U.S. President Joe Biden signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 28, 2021.
U.S. President Joe Biden campaigned on a promise to stop deporting most illegal immigrants when he took office, but Biden has already deported hundreds of people in more than 10 days in office, including witnesses to the 22 deadly 2019 Texas Walmart shootings.
In recent days, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported illegal immigrants to at least three countries, with 15 people sent back to Jamaica on Jan. 28 and 269 to Guatemala and Honduras on Jan. 29, with more deportations on Feb. 1, according to the Associated Press.
Honduran officials confirmed that a flight landed in that country on Jan. 29 carrying 131 deportees, and another passenger plane in Guatemala on the same day carried 138 people.
In addition, the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas, adjacent to Mexico, deported a woman Jan. 29 who witnessed the 22-death mass shooting at a local Walmart in 2019 and later agreed to be a witness against the killer and meet with the prosecution, but was still deported.
The woman’s attorney said she had pleaded guilty in 2018 for interfering with the driving of a vehicle, but was later released from custody and was not found to be a threat to the public during the Trump administration.
New guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to law enforcement units around the country prioritize deportation for illegal immigrants who would threaten national security or public safety, but it is unclear how many of the deported individuals mentioned above are threats.
Although U.S. Judge Drew Tipton granted a restraining order last week to block the “100-day suspension of deportation” policy, he did not require the government to deport illegal immigrants. The White House referred the question to the Department of Homeland Security for an answer, but the department did not respond.
According to the report, Biden signed several executive orders on his first day in office on Jan. 20 to reform the immigration policies of former President Trump’s administration. Acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske issued a memo that day calling for an internal review of current immigration enforcement policies and a 100-day moratorium on deportations of certain illegal immigrants beginning Jan. 22.
On Jan. 22, Texas Attorney General Paxton filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
On Jan. 26, U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a temporary restraining order at the request of the state of Texas, calling off the Biden Administration‘s 100-day order prohibiting deportation of illegal immigrants. Tipton said the Biden administration did not “provide any specific, reasonable justification for the 100-day suspension of deportation.
Tipton’s order is an early blow to the Biden administration’s immigration policy, which the new administration plans to reverse from that of former President Trump. Biden also plans to legalize the 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally. Biden also promised during his campaign to suspend deportations of illegal immigrants for 100 days.
Recent Comments