Navigating Uncertain Times:
Friday Roundup
Friday February 24, 2017
Welcome to our new effort to keep you informed of the quick-paced
changes in immigration – real and implied – that are taking place in our world
today. This regular feature titled “Navigating Uncertain Times: Friday Roundup”
will summarize new developments that have occurred within the preceding week
and to provide concise explanations of how these changes might affect you . We hope to be able to provide a helpful
summary each Friday – or as often as may be warranted by the pace of new
developments in immigration law and practice.
We will continue to provide timely and thoughtful blogs on various
areas of interest in immigration law from time to time, but we welcome you to
this first installment of this regular feature.
On February 17, 2017, the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security
Secretary, John Kelly, issued two (2) new Memoranda addressed to the various
departments within Homeland Security such as ICE (Immigration & Customs
Enforcement) and CBP (Customs & Border Protection) implementing the
enforcement priorities expressed in the recent Executive Orders issued by
President Trump.
Border Security
Memo
The first Memo, relating to ‘Border Security’ has, among
many various provisions, some fairly significant changes to the manner in which
immigration laws are enforced, including:
·
An effort to detain
nearly all foreign nationals apprehended entering into the U.S. without
inspection, rather than getting biometric information, and allowing them to remain
in the country while awaiting the opportunity for a hearing on whether they are
entitled to stay. There are currently not
enough detention facilities to house the anticipated number subject to this
provision.
·
An effort to hire 5,000 more border protection agents. At this point, Dept. of Homeland Security has
been unable to fill the already-existing requirement that there be 21,370 border
protection agents.
·
An effort to expand the process of deportation
known as ‘Expedited Removal’. [For
clarification, the term ‘deportation’
is commonly used to refer to the forced removal of persons from the country;
but the precise legal technical term is known as ‘removal’]. Expedited
Removal is, as the name implies, a procedure that removes the individual
without the opportunity to appear before an immigration court or hire a
lawyer. The present practice is to use ‘Expedited
Removal’ only for foreign individuals encountered within 100 miles from the
border within 14 days of entry. The new
provision expands this to include anyone anywhere
in the U.S. who cannot prove they have been here continuously for the previous
2 years.
·
Those apprehended at the border not subject to
expedited removal would be returned to the ‘contiguous country’ from which they
entered, (i.e., Mexico or Canada), regardless of their nationality. They would then have formal ‘removal’
proceedings from a facility across the border in the neighboring contiguous country.
Interior
Security Memo
This Memo relating to enforcement
in the interior of the country
(beyond the narrow regions along the nation’s boundaries) may be more
significant in terms of the breadth of applicability. Because of the finite amount of resources available
to remove foreign nationals who are not presently here lawfully, past
administrations have focused enforcement priorities on removing persons with
criminal records.
The ‘Interior Security Memo’
describes various classes of persons who are removal ‘priorities’, but
concludes with one class that includes anyone who has ‘committed acts that
constitute a chargeable criminal offense’ could include anyone who simply arrived
in the U.S. without inspection. This is
a vast expansion of persons subject to removal.
It also supports the ‘fast-track’
removal process for the removal of persons included in these new ‘priorities’.
Look for additional explanation of
these Memos in days to come – there are lots of issues to explore - but this
should provide a brief introduction to some of the changes prompted by recent
Executive Orders.
