So what are we supposed to do with them?
The United States is facing a major obstacle in its efforts to deport thousands of illegal immigrants, including many convicted felons: Their home countries don’t want them back.
This does not sit well with Sen. Arlen Specter, a veteran lawmaker and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specter, R-Pa., was stunned by the situation after touring several prisons in his home state where taxpayer dollars are spent to house foreigners who have served their sentences but could not be deported. In response, he drafted legislation that would punish countries that refuse to take back illegal immigrants. “There is an enormous problem of public safety, which is slightly under the radar screen,” Specter said last month at a press conference about the legislation. Specter noted that the convicted felons could be held for only six months in jail before they were released into the general public. The measure — the Accountability in Immigrant Repatriation Act of 2008 — was recently introduced in the Senate and the House. It would require the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress every 90 days on the countries that refuse repatriation. Those nations would automatically be denied all immigrant visas until they took their citizens back. The bill also would deny certain types of foreign aid to the countries. EDITOR’S NOTE: Rhetorically speaking, we can’t help but wonder why something so common-sense has not been proposed before: to actually grow a pair and punish a nation that refuses to take back its own people!Source