The Biden government on Friday will halt the deportations of many undocumented migrants who have received final removal orders, according to a memo issued by the interim head of the Department of Homeland Security.
The memorandum, which was signed on Wednesday by DHS acting chief David Pekoske, follows an important campaign promise by President Joe Biden. During the campaign and in debates, Biden said he would halt deportations while the government considered how to move forward with immigration enforcement.
The memo states that the 100-day break 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 USA. There is also an exception for individuals who the ICE interim director determines must be deported. The memo did not immediately address ICE detainees.
The directive is a monumental change in the agency’s approach to immigration enforcement and represents the beginning of a new era under the Biden administration, which has promised reforms of how the ICE prioritizes which immigrants should be detained and deported.
“It is difficult to overstate the importance of this, both in substance and in tone. It’s a new day in the department. We had the opportunity to step back at the steady and interminable pace of evictions to refocus and better identify where our resources should go and how they should be deployed, ”said a DHS official on condition of anonymity. “This is a gift and will only lead to a better and, hopefully, more humane department.”
“It will close a lot for 100 days,” added an ICE official.
In fiscal year 2020, which lasted from October 2019 to September 30, 2020, more than 185,000 people were deported by ICE, according to agency statistics.
Pekoske ordered the current acting ICE director, Tae Johnson, to “issue written instructions with additional operational guidance on implementing this removal pause” no later than February 1.
“The guidance should include a process for individualized review and consideration of the appropriate provision for individuals who have been removed for 90 days or more, to the extent necessary to implement this break,” he wrote.
In addition to the pause in deportations, the Biden government has issued new priorities for ICE officers, stating that they should concentrate prisons only against those who are threats to national security, those who were arrested at the border after November 1, 2020 and individuals who threats to public security are considered to have been convicted of a qualified crime. These priorities will take effect on February 1.
Earlier on Wednesday, Biden rescinded a memo issued by Trump that made almost all undocumented immigrants a priority for deportation.
The order was issued along with others focusing on immigration and is the start of an expected review not only of the Department of Homeland Security, but of its components, including the ICE. Under the command of former President Donald Trump, the ICE faced a torrent of criticism from defenders and politicians for advocating that leaders in sanctuary cities be accused of crimes, carrying out massive invasions of workplaces and other operations targeting families of undocumented immigrants.
During the moratorium, agency staff will conduct a review and issue recommendations to “address aspects of immigration enforcement, including policies to prioritize the use of enforcement personnel, detention space and removal resources; policies governing the exercise of the discretion of the Public Prosecutor; policies governing detention; and policies related to interaction with local and state authorities. “