Politico
By Seung Min Kim
May 15, 2014
Homeland
Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Thursday gave the most specific
indication yet that the Obama administration plans to revamp a
controversial federal immigration
enforcement program as part of its deportation review.
In
an interview on PBS NewsHour, Johnson said he’s taking a “fresh look”
at Secure Communities, a program that since 2008 has called on local law
enforcement officials
to hand over fingerprints of people booked into jails to federal
immigration authorities.
Johnson
said in theory, Secure Communities “should be an efficient way to work
with state and local law enforcement” to deport immigrants here
unlawfully who are considered
priorities for removal, such as immigrants who are convicted of a
crime.
But
“the program has become very controversial,” Johnson said in the PBS
interview. “And I told a group of sheriffs and chiefs that I met with a
couple days ago that I
thought we needed a fresh start.”
He’s
been conveying a similar message in conversations with mayors and
governors, Johnson added. That coincides with the message from a group
of law enforcement officials
who met with Johnson and President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Officials
who attended said it appears the administration is headed for a “reboot”
of the Secure Communities program.
Immigrant-rights
advocates have been highly critical of Secure Communities, because it
has led to deportations of undocumented immigrants with minor
violations. Many lawmakers
on Capitol Hill and advocates are calling on the administration to
scrap it altogether.
When
asked whether those changes to Secure Communities could come in the
“near term,” Johnson replied: “I believe it will and it should.”
The
Homeland Security chief was less definitive about another part of his
review: whether the administration will expand a 2012 initiative that
halted deportations of
undocumented immigrants who came to the United States illegally as
children.
Advocates
have been calling on the administration to broaden that program,
perhaps to parents and other family members of young undocumented
immigrants who are protected
by the 2012 directive.
The
2012 program is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA
for short. When asked about a potential DACA expansion, Johnson stressed
that whatever the administration
decides to do, it has to do “within the confines of existing law.”
“I
have talked to a number of individuals, concerned groups about the
potential for expanding the DACA program, revising our removal
priorities,” Johnson said. “And I
would say that we have to be careful not to preempt Congress in certain
areas.”
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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