Obama setting priorities on immigration policy

Chicago Tribune
July 27, 2009 Monday
By Anna Gorman, Tribune Newspapers

As Congress moves slowly on immigration reform, President Barack Obama is making numerous policy changes in enforcement and other areas designed to shift priorities and boost confidence in the administration as it lays the groundwork for possible legislation.

Most of the changes are being driven by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and are primarily aimed at illegal immigrants with criminal records and employers who hire undocumented workers.

Napolitano is working with legislators to develop a strategy for comprehensive legislative reforms.

In the meantime, she is "taking steps to ensure enforcement is conducted wisely and well," said White House spokesman Nick Shapiro.

The recent administrative changes include:

*New guidelines directing immigration agents to target employers that hire illegal immigrants rather than simply arresting undocumented employees.

* A requirement that all local police agencies deputized to check immigration status and turn criminals over for possible deportation sign new agreements pledging to prioritize those who pose a risk to public safety.

*Implementation of a rule that requires federal contractors to use E-Verify, an online employment verification program.

*Expansion of a program that uses government databases during the booking process to find illegal immigrants in the nation's jails.

Napolitano is expected to next address immigration detention.

Administration officials said top experts in the field are looking at all the facilities, both private and public, to see if they are efficiently, safely and effectively operated. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees the detention centers, has been heavily criticized for providing inadequate medical care and for violating detainees' due process.

Meanwhile, other administration policy changes are under way.

In the immigration courts, Attorney General Eric Holder overturned an order by the Bush administration that limited the ability of immigrants fighting deportation to make claims of incompetent counsel.

At the border, Napolitano has shifted hundreds of federal agents and intelligence analysts to the area to target the southbound flow of weapons and the northbound flow of drugs, attack the drug cartels and prevent the violence from spilling over into the U.S.

At the FBI, the federal government is also clearing the backlog of pending background checks on immigration petitions and speeding processing of citizenship applications.

agorman@tribune.com

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