New Immigration Policy to Halt Some Illegal Immigrant Deportations

[Jeanfromfillmore]

New Immigration Policy to Halt Some Illegal Immigrant Deportations
Federal authorities have issued a new policy aimed at stopping deportation proceedings for some illegal immigrants
, according to a memo issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The memo, which ICE released on Aug. 20, could affect up to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who are married or related to a U.S. citizen or a legal resident who has filed a petition on their behalf. Illegal immigrants with criminal convictions will not qualify under the plan. ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton wrote the memo to Peter Vincent, principal legal adviser and head of the agency's removal operations.
The memo directs ICE attorneys to check cases of detained illegal immigrants for any "serious" or "adverse" factors weighing against dismissal, including criminal convictions, fraud, national security and public safety considerations.
"If no investigations … or serious adverse factors exist, the offices of chief counsel should promptly move to dismiss proceedings," the memo reads. "Once the Field Office Director is notified, the FOD must release the alien."
The change in policy could affect thousands of the estimated 17,000 pending removal cases. According to ICE data, nearly 40,000 immigrants obtained U.S residency status due to sponsorship of relatives who were legal residents in fiscal year 2009. By comparison, more than 393,000 illegal immigrants were deported during that same span.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, likened the change to a "free pass" for illegal immigrants, a characterization federal authorities denied.
“Actions like this demoralize ICE agents who are trying to do their job and enforce the law,” Grassley told The New York Times. “Unfortunately, it appears this is more evidence that the Obama administration would rather circumvent Congress and give a free pass to illegal immigrants who have already broken our law.”
A Department of Homeland Security official told Fox News that the new policy was designed in July 2009 to improve docket efficiency.
Richard Rocha, ICE's deputy press secretary, said the agency remains focused on removing foreign nationals who have criminal convictions.
"This administration is committed to smart, effective immigration reform, prioritizing the arrest and removal of criminal aliens and those who pose a danger to national security,'' Rocha said in a statement. "In 2010 to date, ICE has removed more than 150,000 convicted criminals -- a record number.
"ICE is not engaged in a 'backdoor' amnesty and has placed more people in immigration proceedings this year than ever before. ICE has implemented a new policy to expedite the removal of criminal aliens and those who pose a danger to national security by ensuring these cases are heard."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/27/new-immigration-policy-halt-illegal-immigrant-deportations/

[Jeanfromfillmore]

ICE skirts Congress by changing policy and halting deportations
ICE skirts immigration law and begins to release illegal immigrants who have already been arrested and are waiting to be deported.
A memo from released yesterday by John Morton of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), included a new policy change that could affect thousands awaiting deportation. Morton signed a memo that went out to agencies across the country stating any illegal immigrants who have been charged with deportation have their cases reviewed and be released or absolved of any legal issues with the federal government if they have not committed any serious crime.
However, there is a catch. The suspected illegal immigrants must be able to prove they are taking care of necessary paperwork with ICE and have not committed a felony crime.
The memo read in part; “This memorandum establishes ICE policy for the handling of removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) involving applications or petitions filed by, or on behalf of, aliens in removal proceedings. This policy outlines a framework for ICE to request expedited adjudication of an application or petition for an alien in removal proceedings that is pending before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services if the approval of such an application or petition would provide and immediate basis for relief to the alien. The policy will allow ICE and EOIR to address a major inefficiency in present practice and thereby avoid unnecessary delay and expenditure of resources.” Read the entire memo; http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/us/27immig_memo.pdf
This new policy at ICE comes as a major blow to agents who have already given ICE’s leader, Morton a vote of no confidence.
“It’s dispiriting for federal agents,” says Mark Krikorian of Center for Immigration Studies a Washington D.C. think tank.
While the majority of American’s don’t want amnesty given to those who entered the country illegally and have committed crimes just by crossing the border or overstaying visas the proverbial golden ticket.
Many contend management at ICE and the Obama White House has already begun a back-door amnesty process bypassing Congress.
“Is it an end run around Congress?” Krikorian asked. “In an informal sense, yes. This is a policy decision that is trying to make an end run around Congress. They are saying lets abuse our existing authority to create a defacto amnesty.”
Lamar Smith of Texas, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told The Washington Times that the Obama administration is "simply not serious about enforcing all of our immigration laws."
However, ICE management officials claim the new policy outlined in the memo will reduce a burgeoning court- case backlog and free up agents to focus on those in the country illegally who are involved with serious criminal matters.
Whichever way you look at it, the new ICE policy will grant thousands of illegal immigrants slated for deportation a stay- or in layman terms a chance for amnesty.
http://www.examiner.com/county-political-buzz-in-san-diego/ice-skirts-congress-by-changing-policy-and-halting-deportations

[Twoller]

And so our current policies for legal immigration remain a powerful tool for illegal immigration.