I just read an important, and encouraging, report from Julianne Hing at Colorlines, which states that the Obama administration is going to review cases for the 300,000 people currently facing deportation.
Here is how Hing begins her article:
The Obama administration is bringing its policies closer in line with its deportation rhetoric. The Department of Homeland Security has issued new guidelines that will allow some people who are currently facing deportation to have their cases stayed, senior administration officials said today.
Authorities from DHS and the Department of Justice will review on a case by case basis the 300,000 people facing deportation and whose cases are currently clogging up the immigration courts. Immigrants facing deportation who are not a high priority for deportation, such as those with no criminal record or those who immigrated to the U.S. as young children, will be removed from the queue.
Last year, the Obama administration stated (in an issued memo) that it would focus its deportation efforts on those people with criminal records (considered Level 1, or the highest priority for deportation).
However, recent increases in deportation rates have not come from those who are considered to be Level 1, but rather those who had no criminal records at all.
Last year the Obama administration deported approximately 400,000 people, and over one million people have been deported in Obama's presidency to date.
Today, officials in the administration stated that they were going to refocus their efforts and try to avoid focusing on those who are not considered to be the most pressing cases. The new policy would be to re-prioritize.
This could be significant, for as Hing writes:
The policy would most directly impact DREAM Act-eligible youth—young people who were raised in the U.S. and have no criminal record—as well as military veterans and the spouses of active-duty military personnel, officials said, though the policy change will not mean categorical change for these groups of people. Every deportation case will be reviewed individually, officials stressed.
Let us hope that the policy articulated today will be carried out, and that more "Americans in Waiting" will be given the chance to become Americans, rather than be characterized as criminals.
The Obama administration deserves kudos for the announcement and shift. We must make sure that it is carried forth.
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