With many saying that immigration reform is dead, we have to look at what is the alternative. Unfortunately under the Obama administration so far, the United States has seen a continuation and expansion of policies that criminalize immigrants. The alternative to immigration reform being presented by the actions of the Federal Government is more people being incarcerated, tortured, and killed in detention centers across the country. Recently, Jean Montrivil was released from his three week detention in an ICE jail in Downtown New York City and another detention center in Pennsylvania. His story is representative of too many families.

Jean’s story represents so many of the problems that exist in the current broken system. Here is a man who had his U.S. legal residence but because of a crime in his past, that he served jail time for, was kept under close watch. Here is a man who established a life in the United States with citizen children, separated from his family. In Obama’s infamous few words uttered on immigration during the State of the Union address, the President said that those who respected the laws should be able to stay in this country. Does respecting the law not include paying for any crimes already committed? How long is an old criminal record a valid reason for deporting someone? When is the arbitrary cut off? Just who do these rules regarding deportation serve to protect? How is it possible to use the criminal justice system as a constant threat over someone’s life, playing with someone’s life the way they essentially have done with Jean Montrivil?

Jean Montrivil’s situation also is a vivid reminder of how U.S. foreign policy intersects with the criminal treatment of immigrants in the U.S. One of the reasons Jean Montrivil’s deporation was halted was because of the ousting of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, an ousting that some say was backed by the United States government.

Jean’s deportation is not off, nor is the deportation of other Haitians in ICE custody. Since the earthquake in Haiti, deportations to Haiti have been put on hold and TPS status is being offered to those who were in the U.S. prior to the quake. Jean, as a U.S. resident, even though he is under a deportation order, is not eligible for TPS. The attorney on Democracy Now! makes the comparison of how Cuban immigration to the U.S. has been treated compared to Haitian immigration. Here is where race and imperial politics collide. It’s more palatable for the U.S. to accept Cubans escaping from a government that is an “enemy” state and who can in some instances be racialized as white (claro Afro-Cubanos, a huge portion of the population face their own challenges within this framework). But accept Haitians, racialized as black, escaping from a natural disaster which in no small way was made worse by U.S. policies? Well that’s a whole different matter.