Coalition Responds to DHS Implementation Plan for New Deportation Policy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that it would begin to implement the new deportation policy it had announced on August 18th, under which deportation cases currently pending in immigration court will be reviewed and cases deemed “low priority” will be closed. The agency has described as “low priority” those cases involving DREAM-eligible youth, military family members, crime victims, and immigrants with strong family ties. The implementation process involves two components: a nationwide training program for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and prosecuting lawyers, so that the agency’s practices are in line with the new deportation policy; and a pilot initiative in Baltimore and Denver to begin the review, on a case-by-case basis, of pending deportations.

The following is a statement from Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition:

“Last summer, the Department of Homeland Security announced a new deportation policy. We are pleased that the administration will now begin to review pending immigration cases, and that some relief is on its way to immigrants and their families. But we remain concerned that deportations have continued at an alarming rate and that broader reforms are not happening. We call on President Obama to ensure that DHS stops deporting the very people the President has said should be afforded relief, and to end enforcement programs like Secure Communities that sow fear in our communities.”

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