The Obama administration is reportedly ordering immigration enforcement agents to identify and release illegal immigrants, including those in jail, who may qualify for President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty.
The Associated Press reviewed Homeland Security documents that revealed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have been given a checklist of questions to ask illegal immigrants they encounter about “whether they might qualify under President Barack Obama’s plans to avoid deporting them.” The training materials reportedly order agents “to immediately begin identifying persons in their custody, as well as newly encountered persons,” who may qualify for Obama’s executive amnesty.
In addition, ICE has already been releasing jailed illegal immigrants who qualify for executive amnesty, and “agents also have been told to review government files to identify any jailed immigrants they might be able to release under the program,” according to the report.
As the Associated Press notes, the new Homeland Security directives “mark an unusual change for U.S. immigration enforcement, placing the obligation on the government for identifying immigrants who might qualify,” for executive amnesty in what is “akin to the Internal Revenue Service calling taxpayers to recommend they should have used certain exemptions or deductions.”
After he enacted his executive amnesty last year, Obama went to Nashville and and told a town hall audience that he would implement new “prioritization” rules. As Breitbart News reported, Obama said the ultimate goal is to “retrain, reprioritize, and refocus ICE officials” to only deport illegal immigrants who have committed violent crimes.
Nearly five million illegal immigrants are expected to qualify for temporary amnesty and work permits under Obama’s executive amnesty.