Frequently Asked Questions on the Administration's Announcement

They would have probably deported all the 300,000 by the time the "review" is done. LOL
http://www.ice.gov/doclib/about/offi...ment-facts.pdf

So basically this does nothing to help any of us, yet the republicans are screaming amnesty. I feel like everything Obama does in regards to immigration is intended to please republicans who will NEVER agree with him on anything. I hope immigration advocates see right through this smoke screen and don't back down.

They weren't good news after all :S

So its as i assumed, this was a bunch of words to appease the immigrant community and pretend like they are trying. Whatever pressure and threats were being made before need to be elevated to the next level. Taunting us with FAKE relief is more insulting then hatred and garbage we hear from the far right. Basically they have said "hey we care about you enough to coheres some votes by making more false promises".

I have yet to hear anyone who actually has a strong public voice hold the Administration accountable for the December 2010 debacle. 5 votes short of passage and the 5 votes could have come from democrats. At a real job if anyone remembers what that's like if you stand up against your boss you have hell to pay but its seems that in politics if you stand up against your boss your awarded with more power.

It seems like the party with which we are aligned sabotages itself time and time again, however we the immigrant community are in quiet a conundrum because we have no other voice, party or affiliation which will even pretend to stand up for us.

I disagree with the previous comments. DHS will decide who will be deported on a case-by-case basis, focusing on high-priority undocumented immigrants. We knew about this policy since the announcement was made. I think it is still good news.

In terms of this quote, "Many individuals who have violated civil immigration law but lack a criminal conviction are a DHS priority for removal from the United States," it refers to people who have been deported but have re-entered the US.

I do not intend to sound confrontational, but the announcement was good news. Bad news would be: DHS will not determine who will not be deported on case-by-case basis; Every undocumented person, if arrested, whether student, criminal, or non-criminal will be deported.

I'm with you, buddy. People (not all) on this forum feel that because it doesn't benefit them personally, that this is all crap news, the same "lip service" to the immigrant community, or what have you. I am just as disappointed as you are in this Obama and in the way he has handled immigration. But at least he took a slight step in the right direction, even if its political, it will help somebody out there.

This is VERY good news for that one undocumented person that had no other avenue to fight their deportation case. Nothing will happen over night. And nothing will happen for a mass number of undocumented without legislation from Congress. Let's face the truth. But God forbid anything would ever happen to any of us on this forum, especially for those of us that would have a particularly weak case in immigration court, this will be something that we will be able to use. Let's count our blessings.

[quote=Feenmi;232700]I'm with you, buddy. People (not all) on this forum feel that because it doesn't benefit them personally, that this is all crap news, the same "lip service" to the immigrant community, or what have you. I am just as disappointed as you are in this Obama and in the way he has handled immigration. But at least he took a slight step in the right direction, even if its political, it will help somebody out there.

This is VERY good news for that one undocumented person that had no other avenue to fight their deportation case. Nothing will happen over night. And nothing will happen for a mass number of undocumented without legislation from Congress. Let's face the truth. But God forbid anything would ever happen to any of us on this forum, especially for those of us that would have a particularly weak case in immigration court, this will be something that we will be able to use. Let's count our blessings.[/QUOTE]

Yes! Also, I have not heard a story of a DREAMER being a victim of unjust deportation since this announcement. Sure, some immigration officials will be "corrupt" by intimidating you and talking trash with the hopes of making you feel helpless and getting you to sign your own deportation, but we need to be smart. We need to remember the significant announcement that was made about two weeks ago, remain silent, get a lawyer, and fight deportation if we ever find ourselves detained.

Well, they haven't removed DREAM act beneficiaries whose cases were made public. But they certainly were ordered deported. Deportation is an order. ICE can exercise discretion and not remove you. But it doesn't cure your deportation order, unless DHS agrees to reopen your proceedings and terminate them.

If your case is anonymous; ie, not in the media, you are pretty much out of luck. See the following examples:

Business as usual. Rant on the new prosecutorial discretion guidelines

"There has been a lot of hoopla about the prosecutorial discretion memos issued by ICE Secretary John Morton and the recent White House announcements on the same issue. A lot of immigrants, immigration attorneys and activists got riled up and we all started to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Not for long however.

I soon realized that the timing of this announcement was too perfect. The election season is barely starting for the president and he is badly hurting for the Hispanic vote.

Furthermore, thinking like a bureaucrat, this new memo has no chance of ever seeing the results it promises. Allow me to illustrate. Last week our local immigration attorneys had a liaison meeting with ICE officials from the Albuquerque Field Office. Present at the meeting were also the Chief Counsel and the Assistant Field Office Director for ICE El Paso. The resounding answer from parties involved was: business as usual. ICE officials at least in the El Paso/Albuquerque offices do not see any new guidance coming out of the memo. They simply consider it as a compilation of old memos. This means that fugitive operations will still do a sweep and come back with a van full of people when they only had one target and that stay at home mom's or even DREAMers without any criminal record whatsoever will still be placed in removal proceedings.

I at least appreciate their honesty.

I really did not have much hope in anything changing. What the memo proposes is unworkable in the real world viewing the situation from the perspective of the government. Dan Kowalski did a superb job in his blog about this issue and hit the nail on the head. If there is no real incentive on ICE employees to apply this memo, nothing will change. By incentive I mean to get rid of numbers as the yardstick and instead engaging in smart enforcement where ICE employees are rewarded for successful application of priorities. In the words of an ICE official, "if you don't give me a peg to hang my hat on, I"m going to be doing the same thing as before." The administration has not given its employees a real peg to hang their hat on. I didn't expect one to come any time soon either. After all, the administration got the publicity it wanted so who cares about the rest. Now it's up to us to explain to the numerous clients asking us about the new "Obama law" that nothing will change and to watch out from unscrupulous characters who will undoubtedly do a lot of damage taking advantage of an already vulnerable population. "

http://noblelawfirm.blogspot.com/201...nt-on-new.html (New Mexico)

From the office of attorney Mathew Oh (Minnesota)

08/25/2011: Reported Lapse in USCIS and DHS Implementation of Enterpreneur Immigration Initiatives and Prosecutorial Prioritization/Discretion Initiatives

Understandably, it may take time for any initiaves to go into a full operation. It appears the recent USCIS announcement of enterpreneur immigration initiatives and DHS Secretary's announcement of prosecutorial prioritization and prosecutorial discretion initiatives of the immigration enforement agencies including DHS and DOJ experience such lapse in actual implementation of these initiatives. There are reports that the USCIS inititative to accept and process EB-1C mutinational corporate executive and manager I-140 petition on premium processing basis has yet to be implemented and such premium processing request of these I-140 petitions have been rejected at this time. As for EB-2 National Interest Waiver option for enterpreneurs, the USCIS has yet to clarify how it will be implemented aside from the current NYSDOT three-prong test rules, particularly the third prong test. With reference to the prosecutorial discretion in immigration enforcement, there are conflicting reports as to how diffeence offices and different officials handle the matter differently. So-called Morton prosecutorial discretion memorandum lays out in fairly details the standards for exercise of such prosecutorial discretion, but reports indicate that ICE field officlas may have to be given clear guidance, when it comes to deails, for enhanced consistency in implementation of the policy. Again, we recognize that new initiatives always take time for a complete and full implementation. We just hope that these new initiatives be placed in full operation by January of 2012. In the meantime, we salute the leadership in USCIS, ICE, and DOJ for their hard work. Achievement of consistency for a large size agencies is always a challenging task.
http://www.immigration-law.com/

Corroboration for the previous post from a pratitioner in a different district.