ImmigrationDHS mulling deportation policy changes
As part of an ongoing review of immigration deportation policies, DHS secretary Jeh Johnson is considering limiting deportations of undocumented immigrants who do not have serious criminal records. If adopted, the new policy would affect tens of thousands of immigrants who could have been deported because they committed repeat immigration violations such as re-entering the country illegally after being deported, failing to follow deportation orders, or missing an immigration court date.
As part of an ongoing review of immigration deportation policies, DHS secretary Jeh Johnson is considering limiting deportations of undocumented immigrants who do not have serious criminal records. If adopted, the new policy would affect tens of thousands of immigrants who could have been deported because they committed repeat immigration violations such as re-entering the country illegally after being deported, failing to follow deportation orders, or missing an immigration court date. If the new policy is adopted, immigration rights activists still want President Obama to extend the two-year old program which offers work permits to immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children to include other groups, including the parents of children born in the United States.
Huffington Post reports that John Sandweg, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), promoted the policy change before his departure. Clark Stevens, a spokesman for DHS said any report of Johnson considering Sandweg’s policy would be premature, although Johnson has reviewed policy options after seeking inputs from DHS officials, lawmakers, and other stakeholders.
If adopted, the new policy would focus deportation efforts on undocumented immigrants who recently crossed the border, those who pose a danger to national security or public safety, and those with criminal backgrounds.
“The time had come to focus ICE’s efforts exclusively on public safety and national security,” Sandweg said.
Comprehensive immigration legislation has been slow to pass in the House since the Senate passed its bill in 2013, and the White House has noted that its options are limited without Congressional action. “The only way to truly fix it is through congressional action. We have already tried to take as many administrative steps as we could,” Obama said at a recent news conference. “We’re going to review it one more time to see if there’s more that we can do.”
The White House has been focused on providing more limited, near-term solutions to support the undocumented immigrant population. Immigration agents have been ordered to use “prosecutorial discretion” when carrying out deportation laws, but activists want more legislative changes.
“I think that is a step in the right direction, but not enough,” said Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA de Maryland, an immigrant service organization. “We believe the president has the authority to stop deportations” of larger groups of people.
On the other side, some lawmakers have accused the White House of subverting the law through executive actions. “We’re already at a point where deportations are in a state of collapse and to go further would be exactly the wrong thing to do,” said Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama).
