NPR had a broadcast yesterday about Jose Alvarez, a "non-violent drug offender" who was deported from the U.S.  He says America cruelly divided his family by deporting him.

You may wonder what his nonviolent drug offense was.

So unimportant was his conviction that some articles about his case like this one will not tell you what his crime was.  But NPR and other sources reluctantly admit that he was a crystal meth dealer. That's nonviolent, right?

Alvarez was deported from Long Beach to Tijuana after being pulled over in February by the Cal State Long Beach Police Department for a broken headlight. The officer discovered Alvarez had an immigration detainer request placed on him in relation to a nonviolent drug charge 21 years ago.

His wife, Infa, is a naturalized citizen. Alvarez has six U.S.-born children[.] ...

Infa said her husband is the breadwinner of the family.

"He's not a criminal," she said.

Alvarez said he was in fact deported, twice: The first time was from San Francisco after he was detained by police shortly after his arrival to the U.S. in the 1970s, and again in 1999 after serving his time in prison.

"I had to come back," he said. "My kids were young."

There was no other way to live with his children.. or was there?

Last month Alvarez's wife, sons, daughters and grandchildren went to visit him in Mexico.

Alvarez, meanwhile, isn't sure what he'll do. He's frightened for his safety; violence from drug cartels prevented him from returning to his native Michoacan.

"You can't live there," he said of his hometown.

"It's ironic. I thought serving the country would be good for me. I did so much and now they're separating my family," [his son] Jorge Alvarez said. 

Questions for discussion:

1) Is it cruel to deport a convicted drug dealer back to a place with violent drug cartels?

2) If Alvarez can't come to the United States to be with his family, is there any other way his family can be reunited?

3) What do you make of it when NPR moves the goal posts to promote not merely amnesty for illegals in general, but amnesty even for illegal alien drug dealers?

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.