Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Trump's new immigration orders return to traditional enforcement...except for 'dreamers' (ADDENDUM)

DHS is hiring more ICE and Border Patrol agents and starting construction of the wall. According to Secretary John Kelly, the DHS is going back to traditional routes of immigration enforcement. However, Trump and Kelly are not doing anything about the Dreamers. ~ MLS, 2/21/17
Just a quick reminder/differentiation between the hysteria of the fakes and 'enemies' (these are the first three that popped up on Google, mind you):

New Trump Deportation Rules Allow Far More Expulsions
Trump admin sets stage for mass deportations
President Trump's Fear-Based Immigration Orders
As opposed to more legitimate sources (that are buried beneath the muck):
Trump's New Executive Order on Immigration: What You Need to Know
DHS secretary orders immigration agent hiring surge, end to 'catch-and-release'
Never doubt, they know exactly what they're doing. Anyway, onto the topic at hand...

It sounds like a toughening of policy with better organizational structure and rollout, except for the part that drifts off to dreamland...
FNP: Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly moved Tuesday to implement a host of immigration enforcement changes ordered by President Trump, directing agency heads to hire thousands more officers, end so-called “catch-and-release” policies and begin work on the president’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.

“It is in the national interest of the United States to prevent criminals and criminal organizations from destabilizing border security,” Kelly wrote in one of two memos released Tuesday by the department.

The memos follow up on Trump’s related executive actions from January and, at their heart, aim to toughen enforcement by expanding the categories of illegal immigrants targeted for deportation.

The changes would spare so-called "dreamers." On a conference call with reporters, a DHS official stressed that the directives would not affect Obama-era protections for illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and others given a reprieve in 2014. But outside those exemptions, Kelly wrote that DHS “no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement.”

A DHS official said the agencies are “going back to our traditional roots” on enforcement.

The memos cover a sprawling set of initiatives including:
  • Prioritizing criminal illegal immigrants and others for deportation, including those convicted or charged with “any criminal offense,” or who have “abused” any public welfare program 
  • Expanding the 287(g) program, which allows participating local officers to act as immigration agents – and had been rolled back under the Obama administration 
  • Starting the planning, design and construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall 
  • Hiring 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers 
  • Hiring 5,000 Border Patrol agents 
  • Ending “catch-and-release” policies under which illegal immigrants subject to deportation potentially are allowed to “abscond” and fail to appear at removal hearings 
It’s unclear what timelines the secretary is setting for some of these objectives, and what budgetary and other constraints the department and its myriad agencies will face. In pursuing an end to “catch-and-release,” one memo called for a plan with the Justice Department to “surge” immigration judges and asylum officers to handle additional cases.


While congressional Republicans have vowed to work with Trump to fund the front-end costs associated with his promised border wall, the same memo also hints at future efforts to potentially use money otherwise meant for Mexico – following on Trump’s repeated campaign vow to make Mexico pay for the wall. The secretary called for “identifying and quantifying” sources of aid to Mexico, without saying in the memo how that information might be used.
Pardoning dreamers only continues the allowance of a foot in the door for chain migration, doesn't it? Compassion or coy? Subject to change? Maybe law & order citizens are just expecting too much? Too much winning?

Related links: BREAKING: Trump to keep protections on DREAMERS — Here are the new immigration directives
Ok this is good move by the Trump administration…

ADDENDUM: And finally we hear something back on the travel pause to those countries of concern...evidently it's a little more pared down as well...