Thread: New Obama policy warns agents not to detain illegal immigrant parents

New Obama policy warns agents not to detain illegal immigrant parents

By Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
Friday, August 23, 2013

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  ** FILE ** Illegal immigrants at a U.S. Border Patrol facility in ...

The Obama administration issued a new policy Friday that says immigration agents should try not to arrest and deport illegal immigrant parents of minor children. The move adds to the categories of people the administration is trying not to deport.

In a nine-page memo, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents should use “prosecutorial discretion” to try to avoid detaining parents and, if parents are detained, agents should make sure they have the ability to visit with their children or participate in family court proceedings.

The move won praise from immigrant-rights groups who said it’s a step toward a less harsh detention policy. But a top Republican blasted the memo as another effort by the Obama administration to circumvent the law.

“President Obama has once again abused his authority and unilaterally refused to enforce our current immigration laws by directing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop removing broad categories of unlawful immigrants,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert W. Goodlatte, Virginia Republican.

Mr. Goodlatte, whose committee is in charge of many of the immigration bills the House could consider later this year and who is working on a legalization bill for young illegal immigrants, said the Obama administration move “poisons the debate” and shows the president is trying to “politicize the issue” rather than work for a compromise bill.

The memo is the latest in a series of directives issued by ICE and by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that try to lay out priorities for who the government will detain and try to deport.

Ms. Napolitano says her department is only funded to deport about 400,000 immigrants a year, out of a total population of about 11 million. She said it makes sense to focus those deportation efforts on immigrants with serious criminal records or who have repeatedly violated immigration laws.

A year ago, she issued a policy granting tentative legal status to young illegal immigrants brought to the country as children, who call themselves Dreamers.

That policy began accepting applications in August 2012 and as of the end of this July had approved legal status for more than 430,000 illegal immigrants.

The new memo instructs ICE agents to give special consideration when they encounter an illegal immigrant who is a parent or legal guardian of a child.
“FODs shall continue to weigh whether an exercise of prosecutorial discretion may be warranted for a given alien and shall consider all relevant factors in this determination, including whether the alien is a parent or legal guardian of a USC or LPR minor, or is a primary caretaker of a minor,” said the new memo, known as the “Family Interest Directive.” FODs are field operations directors, LPRs are legal permanent residents and USCs are U.S. citizens.

Bruce Lesley, president of the First Focus Campaign for Children, said the only long-term solution is for Congress to pass a law, but said in the meantime the new policy helps.

“The Family Interest Directive is a major victory for children, reducing the likelihood that immigration enforcement will tear families apart and reducing the harm to kids when separation is unavoidable,” he said in a statement.

ICE agents and officers sued to try to block the policies, but a federal judge in Texas last month turned down their case. The judge said they were probably correct in arguing that the law requires them to arrest illegal immigrants, but he said he didn’t have jurisdiction since it was a matter for collective bargaining, not for the courts.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2cpzY7lsC

So the federal government doesn't enforce immigration laws already written however the prez can make up his own rules because he feels like it. Our laws haven't been enforced by various administrations but this one is way out of control.

"[H]e shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
and shall commission all the officers of the United States."
- the Constitution of the United States, Art. ii, § 3, ¶ 4.

And in case he doesn't, there is always Section 4:

"The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

And Art. ii, § 2, ¶ 1, c. 3:

"[The President] shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."

And if Mr. Obama doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack. OUCH!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

It's Worse Than You Thought

Another expansion of the Obama Regime Administrative Amnesty has hit the news. The Regime has announced further restrictions on the arrest, detention, and removal of illegal aliens, this time based on if they have issue legally present in the United States.

Washington Times August 23, 2013 by Stephan Dinan

New Obama Policy Warns Agents Not To Detain Illegal Immigrant Parents

The Obama administration issued a new policy Friday that says immigration agents should try not to arrest and deport illegal immigrant parents of minor children. The move adds to the categories of people the administration is trying not to deport.

In a nine-page memo, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents should use “prosecutorial discretion” to try to avoid detaining parents and, if parents are detained, agents should make sure they have the ability to visit with their children or participate in family court proceedings.

However, it is worse than what the Times reports. Firstly, it violates the Privacy Act of 1974 by making private information about minors and arrested illegal aliens available outside actors without a legal relationship to the detained alien or the minor in question to so-called advocacy groups and secondly grants such advocacy groups official access to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO) supervisory personnel, effectively inserting radical leftwing groups into ERO management of the removal (deportation) process.

ICE August 23, 2013

ICE Policy Directive 11064.1 Facilitating Parental Interests in the Course of Civil Immigration Enforcement Activities

5.1 Field Points of Contact for Parental Rights ("Field POCs")

2) Each Field POC shall receive and address public inquiries related to the parental rights or family ties of detained alien parents or legal guardians of minor children. Careful consideration should be given to cases involving parents or legal guardians who are primary caretakers, those who have a direct interest in family court or child welfare proceedings, and those who minor children are USCs or LPRs. Inquiries may be received from detained or non-detained aliens, their family members, attorneys or representatives, advocacy groups, state [sic] and local family courts, and/or child welfare services, among others.

