U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conduct a raid in Sherman, Texas as part of Operation Cross Check on June 20, 2019.
Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary, said Thursday that immigration officers cannot detain or deport anyone from the U.S. simply because they are not documented.
Mayorkas sent a memo to border agency and immigration officials. He outlined new guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. These directives direct them to deport and arrest immigrants who are a threat to national and border security.
This includes those suspected of terrorist or espionage, people who have committed serious criminal acts and migrants who illegally crossed U.S.-Mexico borders after Nov. 1, 2020.
According to a Homeland Security press release, the guidelines require that individuals be assessed individually to determine whether they fall within these priority categories.
ICE officers won't be allowed to deport undocumented immigrants that have been contributing members of the U.S. community for a long time, such as faith leaders and farmworkers. Officers are not allowed to detain immigrants whose status has been revealed by unscrupulous employers, as long as they do not commit a major criminal offense.
These new guidelines will be in effect as of Nov. 29.
Mayorkas stated in the memo that "We are guided to the knowledge that there are individuals within our country who have been around for generations and contributed towards our country's wellbeing."
He said, "As they strive to give them a path towards status, we won't work in conflict by spending resources trying to remove those that do not pose threat to our Nation and, in fact make our Nation stronger."
These new guidelines represent a shift in U.S. Immigration policy. They may spare many undocumented immigrants from being deported under Trump's administration. This administration had previously allowed for the arrest of illegally residing persons in the country.
According to the memo, there are approximately 11 million undocumented immigrant families living in the United States.
Although President Joe Biden has pledged to fight for a path towards citizenship, attempts to legalize the process have been met with many obstacles in Congress this year. Last week, the Senate rejected a proposal by Democratic lawmakers to include citizenship pathways in their budget bill.
Its response to the U.S.–Mexico border migration has also been criticized by the Biden administration. Democratic lawmakers and advocates for immigration have condemned the Trump-era Title 42 policy, which deports migrants without giving them an opportunity to apply for asylum. Exempt are unaccompanied children.
In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that Title 42 would continue to be in effect until it has determined that Covid-19 cannot be brought over the border into the United States.
