Indiantown immigration activist among those likely to get deportation reprieve
tcpalm.com
By John Lantigua Palm Beach Post
Posted August 19, 2011 at 9:56 a.m.

Indiantown resident Manuel Guerra was looking at the possibility that, before the end of the year, he would be shipped back to Mexico, where he hasn't lived since he was 16.

One of the most visible immigration activists on the Treasure Coast, who has campaigned to win the right to stay in the U.S., had for weeks been awaiting nervously his final deportation hearing Sept. 1.

Then Thursday he received news that amounted to a reprieve not only for him but many other undocumented people.

Two senior White House officials, speaking on a conference call with reporters around the nation, said the Obama administration has decided to cull all the 300,000 pending deportation cases it has on its books and apprehend and deport only those persons who are considered priority offenders.

That list would include: anyone considered a threat to national security, persons who have committed serious crimes, gang members, persons who recently crossed the borders illegally, or who are repeat immigration offenders.

The officials also said the new guidelines will dictate who ends up in trouble with immigration agents and prosecutors in the first place. In other words, even if persons are in the country illegally and have been for a while, they should be able to avoid being deported, as long as they don't fit into the priority categories and continue not to. At least that will be true under the current administration.

Guerra, 27, said he fits none of those categories and many other undocumented persons facing deportation don't either. They could find themselves, at least for the moment, off the hook.

"My lawyer called to tell me he had spoken with the prosecutor just a while before," Guerra said. "He told me that the prosecutor had decided to drop the case and I will be allowed to stay."

The attorney, Richard Huber of Boynton Beach, confirmed that.

"This is something that came from above and it's huge for a lot of my clients," Huber said.

Cecilia Munoz, the White House director of Intergovernmental Affairs, posted the new policy on the White House blog Thursday.

"It makes no sense to spend our enforcement resources on these low-priority cases, when they could be used with more impact on others, including individuals who have been convicted of serious crimes," she wrote.

"So (the Department of Homeland Security), along with the Department of Justice, will be reviewing the current deportation caseload to clear out low-priority cases on a case-by-case basis and make more room to deport people who have been convicted of crimes or pose a security risk," Munoz continued. "And they will take steps to keep low-priority cases out of the deportation pipeline in the first place."

"In the end, this means more immigration enforcement pressure where it counts the most, and less where it doesn't — that's the smartest way to follow the law, while we stay focused on working with the Congress to fix it," she said.

The statement drew immediate applause from advocates for immigrants.

"We have long urged ICE (the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) to stop targeting immigrants with no or minor criminal histories, with little success," said Romy Lerner, a supervising attorney for the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, which represents clients throughout South Florida. "If ICE is now truly committed to doing the right thing, this is a significant and welcome change."

But the change in policy also drew speedy condemnation by opponents of the legalization of undocumented persons.

"Today's policy announcement clearly demonstrates the Obama administration's defiance of both the constitutional separation of powers and the will of the American public in its relentless effort to gain amnesty for illegal aliens," stated Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform on the organization's website.

"Having failed in the legislative process, the Obama administration has simply decided to usurp Congress' constitutional authority and implement an amnesty program for millions of illegal aliens," Stein said.

The announcement Thursday followed a memo issued June 17 by ICE Director John Morton advising ICE personnel that resources were limited and that they should employ "prosecutorial discretion" when deciding who to put in deportation proceedings.

Morton's memo gave his personnel 19 other factors to consider when deciding who to target, including length of time in the country, age at time of arrival, how avidly the person has pursued an education, and ties to his or her current community.

"Out of those 19 things, I qualify under about 12 of them," Guerra said. "I'm feeling pretty good about things right now."

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