Thread: U.S. to Review Cases Seeking Deportations

U.S. to Review Cases Seeking Deportations

November 17, 2011
By JULIA PRESTON


The Department of Homeland Security will begin a review on Thursday of all deportation cases before the immigration courts and start a nationwide training program for enforcement agents and prosecuting lawyers, with the goal of speeding deportations of convicted criminals and halting those of many illegal immigrants with no criminal record.

The accelerated triage of the court docket — about 300,000 cases — is intended to allow severely overburdened immigration judges to focus on deporting foreigners who committed serious crimes or pose national security risks, Homeland Security officials said. Taken together, the review and the training, which will instruct immigration agents on closing deportations that fall outside the department’s priorities, are designed to bring sweeping changes to the immigration courts and to enforcement strategies of field agents nationwide.

According to a document obtained by The New York Times, Homeland Security officials will issue guidelines on Thursday to begin the training program and the first stages of the court caseload review. Both are efforts to put into practice a policy senior officials had announced in June, to encourage immigration agents to use prosecutorial discretion when deciding whether to pursue a deportation.

The policy, described in a June 17 memorandum by John Morton, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, suggested that the Obama administration would scale back deportations of illegal immigrants who were young students, military service members, elderly people or close family of American citizens, among others. While the announcement raised excited expectations in Latino and other immigrant communities, until now the policy has been applied spottily, deepening disillusionment with President Obama in those communities.

The Obama administration has removed high numbers of illegal immigrants, nearly 400,000 in each of the last three years. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Mr. Morton said those numbers would not decrease, but they wanted agents and courts to focus on deporting the worst offenders, including national security risks, criminal convicts and those who repeatedly violate immigration laws. Many immigration offenses, including being present in the United States without legal status, are civil violations; they are not crimes.

Administration officials have flexibility to transform immigration court procedures because those courts are part of the Justice Department in the executive branch, not part of the federal judiciary. Central to the plan is giving more power to immigration agency lawyers — the equivalent of prosecutors in the federal court system — to decide which deportation cases to press.

“We are empowering the attorneys nationally to make them more like federal prosecutors, who decide what cases to bring,â€

DHS Launches Obama’s Amnesty Plan

judicialwatch.org
Last Updated: Thu, 11/17/2011 - 2:00pm

The Obama amnesty plan officially begins this week, according to a mainstream newspaper that obtained internal Homeland Security documents outlining “sweeping changesâ€

DHS Launches Review of Deportation Cases Amid 'Amnesty' Concerns

FoxNews.com
Published November 17, 2011


May 25, 2010: Shackled Mexican immigrants ride in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bus for deportation in Harlingen, Texas.

The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday launched an initial review of deportation cases in a bid to fast-track serious offenders through the immigration courts while potentially letting illegal immigrants deemed less of a threat stay in the country.

The announcement marked the latest phase of a program the department has steadily rolled out since the summer. While critics decry the change as tantamount to "backdoor amnesty," the Obama administration says it's trying to focus limited resources on "those who put public safety at risk."

Immigration and Customs and Enforcement in July issued new guidelines for deportation cases allowing prosecutors to prioritize them on a case-by-case basis. Starting "immediately," government attorneys will now review "all incoming cases" in the courts to determine who to deport and who potentially can slide, the department announced Thursday.

"To address the challenge of an over-crowded immigration court system, and better utilize existing resources, there is an ongoing administration-wide effort to focus immigration enforcement resources on those convicted of crimes, recent border crossers, and egregious immigration law violators," ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said in a statement. "To further these efforts, the administration is considering, on a case-by-case basis, whether to pursue certain cases that fall outside these priorities, as pursuit of such cases diverts resources from our enforcement priorities and strains the limited resources of immigration courts."

The administration is launching several test programs and reviews. Aside from reviewing incoming cases, officials in Denver and Baltimore will review "all cases pending" in those immigration courts. Both test runs will last until Jan. 13, after which the department will launch another review.

Meanwhile, ICE started a "comprehensive" training program Thursday on how to comply with the new guidance.

The change-up has drawn criticism from illegal immigration foes, who worry that the administration is effectively circumventing Congress to enact sweeping changes, like those contained in the DREAM Act.

That legislation, which failed to clear Congress, would give illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children a chance at legal status if they complete two years of college or military service. The July memo from ICE Director John Morton instructed staff to consider 19 factors when exercising "prosecutorial discretion" -- or the discretion an ICE attorney has in deciding whether and how to pursue an immigration case. The list includes factors similar to those in the DREAM Act, like whether someone arrived in the U.S. as a "young child," is pursuing an education or has served in the military.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said Thursday that the case-by-case review would end up allowing more illegal immigrants to stay in the country, and in turn allow more of them to get work permits at the expense of the American workforce.

"The policies put forth today by political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security show that its 'working group' is only working for illegal immigrants," Smith said in a statement. "The administration's decision to move forward with backdoor amnesty could mean jobs, but not for unemployed Americans. This massive administrative amnesty to illegal immigrants could instead allow illegal immigrants to receive work authorization and could put more Americans on the unemployment rolls."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11 ... z1e0huAdeC

Deportation procedures to undergo review

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
11/17/2011
Catholic Online

Narrowing, speeding of deportation of illegal immigrants with criminal records goal of committee

Illegal immigrants are coming under closer scrutiny in the United States. Several states have passed tougher immigration laws that grant arresting officers the right to question suspects about their immigration status. The Department of Homeland Security has begun a review of deportation cases with the goal of speeding deportations of convicted criminals and halting those of many illegal immigrants with no criminal record.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - There are about 300,000 cases currently under review. The committee is seeking ways to allow severely overburdened immigration judges to concentrate on deporting foreigners who committed felonies or pose national security risks.

