UC Law’s Julie Leftwich, Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Dan Horn and Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones joined Cincinnati Edition’s Lucy May to discuss the potential ramifications of allowing private companies to participate in a plan by the Trump administration to deport immigrants in the United States without proper authorization.

Whether those deportations will affect any immigrant without proper authorization or just immigrants who have committed criminal acts in the U.S. could determine the scale of a government-backed deportation plan.

Leftwich, director of international peace security initiatives at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, says ‘a very small portion’ in relation to the number of immigrants in the U.S. have committed criminal acts. 

She says about 10% of people in deportation proceedings have some kind of criminal conviction which is only about 4% of the overall 11 million undocumented people in the U.S.

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that 1 in 3 American adults or 77 million people have criminal convictions.

“I do want to point out that when people think about undocumented immigrants they tend to think of people coming through the southern border, but actually a larger number of people that are here with undocumented status have overstayed visas because they come as students or they come as visitors and they have stayed longer than they were authorized to. It’s important to keep that in mind.”

She says it is important to know that there are people who come without prior authorization that have the right to come to the border and ask for protection. 

“We are talking about asylum seekers who under both U.S. and international law have a right to seek protection,” explains Leftwich. “We should not be turning those away. That’s not to say everybody can stay in this country, but certain people have a right to come in and make their case. They may not be able to stay, but I think it is also important that these are people and they do need to be treated humanely.”

Immigrants like others must follow the law, Leftwich explains, before adding that the nation must make a difference between those involved in smaller crimes and more serious matters.

The United States has at least 11 million unauthorized immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center. 

Leftwich leads efforts at UC Law to establish a Center for International Peace and Security for the College, to serve as a practice-based wing of the renowned Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights. 

Listen to the full WVXU segment online.  (Starts at 8:10 with Julie Leftwich).

Featured photo of Cincinnati Edition's Lucy May, UC Law's Julie Leftwich and Cincinnati Enquirer's Dan Horn. Photo provided.