Anti-Amnesty Group: There Should Be No Expiration Date for Removal Orders

Anti-Amnesty Group: There Should Be No Expiration Date for Removal Orders

With President Obama still adamant that he will move forward with executive action on immigration, the Center for Immigration Studies is out with a new report looking at a possible population that might receive benefits under an executive amnesty order. 

Taking an option for executive action outlined by Migration Policy Institute, CIS looked at the idea of expanding “prosecutorial discretion” to “people with 10-year-old removal orders.”

In order to examine what CIS called the “the likely characteristics of aliens who might receive the right to remain and work in the United States while within any executive action program ordered by the president,” the report looked at Immigration and Customs Enforcement removal data from fiscal year 2004 to 2013.

Looking at people with removal orders issued at least 10-years ago or more, the anti-amnesty group found that a high percentage (59 percent) had criminal histories. Further they found that an average 43 percent had been deported at least once previously. 

CIS concluded that granting executive amnesty to people with 10-year old removal orders would “benefit some of the most egregious immigration scofflaws.”

The report — authored by CIS’ director of policy studies Jessica Vaughan and CIS fellow Dan Cadman — further argues that the Mexican man, Luis Enrique Monroy-Bracamonte, accused in the October murder of two California sheriff’s deputies would have benefitted from such an action. 

“Pro-amnesty advocates would like to have an expiration date for removal orders,” Vaughan said. “But lawmakers and the public should be extremely skeptical of any proposal that rewards illegal aliens just because they have managed to defy immigration laws for a certain length of time. Instead, Congress should direct funding for ICE specifically to locate and remove repeat and long-term immigration scofflaws from the country.”

Overall, CIS said that nearly 900,000 illegal immigrants have been ordered for removal — regardless of when those removal orders were issued — but are still in the U.S. Of that, CIS said some 174,000 were convicted criminals.  

“The law already provides for the granting of relief to long-resident illegal aliens, but only those who can demonstrate good moral character and a compelling humanitarian reason for relief,” the report reads. “Proposals based solely on an illegal alien’s length of time in the country regardless of individual circumstances or merit should be viewed with great skepticism because they risk rewarding individuals who will endanger the public safety in American communities.” 

This is the second CIS examination of possible populations of illegal immigrants that could receive benefits under executive amnesty proposals. The first instillation looked at illegal immigrants with traffic violations. 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.