Deportations on hold? Not in Tennessee
Despite policy shift, area deportations continue unabated
tennessean.com
Written by
Brian Haas
4:30 AM, Aug. 27, 2011

The federal government says it will better prioritize immigration cases to deport only the worst of the worst criminals, sparing children and young adults who have been in the country for years.

But Tennessee’s immigration authorities may have not gotten the memo.

Last week, Janet Napolitano, head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ordered a full review of 360,000 current immigration cases to focus efforts on gang members, drug dealers and dangerous criminals. The order came in response to mounting criticism that the United States was deporting illegal immigrants who had been in the country for decades without committing crimes.

But Nashville immigration attorney Elliott Ozment, who has vigorously fought against immigration programs that have targeted noncriminal immigrants, said that federal officials in Tennessee continue to go forward with cases involving people who pose little or no risk to the public.

“That was true of both of my cases last Tuesday in court. One lady had no criminal convictions whatsoever. The other had only one conviction, which was driving without a license,â€