Yesterday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Principal Legal Advisor directed all ICE attorneys to begin a systematic review of immigration cases to determine whether pursuing deportation in each case is consistent with the Administration’s enforcement priorities. In other words, the memo told ICE lawyers to follow the June 17, 2011 Morton Memo when reviewing 300,000 active deportation cases. This directive follows an August announcement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to review cases to assess whether they fall within the enforcement priorities and suspend those cases which do not. The suspension of these cases does not mean a change in legal status, nor does it mean work permits will be granted. The ICE memo also provided more detailed guidance to ICE attorneys regarding criteria for determining when it is appropriate to exercise prosecutorial discretion to close or dismiss a case.

ICE has described as “low priority” those cases involving DREAM-eligible youth, military family members, crime victims, and immigrants with strong family ties. The implementation process involves two components: a nationwide training program for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and prosecuting lawyers, so that the agency’s practices are in line with the new deportation policy; and a pilot initiative in Baltimore and Denver to begin the review, on a case-by-case basis, of pending deportations.

In reading the actual memos, specifically the enforcement priorities, the definition of “criminality” is vague enough to justify the deportation of anyone. For example, according to the guidelines, anyone with a misdemeanor that includes “any significant threat to public safety”, should be “pursued in an accelerated manner…”. How does this directive take into account the levels of racial profiling in immigrant communities?

The case by case review is scheduled to end on January 13th of next year, after which the program will be reevaluated and no doubt, there will be another flurry of press releases showing off how many “good” immigrants can stay in the United States.

The proof will be in the practice, not in a public relations policy.

Sources: The American Immigration Council, ICE Documents which can be seen as PDF’s here, here, and here