Ricardo Inzunza of Starkville addressed the Eupora Rotary Club about immigration at is Oct. 15 luncheon meeting.
He served as deputy commissioner of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service under president George H.W. Bush. Before his INS posting, President Ronald Reagan assigned Inzunza to duties as the deputy director of the Asylum Policy and Review Unit for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Reagan also appointed him to serve as director of the Division of Consumer Affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy and to the position of director, Military Equal Opportunity Programs for the Department of Defense.
In his current capacity, as CEO of RIA International Group, Inzunza is often asked to serve as a business consultant to clients such as the World Bank and the Peoples Republic of China, where he has represented the Jia Ming Group, the Great Wall Group and Euro-Mandarin Aviation. He has also consulted extensively in East, West and South Africa.
Inzunza received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland, his master of science in business from the Catholic University of America and his doctorate from Portland State University.
Inzunza said much of what people hear about immigration is misinformation, asserting that the term “illegal immigrants” is an oxymoron — “There’s only immigration (not legal or illegal).” He also said not all immigrants are criminals and do not come to the United States to “pillage and plunder.”
Inzunza explained that the two ways to come to the United States are as immigrants and non-immigrants. The legal definition of an immigrant, he said, is one who has requested and been granted permission to reside in the United States permanently. He defined non-immigrants as those who come here for a short period of time, such as tourists, students or temporary workers.
People here without an immigration status are those who cross the border illegally and are subject to a fine, he said. If they don’t go back after five years, they can be put in deportation proceedings.
Migrants are people who move from one location to another to reside temporarily, such as farm workers, mainly to support their families. Inzunza said migrant and refugee caravans traveling to the Mexico-United States border shouldn’t be coming here, but asked if there is a better and more humane way of dealing with them rather than incarceration. He noted that processing of asylum seekers was once done in Costa Rica but was canceled.
Referring to the cost of incarcerating people who enter the country unlawfully, Inzunza said, “Is it really worth it to detain people who don’t pose a flight or security risk? That’s a decision we’re paying for.”
He also said, “The people need to make sure they get all the facts. …We need more thought put into our policies.”
He said 10 million people are here now without an immigration status and 80% of those have been here more than 20 years. Few people are crossing the southern border now, according to Inzunza. More are going back to Mexico, which is achieving a degree of economic parity, than entering the United States, he said.
People who are coming in and overstaying their immigration visas aren’t Hispanics in the main, he said, noting that India, China and Mexico are the top three countries immigrating to the United States.
