Punishment for Undocumented Americans Should Equal the Crime

Some would send the undocumented immigrants back where they came, telling them to get in line behind those who are coming legally.

Go back to Mexico. Wait for five years.

I turn to the Bill of Rights, to the 13th Amendment, where it says excessive fines shall not be imposed. Haven't we always supposed the punishment should not exceed the crime?

If I watched a movie without a ticket, would the theater ban me for five years? If I rode TRAX without a ticket, would I be forbidden to use the train for five years? And, the requirement to return to their home country can be more harsh to some immigrants. For some, the cartels are waiting for them, the immigrant having been enticed or coerced into a difficult-to-pay agreement to help them cross the border.

Stop and consider their offense. The immigrant is in the U.S. without proper paperwork. This is an offense, and a punishment is justified, but it should be just. If we send them back, I say let them return to the U.S. as quick as possible.