Stephen Miller & Co. HAVE been busy….
And THAT means Congress is MORE to blame for NOT have reformed immigration law in place…
Miller has shown that running immigration policy on a ‘honor’ system with a President can be heartless and inhuman ….
Every few days we find out that the Trump admin IS going down the list of ways people can LEGALLY emigrate to this country and cancelling those avenues out…
The Trump administration has quietly altered its handling of visas granted to immigrants who cooperate with criminal investigations, allowing people to be deported even while they are waiting for their visas.
The change to U visas will make immigrants far less likely to report serious crimes, say immigration attorneys, who argue it also reflects the Trump administration’s efforts to deport as many immigrants as they can from the United States.
“This is going to have a chilling effect,” Eileen Blessinger, a Falls Church, Va.-based immigration attorney, told The Hill, because “by applying, you’re essentially reporting yourself to ICE but now there’s a risk that ICE might pick you up.”
The change was announced in a revised Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) directive released on Aug. 2.
The directive allows ICE to give permission for people to stay in the country as they await their U visas, which is a class of visa given to people who are cooperating with criminal investigations. But it also allows ICE to deport pending U visa applicants at their discretion.
Applications for U visas can take up to four years. The government issues 10,000 per year but puts no limit on the number of visas that can be issued to spouses and children of applicants or to parents of applicants who are themselves under 21.
The directive reserves the right for the agency to “review the totality of the circumstances, including any favorable or adverse factors, and any federal interest(s) implicated and decide whether a Stay of Removal or terminating proceedings is appropriate.”
ICE adds in the directive that it will “exercise its discretion” in determining whether to grant stay of removal requests, but cautions that the agency “no longer exempts classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement.”…..
Note…
This admin is going miles beyond anything any Republicans past has done against immigration, illegal and legal….
Like other actions?
This one will be challenged in the courts….