Thread: TX: Amnesty is coming?

ICE Refuses to Deport "Non-Violent" Illegal Aliens
Published for Friday, August 27, 2010, 7:00 PM EDT - posted on NumbersUSA

In a major policy shift, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued new guidelines regarding the prosecution of deportation cases: if an arrested illegal alien is not a convicted criminal or a terrorist threat, the case should be dropped.

On August 20, ICE chief John Morton outlined the new policy in a memorandum to staff. The policy has the stated purpose of clearing the backlog of cases in immigration court cases, but it also has the effect of creating a de facto amnesty for arrested illegal aliens who have not been convicted of a serious crime. This move follows the leaking of an internal Obama Administration memo which outlined ways of legalizing illegal aliens without Congress' approval.

While pro-amnesty groups have heralded the move -- Helen Harnett of the National Immigrant Justice Center called it "a pretty basic, common-sense thing to do" -- Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said, "Actions like this demoralize ICE agents who are trying to do their job and enforce the law."

As proof of the agency's relaxed policy toward non-criminal illegal aliens, an ICE news release from the same date of the memorandum's release trumpets the case of an arrested illegal alien, who has been deported from the U.S. on 8 separate occasions, finally being charged with one count of violating immigration laws after being found residing illegally in the U.S. for the 9th time.

Click here to read more about ICE's new policy of not deporting non-violent illegal aliens whom they have arrested.

[Immigration Agency Ends Some Deportations - NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27immig.html?_r=1]

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/ ... liens.html

The full NYT story is printed below. All links within the original are available at the source link above.

Related
Federal Draft May Order Agents to Back Off Immigration Enforcement
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-210590-deportation.html

Immigration Agency Ends Some Deportations (August 27, 2010)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the new approach was part of a broad shift in priorities at the agency, to focus its efforts on catching and deporting immigrants who have been convicted of crimes or pose a national security threat. The policy — announced in an Aug. 20 memorandum from John Morton, the head of the agency — drew praise from immigrant advocates, who called it a common-sense strategy, and was denounced by several Republicans as evidence that the Obama administration was weakening enforcement and making it easier for illegal immigrants to remain in the country.

The change in emphasis at the immigration agency, which represents a significant break with longstanding practices, has awakened resistance among agents and detention officers on the ground, according to officials of the agency, which is known as ICE, and of the union representing those employees.

Mr. Morton’s memorandum refers to a particular group of illegal immigrants: those who have been detained in ICE operations because they did not have legal status, but who have active applications in the system to become legal residents. The memo encourages ICE officers and lawyers to use their authority to dismiss those cases, canceling the deportation proceedings, if they determine that the immigrants have no criminal records and stand a strong chance of having their residence applications approved.

The policy is intended to address a “major inefficiencyâ€

ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS MUST BE DEPORTED NOW. AND WE HAVE TO CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AND TELL OBAMA THAT WE DO NOT SUPPORT AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS. I HAVE READ (I THINK IT WAS FOX NEWS) THAT OBAMA WILL SIGN AN EXECUTIVE ORDER TO GRANT AMNESTY TO ILLEGAL ALIENS. THAT MIGHT BE DONE AFTER THE NOVEMBER ELECTION (2010). WE MUST NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN. SO LET'S CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AND LET OBAMA KNOW THAT WE DO NOT WANT HIS EXECUTIVE ORDER.

Obama Wants Change to Allow Thousands of Illegals to Stay in US
Friday, 27 Aug 2010 06:38 PM

PHOENIX – A shake-up in immigration policy may lead to deportation proceedings being dropped for thousands of aliens who entered the United States illegally but are applying to stay in the country, officials said on Friday.

They said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) seeks to end deportation proceedings against detained illegal immigrants who have applications pending to become legal U.S. residents, if agents determine they have no criminal history and do not present a security threat.

The policy shift emerged from an internal memorandum ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton sent last week to the agency's principal legal adviser and a director of enforcement and removal operations.

The memo was published by the New York Times on Friday and confirmed to Reuters by officials.

Morton said the policy aimed to reduce the backlog in immigration courts, where authorities identified some 17,000 cases last year that could be eliminated if ICE dropped removal proceedings against illegal immigrants who had applied for legal status and were very likely to get it.

The issue of what to do with nearly 11 million illegal immigrants living and working in the shadows in the United States has become an increasingly hot topic in the run up to the midterm elections in November, where Democratic control of Congress is on the line.

President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats back a comprehensive reform of immigration policy to tighten border security, while allowing illegal immigrants in good standing the chance to learn English, pay a fine and get on a path to citizenship.

Republicans say that policy is effectively "amnesty" and likely to encourage more illegal entrants.

The Obama administration has made a priority of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, more than 167,00 of whom have been removed so far this year.

ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said the policy shift outlined in the memorandum sought to enable the agency to prioritize "the arrest and removal of criminal aliens and those who pose a danger to national security."

"ICE is not engaged in a 'backdoor' amnesty and has placed more people in immigration proceedings this year than ever before," he added.

Americans are most concerned about a stuttering economy and high unemployment in the run up to the November 2 midterm elections, when voters will elect 435 members of the House of Representatives and fill 37 of the 100 seats in the Senate.

But illegal immigration has also been a contentious issue.

The Obama administration last month successfully sued to block key parts of a tough state law in Arizona requiring state and local police during the course of an arrest to investigate the immigration status of people they suspected were in the state illegally.

The measure, which sought to curb illegal immigration and smuggling-related crime in the state bordering Mexico, was backed by a solid majority of voters both in Arizona and across the United States.

But it came under heavy fire from civil rights and Latino groups concerned that in practice it would lead to profiling, and in court the administration said it intruded on what should be a matter of federal policy.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/illegal ... /id/368614

Source: Reuters

[quote="Texas2step"]

ICE officials said they arrived at the policy after conferring with immigration court officials. “This is not a backdoor amnesty,â€

RELATED

U.S. to stop deporting illegal aliens - USA-TODAY

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-210652.html

Apparently using fake or stolen SSN's is no longer a crime. Any illegal working is using one or the other. Have you ever heard of courts dismissing traffic cases simply because they have a big backlog?? They just go thru them like popcorn...guilty, guilty, guilty. It should be the same with illegals...deport, deport, deport.