ABC News Answers Your Questions About Immigration

May 15, 2006 — -- ABC News' Jake Tapper answers your questions on President Bush's speech about his immigration reform plan.

Question: Is it reasonable to expect a class-action lawsuit to be filed by all those who entered the country legally? I am one who went through the system, spent time and money to achieve citizenship and I feel mighty upset that illegral immigrants are demanding rights and that they should be permitted to become citizens. If someone doesn't file a class-action lawsuit then I will. Thanks. -- Thomas Webster, Galveston, Texas

Answer: Hi, Thomas. I don't understand why you'd file a lawsuit. But heck, this is a fairly litigious society, so you probably wouldn't be the only one.

Q: I am 16 and in high school civics and my debate position for tomorrow is that I do NOT support amnesty. Can you provide any helpful hints as to why amnesty would not be "good." Thanks a lot. -- Alli, Norwalk, CT

A: Alli, "amnesty" means essentially a "get out of jail free" card -- no punsishment, all is forgiven. And as President Bush said tonight, we are a nation of laws. The president would argue that allowing illegal immigrants to earn their citizenship through a rigorous and lengthy process is the way to deal with this issue, but just clapping your hands and saying everyone in the U.S. illegally is now officially a citizen is unfair, unjust, and would only encourage future lawbreaking.

Q: How can a president of the U.S. compare immigrants to fish? Catch and release is a term all good fisherfolk know well. It is degrading for a president to be so unschooled as to talk about catch and release and also to use the word, sneak. Is there a way that the people of the U.S. can educate this president? -- Agnes, St. Paul, Minn.

A: You are too quick to judge, my friend! President Bush, though he may be an avid outdoorsman, is not inappropriately borrowing fisherman's lingo. "Catch and release" is what those in the Immigration Biz refer to when they're talking about a specific policy for the deportation (and not jailing) of illegal immigrants otherwise known as "Voluntary Departure."

To quote one definition, from underneath the headline "Catch and Release" on a the website of the Center for Immigration Studies:

"Intended as a cost-saving measure to streamline the deportation process, voluntary departure allows aliens to enter into an agreement to leave the United States on their own volition and to avoid the consequences of a formal order of removal (such as being barred from re-entering the country for 10 years). This frees the alien to leave and attempt to re-enter legally, leave and enter illegally, or violate the agreement and continue to stay here illegally."

Q: Does this 'amnesty' only apply to Mexicans? How about all the Africans living here illegally who have been working and paying taxes for the last 10 years. Are they all now eligible to apply for citizenship? --Cetecil