DHS Expands Power To Initiate Deportations

Putting in an express lane.

Via Washington Times:

The Trump administration has expanded the government’s deportation powers, issuing guidelines urging officers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — the agency that oversees legal immigration and naturalization — to begin the removal process for people who use fraudulent documents or who illegally took government benefits.

USCIS officers have always had powers, but in the past had usually referred cases to other parts of Homeland Security for decisions on deportation.

But new guidance memos reviewed by The Washington Times show USCIS is now pushing to advance its own role in policing illegal immigration.

Agency employees were told to be on the looking for people who apply for naturalization or another legal immigration benefit but who have criminal records, used fraudulent documents, lied about their applications or had abused public benefit programs.

In the past, those might have been enough to reject the application, but USCIS would either drop the issue or refer the case to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for possible deportation. Under the new guidelines, dated June 28, USCIS employees are now urged to begin the deportation process themselves.

That involves issuing a Notice to Appear, or NTA, which signals the beginning of the deportation process. Someone who receives an NTA then must go before an immigration judge, has the chance to appeal, and only then is deported.

“When fraud, misrepresentation, or evidence of abuse of public benefit programs is part of the record and the alien is removable, USCIS will issue an NTA upon denial of the petition or application, or other appropriate negative eligibility determination,” the guidance says.

The new guidance reclaims USCIS’s role as a gatekeeper and expands the number of government employees on the lookout for deportable migrants.

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