White House Calls on Congress to End Catch and Release of Illegal Aliens

White House Calls on Congress to End Catch and Release of Illegal Aliens

https://media.townhall.com/townhall/...870dbc6af1.jpg


April 3, 2018

Katie Pavlich


As President Trump continues to personally pressure the Mexican government on stopping the flow of illegal immigration into the United States from the southern border, his administration is working to end "catch-and-release" policies.

According to senior White House officials, illegal aliens who aren't from Mexico or Canada are nearly impossible to deport once they make it inside the United States. They say legal loopholes in current immigration law forces Border Patrol and I.C.E. agents to process individuals after entry into the country. After asking for asylum they are given a court date, which they rarely show up to and released into American communities. Then, after claiming reasonable fear of their home countries, which coyotes and cartels train many people to do, they're allowed to stay in the U.S. indefinitely.


Senior White House officials say changes to the well intentioned but severely abused Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 are necessary to clean up the system and make it more efficient.

"Porous borders, legal loopholes, and insufficient immigration enforcement resources allow aliens to illegally cross our borders and often prevent their removal once here. Waves of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) and Family Units have been exploiting these weaknesses in our immigration system for years in order to enter and remain in the country," the White House released Monday.


"Catch and release loopholes, which are the result of statutory and judicial obstacles, encourage illegal immigration into the U.S. and prevent the removal of aliens once they are here. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can only detain UACs for a few days before releasing them to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for resettlement into the United States. Immigration enforcement efforts are further hamstrung by the fact that current federal law exempts UACs from non-contiguous countries, such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, from being promptly returned to their home countries.

This results in nationals from these and other countries entering and never leaving," the statement continues. "Foreign nationals see how easy it is to enter the United States, and how hard it is for federal immigration authorities to remove aliens who enter illegally, and are accordingly drawn to the United States. In the absence of lasting solutions to the problems that riddle our immigration system, we can only expect the flow of illegal immigration into our country to continue."

In the meantime, the Department of Justice has implemented new gradingstandards for immigration judges to speed up processing times in an effort to clear severely clogged case lines.

The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review says judges must complete 700 cases a year to earn a satisfactory grade. They currently are completing an average of 678 cases per year, according to the Justice official.

The new request averages to about three per day, and judges with high caseloads can appeal internally to waive the requirement.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who oversees the immigration courts, has called repeatedly for more speed as an increase in deportation arrests has pushed the court backlog above 650,000 cases.

President Trump tweeted in reference to these issues Monday night.



https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiep...lease-n2467324

These misleading articles make me very upset! Catch and release is an Executive Branch policy decision, not a result of US laws. The Trump administration is trying to deflect blame on Congress and is blaming them for not passing the Amnesty legislation that has drawn more illegals to our borders!

(There is so much misleading information about "Catch and Release." As Alipac writes, it is an executive policy. President Trump needs to tell Kirstjen Nielsen at DHS to stop it once and for all. If there are not enough detention beds, set up tent cities or whatever accommodations at the border to hold illegal aliens in detention. Have the checkpoints at the border, not miles inside.)


Looking for history I saw this. There are possible errors, however this is a good outline to start with.

*********

History Edit


Under George W. BushEdit


The authority of the U.S. to indefinitely detain immigrants was curtailed in June 2001, in the Zadvydas v. Davisdecision by the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case, other countries had refused to accept individuals that the U.S. wanted to deport. The court ruled that such people could not be detained for longer than six months unless the government could show that the deportation was expected to be completed in the foreseeable future or that some special circumstances applied, such as a danger to the public or a substantial flight risk.


In October 2005, DHS SecretaryMichael Chertoff told a hearing of the United States Senate that he intended to end the catch-and-release policy soon, so as to reduce illegal immigration to the United States and the security threat posed by it.


In late July 2006, Chertoff announced that the United States had ended the catch-and-release policy a few months earlier, and the recent infusion of funding for border security had been helpful with implementing the policy. In response, many lawmakers expressed skepticism.


In August 2006, Chertoff provided more details, explaining that the change had led to a drop of 20,000 in the number of border-crossers. According to the new policy, those caught in immigration violation would generally be detained until their hearing, with the possible exception of Mexicans who had recently arrived, who could be subject to expedited removal. While not everybody would be detained, detention would become the default option.


In a February 2007 statement before the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, Chertoff confirmed that the policy had ended completely starting August 2006, and reported the changes observed to the number of apprehensions as a result.


