BY DAVID OLSON The Press Enterprise STAFF WRITER

Published: 18 January 2012 08:16 PM


Inland immigration activists Wednesday asked an Obama administration official to convey their frustration on what they see as overly harsh deportation enforcement to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.



January Contreras, ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, stopped at Riverside City College for a 2¼-hour meeting with about three-dozen activists, education officials and others.

Contreras defended the Obama administration, pointing to policy shifts that focus immigration enforcement on criminals, recent border-crossers and repeat immigration-law violators.

In August, Napolitano said the government would review all deportation cases and halt proceedings against people it determines to be “low priority.” The move was harshly criticized by conservative anti-illegal-immigration activists.

Contreras said the complaints she heard in Riverside about overzealous deportation actions and other issues were familiar.

“I hear that everywhere I go: That people are concerned they don’t see the results (of the Obama administration’s policy shift) on the ground,” she said.

Contreras said she is holding meetings across the country in part to find out how policy changes signed in Washington are being implemented locally.

Contreras’ office is independent of the immigration-services agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, and she reports directly to Napolitano.

Emilio Amaya, executive director of San Bernardino Community Service Center, an immigrant-assistance organization, said despite the Obama administration’s vows, he has seen no drop in the number of Inland undocumented immigrants picked up for minor violations, turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and then deported.

“Someone’s arrested for driving without a license and they end up in deportation proceedings,” Amaya said. “The problem is how this was actually proposed is different than what it is in the field.”

Amaya also has talked with undocumented domestic-violence victims afraid to call the police for fear they’ll be deported.

Deportations have risen under the Obama administration to a record high of nearly 400,000 a year.
Contreras said the changes in deportation policy may take time to be fully implemented locally.

“I hope that … in the coming months, you’ll start to see changes in immigration court,” she said.
Contreras said immigration is a personal issue for her. Contreras’ husband immigrated illegally and gained residency — and later citizenship — under the 1986 immigration amnesty. He’s now an engineer.






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