Why do people come to the U.S. illegally?  Probably to find work, one would guess.  I doubt they risk life and limb to come here to go visit Disneyland.  But why do they stay?  First of all, the conditions in the U.S., even in depressed times, are still better than in the countries from which the immigrant hails.  However, a little known fact is that U.S. immigration law attaches harsh consequences to those who leave the U.S. after spending a certain amount of time illegally here.  By so doing, Immigration Law currently encourages illegal immigration.

Specifically, if the immigrant was unlawfully present in the U.S. for 180 days or more, and then he leaves the U.S., then he's banned from re-entry for 3 years.  If the immigrant was unlawfully present for 365 days or more, and then leaves, then he's banned from re-entry for 10 years.  Yes, you read right.  Those bans apply ONLY if the immigrant leaves the U.S.!!!

I thought that was supposed to be the point of anti-illegal immigration enforcement (i.e. to remove those illegally present here).  Yet, the law actually encourages illegal immigration by discouraging the immigrant from leaving the U.S.  This strange law is colloquially called the 3/10 bar.  Certainly even those vociferously opposed to immigration reform must be scratching their heads about this.

In my practice alone, I have seen numerous examples (probably in the hundreds) of people who would like to return to their home country but who do not specifically because of the 3/10 bar.   The reasons they would like to leave the U.S. range from attending a family member's funeral to simply being sick of living here in the shadows.  Regardless of the reason of why they would like to return, one has to wonder about the sanity of a law which actually encourages the immigrant to continue to violate his status here in the U.S., rather than just return home.  Shouldn't Immigration Law encourage those illegally here to return to their home countries?  This is especially true since it would be much quicker and cheaper for the U.S. Government if the immigrant leaves on his own volition, as opposed to being detained and being placed into Court Proceedings.  To state the uber-obvious, there is a huge cost associated to detaining and deporting the undocumented.

This inane law was passed in 1996.  And people wonder why the population of "illegal aliens", as they are perjoratively called by some, has risen during that same time period.  They have a better shot of hoping for the ever-elusive immigration reform rather than risk the statutory bars to re-entry.  

Now really, does current Immigration Law make sense?

Dan Ballecer (@dballecer on Twitter)