DHS Issues Memoranda Implementing Interior and Border Executive Orders

DHS Issues Memos Revealing Plans to Dramatically Step Up Immigration Enforcement

Friday, February 24, 2017

Sec. John Kelly

Pro-immigrant advocates have reacted with alarm to memoranda signed on January 20, 2017, and issued one day later on January 21st from Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly.  The two memoranda contain numerous sweeping changes in procedures for ICE, Border Patrol, and USCIS officers.  Advocates fear the changes in procedure will result in deprivations of due process for aliens in removal proceedings, the near-indiscriminate roundup of unauthorized migrants who have not committed serious crimes, summary deportation of unauthorized migrants without regard to whether they have counsel or have substantial equities in the United States, and the denial of protection to vulnerable children and asylum seekers.

The memoranda reveal the plans that the Department is putting in place to implement President Trump’s interior immigration enforcement and border security executive orders.    They are addressed to six officials at DHS who are serving in Acting positions: Kevin McAleenan, Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); Thomas D. Homan, Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Lori Scialabba, Acting Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); Joseph B. Maher, Acting General Counsel; Dimple Shah, Acting Assistant Secretary for International Affairs; and Chip Fulghum, Acting Undersecretary for Management.

Border Security Memorandum.  The subject line of the 13 page-long border security memorandum is: “Implementing the President’s Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements Policies.”  It “implements the Executive Order entitled “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements,” issued by the President on January 25, 2017.
 
Among the highlights of the border enforcement memorandum are passages that provide for  --

• Expanded Use of Expedited Removal.  expanding instances in which expedited removal may be used to deport unauthorized aliens;

 

• Hiring Additional Border Personnel.  Hiring an additional 5,000 Border Patrol agents, as well as an additional 500 Air & Marine Agents/Officers;

 

• Expanded State and Local Enforcement.  expansion of the use of 287(g) programs in the border region, wherein state and local law enforcement agencies assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law;

 

• Border Wall.  requesting supplemental FY ’17 funds from Congress, as well as necessary funds in subsequent years,  to construct President Trump’s proposed wall between the United States and Mexico;

 

• Deport Aliens Pending Completion of Proceedings.  returning arriving aliens from contiguous countries pending adjudication of their status;

 

• Weakened Protections for Asylum Seekers.  making it more difficult for persons seeking asylum to demonstrate that they have a credible fear of persecution while in expedited removal proceedings;

 

• Expanded Border Detention Capability.  expansion of detention capabilities and capacities at or near the border with Mexico, with an emphasis on expansion of short-term detention, including temporary structures;

 

• Reduction in Use of Humanitarian Parole.  limiting the use of humanitarian parole;

 

• Weakened Protections for Unaccompanied Alien Children.  re-interpreting the definition of “unaccompanied alien child” so as to reduce the number of children protected by the law; and

 

• Parents of Unaccompanied Alien Children.  prosecuting and deporting the parents of unaccompanied alien children in instances where the parents or family members are present in the United States without authorization.

 
Interior Immigration Enforcement Memorandum.  The subject line of the six page-long interior immigration enforcement memorandum is: “Enforcement of the Immigration Laws to Serve the National Interest.”  It implements the Executive Order entitled "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States," issued by the President on January 25, 2017.
 
Among the highlights of the interior immigration enforcement memorandum are passages that provide for  --

• Exemptions from Enforcement Actions.  eliminating Obama era exemptions of categories of removable aliens from immigration enforcement actions;

 

• Broadened Enforcement Priorities.  broadening enforcement priorities in a way that could well make every undocumented alien in the country an enforcement target;

 

• Hiring a Deportation Force.  the hiring 10,000 additional ICE officers and agents;

 

• Expanded State and Local Enforcement.  expansion of the use of 287(g) programs, wherein state and local law enforcement agencies assist in the enforcement of federal immigration law;

 

• Prosecutorial Discretion.  circumscribing the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in initiating enforcement actions against persons suspected of being removable;

 

• Citizen Victims of Crimes Committed by Noncitizens.  establishment of an office to highlight the victims of crimes committed by noncitizens; and

 

• Evisceration of Privacy Protections.  rescission of privacy protections to persons who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents. 

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See Also:

• Click HERE to see an analysis, prepared by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, of the DHS memo implementing the January 25, 2017, border security executive order. 

 

• Click HERE to see a Fact Sheet, prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, on the memorandum DHS memo implementing the January 25, 2017, border security executive order.. 

 

• Click HERE to see a Q&A Document, prepare by DHS, on the memorandum DHS memo implementing the January 25, 2017, border security executive order. 

 

• Click HERE to see an analysis, prepared by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, of the DHS memo implementing the January 25, 2017, interior immigration enforcement executive order. 

 

• Click HERE to see a Fact Sheet, prepared by DHS, on the memorandum implementing the January 25, 2017, interior immigration enforcement executive order. 

 

• Click HERE to see a Q&A Document, prepared by DHS, on the memorandum implementing the January 25, 2017, interior immigration enforcement executive order. 

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