Biden administration announces new immigration enforcement priorities

The Joe Biden administration has announced new immigration enforcement priorities amid the Haitian migration crisis.

US Secretary of Homeland

Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said the new Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law aims to “better focus the department’s resources on the apprehension and removal of non-citizens who are a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security and advance the interests of justice by ensuring a case-by-case assessment of whether an individual poses a threat”.

In the last six months, Mayorkas said he held multiple engagements with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement workforce and leadership across the country, as well as with a range of stakeholders including law enforcement, civic and community leaders to inform the new guidance.

“For the first time, our guidelines will, in the pursuit of public safety, require an assessment of the individual and take into account the totality of the facts and circumstances,” Mayorkas said.

Last weekend, New York Attorney General Letitia James joined a coalition of 17 attorneys general across the US in dispatching a letter to Biden and Mayorkas expressing deep concern over the treatment of thousands of Haitian refugees currently seeking humanitarian aid along the border in Texas.