Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were told on Thursday that, despite a federal judge blocking President Joe Biden’s pause in deportations, they should still focus on removing people who fit the new government’s priorities, such as those considered threats. to public safety, according to an email obtained by BuzzFeed Notícias.
Federal judge Drew Tipton on Tuesday indefinitely blocked the Biden government from continuing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations. Trump-appointed Tipton said the memorandum violated administrative law and that the state of Texas, which had filed a lawsuit challenging the White House, adequately showed that it would face losses from the increased number of detainees and the costs of public education .
The court order was a blow to Biden’s goal of halting deportations while reviewing Department of Homeland Security policies and possible reforms. However, in issuing his order, Tipton did not demand that DHS deport certain individuals or reverse a change in the priorities of those who arrest and detain.
The Biden moratorium applies to all noncitizens with final deportation orders, except those who were involved in a suspected act of terrorism, people who were not in the US before November 1, 2020, or those who voluntarily agreed to waive any right to stay in the country.
Matthew Allen, ICE’s deputy deputy director, wrote to officials that while the court order blocked Biden’s moratorium, that does not stop them from making deportation decisions on a case-by-case basis, such as granting a suspension to those being expelled. from the country.
ICE officials were instructed not to consider the moratorium blocked when determining whether to deport someone, but they must continue to follow previous guidelines on “prioritizing removal resources”.
In January, a DHS memo told officials to focus their efforts on immigrants representing national security or other threats to public security, along with people who arrived in the United States after November 1. In February, ICE also directed police officers to focus their enforcement resources on basically the same group of people.
An official in the Department of Homeland Security told reporters at the time that the interim guidelines, which are expected to be followed by another directive in May, will help the agency “perform better” on its mission.
The e-mail sent on Thursday comes amid attempts by the Biden government to reform the much-maligned agency and the work it does across the country. Former President Donald Trump’s guideline in 2017 made almost all undocumented immigrants a priority for arrest, leading to a greater proportion of those without criminal convictions being detained.
Some defenders and experts on immigrants pressured the Biden government to back down deportations, regardless of the order.
“The Biden government should seek to suspend this order, which contradicts the broad power of decision-making that the federal government usually has,” said Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, professor at the Cornell University Law and Advocacy Clinic, in a statement. . “Furthermore, while this order prohibited the total suspension of deportations, the Biden government can and must be more careful with the deportations it carries out.”
For his part, Tipton questioned in his order why the moratorium was really necessary.
“Why does DHS need a 100-day pause in removals to process immigration and asylum applications on the southwest border ‘fairly and efficiently’? Why is pausing evictions essential to redirect immigration resources? And equally crucial, why and how does the pause connect with the new Executive’s need to redefine priorities? ” He wrote.