U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning a nationwide campaign to locate and deport illegal aliens who have illegally crossed the border since last year. This move comes after a recent DHS report shows that deportations have declined by 25% since 2014.
Government officials familiar with the plan have said that ICE will target illegal aliens that have come across since last year and have been rejected for asylum and ordered to leave by an immigration judge. The deportations could begin as early as January 2016.
The demand for deportations have increased after a recent court order forced DHS to release illegal aliens being housed in detention centers. The detention centers were opened in response to last year’s border surge where over 100,000 unaccompanied minors and families entered the U.S. illegally. The judge said that the detention centers violated the 1997 Flores-agreement and forced DHS to close the facilities.
The number of of unaccompanied minors and families apprehended at the border surged again in October and November 2015 hitting record highs for the fall months. Since the detention centers have been ordered closed DHS is incapable of handling the increasing illegal immigration flows. “It doesn’t allow us to hold onto people, to detain them until we can deport them,’’ said one-person familiar with the internal debate.
DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, said the agency, “will also continue to expedite, to the greatest extent possible, the removal of those who are not eligible for relief under our laws.’’
Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, is doubtful that these raids will be help to slow the flow of illegal unaccompanied minors and families from crossing the border. “It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the number they’ve admitted into the country. If you have photogenic raids on a few dozen illegal families and that’s the end of it, it’s just for show. It’s just a [public relations] thing, enforcement theater,” he said.
You can read more on this story at The Washington Post.
