For the most part, the Obama admnistration’s new policy on deportation is being welcomed by editorial boards from major newspapers across the country. Here’s a samping —
New York Times: Toward Immigration Sanity
The White House has just taken a large step toward a more sensible and lawful policy on illegal immigration. The administration said that it would stop deporting illegal immigrants who pose no threat to public safety or national security so that it can focus on catching and expelling criminals who do.
The new policy ratifies an approach set forth in a recent memo from the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, on the agency’s use of “prosecutorial discretion.” The memo suggested that immigration enforcement officers and lawyers should move more aggressively against drug dealers, gang members, and other flagrant violators than against illegal immigrants who pose no danger. That would include people with clean records, those who came to the United States as children, the elderly, pregnant women, veterans, service members and those with serious illnesses or disabilities.
La Opinion: A Positive Step
The Obama administration’s decision to review almost 300,000 cases currently in deportation proceedings seeks to identify cases that are not priority for the program and separate them. This will allow the program to focus on the deportations of criminals, persons who have repeatedly entered the country and those who have recently entered U.S. territory.
This is an important step in fixing the program. It is a concrete effort to intervene in the process between the arrest and deportation of an individual, with the goal of refocusing the program. By reducing the caseload, this move will fast-track the deportations of dangerous criminals and avoid the separation of families by not deporting people who are not a priority for S-Comm.