Deportation warnings halted because they cause ‘undue stress’ on illegal migrants

by Paul Bedard, Washington Secrets Columnist
February 07, 2021 09:21 AM

In a further reversal of Trump policies, the Biden administration has ordered immigration officials to stop warning illegal migrants caught trying to scam the system that they might face deportation because it causes “undue stress.”

The new ruling from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services essentially locks in President Biden’s wishes to end the deportation of illegal immigrants, even if they are caught lying about their applications for U.S. taxpayer-funded services, a green card or asylum.

The order arrived in an email Wednesday that said officers are no longer to tell those denied immigration benefits — called a “customer” — that they have to return for a court date and likely deportation. It is called a Notice to Appear, or NTA.

“This guidance will ensure the agency is not placing undue stress on the customer who believes he/she may or may not receive an NTA based on the information provided in their denial notification,” said the email from the agency’s Service Center Operations Directorate. A copy was provided to Secrets.

It added that the new policy is “effective immediately.”

Since becoming president, Biden has taken several moves to end deportations and the new order falls in line with that pro-immigration agenda.

A spokesman said, “U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services recently rescinded two 2018 policy memos related to the issuance of Notices to Appear when processing requests for immigration benefits. The agency was directed to rescind the relevant policy in a DHS memo issued on Jan. 20. USCIS will release additional implementation guidance on this issue in the near future.”

Under the 2018 policy, USCIS officers were told to use their authority to issue a notice setting up an immigration court date for rejected migrant applicants and warn them in their rejection letter that they could face deportation, according to immigration expert Jessica Vaughan.

She said that the goal was to encourage illegal immigrants to return home on their own.

Now, said Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, the administration not only wants to end deportations but also to stop warning of one.

“His agency leaders want to make sure that career officers don’t start the process, or even suggest the possibility that it could happen to the alien. In all likelihood, they will get to stay,” she said.

But the reason is questionable at best.

“Since when is the law not enforced because the person who broke it might become upset or stressed? It’s bad enough that they are not enforcing the law anymore, but it’s ridiculous that their utmost concern is the feelings of the people who are breaking the law,” she told Secrets.

“Apparently they do not want any illegal aliens, even those who tried to lie or cheat their way to a green card, to be worried about possible deportation. These includes illegal aliens who brazenly talked their way into the United States with a bogus asylum application, or submitted papers for a sham marriage, or who have a disqualifying criminal record, who are now considered fragile snowflakes who must be spared the ‘stress’ of suggesting that they might be removed,” she added.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/w...legal-migrants