A month after migrant apprehensions at the border peaked in 20 years, deportations carried out by the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) fell to their lowest number in history. , according to official data obtained by
The Washington Post
newspaper
.
ICE expelled 2,962 migrants from the country in April
, according to preliminary data.
A figure 20% lower than that of March and it was the first time that a number below 3,000 has been registered.
Since his arrival at the White House in January, the president, Joe Biden, has established new guidelines in government agencies to change the immigration policy of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
ICE's objectives have changed accordingly.
Starting in mid-February,
the agency has focused on removing three categories of immigrants
: those considered a risk to National Security, those who have committed serious crimes and those who crossed the border irregularly in the last four months.
"By focusing our limited resources on cases that pose a threat to national security, our agency will more skillfully and effectively execute its law enforcement mission," ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson explained at the time.
ICE has also stopped fining undocumented migrants exorbitantly for every day they fail to comply with deportation orders against them, a Trump policy.
In some cases the fines exceeded $ 500,000
.
ICE fines migrant for ignoring deportation order
July 4, 201902: 06
The agency explained in April that it considered that policy that sought to raise thousands of dollars at the expense of the undocumented as "ineffective."
And the change has been applied retroactively, which means the cancellation of those sanctions that already weighed on immigrants for this reason.
The Biden Administration announced last week that it will no longer allow the arrest of immigrants in immigration courts.
A measure aimed at ensuring that the undocumented are not afraid to go to their appointments for fear of immigration agents.
A critic of Trump's policies at the head of ICE
To implement these new guidelines, the president has nominated a Latino critic of Trump's policies to lead ICE: Ed González, Sheriff of Harris County, Texas, of Mexican origin and who knows how to speak Spanish.
Who is Ed González, the Latino nominated by Joe Biden to lead ICE?
April 28, 202101: 24
González agrees with Biden's proposal to focus the expulsions on the three aforementioned categories of immigrants and has opposed massive raids to deport
"millions of undocumented migrants, most of whom do not pose a threat to the United States."
He has also criticized the practice of federal agents of resorting to local police to detain immigrants with deportation orders, something that according to Gonzales only encourages people in these communities to distrust law enforcement officials.
[Number of immigrants detained by ICE who test positive for COVID-19 increases]
The Biden Administration has stated that it does not want to "abolish ICE," as many activists have called for, but rather seeks to reform the institution.
For his part, the Secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, who is of Cuban descent, has described González's nomination as "a good choice" and has asked the Senate to ratify it as soon as possible.
With information from The Washington Post.