U.S. Tries Different Tack To Bring In Fugitive Aliens

From The Wall Street Journal:

The Department of Homeland Security is due to announce today a new strategy to deal with illegal immigration: self-deportation.

The pilot program, christened "Operation Scheduled Departure," will offer illegal immigrants – primarily those who have ignored or eluded final deportation orders -- a window of opportunity to voluntarily surrender to U.S. authorities. Those who participate in the program can count on cooperation from the government to enable them to close out their affairs prior to leaving.

The U.S. is home to more than 550,000 so-called fugitive aliens, immigrants who have received final orders to quit the country but have not done so. The majority of them do not have a criminal record, and they are the targets of the pilot program.