Mayorkas’ New Policies Effectively Abolish ICE

Through the Trump administration, progressive politicians and activists made abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a prime marketing campaign concern. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) all referred to as on Congress to help laws abolishing or in any other case reorganizing the tasks of ICE.

That was all earlier than Joe Biden turned president in January
2021. It seems that the progressives didn’t want Congress to behave in any respect. By
using two memoranda, Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas used his energy to abolish ICE. 

The memos don’t abolish ICE within the literal sense – the
company remains to be an present part of DHS. However the memos are a broadside
towards ICE’s function, and mark a complete abandonment of immigration enforcement.

Mayorkas launched the primary memorandum on September 30. Titled “Tips for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Legislation,” the doc outlines new steering to ICE officers for the apprehension and elimination of unlawful aliens. Counting on the doctrine of prosecutorial discretion, Mayorkas lays out the case for refusing to prosecute and take away most unlawful aliens current in america. Mayorkas writes that “We would not have the assets to apprehend and search the elimination of each one in all these noncitizens… In  exercising  our  discretion,  we  are guided  by the  reality  that  the  majority  of undocumented noncitizens who could possibly be topic to elimination have been contributing members of our communities for years.”

Mayorkas declares that ICE will prioritize for elimination solely
aliens who’re a risk to nationwide safety, public security, and border safety.
Threats to nationwide safety embrace these suspected of terrorism and
espionage. The second class addresses threats to public security, however consists of
exceptions if these violent criminals are of “superior or tender age,” have
lived in america for a “prolonged” time frame, have a psychological
sickness that led to their prison conduct, or whose elimination would depart
dependents behind.

That is outstanding. This coverage will defend prison aliens
if they’re aged, have lived right here for a very long time, or who’ve kids.
Anybody who can declare some type of psychological sickness can stay, whatever the
lives their crimes shattered. Ignoring any sense that prison aliens pose
threats to U.S. residents, Mayorkas ends by defending his actions by saying
that: “The gravity of a terror and elimination on a noncitizen’s life, and
doubtlessly the lifetime of relations and the neighborhood, warrants the
dedication of investigative and evaluative effort.” This a lot is obvious: Secretary
Mayorkas may be very involved in regards to the well-being of prison aliens and their
households.

The ultimate catch-all, “threats to frame safety,” embrace
any unlawful aliens apprehended within the U.S. who entered after November 1, 2020. This
renders secure any unlawful alien who occurred to reach earlier than November 1, 2020.
That is the equal of Mayorkas ordering DHS and its immigration enforcement
parts to throw within the towel. It’s troublesome to show time-of-entry and
the Biden administration already made it clear they intend to take away as few
unlawful aliens as doable. This third level is nothing greater than a paper
tiger.

Mayorkas launched the second memorandum on October 12. The doc, “Worksite Enforcement: The Technique to Defend the American Labor Market, the Circumstances of the American Worksite, and the Dignity of the Particular person” bars ICE from conducting worksite enforcement. It is a essential side of ICE’s work, and reverses beneficial properties made beneath the Trump administration.

Worksite enforcement is an important device that ICE used to
detain giant numbers of unlawful aliens directly whereas additionally holding accountable
the unscrupulous employers who select to rent them as a substitute of Individuals.
Unlawful aliens come to the U.S. for one motive – to work and generate profits. In an
superb world, worksite enforcement could be the popular method to determine and
take away unlawful aliens whereas cracking down on the employers who rent them.

Addressing the memorandum, FAIR’s president Dan Stein acknowledged that:

The
1986 Immigration Reform and Management Act (IRCA), which then-Senator Joe Biden
voted for, explicitly prohibits the employment of unlawful aliens. The acknowledged
intent of the regulation was to chop off the magnet of jobs that attracts unlawful aliens
to the U.S., and defend the roles and wages of American staff. As president,
Joe Biden’s coverage is exactly the other: to attract as many unlawful aliens as
doable to america, regardless of the price to nationwide safety, public
well being, burdens to taxpayers, or the roles and wages of American staff.

This coverage does simply that. It encourages extra unlawful
immigration by promising that ICE won’t examine or prosecute the
employment of unlawful aliens. As a substitute of permitting ICE to do its job and
prosecute employers and unlawful aliens, this memo empowers employers who run
afoul of present regulation and shields unlawful aliens from deportation.

Taken collectively, these two memos destroy ICE’s functionality to
implement our immigration legal guidelines within the inside of the nation. Ask your self –
what can ICE do with these insurance policies in place? They can not prosecute employers
who rent unlawful aliens. They can not conduct worksite enforcement
investigations to detain unlawful aliens working within the U.S. with out
authorization. They’ll detain solely essentially the most excessive of prison aliens, and
even then there are carve-outs. Are there any unlawful aliens within the United
States not shielded by these two
insurance policies, except for terrorists?

With the stroke of a pen, President Biden’s DHS secretary –
Alejandro Mayorkas – all however abolished the effectiveness of ICE.