On January 20, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an internal memo changing "enforcement and removal policies and priorities."
"This memorandum directs Department of Homeland Security components to conduct a review of policies and practices concerning immigration enforcement. It also sets interim policies during the course of that review, including a 100-day pause on certain removals to enable focusing the Department’s resources where they are most needed. The United States faces significant operational challenges at the southwest border as it is confronting the most serious global public health crisis in a century," the memo states. "In light of those unique circumstances, the Department must surge resources to the border in order to ensure safe, legal and orderly processing, to rebuild fair and effective asylum procedures that respect human rights and due process, to adopt appropriate public health guidelines and protocols, and to prioritize responding to threats to national security, public safety, and border security."
"Due to limited resources, DHS cannot respond to all immigration violations or remove all persons unlawfully in the United States. Rather, DHS must implement civil immigration enforcement based on sensible priorities and changing circumstances," it continues.
The White House is also detailing the reprioritization and noting those charged with DUIs or assault will not be deported.
Doocy ??: There's some new reporting that ICE is going to get some new guidance to no longer focus on deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of DUI, simple assault, solicitation, drug-based crimes among other things...[H]ow that is in the interest of public safety? pic.twitter.com/kybf9wE3rt
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 8, 2021
Former Acting ICE Director Ron Vitiello is sounding the alarm and warning the new policies will allow violent criminal aliens to go free and avoid deportation.
"This administration is sending a signal that will travel the globe that we are going to go soft on border security and soft on immigration enforcement," Vitiello said. "They made exceptions for people who are convicted of aggravated felonies and if they just crossed the border, so that leaves millions of people in the United States who are criminally involved. They're in gangs, they could be accused of crimes like murder and pedophilia, rape, arson, robbery, human trafficking, those people would still, not convicted of those crimes even though they committed them, they wouldn't be subject to deportation under the guidelines being put out so we're definitely going soft on interior immigration enforcement."
"Last year ICE arrested, in the administrative sense, 103,000 plus people. Ninety percent of them had criminal arrests or convictions and so they've already prioritized how to use their resources to protect us," he continued.
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