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With the 2012 U.S. presidential elections fast approaching and hopes dwindling for comprehensive immigration reform, the Obama administration has chosen a new tactic that may be an effort to appease Latino voters disillusioned with the administration’s failure to pass immigration legislation. The ad hoc approach consists of two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memos that will change the focus of immigration enforcement to criminal offenders rather than undocumented immigrants with clean records. In effect, the policy aims to reduce deportations, another issue concerning Latinos. There were close to 400,000 deportations this year, a record number and over 4,000 more than the previous year. Meanwhile, opponents accused the plan of being a “backdoor amnesty,” and believe the policy could open the door to more undocumented immigrants. The approach also seeks to show movement on immigration enforcement at the national level as several states pass their own controversial immigration legislation.
On November 17, the DHS announced it would begin a review of 300,000 deportation cases to prioritize criminal offenders and discontinue proceedings against undocumented immigrants without criminal records. The recently announced plan stems from a June 17 memorandum from John Morton, the director of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE), in which he cites “limited resources” as a need to focus on felons and national security risks, and to use “discretion” with other groups. Morton specifically refers to the elderly, members and veterans of the U.S. military, victims of domestic violence, pregnant or nursing women, children and minors, U.S. high school graduates and college students, people with family ties to permanent residents or citizens in the U.S., the physically and mentally disabled, and people with serious illnesses as cases that should be considered with discretion for deportation.
While the June memo met enthusiasm from immigration advocates, ICE did not
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