The immigration laws we have had on the books since 1996 are the toughest in 100 years. The last thing we need are more punitive ones.

Ask Gurdev Gill.

The expanding definition of an aggravated felony raises a troubling question: is the government's immigration policy of "one strike, you're out" tipping the scales of justice, and ruining people's lives? If ever there was someone symbolic of the American dream, it's Gurdev Gill.

The 1988 deportation law was changed in 1996.

This law as written in 1988 was meant to deport only felons who'd committed serious crimes like murder or drug trafficking. But in 1996 Congress broadened the law. And worse, they made it retroactive. Which means now immigration authorities can look back twenty, thirty, even forty years -- and virtually any minor offense, like drunk driving, even shoplifting, is enough to get a longtime resident deported.