New DHS memos expand immigration enforcementty. Marco F.G. Tomakin New DHS memos expand immigration enforcement
In accordance with President Trump's executive orders on immigration, the US Department of Homeland Security issued two guidance memoranda on Tuesday, February 20, 2017. These memos seek to prevent further illegal immigration into the US, secure the southern border, and repatriate illegal aliens expeditiously. These are the over-arching objectives of these memos but as with anything that is in print, the devil is in the details. And these sweeping new guidelines are the very reasons why the undocumented and even the legal immigrants here in the US are trembling in fear.
First, increase in the number of immigration enforcers. There will be a massive hiring of additional 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and 5,000 additional Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. This means that there will be more CBP agents patrolling the borders and more ICE agents tracking down undocumented immigrants in order to initiate deportation proceedings. Not only that, state and local law enforcement personnel are now authorized to perform all law enforcement functions including the functions of an immigration officer such as the authority to investigate, identify, apprehend, arrest, detain, transport and conduct searches of an alien for the purposes of enforcing immigration laws. Thus, Pedro, an undocumented immigrant who was stopped by the police for not having an updated motor vehicle inspection sticker, could be referred to ICE and be deported. Or think of a case where an immigrant who was a victim or a witness of a crime would simply not bother to report to the police for fear that his immigration status, or that of anyone in his family, would also be investigated.
Second, expansion of enforcement. There is what we call in immigration law as prosecutorial discretion which means that if an undocumented alien has not committed any crime and does not pose a risk to his community, ICE prosecutor has the discretion to suspend removal or deportation proceedings against him with the idea that there are far more serious cases that need their attention. That has now been rescinded and is no longer a policy. As it stands, there is now a broader coverage of prosecution which include those immigrants who were simply charged or suspected of having committed crimes or whose offense is simply that he overstayed. In short, if you came to the US as a tourist and you stayed beyond what was allowed, ICE would still drag you to immigration court with the same enthusiasm as with the one who committed a felony.
Third, expanding expedited removal. Expedited removal is a process usually performed in the border where if an immigrant crosses and gets apprehended there and is found to be inadmissible to the US, he is simply returned to his home country without going through immigration court. That has been added with the inclusion of those who are in the interiors of the country still bypassing the immigration court disregarding due process. We shall find out how this would be implemented once DHS publishes its separate guidelines on this matter.
There are some other notable provisions in those DHS memos that have huge impacts on immigrant individuals, families and communities such as the obtaining public benefits, restriction of the DHS's parole authority, stricter screening of asylum applications, limiting and narrowing the definition of unaccompanied minors and the prosecution of their parents and relatives among others. Worthy to mention here is that the Dreamers or those who applied under DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) are not covered, as of now. I emphasized "as of now "because anytime that policy will be under review.
In the new reality of a Trump presidency, who knows what he shall target next as far as immigration is concerned. We shall see.
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