Looking Back at Immigration Overhaul 2018

 Posted on February 20, 2019 in Immigration

As 2018 draws to a close, one can look back at the U.S. immigration system as it once existed and see very little remaining. While the system has never been perfect, many different changes have been instituted in 2018 which have failed to make the United States any safer, despite their stated aims. Inefficiency has persisted, and suffering has mushroomed. The people who have cases pending in the system have been put through far more than anyone should expect to endure. However, that perseverance does sometimes pay off - and for the sake of a better life, many continue to try.

“Zero Tolerance”

Despite the "sturm und drang" coming from immigration hardliners, anyone caught in the act of crossing the U.S. border without inspection is generally deported as quickly as possible, thanks to a policy called expedited removal which permits deportation without being allowed to see an immigration judge if someone is arrested within 100 miles of the U.S. border and has been in the U.S. for less than two weeks. Under the previous administration, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) had a strict system of priorities when seeking to enforce detentions and removal orders - generally, those with convictions for aggravated felonies and crimes of moral turpitude were the migrants actively targeted by federal enforcement. Many undocumented people were allowed to remain if they had established ties to the country, paid their taxes, and had no criminal records, with federal might being used on those deemed a greater danger to U.S. national security.

The current administration has effectively curtailed, if not outright eliminated, the prosecutorial discretion that granted many of those “low risk” people, such as unaccompanied children and people with family ties, a reprieve from deportation. Anyone who crosses the border without documentation is seen as an interloper or invader, and is, according to its guidelines, entitled to no mercy. In recent weeks, the administration has even attempted to apply this ideology to refugees and asylum seekers with credible claims of future persecution, despite it being flagrantly against international law to deport someone back to a country where they have a credible chance of being persecuted or mistreated.

Detention Policies Skirting the Law

The other side of this administration’s tightening of the proverbial screws is the frequency with which entire families are placed into immigration detention. The administration’s wish to criminalize border crossings without papers has led to repeated pushes to try and override the Flores consent agreement, which was adopted after the resolution of the Supreme Court case Reno v. Flores (1993). Under the Flores agreement, the government must, by law, uphold certain standards regarding the detention of unaccompanied minors. The administration has routinely sought to flout the standards set forth by the agreement, including holding minors far longer than the consent decree allows and trying to argue that they have no choice because parents and children cannot be detained together.

Detention policies are also at the root of other major changes being made to asylum policy. The former Attorney General, during his tenure, sought to utilize a little-used right of his office and refer several cases directly to himself, including Matter of A-B-, which dealt with victims of domestic violence seeking asylum. The former Attorney General tried to sharply restrict the ability of that group to apply, as well as any other potential asylum seeker, by severely narrowing the criteria for what constitutes credible fear.

In other words, if someone is permitted to state that they have credible fear of persecution, they must by law be interviewed and allowed to remain in order to argue their claim. If a large swath of people who have experienced persecution can be sent back as a matter of course because their claims are not ‘good enough,’ no hearings have to take place. Expediency and cost-effectiveness are much higher priorities to the current administration than the lives of those who come before its machinery.

Seek Out a Chicagoland immigration Lawyer Today

It is possible to win your immigration case, even today. But you need an attorney who knows the system; you need an attorney who will fight for your rights and for your and your family’s safety and security. The skilled Chicago-area deportation defense lawyers at Mevorah & Giglio Law Offices will work hard for you because the right to safety and security is not restricted to U.S. citizens. Call us today at 630-932-9100 for a free consultation.