New review and training will instruct immigration agents on closing deportations that fall outside the department's priorities. The new procedures are intended to bring wide changes to immigration courts and to enforcement strategies of field agents nationwide.

Homeland Security officials will issue guidelines this week to begin the training program and the first stages of the court caseload review, according to newspaper reports. Both are intended to encourage immigration agents to use prosecutorial discretion when deciding whether to pursue a deportation.

The policy suggests that the Obama administration scale back deportations of illegal immigrants who were young students, military service members, elderly people or close family of American citizens.

While this announcement raised expectations among Latino and other immigrant communities, the policy has been inconsistently applied, causing disenchantment with President Obama in those communities.

The Obama administration has removed nearly 400,000 immigrants in each of the last three years. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Morton said those numbers would not decrease, saying they wanted agents and courts to focus on deporting the worst offenders, including national security risks, criminal convicts and those who repeatedly violate immigration laws.

To reiterate: Many immigration offenses, including being present in the United States without legal status, are civil violations; they are not crimes.

"We are empowering the attorneys nationally to make them more like federal prosecutors, who decide what cases to bring," said a senior Homeland Security official, who asked not to be named because the policy has not been formally announced.

Shortly, immigration agency lawyers will examine all new cases just arriving in immigration courts nationwide, with an eye to closing cases that are low-priority according to the Morton memorandum, before they advance into the court system.

http://www.catholic.org/politics/story. ... &wf=rsscol

Added an article from above to the Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6782--0-0.html

all illegal immigrants put Americans 'at risk' Saying they will only take action after one gets clearly identified as a violent felon is an unacceptable threshold for action.

Originally Posted by Angel43

all illegal immigrants put Americans 'at risk' Saying they will only take action after one gets clearly identified as a violent felon is an unacceptable threshold for action.

I couldn't agree more!!!!!!! They don't need to look at this case by case, all illegals must go!

Originally Posted by Angel43

all illegal immigrants put Americans 'at risk' Saying they will only take action after one gets clearly identified as a violent felon is an unacceptable threshold for action.

Sort of like establishing a policy not to bust drug dealers unless one of their customers OD's.

Deportation focus is now on criminals
by Daniel González - Nov. 18, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
.

The Obama administration has started implementing a controversial new policy intended to unclog crowded Immigration Courts by focusing only on cases involving illegal immigrants with criminal records.

On Thursday, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyers nationwide, including those in Arizona, began reviewing all new immigration cases to identify ones that could essentially be tossed out because they involve illegal immigrants with no criminal history. That would allow judges to more quickly process and deport dangerous illegal immigrants or ones who pose a national-security threat, ICE officials said in a memo outlining the new policy.

ICE also on Thursday began training immigration prosecutors and officers on how to apply the policy in the field, giving them more discretion to decide which cases qualify for consideration to be halted and which don't.

As of July 31, there were 289,033 immigration cases pending in Immigration Courts nationwide, according to statistics from the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Of those, 11,758 were pending in four Immigration Courts in Arizona, including 8,996 in the Phoenix court and 1,009 in the Tucson court.

An additional 1,080 cases were pending in the Eloy court and 673 in the Florence court, the statistics show.

The new policy is based on a memo issued by ICE Director John Morton, instructing ICE personnel to increase the use of prosecutorial discretion in cases involving undocumented students who came to this country at a young age. The June memo also directed that officials use discretion with cases involving illegal immigrants with no criminal history who have lived in the United States for years and have children born in this country.

In August, White House officials further backed the policy and set up a process for putting it into effect.

The policy means that some low-priority immigration cases will likely be halted and other cases won't be pursued. That will allow some illegal immigrants to live in the U.S. indefinitely. Many of them will be allowed to receive work permits, although they will not have any sort of legal status. Their deportation cases could be reopened at any time.

The policy has angered some Republicans, who view it as a de facto amnesty that circumvents Congress and will lead to illegal immigrants taking jobs from Americans.

On Dec. 4, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice will begin reviewing existing Immigration Court cases in Baltimore and Denver as part of a test program to identify cases involving immigrants without criminal records that could also be ended. The goal is to eventually expand the reviews to cases pending in all Immigration Courts.

David Asser, a Phoenix immigration lawyer, said he has mixed feelings about the policy.

He said it will prevent some illegal immigrants "who don't deserve to be deported" from being removed, but the policy will also leave them in "legal limbo" indefinitely without the ability to legalize their status.

"I'm not against it, but it could create more problems than it solves," he said.

A better solution, he said, would have been to make it easier for illegal immigrants without criminal records to have their deportation cases canceled if they could prove in court that their deportation would create undue hardship on U.S. citizen family members.

Currently, the bar for proving hardship is so high, the immigration cases drag on for years and few immigrants win, he said.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... z1e62nPZrx

We must tell Congress we do not support this. ALL illegals must be deported NOW.

We know the democrats will always support socialist policies. So they must go. Plus Obama must go because he does not respect our Constitution. Obama signed an executive order against the will of US citizens and the Congress. It grants amensty to illegal aliens, Obama's illegal aliens, CRIMINALS. That is why we want Obama out. Obama the dictator works for illegal aliens. It is obvious. Obama the dictator does not work for US citizens. He has to go now. Impeach Obama the dictator. Vote Obama the dictator out in 2012. We do not want a dictator in the White House. Obama the dictator has to go now. The dictator has shown he is so inept. We do not want dictators and inept ones like you Obami. Move to Venezuela/Cuba/Libya or any other communist nation where you Obami will be happy signing executive orders against the will of the people. We do not want dictators in the White House.