Trump signs executive order directing enforcement priorities; DHS issues enforcement memo

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 25 directing the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize the removal of immigrants in the country illegally.

The order set wide parameters on the categories of people who would become a priority, ranging from individuals engaged in terrorist activities to people charged with crimes but not yet convicted.

Trump's directive makes the "broadest possible definition of 'criminal alien,' " said David Martin, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Virginia and former principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump's executive order said enforcement priorities include "removable aliens" who are or have:

- Described in specific sections of immigration laws: such as individuals convicted of crimes "involving moral turpitude" (murder, for instance), engage in terrorist activities, are convicted on weapon charges;

- Convicted of any criminal offense;

- Charged with any criminal offense, even if the charge has not been resolved;

- Committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense

- Engaged in fraud or willful misrepresentation related to any official matter or application before a governmental agency;

- Abused programs related to receipt of public benefits;

- Subject to final order of removal; and,

- Pose a risk to public safety or national security, based on the judgment of an immigration officer.

Individuals who entered the country illegally -- without committing another crime -- are included in the order's call for removing immigrants who committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense, Martin said.

An individual living in the country illegally is subject to deportation under immigration law -- he or she doesn't have to be a convicted criminal to be eligible for removal. But toward the end of the Obama administration, people who were not convicted criminals were not the highest deportation priority.

A DHS memo dated Feb. 20 presented guidance on the new order's implementation.

The document rescinded prior department memos regarding enforcement priorities. But it excluded from revocation two documents: a 2012 memo on deferred action for immigrants who came to the country as children and a 2014 memo that removed an age cap for immigrants who came as children and expanded the prosecutorial discretion to parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

More than 742,000 people have been approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, commonly known as DACA. (A 23-year-old who had been granted deferred deportation protection was detained by immigration authorities Feb. 10 in Washington state. ICE said he was arrested based on admitted gang affiliation and risk to public safety.) The extended DACA provisions in the 2014 memo, along with a program called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), were not implemented due to court challenges.

Aside from exemptions noted in the memo, "the department no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement," Kelly said.

"All of those in violation of immigration law may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States," said a Q&A posted on DHS' website related to the executive order.

DHS also said it plans to expand the 287(g) program, which trains and authorizes local and state law enforcement officers to carry out federal immigration law. At the time, ICE has program agreements with more than 30 law enforcement agencies in 16 states, according to the agency.

At a press briefing Feb. 21, a reporter asked Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer: "Is one of the goals here mass deportation?"

"No," Spicer responded, emphasizing a priority on removing criminal immigrants.

"The message from this White House and from the DHS is that those people who are in this country and pose a threat to our public, or have committed a crime, will be the first to go, and we will be aggressively making sure that that occurs," Spicer said. "That is what the priority is."

Stephen Yale-Loehr, a Cornell University Law School professor, said that under new executive orders and DHS implementing memos, many more people will be detained and deported.

However, deportations may not happen as quickly as people might expect, due to backlogs for appearing before an immigration judge, Yale-Loehr said.

"Unless the administration finds funding to hire more immigration judges, those backlogs will skyrocket," Yale-Loehr said. "Congress also needs to find money to hire more border patrol and immigration enforcement personnel to carry out the executive orders."

Pending removals, we rate this promise In the Works.