In an article today in NYT, "US Pledges to Raise Deportation Threshold", p. A14 of national edition, I don't have internet NYT, the Administration announced changes in deportation procedures which may be meaninful to many here, even though no comprehensive immigration bill seems to be in the immediate offing.
The Administration has confirmed that Secure Communities as a program will still go national but it has made what the Times article called "course corrections."
The stated reason for the course corrections as reported is that
the program was casting too wide a net and had strayed from its goal of bolstering public safety by expelling illegal immigrants who committed the most dangerouls crimes.
The changes give immigration agents the authority to postpone or cancel on a case by case basis deportations of students who might have been covered by the Dream Act, and to give particular consideration to veterans and those presently in service, and their close kin. (Italics added by diarist) and government attorneys the power to defer or dismiss cases of immigrants charged but who had not committed serious criminal offenses, which authority such lawyers theretofore did not have. The general list of cause for deferral or dismissal is also expanded.
Acording to the Times, there is also to be created a panel including police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, immigration agents and imigration advocates, who will have 45 days to assess a proposal which would eliminate detention of those arrested for minor traffic offices and other misdemeanors unless and until such persons were convicted of those crimes.
Guidelines are also being issued eliminating victims of domestic abuse and persons who are witnesses to crimes from the list of those who can be deported.
The announcement was coupled with an extension of service time for some National Guard units now serving at the southern border.
Apparently this administration is prepared if it cannot get a comprehensive bill through, to nibble away the parts it can change unilaterally, in consultation with those whose duty it is to enforce the law. While we would all prefer a comprehensive bill, unless and until that can be achieved, each little change that gets through is like IMO hauling one more brick out of a wall, until the wall cannot stand is useful.