Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
DHS drafting deportation plans
10K more enforcement agents, alteration of travel ban discussed
Homeland Security officials developing sweeping new guidelines to carry out the president’s immigration directives.
WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department has drafted sweeping new guidelines aimed at aggressively detaining and deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, according to a pair of memoranda signed by DHS Secretary John Kelly.
The memos dated Friday seek to implement President Donald Trump’s directive to crack down on illegal immigration. Kelly outlines plans to hire thousands more enforcement agents, expand on the priority list for immigrants marked for immediate removal and enlist local law enforcement to help make arrests, according to a person briefed on the documents, who confirmed the details to The Associated Press.
“The surge of illegal immigration at the southern border has overwhelmed federal agencies and resources and has created a significant national security vulnerability to the United States,” Kelly wrote.
He said apprehensions on the southern U.S. border had seen an additional surge of 10,000 to 15,000 per month from 2015 to 2016.
The memos leave in place one directive from the Obama administration, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows young people who were brought into the country illegally as children to stay and obtain work permits. The program has protected about 750,000 immigrants since its inception in 2012. Trump previously indicated his desire to end the program, but at his news conference last week he indicated that he would “show great heart” toward the program.
The memos were reported first by The Washington Post and other news organizations. A U.S. official familiar with the documents did not dispute the accuracy of the memos signed by Kelly, which were originally scheduled for release Friday before they were postponed for White House review.
A White House official said the White House has raised objections with the documents and is working with DHS to finalize the policy. The official was not authorized to discuss the process publicly and insisted on anonymity.
Under the draft guidelines, Kelly seeks to “expeditiously hire” 10,000 more enforcement agents and 5,000 Border Patrol officers.
Seeking to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall along the Mexican border, Kelly also calls on Customs and Border Protection to “immediately begin planning, design, construction and maintenance of a wall, including the attendant lighting, technology (including sensors), as well as patrol and access roads.” He describes the wall as necessary to deter illegal immigration and calls it a “critical component” of Trump’s overall border security strategy.
He says the department will also prioritize for more immediate removal those who have been convicted of a crime; charged with a crime; committed fraud in connection with a matter before a government agency; abused any program related to public benefits; or have not complied with orders to leave the country.
On Saturday, Kelly said that the Trump administration is also considering a new version of the executive order banning travel of citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations that would allow travelers who were already on airplanes bound for the United States into the country once the ban goes into effect but would bar those who had not yet boarded.
“The president is contemplating releasing a tighter, more streamlined version of the first E.O.,” Kelly told a gathering of the Munich Security Conference. That order, issued a week into Trump’s presidency, was quickly stayed by courts, prompting the president to criticize the workings of the justice system.
“We will have this time the opportunity ... of input on the rollout plan, in particular that no one’s caught in the system coming overseas to our airports,” Kelly said. “It’s a good assumption” that green-card holders will be exempt, he said, referring to legal permanent residents.
A senior administration official said that green-card holders and dual citizens of the U.S. and any of those countries are exempt. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out — and reject — Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications.
On Sunday in New York City, more than a thousand people of various faiths rallied in support of U.S. Muslims and to protest Trump’s immigration policies. The “I Am A Muslim Too” rally was held in Times Square and was organized by several groups, including the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.