More Immigration Meddling

Over the past few months, there’s been a push for the executive branch to halt the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants currently in the United States.  If done, this would be a unilateral move amounting to amnesty without a vote from Congress.   

In July, I asked the Administration to account for a memo written by lawyers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency responsible for providing immigration benefits.  The memo describes a way for the Administration to use special discretionary authority to provide backdoor amnesty to illegal immigrants, completely avoiding Congress and the process of representative government. 

This month, I uncovered another document outlining proposed changes to the federal immigration agency’s detention and deportation process.  According to the proposed changes outlined in this latest document, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field office would only be allowed to contact immigration enforcement officers to carry out deportation orders after consulting with an attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel.  As it stands now, an illegal immigrant who has an "order of removal" in his or her file can be taken into custody immediately by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

This proposal would require field officers to navigate the agency bureaucracy in Washington and submit a lot of paperwork before detaining those ready for deportation.  That could take days and, as a result, cause federal immigration enforcement officials to have to re-locate illegal immigrants for removal from the United States.  This would be an inefficient and potentially more dangerous way to properly detain and process lawbreakers. 

I’ve written a letter to the immigration agency asking for information on this proposed change.  I asked for a copy of the official policy the proposal refers to and for the rationale in requiring the chief counsel’s permission to take into custody an illegal immigrant who has an "order of removal" in his or her file.

My goal is transparency and accountability.  Administration officials need to be clear with the American people.  And federal agencies have a responsibility to enforce the laws on the books, not look for ways to work around them.

Click here to read my letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Click here to read the draft proposal on detention.