care if you see the person committing a crime,its a crime whether he gets convicted in a court or not.....
Harry, there are rules that are applied...it is not when you cross the border outside of entry points, it is automatically a crime.
People who cross seeking asylum, meeting the preliminary criteria for asylum, are not criminals....not until they get their due process in an immigration court and a judge has denied them asylum.
Even then, they are not criminals....but can become criminals if they don't self deport, and find a way to avoid deportation....then when caught they get another chance to defend themselves of their misdemeanor charges of illegal entry or illegal stay... in a court of law.
And if convicted of the misdemeanor of illegal entry and are deported, if they are caught entering the country illegally again, they can be charged with a felony, and then they get due process again, and a day in court to defend themselves of the felony charge.
All those undocumented illegals crossing, or staying beyond a VISA time limit, have NOT committed a criminal offense, but are covered under a Civil Offense, our Civil Laws...with fines as penalties.... Unless they are also charged with a misdemeanor crime. Most are NOT charged with a criminal offense, and have only committed Civil Disobedience....they are NOT criminals....
This was all new to me....only through concentrated research did it become known to me...
And it is even much more complicated...there are parolee, and rules and regs for them, and refugee and rules for them, etc.
Putting everyone who crossed the border outside of entry points in to one big hand basket filled with criminals, simply isn't the actual case....
It's why there are a gazillion suits out there now, working their way through the courts.