Texas Immigration Lawyer Blog

Tension over Obama policies within Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Washington Post Andrew Becker reports

"As it poises for further immigration initiatives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling with festering internal divisions between political appointees and career officials over how to enforce laws and handle detainees facing deportation.

"Under the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security has shifted its focus away from the worksite raids and sweeps employed during George W. Bush's presidency to deporting more criminals and creating less prisonlike detention settings. But ICE, a branch of DHS, is facing intensified resistance from agency middle managers and attorneys, and the union that represents immigration officers.

"The internal conflict has grown increasingly public over ICE's plans, among them to expand a risk assessment tool to guide agents on detention decisions, cut down on transfers of detained immigrants, and open more "civil" detention facilities -- what field directors call "soft" detention."

Anti-Latino Hate Crimes Seen From Baltimore to Arizona

Southern Poverty Law Center Larry Kelly reports on recent hate crimes against Latinos that "appear to be part of a general trend that has been in the making for several years. Anti-Latino crimes increased in each of the four years from 2003 through 2007, before dropping back slightly in 2008, according to FBI national hate crime statistics (2009 figures have not yet been compiled). In recent months, politicians and others have made statements that demonize Latinos and likely contribute to the atmosphere of violence. Two of the most outrageous recent examples: Texas Republican Congressmen Louie Gohmert and Debbie Riddle both claimed that pregnant terrorists plan to sneak into America to give birth to future terrorists who will automatically become U.S. citizens and eventually “help destroy our way of life,” as Gohmert put it. Both representatives claimed that former FBI officials divulged the terrorist baby threat to them. CNN asked Tom Fuentes, who served as the FBI’s assistant director in the office of international operations from 2004 to 2008 about the claims by Gohmert and Riddle. “There was never a credible report — or any report, for that matter …  to indicate that there was such a plan for these terror babies to be born,” he said.

"Debunking myths like these about Hispanic immigrants won’t likely deter new ones from cropping up like stubborn weeds. And in today’s overheated immigration climate, it’s a good bet more Hispanics will be beaten, even killed, as the debate — if it can be called that — rages on."

Immigration Agency Ends Some Deportations

New York Times Julia Preston reports on changes made by I.C.E. policy in regards to removal/deportation cases, but confuses the dismissals of non-criminal alien cases with the streamlined process for those with pending I-130s.

See Houston Chronicle articles earlier this week for a clearer report:

ICE: No "Backdoor" Amnesty (08/26/10)

Feds moving to to dismiss some deportation cases (08/24/10)

Morton Memo (06/30/10)

Texas Immigration Lawyer Blog on 06/30/10 Morton Memo

Morton Memo (08/20/10)

Texam Immigration Lawyer Blog on 08/20/10 Morton Memo  

ICE: No Backdoor Amnesty

Houston Chronicle (Immigration Chronicles Blog)

In response to the story that ran in the Houston Chronicle earlier this week describing the dismissals of non-criminals in removal proceedings in the Houston Immigration Courts, Deputy Press Secretary for I.C.E, Richard Rocha, denies that the actions constitute a "backdoor" amnesty.

"This Administration is committed to smart, effective immigration reform, prioritizing the arrest and removal of criminal aliens and those who pose a danger to national security. In 2010 to date, ICE has removed more than 150,000 convicted criminals- a record number. ICE is not engaged in a "backdoor" amnesty and has placed more people in immigration proceedings this year than ever before. ICE has implemented a new policy to expedite the removal of criminal aliens and those who pose a danger to national security by ensuring these cases are heard."

Includes a clip of Houston Immigration attorney, Raed Gonzalez of Houston, Texas, on Greta Van Susteran's show. Good job, Raed!

 

Operation Streamline: Program Prosecutes Illegal Immigrants Before Deporting Them

Latino America  Laura Gambino reports on Operation Streamline

"Illegal immigrants caught in certain areas along the border are now charged with violating federal law and given criminal records before being deported. If they return to the United States and are caught, they can face prison time. Supporters of the program say its expansion will help secure the border. Opponents argue the program is costly and unconstitutional."

* * *

"This is Operation Streamline, a federal initiative that attempts to deter border crossers by criminally prosecuting them. The little-known program was implemented in late 2005 by President George W. Bush. First-time offenders can be sentenced to a maximum of six months but are often sentenced to time served and deported. Repeat offenders can receive up to two years in prison but generally get from 10 to 180 days. If a repeat offender has a criminal record, he or she can receive a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

"The vast majority of illegal immigrants apprehended along the 2000-mile U.S.-Mexico border still receive voluntary deportations, an action with almost no legal repercussions. But expansion of Operation Streamline — with its criminal convictions for those caught crossing the border illegally — is being hailed as an antidote to America’s border security problems.

"Before Streamline, non-violent border crossers with no prior convictions who made it into the court system were administratively deported. Criminal prosecutions were reserved for migrants with criminal records or multiple re-entries.

