Washington Post: Joe Biden’s Progressives Abolish ICE Protections by 80 Percent

Migrants return to Mexico from Texas in July 2019. (Emilio Espejel/AP)
Emilio Espejel/AP

President Joe Biden’s deputies have gutted the ability of ICE officers to safeguard 300 million Americans from illegal migrants, according to the details in a Washington Post report.

The February 18 report describes a memo that imposes reduced enforcement priorities for the nation’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. The 90-day rules will block roughly 80 percent of deportations, the Post says:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will need preapproval from a senior manager before trying to deport anyone who is not a recent border crosser, a national security threat or a criminal offender with an aggravated-felony conviction, according to interim enforcement memo issued by the Biden administration Thursday.

….

The 93,000 individuals arrested by ICE officers in the U.S. interior last year had more than 374,000 criminal convictions or pending charges on their records, but only about 10 to 20 percent appear to be the kind of aggravated felony convictions that would make them a priority under Biden’s rules, ICE statistics show.

The memo sets the interest of the state above its citizens. “General criminal activity does not amount to a national security threat,” the February 18 memo says.

The Biden policy is largely intended to prevent the detention and removal of long-present illegals — including illegals with criminal records — during routine operations following Biden’s promised an amnesty to illegals in the United States on January 1.

The new policy will require ICE officers to stand aside when most illegals are being released from state and local prison, especially if the illegals have U.S.-born children.

The enforced passivity will also make it difficult for ICE’s agents to protect Americans’ right to a national labor market free of wage-cutting illegal workers — even as millions of unemployed Americans are being forced to fight for jobs and wages against a rising inflow of poor migrants. “At-large Enforcement Actions” will require notifications to local law enforcement agencies, the policy says — even though the local agencies will be under intense pressure to tip off local employers.

The Post‘s report may greatly underestimate the impact of the new migrant-friendly rules. Breitbart News reported on February 11 that they would allow the deportation of just one in every 33 caught and deportable migrants:

An analysis by Center for Immigration Studies Director of Policy Jessica Vaughan details how the Biden order “will prevent the arrest and removal of nearly all of ICE’s caseload of criminals — including many aliens who have been convicted of the most serious crimes on the books.”

Specifically, Vaughan analyzed ICE deportations from 2018 when more than 95,000 criminal illegal aliens were removed from the interior of the United States.

“If the new Biden deportation policies had been in force and applied to ICE’s 2018 interior caseload, a total of 91,993, or 96.5 percent, would not have been subject to removal,” Vaughan notes. “Only about 3,367, or 3.5 percent, would have been considered appropriate to remove from the country.”

But a Biden official used the Washington Post to argue that the standdown can be lifted in particular cases:

The new rules “do not exempt any individual unlawfully in the United States from enforcement” or deportation, Department of Homeland Security officials said, but rather provide clearer directions to the ICE officers afforded broad latitude under Trump.

Biden’s deputies will closely monitor ICE officers for violations of the rule, according to an agency official:

Biden’s new rules require ICE field offices to submit weekly reports to Washington detailing the implementation. A DHS official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the increased transparency and accountability will “provide some opportunities for teachable moments” and dialogue “about what enforcement actions were an appropriate allocation of resources, and where there might be improvements.”

The Post did not say if the weekly reports will list the crimes caused by illegals once top officials decide not to deport them.

But the stand down policy will allow foreign criminals to conduct more crimes against Americans — although, not likely against the university-educated progressives who are enforcing Biden’s rollback of law enforcement. For example, Breitbart News reported in July 2020:

Ivan Robles Navejas, a 28-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested and charged by the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office on six counts of intoxication assault with a vehicle and three counts of intoxicated vehicular manslaughter.

According to police, Navejas was driving drunk when he crashed into members of the Thin Blue Line motorcycle club — made up of active duty service members, law enforcement officers, and retired officers.

The three men killed in the crash include:

  • 48-year-old retired officer Joseph “GT” Paglia of Chicago
  • 74-year-old retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jerry “Wings” Harbour of Houston
  • 20-something retired U.S. Army officer Michael “Psycho” White of Chicago

Records obtained by KENS 5 News reveal that Navejas has a criminal arrest record dating back to 2013. That year, Navejas was arrested for evading arrest and was eventually convicted in 2015.

In 2016, Navejas was arrested for driving drunk. The case was never prosecuted and although Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) came in contact with Navejas, the illegal alien was not enough of a priority to arrest and deport.

When the fatal crash occurred, Navejas had been out on bail for a 2018 case in which he allegedly hit a man with his truck — pinning him up against his truck and another vehicle — before biting his ear off and biting his back.

Days after Nevejas was charged with killing three people in the drunk driving incident, a fourth person, Illinois Police Sgt. Joseph “Kelly” Lazo, died of his injuries from the crash, according to an update in the Breitbart News report.

The memo will be replaced by another set of rules to be issued in less than 90 days by Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden’s secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Biden’s policy of rolling back enforcement creates political risks for him — and many Democrats — if the public decides to blame him for deaths and damage allowed by the official release of migrants.

Most illegal migrants follow non-immigration laws, and many even pay federal taxes because they are in the United States to work. But in the huge population of at least 12 million illegals, even a low crime rate ensures that many migrants break laws against drunk driving, drug dealing, domestic violence, street fights, and other harmful actions.

Biden’s pro-migration progressives accept the extra crimes — and lost wages — as a price that other Americans must suffer so that progressives can inflate the U.S. economy with waves of additional legal and illegal foreign workers, consumers, and renters.

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