Congressional Hispanic Caucus blasts ICE over immigration tweets
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is blasting Immigration and Customs Enforcement over a series of tweets, which the Caucus says are meant to intimidate undocumented immigrants brought into the United States as children.
“It is shameful that ICE is ratcheting up fear and terror,” amongst DACA recipients, the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Michelle Lujan (D-NM), said in a statement on Friday.
DACA, which stands for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is an Obama-era policy instituted in 2012 that grants leniency to some undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as minors if certain criteria is met.
A letter to the Acting Director of ICE Thomas Homan from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus assailed the tweets as “despicable” and called on ICE to, “use its limited resources to target violent criminals and not to harass and deport young immigrants who are productive and engaged members of society.”
The ICE tweets that Hispanic lawmakers are decrying came out Thursday afternoon and emphasize that “DACA is not a protected legal status” while noting “active DACA recipients are typically a lower level of enforcement priority.”
DACA is not a protected legal status, but active DACA recipients are typically a lower level of enforcement priority
— ICE (@ICEgov) March 9, 2017
Deferred action may be revoked anytime especially when someone commits a crime or poses a national security of public safety threat
— ICE (@ICEgov) March 9, 2017
Deferred action does not prevent DHS from executing a removal order
— ICE (@ICEgov) March 9, 2017
Since the start of DACA in 2012, DHS has terminated deferred action for approx. 1,500 recipients due to criminality or gang affiliation
— ICE (@ICEgov) March 9, 2017
The Trump administration has treaded relatively carefully with regard to DACA despite its strong rhetoric against illegal immigration. For his part the President has promised to deal with DACA recipients with compassion.
“We are going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me,” President Trump said in a mid-February press conference, “To me it’s one of the most difficult subjects because you have these incredible kids, in many cases.”