The extensive list of persons able to either act, contact ERO, or receive information about a non-detained minor or parental alien in custody is illegally broad. Generally, only a spouse or representative attorney or other representative with a Form G-28, Notice of Entry As Attorney Or Accredited Representative, may receive information or present inquiries to ERO about a detained alien. Otherwise to discuss or release any information about an alien is illegal.


The most pernicious aspect though is that it gives official recognition to so-called advocacy groups, which are in the whole radical racist groups with a political agenda. These groups are in no way acting in the best interests 0f any given alien or their minor children, but in the groups own political interests. This gives these radical communist cultural Marxist groups a wedge to enter into the ERO management chain, imposing their ideology and advocacy for illegal immigration within the removal process and ERO management structure. It essentially gives these radical groups veto power over individual custody and deportation decisions.


Worse though, the instructions to the field expand the Obama Regime Administrative Amnesty by authorizing the return of previously deported illegal aliens to participate in legal processes involving their minor children.

5.7 Facilitation of Return

1) If a lawfully removed alien...provides to ICE verifiable evidence indicating that he or she has a hearing or hearings related to his or her termination of parental or legal guardianship rights before a family court or child welfare authority in the United States, and the court or child welfare authority has determined that the removed parent or legal guardian must be present, rather than participating via other means, ICE may...facilitate the return of the alien to the United States by grant of parole for the sole purpose of participation in the termination of parental rights proceedings.

While initially appearing restrictive, it is inevitable that this will expand to any deported parent in the name of family reunification. It will also add to the huge caseload of absconded illegal aliens as these illegal aliens paroled into the United States will inevitably fail to voluntarily return after they are paroled into the United States. Clearly this policy is designed to increase the amount of illegal aliens in the United States for the upcoming expansion of the Administrative Amnesty.

http://federaleagent86.blogspot.com/...u-thought.html

Original article added to Homepage 8/24/2013--

http://www.alipac.us/content/new-oba...-parents-2208/

Goodlatte criticizes ICE directive on parents

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, blasted an Obama Administration policy directive that immigration officials exercise “prosecutorial discretion” (lawyer-speak for declining to bring a case) against illegal immigrations who are the main caretakers of minor children or who are involved in family court matters involving a minor or who are parents or legal guardians whose minor children are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

“President Obama has once again abused his authority and unilaterally refused to enforce our current immigration laws by directing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop removing broad categories of unlawful immigrants,” Goodlatte said.

“ The primary reason why our immigration system is broken today is because our immigration laws have largely been ignored by past and present administrations.

It’s imperative that we prevent this from happening again by taking away the enforcement ‘on/off’ switch from the President,” he said.

Goodlatte said the new directive, which is signed by the acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, “also poisons the debate surrounding immigration reform and shows that the Administration is not serious about fixing our broken immigration system. Instead of working with Congress to address problems with our immigration system, the President is working against us…

“President Obama’s disregard for the rule of law only encourages more illegal immigration,” he added.



- See more at: http://blogs.roanoke.com/politics/20....FxMiRCAJ.dpuf
http://blogs.roanoke.com/politics/2013/08/26/goodlatte-criticizes-ice-directive-on-parents/

August 26, 2013 By Daniel Greenfield
frontpagemag.com



Since a large percent, possibly even a majority of illegal aliens in this country are parents of children, this acts as a mini-amnesty. Or a De Facto amnesty, as Marco Rubio would put it.

The difference between Obama’s de facto amnesties and Ryan, McCain and Rubio’s real amnesty is that real amnesty would provide real legal status and citizenship. While Obama’s mini-amnesty just makes public his refusal to enforce the law.

The Obama administration issued a policy late last week telling immigration agents to try not to arrest and deport illegal immigrant parents of minor children — a move that adds to the categories of people the administration is trying not to deport.

In a nine-page memo issued Friday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents should use “prosecutorial discretion” to try to avoid detaining parents

“President Obama has once again abused his authority and unilaterally refused to enforce our current immigration laws by directing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to stop removing broad categories of unlawful immigrants,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican.

It’s not clear how many illegal immigrants could be aided by the latest guidance, nor how many parents already in the deportation pipeline could be released or transferred.

Let’s guesstimate a lot.

“Twenty-one percent of nonimmigrant households are couples with children. In other words, nuclear families. In households of illegal immigrants, that number jumps to 47 percent, according to 2008 data.”

“More than half of the adult men are in families, are married, or have a partner,” he says. “And most of them, 80 percent of that half, have children here. The women represent about 40 percent of the adults, and almost all of them are not here by themselves.”

The law. Obama just doesn’t believe in it.

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenf...llegal-aliens/

T

he women represent about 40 percent of the adults, and almost all of them are not here by themselves.”

But they claim they are alone to get the welfare.