Robb: What part of illegal do you want Trump to ignore?
If you are outraged about what Donald Trump ordered on legal entry into the country, the so-called travel ban, the president is the appropriate target of your wrath.
But if you are upset over the new Department of Homeland Security guidance on illegal immigration, Trump actually isn’t the appropriate target of your ire.
The new guidance more faithfully enforces the immigration laws as Congress has written them. That’s what presidents are supposed to do.
ROBB:Calm down, Trump's immigration orders aren't that bad
Congress has enacted a comprehensive and intricate program for legal immigration into this country. Contrary to many laws, the immigration laws are highly prescriptive, detailed and specific. Categories are provided, procedures established, in some cases quotas set.
Foreign nationals who are in the country without authorization are supposed to be deported. Not just some of them. Not just those who commit serious crimes.
After all, what’s the point of a comprehensive and intricate program for legal immigration if it can willy-nilly be ignored?
Obama prioritized serious criminals
Now, there are limited resources available to find and deport those in the country in violation of our immigration laws. So, priorities are set.
The Obama administration made the priority illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes. The Trump administration has expanded that to include a broader range of crimes and those who, in the opinion of immigration enforcement officials, pose a threat to public safety.
The real difference, however, is that the Trump administration will no longer follow what could be called the “blind-eye” policy of the Obama administration.
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Under the Obama policy, if immigration enforcement officials came into contact with an illegal immigrant who did not fall within the priority category, no deportation action would be undertaken. In some cases, such illegal immigrants were actually issued work permits and given what amounts to legal status. For some, it could actually be better to be caught.
This amounted to a de facto administrative amnesty. Illegal presence would be ignored unless a serious crime was committed.
Trump is returning to the status quo
The Trump administration has said that it will not turn a blind eye to immigration law violations. It will prioritize criminals, more broadly defined, and those regarded as threats to public safety. But if, in the course of enforcement activities, illegal immigrants who are in not in the priority class are identified, they won’t be ignored. They will be subject to deportation, with forbearance offered only on a case-by-case basis.
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That was the practice prior to Obama’s blind-eye categorical exclusions to the nation’s immigration laws. So, it isn’t really something new. It’s a return to the status quo ante. And it more faithfully enforces the immigration laws as they currently exist.
My guess is the difference in actual deportations won’t be worth all the hubbub. The resource constraints will remain. To implement the expanded enforcement scheme of the Trump administration will require tens of billions of additional dollars. That will have to compete with other priorities in what passes for a congressional appropriations process these days.
Some blind-eye policies remain in effect
Moreover, the Trump administration is retaining some elements of Obama’s blind-eye policies. Those who received temporary legal status under the Obama administration’s program for those brought here illegally as children, the so-called dreamers, were exempted from DHS’s new enforcement guidance.
Less noted, so was the Obama administration’s program for parents in the country illegally with children who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, which the courts have put on hold. A footnote in the guidance said that this population would be addressed in a future memo.
READ:Full text of implementation memo
Now, I believe that there should be a general amnesty for most of those currently in the country illegally. It would be an act of compassion in keeping with American values and traditions. And if accompanied by a universal requirement that work eligibility be electronically confirmed through the federal government’s E-Verify program, it could be the last amnesty.
But changing the legal status of those in the country illegally falls within the province of Congress. It is not something appropriately provided piecemeal by the president through neglecting his duties.
The president pledges to faithfully execute all the laws of the United States. Not just those he agrees with. And not just to the extent he agrees with them.
In this particular case, Trump is just doing his job.
Reach Robb at robert.robb@arizonarepublic.com.
