New ICE rules on which immigrants can be deported come into force

This Monday the new guidelines of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) come into force, redefining who can be the target of arrests and deportations.

"The fact that an individual is undocumented should not by itself be the basis for applying the law against him," said the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, in a statement on September 30 when announcing the change. .

A protester calls for an end to migrant deportations during a protest in Los Angeles, March 6, 2021.Damian Dovarganes / AP

The Administration chaired by Joe Biden will focus from now on detaining and deporting those undocumented persons who "pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security and, therefore, threaten the well-being of the United States." such as those who have recently crossed the border and therefore have less roots in the country.

Officers will need to assess whether these individuals have committed a serious crime in the past, what type of damage they caused, and whether a firearm was involved.

In addition, it will be necessary to take into account whether they are young or old, and the impact that their deportation would have on the rest of their family, according to The New York Times.

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The new guidelines rule out that ICE focuses on detaining and deporting farm workers and other migrants who were likely to be expelled under the presidency of Donald Trump even if they had no criminal record.

"Are we going to spend the time arresting and deporting the farm worker who is breaking his back to pick up the fruit that we all put on our tables?" Mayorkas asked in a September interview quoted by The Washinton Post.

"Because if we persecute that individual, we will not be spending those same resources on someone who, in fact, threatens our security. And that is what it is," he insisted.

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The associations that defend the rights of immigrants reproach Mayorkas for finally granting ICE agents greater freedom to apply these criteria, unlike the provisional guide that the agency published on February 18 in which supervisors had to give their go-ahead to any arrest that goes outside of well-defined parameters.

Mayorkas explained: "I trust the ICE workers and their leadership, and I trust my own leadership and the efforts I have made to engage with and discuss the same issues with the ICE workers."

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The new guidelines go into effect when Biden's $ 1.75 trillion social spending bill, which includes aid to immigrants, hits the Senate this week after being approved by the House of Representatives.

But disagreements between Democrats and the Senate advisor's opposition to the bill's passage have prevented an agreement from being reached to pave the way to citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants, as Biden promised in the campaign.