David Mulhausen of the Heritage Foundation said that the end of the policy was a positive development but still did not address the problem of the large number of border-crossers from Mexico who were immediately turned back but could keep re-attempting entry.


Under Barack ObamaEdit

In January 2015, Brandon Darby, writing for Breitbart.com, published leaked internal training documents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection that he described as "catch-and-release 2.0". The documents identified three priority categories for those believed to be in violation of authorized status. These leaked documents were a result of the November 2014 executive action on immigration undertaken by Barack Obama's administration (and would also form the basis for the Priority Enforcement Program, revealed in mid-2015):

1. Aliens who "pose a threat to national security, border security, or public safety"
2. Aliens who are "misdemeanants and new immigration violators"
3. All other immigration violators

The instructions to CBP noted that those in category (3) would not be detained and deported, and therefore CBP agents were advised to not waste resources arresting them but rather focus on priority one and priority two offenders. The Associated Pressreported on a similar set of guidelines.

Reporting about the guidelines for Vox.com, Dara Lind noted that, while Breitbart.com was claiming that this policy was "catch and release 2.0", ICE agents claimed that the guidance they received had always been similar, suggesting that, as far as internal guidance went, the original catch-and-release policies had never actually ended. However, because ICE and CBP officials often rounded up low-priority offenders despite them being low-priority, the Obama administration had to provide more explicit guidance and also introduce the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americansprograms to explicitly protect people in low-priority categories from deportation.
On a similar note, in a backgrounder for the Center for Immigration Studies, Jessica Vaughan used ICE memos from 2013 as well as deportation numbers to argue that catch and release was the de facto immigration enforcement policy for a sizable fraction of people caught for being in violation of immigration law.

In 2014, Chuck Grassley and other Republican senators introduced legislation to close what they called a "catch-and-release loop hole", namely the judicial ban on detaining certain aliens that was established by the Zadvydas v. Davis decision (described above).

Under Donald TrumpEdit

Immigration being one of the biggest issues of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Trump spoke of catch and release in a major speech on immigration policy some months before the election, stating that then-President Obama and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton supported it and that he (Trump) would end it.

In February 2017, DHS Secretary John Kelly, pursuant to executive orders by President Trump, ordered an end to catch-and-release. But Reuters reported the following June that "immigration attorneys, government statistics and even some officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ... suggest that ... there has been no clear change to the catch-and-release policy." The article indicated that ending catch and release was impracticable due to a shortage of detention facilities and a court ruling limiting the stay of women and children to 21 days in custody.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catc...ration_policy)

Quote:

---

Senior White House officials say changes to the well intentioned but severely abused Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 are necessary to clean up the system and make it more efficient.

---

gw reauthorized before leaving office to open the borders wider to central americans, not just mexicans. Of course obama reauthorized and unfortunately trump did too in 2017 as it is tied in with the Trafficking Act - TVPRA How convenient to bundle the open border agenda & UACs with an act to prevent serious human trafficking and slavery. Sheep's wool and eyes come to mind.

Have posted prior that trump admin reauthorized in 9/17 obviously w/o scrutinizing the full extent of the act bundled in for the UACs - Wilberforce act. And Homeland Security didn't inform trump? - elaine duke was hs chief in sept with kelly prior and he didn't seem to mind the UAC loophole either.

GREAT NEWS: Congress Passes TRPVA
This past week, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve the Trafficking Victims Re-authorization Act, extending the groundbreaking human trafficking provisions provided by the bill signed into law by President Bush in January 2006. This law was signed by President Obama on Friday.

“Congress’ renewal of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act re-asserts U.S. leadership in the effort to eradicate modern-day slavery, our greatest global human rights scourge. This is an important step toward freedom for the millions of women, men and children around the globe who are trafficked into forced labor and sex slavery each year.”

EXCLUSIVE: Catch and Release 2.0 — Leaks Highlight Teardown of Immigration Enforcement


http://media.breitbart.com/media/201...PM-640x388.png


January 11, 2015

Brandon Darby

Leaked internal training documents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reveal Border Patrol agents are now receiving guidelines instructing them that the vast majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S. are off limits to federal agents and are substantially immune to detention and deportation. A trusted federal agent in the CBP provided exclusive copies of the documents to Breitbart Texas and also agreed to an interview on the condition of anonymity.

According to the source, these training documents were required training for U.S. Border Patrol agents and each agent was required to sign their name to confirm receiving the training.


