By SEUNG MIN KIM | 5/7/14 7:42 PM EDT
POLITICO


Johnson gave no hints on what his deportations review would yield. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson isn’t meeting just with immigration reform proponents during his deportation review.

Johnson – who is examining the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement policies – met Wednesday with leaders of several major groups furiously opposing efforts to legalize immigrants living in the country illegally.

The groups that attended the meeting at the Department of Homeland Security, which lasted about 45 minutes, were Numbers USA, the Center for Immigration Studies, Federation for American Immigration Reform, Progressives for Immigration Reform, and the Eagle Forum, according to a readout of the meeting from DHS.

Johnson did not give any hints of the kinds of actions his deportations review would yield nor a timetable for results, according to the attendees, who are among the biggest critics of immigration reform efforts in Washington.

Several attendees said they and Johnson discussed a series of recent actions by state and local governments – for instance, in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Oregon – to no longer comply with immigrant-detention requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Two people who attended said Johnson seemed to indicate some frustration that these cities and county governments were defying federal policies on immigration enforcement.

“Our point was … you need to exercise a little leadership in coming out against these publicly, condemning them,” said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

The attendees also said they told Johnson that the administration also has to include a randomness factor when deciding who among the undocumented immigrant population to deport — as an enforcement mechanism. Krikorian likened it to random tax audits by the Internal Revenue Service or speed traps by local police.

“We pushed very hard that there has to be a percentage of the resources [that] have to be for random deportations,” said Roy Beck, the executive director of Numbers USA.

That, Krikorian said, “is the way law enforcement works in any other area.”

The groups requested the meeting, and DHS accepted. Johnson has been making the rounds with pro-reform organizations and lawmakers for weeks, as he leads the administration’s review of its deportation policies to see if it can be administered more humanely.

“We’re hoping that it opens an ongoing dialogue,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for FAIR, whose executive director Julie Kirchner attended the meeting.

Johnson also met Wednesday with officials from United We Dream – a nationwide coalition of immigrant youth – and held a conference call with sheriffs from around the country and members of the National Sheriff’s Association.

“As part of the on-going review process, Secretary Johnson continues to engage with various stakeholders from all sides of the immigration debate, which represent a diverse set of views and opinions in order to assess areas where we can further align our enforcement policies with our goal of sound law enforcement practice that prioritizes public safety,” DHS said in a statement.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/0...rm-106469.html