The recently inaugurated President signed two immigration-related Executive Orders on January 25, 2017. These orders, summarized below, are sobering news for immigrants and non-immigrants to the U.S. and a timely warning to be careful and remain vigilant.
Mexican Border: “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements” Executive Order includes:
– building a wall on the Mexico border and directing government agencies to identify and report all Federal aid given to the Government of Mexico for the past 5 years;
– constructing immigration detention facilities at the Mexico border;
– directing the Attorney General to create prosecution guidelines and emphasize the prosecution of offenses connected to the Mexico border;
– hiring an additional 5,000 border patrol agents;
– terminating the “catch and release” policy and instead detaining “immigration violators;”
– returning ineligible immigration applicants from “contiguous territories” to where they came from, pending a formal removal proceeding; and
– ensuring humanitarian parole authority is only exercised where “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit” is demonstrated.
Deportations: “Enhancing Public Safety of the Interior of the United States” Executive Order includes:
– prioritizing removal of non-U.S. citizens associated with criminal acts—including “committing acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense” (such as driving without a license and jaywalking), engaging in fraud or willful misrepresentation, abusing public benefits, or otherwise posing a “risk to public safety or national security”;
– hiring an additional 10,000 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers;
– obtaining information on all Federal grant money received by “sanctuary jurisdictions” (i.e. jurisdictions that offer a safe harbor for undocumented immigrants, which includes most of the major cities in the U.S.) and ensuring that these jurisdictions are not eligible to receive Federal grants, except as deemed appropriate for law enforcement purposes;
– publishing a weekly list of criminal actions committed by non-U.S. citizens and any jurisdiction that failed to honor their detainment;
– implementing sanctions against countries that “deny or delay” accepting return of their nationals who are ordered to be removed from the U.S. and ensuring that accepting nationals ordered to be removed is a “condition precedent” in diplomatic relations with other countries; and
– excluding non-U.S. citizens and non-U.S. permanent residents from Privacy Act protections regarding personally identifiable information, to the extent consistent with the law.
Many of these initiatives require funding, so it is difficult to gauge an accurate timeframe for implementation. Dayzad Law will also continue to advocate for justice, fairness, and equality for our clients and all immigrants to the U.S. to the fullest extent possible.