The DHS memos did not say anything significantly new compared with the January 25 executive order, particularly as they related to those categories of immigrants now considered a high priority for deportation, according to local immigration lawyers. But, as local immigration attorney Manoj Govindaiah explained, under Trump’s new directives, any undocumented immigrant charged with a crime is subject to deportation.
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Those who are arrested and can not prove that they have been in the United States for over two years continuously will be subject to “expedited removal”.
New guidelines that empower federal authorities to more aggressively detain and deport undocumented immigrants inside the United States and at the border were signed off on by Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly and released on Tuesday.
There is support for the policy shift from at least one group: NumbersUSA.
Kelly’s memos do not address Trump’s attempted ban on USA entry for residents of seven Muslim-majority countries.
Though Congress has passed extensive enforcement laws, it is up to each administration to decide how comprehensively it will enforce these laws, balancing concerns about security and open borders against the economic value unauthorized immigrants may bring. It was later scaled back by the Obama administration. They are wide-reaching and nearly all-encompassing. The policies also make it more hard for migrants to claim asylum. Robert Menendez (D) of New Jersey in a statement quoted by The Washington Post, saying the guidance could easily turn into racial profiling. City Hall estimates in Chicago alone there are an estimated 500,000 undocumented immigrants, between 15 and 20 percent of the city’s population who could all be affected by the crackdown. That includes neighborhoods in North Jersey where thousands of undocumented immigrants have lived in recent years, working steady jobs, obeying the law, and adding to the economic and social fabric of the region. “That violating immigration law is no longer a secondary offense”.
What happens if this new policy runs into a legal challenge – like the president’s travel ban did?
Mr Spicer was asked if Mr Trump would extend the same sentiments to Muslims who had experienced prejudice, but he spoke instead about the dangers posed by “radical Islamic terrorism”. Specifically, Trump is reinitiating the Secure Communities and 287 (g) programs, which authorize police to act like immigration agents and which allow continued imprisonment of illegals suspected of having committed crimes, before they are handed over to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. ProPublica reports that the plan, meant as a partial solution to the huge backlog in United States immigration courts, could also mean sending Central Americans to Mexico.
The memo officially leaves in place Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama administration’s 2012 program known as DACA that tries to keep “Dreamers”, undocumented children who came to the U.S.at a young age, from being deported.
The memos detail the increased resources that will be directed to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agencies, including the hiring of 10,000 officers and agents.
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But the new policies won’t affect anyone now protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, otherwise known as DACA.
