On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security begin unveiling the Donald Trump administration’s plans to deal with illegal immigration. In a set of released guidance memos, DHS reveals how Trump’s looking to enforce stricter policies and tweak older ones.
The memos instruct Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to address undocumented immigrants swiftly. In addition, Trump’s Wall will be built, and associated agencies may have more resources at their disposal. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly appears to be allowing agencies to implement “unused parts” of existing laws to meet their objectives:
“Through the memos, Kelly expands the government’s immigration enforcement by instructing agencies to implement unused parts of existing law and by clarifying standards for certain protections, which add up to having sweeping implications for the processing of undocumented immigrants in the US.”
Immigrants who are convicted of a crime still sit atop the deportation list (a policy implemented by the Obama administration), but ICE will be using “expedited removal” procedures against any undocumented immigrants they confront. This will largely limit any court proceedings that the deported subjects would previously been allowed to access.
Additionally, USA Today is reporting that officials could send people who back to Mexico if they enter from that country, even if they’re not from Mexico. If you would like to read further details of the plans, you can read the memos by clicking here.