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The order could provide for the deportation of up to 80,000 undocumented immigrants.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is well on its way to sending court documents to undocumented foreigners that still need to be processed for deportation after crossing the US-Mexico border last year.
According to CNBC News, the documents contain “notice of appearance” directing migrants to court hearings where immigration judges will decide whether they can stay in the United States or should be deported instead.
CNBC News notes that this change will apply to all migrants – including families with children – who were released to the United States after being arrested at the border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“The US Immigration and Customs Service is sending out fee documents to put non-nationals in deportation proceedings who have been dismissed or released by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at prosecutor’s discretion,” said a statement from the agency. “Non-citizens will be referred to their nearest ICE branch and processed using the information collected by CBP as proof of citizenship and removability.”
Immigration and Customs Officer. Image via US-ICE / Flickr. Public domain.
While ICE said the program intends to expedite the deportation process, the agency did not say when it expected notices to be sent out.
“By sending these fee documents, ICE initiates a removal procedure in good time,” the agency said in a statement to CNBC.
CBS News reports that migrants arrested immediately after crossing the border are usually given “appearance notices”.
However, after March, the US government failed to deliver such notices to tens of thousands of immigrants caught illegally crossing the border. Instead, they received “reports to report”, which instruct the recipients to present themselves to a local ICE office for further processing within 60 days.
ICE, adds CBS News, said the pandemic had drained its resources and was unable to maintain normal operations until recently.
A government document that appears to have been reviewed by CBS says that notifications can take up to 1.5 hours to be created, while a notification of notification can be created within 10 minutes.
However, the upcoming program has already been criticized by immigration advocates, who fear that migrants who do not receive the notices could be deported.
“We know that when people come in they give CBP an address, and it’s usually an address where they know someone in the United States. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be living there, ”Amy Fischer, Amnesty International USA’s advocacy director, told CBS News. “We also know that CBP has a long history of writing down inaccurate information.”
“People can be deported for fear of fleeing and deported simply by not showing up for the court hearing,” added Fischer.
sources
The US is trying to expedite the deportation process for unauthorized migrants who have not been processed
US sends deportation case notifications to 78,000 migrants that have not been fully processed
ICE to Expedite Deportation of Immigrants Recently Arrived Across U.S.-Mexico Border
