Washington: As many as 3 lakh undocumented immigrants from India face the risk of deportation with the US government issuing orders that implement President Donald Trump's plan to increase immigration enforcement.
The order will allow the law enforcement authorities to arrest or apprehend an alien (undocumented immigrant) who, according to the immigration officer is in violation of the immigration laws of the US.
"The Department no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement," the Department of Homeland Security said in an enforcement memo.
"Department personnel have full authority to arrest or apprehend an alien whom an immigration officer has probable cause to believe is in violation of the immigration laws," it said.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued two enforcement memos, which among other things, tightens deportation of illegal immigrants.
Even though the emphasis is on criminal aliens, but it opens up the door for others too.
It is estimated that the US has around 11 million aliens, who face the risk of deportation.
According to the memo, the DHS Secretary has the authority to apply expedited removal provisions to aliens who have not been admitted or paroled into the US, who are inadmissible, and who have not been continuously physically present in the US for the two-year period immediately prior to the determination of their inadmissibility, so that such aliens are immediately removed unless the alien is an unaccompanied minor, intends to apply for asylum or has a fear of persecution or torture in their home country, or claims to have lawful immigration status.
The memorandum said when illegal aliens apprehended do not pose a risk of a subsequent illegal entry, returning them to the foreign contiguous territory from which they arrived, pending the outcome of removal proceedings, saves the government detention and adjudication resources for other priority aliens.
"CBP and ICE personnel shall, to the extent lawful, appropriate and reasonably practicable, return such aliens to such territories pending their hearings," the memo said.
The Democrats were quick to oppose this.
"These guidelines are now the official policy of the Trump Administration, implementing the President's mass deportation Executive Orders," Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic Senator from Illinois and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration said. (PTI)
