The head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services visited the Hartford Public Library late last week. The library was recently awarded another federal grant for its immigrant outreach program. As WNPR’s Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, Director Alejandro Mayorkas also took time to address new deportation guidelines.
Since last year, the federal agency responsible for immigration enforcement known as ICE has circulated details of a policy shift to deal with deporting immigrants, The focus is deporting immigrants with criminal backgrounds---not those who may have overstayed a visa. The goal, supported by the Obama administration, is to alleviate a backlog in immigration courts across the country.
While ICE enforces immigration law, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, is the agency that approves or denies applications for legal status.
Two weeks ago, USCIS issued a new policy outlining when it gives immigrants notices to appear in court to start deportation proceedings and when it defers that authority to ICE. Director of USCIS, Alejandro Mayorkas says the new policies will make the agencies’ work more consistent.
“Our policy prioritizes receipt of notices to appear for individuals that of course present a national security threat, a public safety danger, and individuals who try to defraud us, those are our priority areas.”
Critics call the changes back door amnesty. They say the government is giving a pass to some illegal immigrants while deporting others. But Mayorkas says the federal immigration system has to operate this way.
“The fact of the matter is the system doesn’t have the capacity to remove everyone. And so the question is how does one allocate ones resources to ensure that removal authorities and resources are being allocated to the greatest benefit to the country.”
The new policies won’t overhaul the immigration system overnight. There are 300,000 pending deportation cases that are under review by officials before a final decision is made on who stays and who goes.