Trump team announces new measures for crackdown on illegal immigrants

The US Department of Homeland Security has issued new guidance about immigration enforcement, which paves the way for deporting the country’s 11 million undocumented workers.

The prior guidelines emphasized deportation only for those convicted of a serious crime.

The Department of Homeland Security issued tough new orders on Tuesday to begin a sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigrants, putting almost all of the country’s 11 million unauthorised foreigners in their crosshairs.

And then there’s the call for local law enforcement to intervene in detention and deportation – something Trump has already alluded to in his push back against so-called sanctuary cities.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to hire an extra 10,000 agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 5000 more border patrol officers.

What’s changed from the Obama era?

“We need an immediate public examination in Congress of these heavy-handed, anti-family policies”, Senator Dick Durbin said in a statement, calling for hearings in the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration.

The implementation memo directs the DHS undersecretary for management to identify and report to Kelly all sources of direct and indirect USA aid to Mexico. The memos direct agents to continue prioritizing removing immigrants who are criminals, but also go after those who “abused” any public assistance program or pose a risk to public safety “in the judgement of an immigration officer”.

The second memo is focused on immigration enforcement far from the border. Local and state law-enforcement officials will also be allowed to arrest unauthorised immigrants.

Like Trump’s border wall proposal, they are rooted in a harsher view of immigrants and how they should be treated.

Trump promised to take strong action against illegal immigration, and he is.

What is in the new orders?

The provisions also allow federal authorities to prosecute the parents of unaccompanied minors who enter the country illegally if they are found to have paid smugglers. “Immigration courts are experiencing a historic backlog of removal cases”.

The memos came in the wake of two executive orders signed by U.S. President Donald Trump in late January aimed at enhancing border security and restricting illegal immigrants across the country.

Besides Pena Nieto, the two American officials will meet with Mexico’s ministers of the interior, foreign affairs, finance, defense and the navy, the State Department said. The guidance is meant to support a pair of executive orders he issued last month.

Supporters of Trump’s executive order say that it is time for the federal government to fully enforce immigration law. That means that instead of waiting out the process in the USA, those who cross the southern United States border would be sent to Mexico-regardless of their nationality. The new memos instruct agents to remove any undocumented person with a criminal record, regardless of the offense.

Mr Trump’s immigration policies have prompted protests on both sides of the border.

Q: How many people could be affected by the new deportation policies?