OPINION:
After living in the United States for 47 years, Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian suddenly found herself detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month.
The 64-year-old — the wife and mother of U.S. citizens — was gardening when taken into custody at her New Orleans home. She was released only after Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise advocated on her behalf.
See, Ms. Kashanian came to the U.S. in 1978 from Iran, arriving on a visa and unsuccessfully applying for asylum. She was set to be deported but was allowed to stay as long as she met regularly with immigration officials — a requirement with which she complied.
Yet the Department of Homeland Security, amid the Trump administration’s increased restrictions on illegal immigration, is doubling down on the idea that she’s in the nation “illegally” and has exhausted her options.
And Ms. Kashanian isn’t alone. There’s also the case of Maurilio Ambrocio, a Florida pastor from Guatemala who came to the U.S. when he was 15 years old. Mr. Ambrocio, 42, now a married father of five, was detained and deported in April after more than 20 years in America.
Before his deportation, a stay of removal permitted him to remain in the U.S. as long as he met with federal officials annually and remained crime-free. He was reportedly arrested during a routine check-in.
And then there’s Maria Isidro, a mother and pastor’s wife, who was deported to Mexico last month. DHS told me and CBN News that she was “issued a final order of removal from an immigration judge on Oct. 21, 2004, after she failed to show up for her court date” and had refused to self-deport.
However, her daughter, Daniella Isidro, said her mother was permitted to stay, provided she routinely met with immigration officials. Ms. Isidro was reportedly arrested and deported during one such meeting as she complied with the agreement our government reportedly made and honored for decades.
Are you seeing the pattern here? These are just a few of the stories that continue to emerge. If we’re honest, the details are complex, emotions are high, and people will have diverse reactions.
Ultimately, I believe these stories — and others like them — demand something of us: reflection and action. America is a nation of laws, and as such, we must operate through a prism of sane, consistent and reasonable regulations.
Tragically, the U.S. has had an inconsistent and at times incongruous immigration system, a patchwork of programs, rules, exceptions and other elements that have created needless complexities due to changing tides, shifting priorities and partisan whims.
Given this unpredictable and chaotic approach to immigration law, a time of reckoning has arrived. We must find the fortitude among our politicians and leaders to fix this broken system once and for all, which includes finally securing our borders and dealing with those here illegally.
Removing criminal illegal immigrants, building a wall and bolstering the number of ICE agents, while taking other steps to finally uphold immigration law, is not only common sense and far overdue — but it’s also an indisputable government duty.
Cementing consistent standards and laws will help protect citizens and curb the abuse of humans that so often filters through this broken system. Ignoring our immigration problem has been a devilish dereliction of duty for far too long — a raw and dangerous abandonment of the American principles of law, justice, truth and fairness.
The Trump administration is advancing what many see as a return to sanity and the rule of law. That said, this must be done in the context of humane treatment, compassion and a realistic look at the situation on the ground.
While we tighten up our immigration laws, we must also contend with the millions of illegal immigrants who are already here, some of whom we’ve willingly allowed to remain.
As the aforementioned stories show, each circumstance is radically different. And we must own the tattered and broken system we’ve fostered. It is immeasurably cruel to willingly allow people to stay in the nation, get married, and raise children, and then abruptly pull the rug out from beneath their feet, sending them back to a nation they no longer know or recognize.
We allowed the fissures and cracks, which demand that we deal humanely with people such as Ms. Kashanian, Mr. Ambrocio and Ms. Isidro. Simply clumping people together and deporting them en masse isn’t the proper way to solve the crisis we’ve allowed to fester.
We must settle the individual cases of the millions of people we allowed in and secure our borders to prevent more illegal immigrants from coming. Now is the time for President Trump to take balanced action and solidify his legacy on this key issue — one that balances security with compassion.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell is the author of four books.
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