.html?hp

How many citizens with similar criminal backgrounds will never get a pardon?

Why do immigrants seem to be first class citizens, favored, and Citizens get the shaft?