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Immigration and customs officials have drafted guidelines for officers tasked with focusing primarily on certain immigrant groups, such as those suspected of being a threat to national security, and requiring approval from high level for street operations under draft score obtained by BuzzFeed News that, if implemented, would likely result in a significant drop in arrests.
The draft interim guidelines were written by ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson and apply to all decisions made by the agency in the United States, including the detention or arrest of undocumented immigrants . It includes a section on implementing a 100-day deportation moratorium, but that plan was blocked by a federal judge in Texas on Tuesday. The judge’s order, however, did not stop the Biden administration from moving forward with changing the ICE’s arrest priorities.
“These guidelines will significantly reduce ICE operations. By imposing reporting obligations for any arrests occurring outside the administration’s narrow priorities and for any arrests occurring in general or in communities, they virtually ensure that immigration law enforcement will be focused on one. small number of people in criminal detention, ”said Sarah Pierce, analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “The Biden administration is swiftly eliminating all of Trump’s changes designed to keep unauthorized immigrants ‘looking over their shoulders.’ ‘
ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The draft directive is a step in the new administration’s attempts to reform the way the ICE uses its resources and was called for by David Pekoske, acting secretary of homeland security, on January 20.
In the guidelines, which would take effect on February 1, ICE officials acknowledge that their resources are limited, an argument advanced by many advocates and former agency heads.
“The total number of non-citizens illegally present in the United States is estimated to be in the millions. Meanwhile, ICE resources allow the removal of a few hundred thousand non-citizens per year … It is neither possible nor practical to prioritize every non-citizen who is illegally present in states -United, ”the note says. “Therefore, ICE needs to prioritize its resources to undertake a more effective and efficient immigration enforcement to handle an already overloaded workload.”
Former President Donald Trump’s directive in 2017 made nearly all undocumented immigrants a priority for arrest. Shortly afterwards, ICE prosecutors were prevented from granting stays to some immigrants threatened with deportation and were ordered to review and possibly reopen previously closed cases, which was revealed to the first time by BuzzFeed News through Freedom of Information Act requests. Soon the proportion of immigrants without prior criminal conviction who were arrested and placed in deportation proceedings exploded.
The groups of people that ICE agents are said to be focusing on include those suspected of being a threat to national security, recent cross-border commuters, and those who have been released from prison after being convicted of an aggravated crime. The draft guidelines include an additional priority for those who are otherwise deemed to constitute “a threat to public security”.
Officers would be told that the vague term should be taken to include all “relevant facts” such as the extent, seriousness and recent of criminal activity, as well as any mitigating factors such as rehabilitation.
“When one considers all of the circumstances, the key question in deciding whether the non-citizen poses a threat to public safety is whether the continued presence of the non-citizen presents a significant and articulated danger to persons in United States ”, the draft note states.
The draft directive requires that the decision to arrest anyone outside the three priority groups be taken “in writing” by the director of the local office and specify why the person is being prosecuted, that the action serves “the federal interest” and that it would not shift resources against others that are of higher priorities. If there are no urgent circumstances, the debriefing should be recorded prior to arrest and reported to senior officials in Washington, DC.
Elsewhere, ICE officials wishing to make an arrest outside federal, state or local jails or prisons must have the approval of the agency’s chief Johnson before moving forward.
Approval must also be received prior to arrest, except in an emergency.
The project also requires the ICE to start recording and measuring its effectiveness in complying with the memorandum on a regular basis from February 14. In the meantime, an internal review regarding agent deployment, policies relating to prosecutorial discretion and interaction with national and local law enforcement has started.
The draft directive, if not amended, will be in place as the Biden administration conducts its scheduled review of the ICE protocols, after which new priorities are expected to be issued.
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