The media is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security will begin reviewing the backlog of deportation cases in the country and also started training enforcement agents and prosecuting lawyers in an effort to prioritize the expulsion of the most dangerous criminals versus those with no criminal record.
The New York Times reported yesterday that, “Homeland Security officials will issue guidelines on Thursday to begin the training program and the first stages of the court caseload review.”
The move pushes forward a policy that was announced by the Obama Administration back in June that calls for case-by-case reviews of deportation cases, focused on deporting unauthorized immigrants with criminal records and giving a respite to service members, young students, military members, elderly people or close family of American citizens, etc.
There are currently over 300,000 deportation cases pending in immigration courts.
The training program, which must be completed by mid-January by all Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, will pose scenarios that might occur during enforcement operations and instruct the agents to use prosecutorial discretion.
“We are empowering the attorneys nationally to make them more like federal prosecutors, who decide what cases to bring,” an anonymous senior Homeland Security official, said.
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