President Donald Trump is on a mission to limiting immigration and deporting illegal immigrants as promised during his presidential campaign.
A slew of measures has been taken by the administration to reform the immigration policy ever since Trump assumed office. Washington Examiner reported that while the moves of the federal government are welcomed by some groups, pro-immigration groups and activists have warned the administration about the consequences of the policy.
According to a report by Migration Policy Institute, the government has made 12 major immigration reforms since January 2017 which includes increasing arrests and removals of unauthorized immigrants and expanding the priorities for immigration enforcement.
Trump is planning more reforms including a border wall with Mexico and end so-called chain migration.
While the measures taken by the government have already begun affecting the immigrants, their families, and communities, the report said that more actions can be expected from the administration and it may significantly change the nation’s immigration policy.
“All signs indicate that this is a down payment on a policy vision and agenda that will result in fewer immigrants entering the country and significantly expanded detention and deportation of those here without authorization,” said Migration Policy Institute.
“Taken together, these actions may reshape the composition of immigration flows and of populations currently in the country long into the future,” said the group of Trump’s achievements, adding that they may “have profound and long-lasting effects on the U.S. immigration system…”
The following are the important reforms implemented by the Trump administration as per the report titled ‘Immigration under Trump: A review of policy shifts in the years since the election’ by the influential group.
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement has boosted arrests of illegals inside the country, compared to at the border, by 37 percent.
- The government has entered into agreements with local authorities to capture and remove illegals under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
- ICE and Justice have begun punishing and targeting some 300 so-called “sanctuary cities.”
- The deferral of illegals targeted for removal has ended.
- Immigration courts have picked up their pace to reduce a backlog of 650,000 cases. A “no dark courtroom” policy has been put in place to make sure all courts are working.
- Illegal immigrant parents who paid to have their children smuggled across the border are being identified for removal.
- Unaccompanied child migrants reunited with their parents may lose their amnesty designation.
- Recalcitrant countries, those who refuse to accept illegals returned by the U.S., are being sanctioned.
- Refugees have been cut nearly in half to 45,000 from the Obama-era 85,000.
- “Enhanced vetting” has begun targeting refugees and immigrants.
- The president has suspended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
- Entry of immigrants from certain countries granted “Temporary Protected Status” like Haiti has been suspended.
“These high-profile policy shifts have been coupled with more subtle adjustments across federal agencies that have an immigration role. Among them: mandating interviews for all visa applicants (including all green card applicants), limiting the ability of noncitizens to receive continuances of their cases in immigration court, suspending admissions of some spouses and minor children of refugees already in the country, and increasing scrutiny applied to temporary visa applicants,” noted the report.
It continued: “The administration has also threatened to condition some Justice Department grants for states and localities on cooperation with immigration enforcement. All of these actions move the United States towards the administration’s ultimate goals of decreasing immigrant admissions and expanding deportations.”