The documents outline three categories that illegal immigrants are now grouped into: Priority one, two, and three. Priority one includes aliens who “pose a threat to national security, border security, or public safety.” Priority two includes aliens who are “misdemeanants and new immigration violators.” Priority three includes all other illegal aliens and describes them as “other immigration violators.”


The leaked training documents are careful to note that no part of this training should be construed as discouraging arrests, but the entirety of the training appears to do exactly that. The training materials, when coupled with a November 20, 2014 memo on prosecutorial discretion from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, indicate that agents should primarily only arrest someone who they directly see cross the border, if they are a wanted criminal, a convicted felon, have an extensive or a violent criminal history, or otherwise pose a national security or public safety threat.


The majority of other illegal aliens cannot be detained or deported without specific approval from leadership.


The source clarified this and said, “Nothing says don’t arrest, but it clearly says don’t waste your time because the alien will not be put into detention, sent back or deported. There is literally no reason to arrest an illegal alien because they are specifically telling Border Patrol there will be no consequence for the illegal alien. It is a waste of time and resources to arrest someone who is off limits for detainment or deportation and the documents make that fact clear. Border Patrol agents are now being trained to be social workers, not law enforcement.”


The memo from Jeh Johnson mentioned above is titled, “Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants” and was released on November 20, 2014. The guidelines became effective on January 5, 2015. The memo (embedded below) asserts:


In the immigration context, prosecutorial discretion should apply not only to the decision to issue, serve, file, or cancel a Notice to Appear, but also to a broad range of other discretionary enforcement decisions, including deciding: whom to stop, question, and arrest; whom to detain or release; whether to settle, dismiss, appeal, or join in a motion on a case; and whether to grant deferred action, parole, or a stay of removal instead of pursuing removal in a case. While DHS may exercise prosecutorial discretion at any stage of an enforcement proceeding, it is generally preferable to exercise such discretion as early in the case or proceeding as possible in order to preserve government resources that would otherwise be expended in pursuing enforcement and removal of higher priority cases. Thus, DHS personnel are expected to exercise discretion and pursue these priorities at all stages of the enforcement process-from the earliest investigative stage to enforcing final orders of removal-subject to their chains of command and to the particular responsibilities and authorities applicable to their specific position.


The Jeh Johnson memo further illuminates the intention behind the leaked training materials and exactly how broad the “not a priority” category is intended to be. Johnson wrote:


As a general rule, DHS detention resources should be used to support the enforcement priorities noted above or for aliens subject to mandatory detention by law. Absent extraordinary circumstances or the requirement of mandatory detention, field office directors should not expend detention resources on aliens who are known to be suffering from serious physical or mental illness, who are disabled, elderly, pregnant, or nursing, who demonstrate that they are primary caretakers of children or an infirm person, or whose detention is otherwise not in the public interest. To detain aliens in those categories who are not subject to mandatory detention, DHS officers or special agents must obtain approval from the ICE Field Office Director.

The source said, “This is not how it was before. Border Patrol used to arrest, process, and turn the illegal alien over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the courts. Under this new program, the majority of illegal aliens will be released directly from the Border Patrol with no appointments or expectation that they ever have to show up for a hearing.


“Before these changes, all illegal aliens arrested by Border Patrol were required to enter the deportation system where they would be scheduled for a deportation hearing at a future date. Under this new system, the illegal aliens are not even required to show up for a hearing ever. Not only are we releasing these people with no hearings scheduled, no notice to appear, but the DHS [Department of Homeland Security] is forcing Border Patrol to prepare the initial paperwork for the illegal aliens’ work permits.” The source added, “Americans really need to think about the terrorism-related implications of this. Illegal aliens who are suspected of having terrorism ties, but not convicted, could be permitted to stay in the country.”


The training materials present a number of scenarios that federal agents might encounter and the official DHS guidelines for how to deal with such encounters.



Breitbart Texas provides the two leaked documents below, as well as the November 20th memo from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson:


CBP Internal Employee FAQs on Executive Action (12!31!14) BBTX

CBP Implementation Training (Enforcement Priorities and Deferred Action) – BBTX

Jeh Johnson Memo on Prosecutorial Discretion



http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...n-enforcement/

There should be no option for a release, no condition for a release, if you are in this country illegally and caught, you go to jail until your matter has a final disposition. If there is no detention space, then you are deported immediately and you can file your claim for whatever you think you're entitled to from your home country or some other country but not the United States.

The best solution to all this mess is a 10 to 20 Year Moratorium on ALL Immigration.

Related:

President Trump’s claim that Democrats created ‘catch and release’ policies

https://www.alipac.us/f12/president-...licies-357420/