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Washington, D.C. (September 27, 2024) - The latest episode of Parsing Immigration Policy examines two key issues for the upcoming election: how former President Donald Trump might approach interior enforcement of immigration laws if elected, and the ideology behind the Biden-Harris policies that have led to the current border crisis.
In a pre-recorded segment from a recent seminar, Andrew Arthur, the Center’s fellow in law and policy, outlines what a return to normal immigration enforcement under a Republican presidency might look like.
Key topics discussed include:
Prioritizing Removals: How might Trump prioritize the removal of illegal aliens? Just for starters, the priority could be to find and remove the 99 aliens on the terrorist watch list who were released under Biden-Harris policies, followed by criminal aliens, and then the 1.29 million individuals already under orders of removal.
ICE and Law Enforcement: ICE will be challenged due to staffing declines under Biden-Harris in ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division. But officers from the other main division of ICE, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), would help make up the shortfall.
Sanctuary Policies and Criminal Aliens: How state and local police might handle criminal aliens under sanctuary policies.
Detention and Deportation Logistics: The use of military bases and county jails for detention, commercial and charter flights for deportations, and potential obstacles from uncooperative countries are examined.
E-Verify and Workplace Enforcement: Workplace enforcement, especially E-Verify, would likely play a critical role in Trump's approach.
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Our special commentary in this episode is the opening statement that Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director, provided before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. He testified that the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policy is not the result of incompetence or failure but a deliberate ideological stance. Describing the current border crisis as the largest in U.S. history, he highlights the over 10 million encounters with inadmissible aliens since January 2021. The administration’s approach bypasses legal limits set by Congress and is driven by a belief in unlimited immigration. This, according to Krikorian, represents a significant departure from U.S. law and poses a challenge to national sovereignty.
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