Director of the ICE Field Office, Enforcement and Removal Operations, David Marin and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Fugitive Operations team make an arrest at a home in Paramount, California, on March 1, 2020.
LUCY NICHOLSON / REUTERS
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LUCY NICHOLSON / REUTERS
Director of the ICE Field Office, Enforcement and Removal Operations, David Marin and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Fugitive Operations team make an arrest at a home in Paramount, California, on March 1, 2020.
LUCY NICHOLSON / REUTERS
When the Biden administration announced expanded new limits on immigration enforcement Last year, it gave hope to the deported fighters.
But so far, some immigrants and their supporters say the reality is not matching the administration’s rhetoric.
Inna Simakovsky, an immigration attorney in Columbus, Ohio, said in an interview: “We’ve had a year and it hasn’t worked. “I just want them to actually do the right thing, and do what they promised.”
As the Biden administration approaches the one-year mark, immigration advocates are increasingly frustrated at what they see as a growing list of failed promises.
Ambitious plans to overhaul the immigration system have stalled. Trump-era restrictions on asylum rights still apply at the southern border – including a public health order known as Title 42, which allows the administration to quickly deport most migrants and return them of a policy that forces some asylum seekers to “remain in Mexico” until they are adjudicated in immigration court. And the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has pulled out of settlement negotiations over financial compensation for families forced apart during the Trump administration.
However, the Biden administration can point to a number of wins – including Detailed instructions sets out who should be prioritized for arrest and deportation, and who should not.
“The Guidelines recognize the indisputable fact … that the majority of undocumented individuals have made very substantial contributions to our communities across the country over many years,” said the Minister of State. Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told NPR last year.
However, immigration attorneys in some parts of the country said implementation of that guidance fell short of expectations.
“If anyone deserves to be prosecuted, this is the case”
When Simakovsky heard about the new enforcement guidelines, she immediately thought of one of her customers in Columbus. Carol came to Ohio from Africa on a student visa over 20 years ago, and never left. She asked us not to use her last name or say where she was from, as her asylum case is still pending.
Carol and her husband own a home and pay taxes. She works in banking; Her husband is a nurse. They have four children, all US citizens.
But Carol knows that their life in America is precarious.
“If my kids play sports, I’ll sit in the corner and cry because I don’t know if I’ll see him play next year,” she said in an interview. “So it’s like you live through the day. You don’t know what’s going to happen.”
On paper, Simakovsky says Carol and her husband are exactly the type of people that implementation instructions from Immigration and Customs Enforcement will help: They have no criminal record, have a long relationship with the community and a potential path to permanent legal status through their children . So Simakovsky wrote to ICE asking for what is known as the right to prosecution – when prosecutors agree to suspend or drop the case altogether.
The answer is no.
“It’s crazy,” said Simakovsky. “If anyone deserves to be prosecuted, this is the case.”
ICE did not respond to a request for comment on Carol’s case.
Officials say immigration enforcement guidance is working as intended but advocates say it’s not
Biden administration officials emphasized that immigration enforcement guidance is working as intended. Immigrant arrests within the country are down significantly compared with the Trump or Obama administrations, while the number of immigrants detained by ICE is relatively low by recent standards.
Central American migrants are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after crossing the Rio Grande River in LaJoya, Texas, on June 12, 2021.
Nicolo Filippo Rosso / Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Central American migrants are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after crossing the Rio Grande River in LaJoya, Texas, on June 12, 2021.
Nicolo Filippo Rosso / Bloomberg via Getty Images
In a statement, an agency spokesperson said the new guidance aims to “better focus Department resources on the arrest and removal of non-citizens who pose a threat to security.” our nation, public safety and security, and advance the interests of justice by ensuring a case-by-case assessment of whether an individual poses a threat. ICE attorneys are instructed to review the implementation of the decision, consistent with this guidance.”
ICE said in a statement that it has received about 47,000 requests under the prosecution decision to date – and it has accepted 70% of them. But immigration attorneys around the country remain skeptical.
“Language coming from Washington is not at all the real reality we are experiencing in Boston,” said Michael Kaplan, an attorney at the Rubin Pomerleau firm.
Kaplan represented two Central American women who won asylum cases in immigration court. When the new guidance was released, Kaplan said he immediately asked the ICE office in Boston to drop the appeal in their cases. Kaplan said he didn’t hear from him for months, until ICE finally denied his request.
“Maybe I’m naive. I’m still hoping that maybe I’ll win the lottery with it and be able to help one of my clients in that way,” Kaplan told NPR. “But some lawyers actually find it pointless.”
Other immigration lawyers say it’s too early to draw conclusions.
“We’ve heard from some students that they’re getting approval requests, but many are still having trouble with ICE even though they’re still having trouble with ICE,” said Jen Whitlock, policy advisor to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. for cases that seem to fit the guidelines for the letter T,” said Jen Whitlock, policy advisor at the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It seems to depend a lot on geographic jurisdiction.”
Immigration attorneys nationwide are confused about how to apply the new guidance
In interviews, half a dozen immigration attorneys from different parts of the country expressed confusion and frustration over how the new guidance would be applied. Some argue that ICE staff hired under the Trump administration, which has taken a tougher stance on interior enforcement, could undermine the new policy.
But a senior Biden administration official disputed that theory. In a background interview, the official said it was inevitable that immigration attorneys would be disappointed with the outcome in a small number of cases. ICE has more than 1200 attorneys on staff. The official said they are very busy and it may take time for them all to catch up with the new policy.
However, some immigrants say they can’t wait any longer.
Thousands of protesters rallied in the streets outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters while demanding a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. on September 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty
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Thousands of protesters rallied in the streets outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters while demanding a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. on September 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty
“My life will end when I return to Mexico,” Miguel Araujo said in Spanish through an interpreter. Araujo says he was forced to flee Mexico more than 40 years ago, because his work exposed the collusion between the government and drug cartels that made him a target.
“They wanted me in Mexico so they could assassinate me, the same way they assassinated my brother, and the same way they assassinated hundreds of activists across the country,” he said.
Araujo’s attorneys admitted his case as determined by the prosecution was imperfect. Has a decades-old drug conviction in his past. And the Mexican government has made it clear that they want him back, sending what is known as a “Red Notice” to INTERPOL seeking his return.
But Araujo’s lawyers insist he is not a threat to public safety. They describe him as a prominent journalist and restaurateur in Northern California, where he has spent more than half his human life.
“There was nothing shameful or wrong in reviewing the case, and that didn’t happen here,” said Francisco Ugarte, an attorney at the San Francisco Office of Public Defender who represents Araujo. . “When we see how the government is suing these cases… you have to question whether they are delivering on the promises made by the current administration,” Ugarte said.
Araujo, 73, said he couldn’t understand why the Biden administration was still fighting to deport him.
“It’s very confusing,” he said. “On the one hand, they want to be our friend, and open the arms of a friend. On the other hand, they beat us, and they’ll bring us back.”
