I.C.E. MEN COMETH
Trump orders mass deportations Fed agents push roundup in NYC
WASHINGTON — As President Trump seeks to fulfill his campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday released new guidelines that could lead to the most widespread deportations the country has seen in decades.
The pair of memos aimed at enforcing Trump’s executive orders on immigration mean millions more people living in the U.S. illegally could become targets for deportation.
The memos signed by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly call for any undocumented immigrants to be deported if they’ve been convicted or even charged with a criminal offense, “have abused any program related to receipt of public benefits,” or “have engaged in fraud or willful misrepresentation in connection with any official matter before a governmental agency.”
That means undocumented immigrants who have committed even minor traffic infractions, received any government assistance, or used fake Social Security numbers to be able to work, common offenses among undocumented immigrants, could be shipped out of the country.
The new guidelines also give immigration officials broad latitude to deport anyone who they deem “poses a risk to public safety or national security.”
The guidelines codify and expand upon a pair of executive orders signed by Trump to rapidly escalate deportations of undocumented immigrants, a push that has already reportedly started with sweeps in major U.S. cities in recent weeks — and mark a major shift in U.S. policy, potentially targeting even those whose only crime was crossing the border illegally, after years in which they were mostly left alone by immigration authorities.
The memos greatly expand expedited removal of undocumented immigrants, allowing customs agents to deport more people faster and with fewer hurdles. The memos expand the period of expedited removal from two weeks to two years after people enter the country, and eliminate a requirement that they were caught within 100 miles of the border.
“It’s a real sweeping change in immigration enforcement,” said Ben Johnson, the executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “They make clear that they intend to deport anyone and everyone that they find in the United States, regardless of how long they’ve been here, whether they get a chance to talk to a judge or have any due process.
“There are a lot of people who need to go talk to a lawyer and find out what are their rights and what they can and should be doing to protect themselves, he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the memos “confirm that the Trump administration is willing to trample on due process, human decency, the well-being of our communities, and even protections for vulnerable children, in pursuit of a hyper-aggressive mass deportation policy,” promising to fight them in court.
But immigration hawks celebrated the move.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), a House Homeland Security Committee member, said the memos “overturn dangerous implementation policies” from the Obama administration and will “keep our communities safe from the scourge of illegal immigration.”
While President Barack Obama deported a record 2.5 million undocumented immigrants during his eight years in office, the new guidelines pave the way for the most widescale deportations since President Dwight Eisenhower’s in 1954. At the time, officials claimed they booted more than a million people and “solved” the immigration problem. Trump has praised the Eisenhower program as “effective.”
The new policies won’t be cheap, as the memos direct ICE to hire 10,000 new immigration and customs agents and 5,000 more border patrol agents, as well as increase the number of detention facilities.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the agencies are reviewing what the directives will cost, and whether they’ll need more taxpayer money to fulfill the goals. “Right
now, ICE and DHS in particular . . . are looking at what this is going to cost, and how much,” he said Tuesday.
Two Obama-era regulations that the new orders continue to let stand are the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows undocumented immigrants brought here as children to remain in the country, as well as the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program (DAPA), which allows some undocumented parents of American citizens to remain in the country.
Trump has repeatedly signaled mixed feelings about those programs, saying last week that he plans “to show great heart” in dealing with the so-called DREAMers. it was a line Spicer reiterated Tuesday — while saying that just because the memos don’t include DACA doesn’t mean the program will necessarily be left
alone.
“The President’s made clear when you have 12, 14, 15 million people in the country illegally that there has to be a system of priority,” Spicer said, without explaining where that estimated number came from.
The government has estimated approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently live in the U.S., a number that’s in line with studies from nongovernmental organizations such as Pew Research.
The guidelines also called to send some immigrants caught crossing the Mexican border illegally right back across the border, even if they’re not Mexicans.
New York Democrats lambasted the directives.
“No matter how much they deny it, it is clear that the White House is setting in motion their mass deportation plan, directing immigration agents to round up and quickly deport anyone who is undocumented,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Mayor de Blasio called it “hard evidence of the Trump administration’s interest in needlessly tearing apart families and spreading fear in immigrant communities,” while Gov. Cuomo said the guidelines “run counter to the values we stand for” and promised New York “will not close its doors.”