August 26, 2010
ICE: We are not engaged in a 'backdoor' amnesty

By now, you all have probably heard about the startling story we had Wednesday( http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 69978.html ) about the Department of Homeland Security reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records.

It's a move that has stunned immigration attorneys locally, who went into immigration court in recent days expecting their clients to be sent packing. The story is also seizing some national attention (see Fox News clip above).

In addition to the review of cases involving non-criminals, ICE told the Chronicle this week about another significant policy change, one that we didn't have the space to examine in much depth on Wednesday.

ICE officials provided us a copy of a new memo dated Aug. 20 that instructs government attorneys to review the court cases of people with pending applications to adjust status based on their relation to a U.S. citizen. Morton says that the effort could affect up to 17,000 cases.

After our story ran, Richard Rocha, deputy press secretary for ICE, sent us an expanded statement in addition to the limited response from the agency included in the story. Here's the new statement:

This Administration is committed to smart, effective immigration reform, prioritizing the arrest and removal of criminal aliens and those who pose a danger to national security. In 2010 to date, ICE has removed more than 150,000 convicted criminals- a record number. ICE is not engaged in a "backdoor" amnesty and has placed more people in immigration proceedings this year than ever before. ICE has implemented a new policy to expedite the removal of criminal aliens and those who pose a danger to national security by ensuring these cases are heard.


http://blogs.chron.com/immigration/arch ... t_443.html