16 attorney generals have formed a coalition to push back against “interim guidance” issued under President Biden’s administration which limits the number of deportations and arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
After the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled in favor of Texas and Louisiana, the Biden administration appealed to the Fifth Circuit, and it requested that the U.S. Supreme Court stay the lower court’s ruling, which the high court denied.
The case is pending before the Fifth Circuit, prompting the attorneys general to file an amicus brief. They argue their states “continue to suffer ongoing irreparable harm caused” by the federal government’s “unlawful actions,” according to the brief.
In January, the Department of Homeland Security issued guidance revising deportation policies and reducing enforcement priorities. In February, another directive issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement prioritized deportation only for those who pose a national security threat. ICE agents were no longer to deport those convicted for “drug-based crimes (less serious offenses), simple assault, DUI, money laundering, property crimes, fraud, tax crimes, solicitation, or charges without convictions,” acting ICE Director Tae Johnson instructed senior officials in an email in early February, according to the Washington Post.
The changes were expected to reduce deportations by 80%, according to Law Enforcement Today. In 2020, ICE officers arrested 93,000 individuals, with more than 374,000 criminal convictions or pending charges on their records. A Washington Post analysis drawing on ICE statistics suggested that only 10-20% of those arrested “appear to be the kind of aggravated felony convictions that would make them a priority under Biden’s rules.”
Additionally, over a 10-month period (which includes two months of the previous administration), Border Patrol agents arrested 8,691 known criminal illegal aliens who committed 12,685 crimes in the U.S., including repeat sex offenders, according to federal data. These arrests exclude those made by state law enforcement agencies.
According to Pew Research, encounters with illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border 2021 were at a 21-year high in July – U.S. Border Patrol reported nearly 200,000 instances with illegals for the month.
Source: Justthenews
Image: jlhervàs
