President Barack Obama issued an executive directive in which his administration would not deport illegal immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16 years of age, are 30, and have been in the country for at least five years. Further, the Obama administration told Congress that it would take 60 days to implement the directive.
It has not been even been a month since Obama’s directive, but, according to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the federal government has already been granting illegal immigrants “tentative legal status.” More incredibly, according to a Washington Times report, immigration officials have been giving tentative legal status to those who do not even meet the requirements, according to U.S. Customs and Immigration (ICE) documents.
According to the Times, Smith said “he’s learned some illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. less than five years have had their deportations canceled” even though the administration “listed the five-year mark as one of their criteria.”
According to ICE documents Smith reviewed, ICE officers are encouraged to search for those who are “apparently eligible” to not be deported, under the directive, and grant them tentative status, according to the report.
“President Obama is granting amnesty to illegal immigrants behind Americans’ backs,” Smith said, per the Times. “Although administration officials told congressional offices that it would take 60 days to implement the president’s amnesty plan, internal ICE documents show that illegal immigrants have already benefited from it, even though there are no standards in place.”
This is yet another example of the Obama administration misleading the American public and not enforcing laws. In this case, this is an example of the administration not even honoring the terms of its own outrageous, fiat-like directive.