Obama Encouraged Illegal Immigrants to Commit Felonies
(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) New information shows the Obama administration ignored illegal immigrants’ crimes in order to fast-track their deferred deportation status.
Photo by marcn
Documents from the Immigration Law Reform Institute indicate that Department of Homeland Security policies allowed illegal immigrants to qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Immigrants (DACA) if they could provide Social Security numbers or federal tax returns, which are illegal for non-citizens to possess.
Possession of illegal documents—visas, work permits, SSNs, tax returns—carries a 10 to 25 year jail sentence and fines, according to the Legal Information Institute, but under the Obama administration’s this crime came with deferred status for illegal immigrants.
And it’s not that federal immigration authorities turned their back to these illegal documents; They actually requested to see them so illegal immigrants could prove their residency in the country. These documents provided the basis for DACA background checks, but ironically the documents needed for the background check proved criminal activity.
IRLI found that the Obama administration spent $42 million to process DACA applications and grant deferred deportation status.
Nearly 1.3 million people received DACA status during Obama’s presidency, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but the information obtained by ILRI did not indicate how many in this group illegally possessed documents. The majority of immigrants approved for DACA come from Mexico and reside in California, Illinois, and Texas, where there are multiple major jurisdictions with sanctuary policies.
It’s also unclear whether DHS, under President Donald Trump’s authority, still allows illegal immigrants to use illegally possessed documents as proof of residency. But DACA will continue at least until September 5, when 10 states said they will sue the federal government if the program is not ended, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Paxton has not called for DACA participants to have their deferred status revoked but for the program to be ended for all new applicants.
Trump has shifted his rhetoric toward DACA as the deadline approaches. On the campaign trail he promised to immediately end the program, CNN reported. Most recently, Trump said, “To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids, in many cases, not in all cases. And some of the cases, having DACA and they’re gang members and they’re drug dealers, too. But you have some absolutely incredible kids, I would say mostly.”
An influential voice in the White House, Trump’s new Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, supported amnesty for “dreamers” and vowed to preserve DACA while he was Secretary of Homeland Security. Now as Chief of Staff, Kelly hinted that the Trump administration will likely not defend DACA in court.
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Dream Act, which would end DACA, give amnesty to dreamers, and give them a chance at citizenship.
But if Congress does not grant amnesty to dreamers and DACA is defeated in court, then they will again be eligible for deportation.
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