Today the White House and Department of Homeland Security rolled out new guidance on deportations which would provide undocumented immigrants who are considered low priorities for removal the opportunity to apply for work permits and allow them to stay in the country indefinitely.
This news comes shortly after activists recently staged a protest at the Obama 2012 campaign offices. Coming so soon after a rash of bad press for the White House on immigration, this may seem like a clear bid to calm the nerves of voting Hispanics. However looking deeper at the way these new guidelines work, points to an administration grappling with a way to practically enforce a broken immigration system.
According to the Washington Post, Senior White House and DHS officials announced the creation of a centralized committee which would review the current 300,000 undocumented immigrants who are being processed for deportation as either high or low priority deportations.
The working group would be comprised of senior DHS and Department of Justice officials who would utilize ICE Director John Morton's memo on Prosecutorial Discretion to identify low-priority and high priority removal cases.
if an immigrant is found to be considered a high priority, an undocumented immigrant with a criminal record, then their deportation proceeding will be processed at an accelerated rate. However if the undocumented immigrant currently in deportation proceedings, is found to be a low priority, such as people who were brought to this country as children, veterans, or military spouses, then they will be given the opportunity to apply for a work permit.
DHS is deporting an all time record number of immigrants. If things continue as is, the Obama administration will deport over a million undocumented immigrants in three years. The guidelines announced today are aimed at creating a process by which DHS can more effectively deport criminal aliens.
With the 2012 election season in full swing, at least one thing is clear about this announcement: the Obama Administration is hearing the complaints of the Hispanic community loud and clear. By finally doing something to stop the deportation of non-criminal undocumented immigrants, only time will tell if this is the rare occasion of good policy and politics or a case of too little to late?