A Shift in Immigration Enforcement Policy.

 

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security is revisiting a program that authorizes local police to enforce federal immigration laws.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security is revisiting a program that authorizes local police to enforce federal immigration laws. The new Department of Homeland Security guidelines significantly reduce the ability of local law enforcement to arrest and screen illegal aliens. The idea behind these new guidelines is to prevent sheriff and police departments from arresting people "for minor offenses as a guise to initiate removal proceedings." Rather, the program would focus on illegal aliens committing more serious offenses. This is a welcome and much-anticipated shift in immigration enforcement policy.

Over the past few years, immigration lawyers all over the country noticed a significant increase in numbers of aliens that are being placed in removal proceedings. Statistically speaking, during the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, ICE deported over 350,000 aliens from the US, which was a 23,5% increase over the 2007 total.

online.wsj.com/article/SB124726259338825191.html

 

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