"Much of this prosecutorial discretion is lost with Streamline, and as a result officials say misdemeanor immigration cases are overwhelming the federal district courts along the border."

* * *

"The U.S.-Mexico border spans from San Diego, Calif. to Brownsville, Texas. There are five federal court districts with jurisdiction over the border region — each operates multiple courts. Of the 11 courts along the border; eight of them enforce Streamline or similar programs.

"The Yuma, Ariz., and Del Rio, Texas, courts have fully implemented Operation Streamline. This means that in Border Patrol sectors they serve, 100 percent of the people agents apprehend at the border will be detained and prosecuted through the Streamline process.

"Six other federal district courts (Tucson, Ariz.; Las Cruces, N.M.; El Paso, Texas; Laredo, Texas; McAllen, Texas; and Brownsville, Texas) employ partial programs. As a whole, the initiative is referred to as Operation Streamline, although, each zero-tolerance program operates under its own name."

Elderly and disabled immigrants may lose financial aid

Los Angeles Times Alexandra Zavis reports

The Sept. 30 deadline affects immigrants admitted to the country on humanitarian grounds who are not yet citizens.

Some of the poorest elderly and disabled people admitted to this country on humanitarian grounds will lose their cash assistance in October unless they have naturalization applications pending, federal officials say.

U.S. Supreme Court Case Could Be Immigration Law Road Map

Texas Tribune Julian Aguilar reports  

"State lawmakers looking for guidance on how to draft immigration legislation that can withstand federal legal challenges may not have to wait for resolution of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Arizona.

"In testimony last week before the House State Affairs Committee, Deputy First Assistant Attorney General David Morales said a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court — U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria — could provide guidance to state governments looking to crack down on immigration, which has traditionally been the province of federal authorities.

"In the case, the chamber challenges the Legal Arizona Workers Act, which requires that state’s businesses to use E-Verify, a service that purports to confirm the legal employment status of immigrants but has drawn criticism for inaccuracies and delays. Unlike the Arizona's controversial SB 1070 — which allows local police to enforce immigration laws but has been largely gutted by a federal judge — the Legal Arizona Workers Act has been upheld by district and appellate courts. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case soon. 

"The legal principle at issue is the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which Morales explained essentially means that “all things being equal, federal law trumps conflicting state law.” The district court, however, upheld the Arizona Workers Act, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — the same court that will has the SB 1070 appeal — concurred. “The state had the power, under its police powers, to regulate businesses and the licensure of businesses,” Morales explained.

"Despite the appellate court's ruling, acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Kumar Katyal petitioned the Supreme Court to review Candelaria. Katyal argued the Arizona provisions "disrupt a careful balance that Congress struck nearly 25 years ago between two interests of the highest importance: ensuring that employers do not undermine enforcement of immigration laws by hiring unauthorized workers, while also ensuring that employers not discriminate against racial and ethnic minorities legally in the country."

“The way that the U.S. Supreme Court decides on that case could be very instructive as to what happens in the SB 1070 case," assuming it also proceeds to the high court, Morales testified."

Reid bashes Republicans for a position on immigration that he once pushed

 
 
Politifact -  Reid has seen the light.

On August 4, 1993 Reid introduced the Immigration Stabilization Act of 1993, a bill that would have, among other things, revoked birthright citizenship. Section 1001, entitled "Basis of Citizenship Clarified," said, in effect, that children born in United States to parents who are illegal immigrants would not become U.S. citizens.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal also reported on December 13, 1999, that Reid said that the legislation is "way up high" on his "list of mistakes" and that it was "short-sighted." He added, "I didn't understand the issue. I'm embarrassed that I made such a proposal."

Nobody -- not even Reid himself -- is denying that Reid switched his position on "clarifying" the 14th amendment. He wrote a bill in 1993 that would have denied birthright citizenship to children of illegal aliens. Six years later, he called that bill a mistake. Granted, he apparently regrets introducing the bill, but we wanted to know whether Reid has changed his position. We found that he did, so we rate this a Full Flop.

I.C.E. New Policy on Removal Cases for Aliens with I-130 Pending

Morton Memo -- On August 20, 2010, John Morton, Assistant Secretary for U.S.I.C.E. issued a Memorandum  titled "Guidance Regarding the Handling of Removal Proceedings of Aliens with Pending or Approved Applications or Petitions."

It outlines new policies for I.C.E. to follow where an immigrant relative petition (I-130) has been filed that would provide relief for an alien in removal proceedings. It outlines procedures for I.C.E. to requested expedited review of cases by U.S.C.I.S. and also cases in which I.C.E. can dismiss without prejudice pending cases before the Immigration Court.

Austin leads the nation in deporting non-criminal undocumented immigrants

Texas Tribune Mose Buchele reports

Undocumented immigrants are more likely to be deported from the Travis County jail because of their immigration status than from any other jail in the country, according to federal data obtained by the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Mose Buchele of KUT News reports.

Listen to the audio report.