A federal appeals court reactivated on Tuesday the policy of the Joe Biden government that seeks to limit the deportation of undocumented immigrants to those who pose a serious risk to national security, and those who have recently crossed the border and thus have less roots in the country. country.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a directive in September 2021 that paused deportations of immigrants solely for being undocumented, and instructed agents to focus on detaining and deporting those who "pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security and thus threaten the welfare of the United States";
as well as those who have recently crossed the border and therefore have less roots in the country.
In this sense, he asked that other factors such as ties with the community be taken into account before deciding on expulsions.
This policy replaced former President Donald Trump's policy of expelling all undocumented immigrants regardless of whether they had a criminal record or their ties to the community.
With the new rule, immigration agents must assess whether people have committed a serious crime in the past, what type of damage they caused and whether there was a firearm involved.
In addition, it is 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.
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The Republican states of Arizona, Ohio and Montana took legal action against Biden's new policy, claiming that it would increase crime (despite the fact that statistics show that migrants commit fewer crimes than US citizens) and would jeopardize the public coffers.
They managed to get a federal judge to temporarily paralyze the new guidelines, but the government appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which on Tuesday annulled the judicial blockade and allowed them to go back into effect.
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The appeals court ruled that the states have failed to prove their claims, further explaining that government guidelines only instruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on how to enforce a policy on which has jurisdiction to decide.
In addition, "it does not impose any direct costs on the states or threaten the loss of federal funds," he assured in the resolution signed by Judge Jeff Sutton.
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Emilee Cantrell, press secretary for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, said in a statement that the "court's decision unfortunately allows Biden to continue his dangerous immigration policies."
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"The attorney general will continue to use every tool available to the government to do its job and secure the border," Cantrell added, saying "the crisis at the border has had a devastating impact on Montana."
Montana is a border state, but with Canada: it is more than 1,300 miles from the Mexican border.