Trump increases deportations of formerly protected DREAMers

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ers/100609524/

The Trump administration has stepped up the deportation of undocumented immigrants who had come to the United States as children and lost their protected status, which had allowed them to stay, federal data provided to USA TODAY shows.

Both the Obama and Trump administrations revoked the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status of enrollees who committed serious crimes, became affiliated with gangs or otherwise became threats to public safety. Under Obama, that led to 365 former DACA enrollees being deported, an average of seven a month since the first DACA applications were approved in September 2012.

In the first month of Donald Trump's presidency, 43 former DACA enrollees were deported, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics requested by USA TODAY.

"This is more evidence that the Trump administration is making nearly every person who's undocumented a priority for removal," said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a group that advocates for immigrants in the U.S. "That's a really poor use of law enforcement resources."

President Barack Obama created DACA to protect undocumented immigrants who were brought to the country before they turned 16.

Under the program, those with clean criminal records who were going to school or graduated could submit an application to the federal government. If approved by the Department of Homeland Security, the immigrants were protected from deportation for two years and could receive a work permit. They could also re-apply to extend their DACA status for an additional two years.

More than 750,000 people were approved for the program and the vast majority were granted a renewal.

DACA was not, however, an absolute guarantee. If an enrollee was convicted of a felony, a "significant misdemeanor" or three other misdemeanors, their protected status could be revoked. That happened to 1,488 people under Obama and Trump combined.

Under Obama, 507 were allowed to stay in the country vs. the 365 deported. Some were released on bond, some were kept under supervision and others were freed. Under Trump, 20 were allowed to remain in the U.S. compared to the 43 who were deported.

Read more:

First protected DREAMer is deported under Trump
These undocumented immigrants thought they could stay. Trump says deport them.
Homeland Security unveils sweeping plan to deport undocumented immigrants
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration, said that increase in deportations shows how federal immigration officers feel more comfortable pursuing deportations under Trump than Obama. "They knew who those people were and felt empowered to act on them right away," Vaughan said.

The Department of Homeland Security said part of the reason for the spike in deportations is that "a number" of those deported were already in removal proceedings when Trump assumed office on Jan. 20. Department spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said the remainder were simply part of the regular process of deporting people whose DACA was revoked.

"The grounds for DACA termination have not changed since the inception of the program," Christensen said.

But the grounds for people being deported have changed. Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 25 that vastly expanded the reasons why undocumented immigrants are considered priorities for deportation. Now, undocumented immigrants who are only charged with crimes can be deported, a big change from the Obama administration, which required people be convicted of crimes.

Homeland Security data show that 676 immigrants whose DACA status was revoked still face removal proceedings. Ninety of them remain in custody

43 DACA deported plus 676 DACA revoked.

Stay safe, people.

If someone is still stupid enough to get DUI or something serious then they deserve it

We always knew that DACA would be taken away if we committed a crime, even under Obama. In fact, I was always under the impression that if we commit a crime while under DACA it would be easier to be deported because you gave the government your info in exchange for the promise not to break the law while under DACA. The main difference under Trump is that now being charged with a crime is enough to initiate deportation proceedings, they don't care if you are ultimately convicted or not. We were already being careful before, now we need to be extra careful and do our best to avoid even potential situations that might lead to being charged.

I wouldn't really worry too much about the numbers being reported here. In a group of over 750,000 there are bound to be some bad apples. I still believe we will be fine as long as we stay out of trouble. Some might view reporting like this as "fearmongering", and it kind of is, but as long as they take this point of view then imagine how much worse it will be when an innocent DACA recipient is deported, or even worse if they take away the protection of all 750,000+ of us.