Plus, US to refund millions of dollars to illegal immigrants and acting ICE director criticizes the administration.
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Biden Extends Deportation Relief
As President Joe Biden makes his final laps around the Oval Office, he and his administration work on making things easier for illegal migrants to remain in the country. On Friday, January 10, the commander-in-chief renewed deportation relief that currently protects about 900,000 immigrants from various countries including Venezuela, El Salvador, and Sudan. This move will likely delay some of President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.
The Department of Homeland Security extended the Temporary Protected Status program enrollment for those nations, giving them an additional 18 months. Around 600,000 people from Venezuela will be eligible for the program, which is causing concern among immigration control advocates considering the alarming number of crimes committed by nationals of that country.
Nearly 100,000 Migrants Will Receive Refunds
President Biden’s initiative, “Keeping Families Together,” was intended to give temporary legal status as well as a streamlined path to permanent residency to around 500,000 noncitizens who are married to legal citizens. The plan was announced in June, and migrants flocked to pay the $580 application fee. However, the federal court struck down that plan and now the US has to refund a total of about $55 million to those who applied.
The program would have provided parole status to those who were eligible, providing a green card and offering temporary work permits. Qualified individuals had to have lived in the US for at least ten years without committing a serious crime. If the initiative had been approved, it would have also included an estimated 50,000 migrant stepchildren of American citizens.
Acting ICE Director Criticizes the Administration
Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director P.J. Lechleitner told NBC News in an interview that Biden could have done more to tighten border security. He claimed that ICE agents could not adequately do their jobs because they were understaffed and underfunded, plus they had to lend personnel to help Customs and Border Protection.
“We could have detained more people, and we could have removed more people,” he said. “And I think we could use more resources and support. We could have done that in the last four years.”
ICE has arrested and deported just a little more than 47,000 migrants in fiscal year 2024, NBC News explained. Lechleitner said the agency was at its limit and could not have deported any more than that with the resources they had.
Another complaint from the acting director was that he wished the Biden administration had been more transparent with the public and had given his agency the ability to be more vocal about its work. “They should [have] allowed us more opportunity to explain what we’re doing and explain the hard work that ICE is doing and CBP is doing.” He added that they used to provide monthly news conferences, but the higher-ups prevented his team from doing so. “I don’t know why they stopped, but you know, we were only allowed to do so much.”
Lechleitner also expressed his frustration with sanctuary cities. “It drives me nuts when our local and state partners, you know, won’t cooperate with us on some of these immigration issues,” he told NBC News. “It’s like, ‘Come on, man, these are public safety, national security threats. And why? Why can’t we just cooperate and just do this to protect the American public?”
What will next week bring us in Open Borders America?
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