CQ reported that: Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been reviewing about 300,000 pending deportation cases nationwide and are working to expand a pilot program that grants temporary reprieves to some illegal immigrants, ICE Director John Morton told two Democratic senators and advocates of the program on Tuesday.
Morton’s remarks at the meeting held in Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin’s office are an indication that the Obama administration plans to push ahead on a new immigration policy despite criticism from Republicans who call it “back-door amnesty.”
Durbin, D-Ill., and Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Morton to quickly roll out the new policy and resolve problems that have cropped up during the first few weeks of its implementation, participants reported.
“I commend the Department of Homeland Security for the steps it is taking to implement it,” Durbin said in a written statement after the meeting. “But more needs to be done and it needs to be done quickly.”
The policy, announced over the summer, targets government resources toward deporting undocumented immigrants who commit major crimes and would give a break to people with family ties in this country or who are enrolled in school or are serving in the military.
Since the agency says that each year it can deport only about 400,000 of the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants thought to be in the country, officials say it makes sense to use “prosecutorial discretion” to focus scarce resources on deporting dangerous criminals.
Immigration officials wrapped up a pilot program in Denver and Baltimore last week. Officials reviewed almost 12,000 deportation cases and determined that more than 1,600 should be closed. Expanding the program nationwide would result in roughly 40,000 closed cases, according to Schumer.
An agency official, speaking not for attribution, confirmed that the agency is reviewing 300,000 cases, and said officials were weighing expanding the Denver and Baltimore pilots nationwide.
A Sticking Point
Senators and advocates of the policy urged Morton to work out some problems with the policy’s rollout. One sticking point is the legal status of those whose deportation cases have been closed. While the new policy grants them a reprieve from deportation, it does not offer them a way to work legally.
On Tuesday, Schumer delivered a letter to Morton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging them to give work authorizations to undocumented people whose cases have been dropped after review. “If a small number of individuals are being permitted to remain in the United States for one year, this one-year status should also contain the ability to work,” the New York Democrat wrote.
Denying them that ability would make the new immigration policy a “hollow victory” and force people into the underground economy, where they would not pay taxes and where “unscrupulous employers” could take advantage of them, Schumer wrote.
Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said the immigration enforcement agency needs to set guidelines to allow people who benefit from prosecutorial discretion to be granted “deferred action,” an administrative procedure that allows undocumented immigrants to get drivers’ licenses and to work legally.
But Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he opposes granting work authorization to an entire group of people. “That would be amnesty,” Grassley said. “The power that the president has for parole is meant to be done on an individual-by-individual basis.”
Morton’s remarks at the meeting held in Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin’s office are an indication that the Obama administration plans to push ahead on a new immigration policy despite criticism from Republicans who call it “back-door amnesty.”
Durbin, D-Ill., and Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Morton to quickly roll out the new policy and resolve problems that have cropped up during the first few weeks of its implementation, participants reported.
“I commend the Department of Homeland Security for the steps it is taking to implement it,” Durbin said in a written statement after the meeting. “But more needs to be done and it needs to be done quickly.”
The policy, announced over the summer, targets government resources toward deporting undocumented immigrants who commit major crimes and would give a break to people with family ties in this country or who are enrolled in school or are serving in the military.
Since the agency says that each year it can deport only about 400,000 of the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants thought to be in the country, officials say it makes sense to use “prosecutorial discretion” to focus scarce resources on deporting dangerous criminals.
Immigration officials wrapped up a pilot program in Denver and Baltimore last week. Officials reviewed almost 12,000 deportation cases and determined that more than 1,600 should be closed. Expanding the program nationwide would result in roughly 40,000 closed cases, according to Schumer.
An agency official, speaking not for attribution, confirmed that the agency is reviewing 300,000 cases, and said officials were weighing expanding the Denver and Baltimore pilots nationwide.
A Sticking Point
Senators and advocates of the policy urged Morton to work out some problems with the policy’s rollout. One sticking point is the legal status of those whose deportation cases have been closed. While the new policy grants them a reprieve from deportation, it does not offer them a way to work legally.
On Tuesday, Schumer delivered a letter to Morton and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging them to give work authorizations to undocumented people whose cases have been dropped after review. “If a small number of individuals are being permitted to remain in the United States for one year, this one-year status should also contain the ability to work,” the New York Democrat wrote.
Denying them that ability would make the new immigration policy a “hollow victory” and force people into the underground economy, where they would not pay taxes and where “unscrupulous employers” could take advantage of them, Schumer wrote.
Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said the immigration enforcement agency needs to set guidelines to allow people who benefit from prosecutorial discretion to be granted “deferred action,” an administrative procedure that allows undocumented immigrants to get drivers’ licenses and to work legally.
But Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he opposes granting work authorization to an entire group of people. “That would be amnesty,” Grassley said. “The power that the president has for parole is meant to be done on an individual-by-individual basis.”
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