Under The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, many legal permanent residents are subject to mandatory detention and deported each year. Many are deported for committing minor, nonviolent crimes, and judges have no discretion to allow them to stay in the U.S., even if they have U.S. citizen spouses or children.
IIRIRA = US Citizens are separated from family members because of statutory bars, expedited removal and mandatory detention; asylum seekers are subject to expedited removal; human and civil rights are eroded; creates huge enforcement costs, confusion & complications in state courts, clogs courts, & destroys lives and families. See http://www.civilrights.org/monitor/vol11_no3/art7p1.html