Trump admin outlines plan to crack down on undocumented immigrants

) — The Department of Homeland Security Tuesday laid out the Trump administration’s plans for aggressive enforcement of immigration laws, including a potentially massive expansion of the number of people detained and deported.

But the Trump administration also emphasizes that it is leaving intact the DACA program — President Barack Obama’s protections for so-called DREAMers — even if the new rules chip away at protections for undocumented migrants overall.

DHS officials told reporters Tuesday that while the guidance memos expand the federal government’s ability to empower state and local law enforcement agencies to perform the functions of immigration officers, no National Guard troops will be deployed to round up immigrants in the US.

Nevertheless, the memos will likely continue to provoke fear in immigrant communities of a vast expansion of the government’s use of its immigration enforcement powers to potentially deport undocumented immigrants who have lived in their communities for years, and may have family members who are legal US residents or citizens.

DHS officials say the policies mostly enforce existing law and won’t lead to an immediate massive round-ups of undocumented immigrants.

“We’re not going to start changing this today, it’s not going to start happening tomorrow,” the official said of an expansion of who is eligible for expedited deportation. “You will not see folks rounded up or anything of the sort.”

The memos, which were obtained and reported on by CNN over the weekend, serve to expand upon the orders, which are unrelated to the controversial travel ban currently tied up in the courts and being re-written by the White House.

The guidance explains how the administration plans to put in place the goals dictated in Trump’s executive orders, including vastly increasing the resources to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, building a wall along the southern border and taking a hard-line position on undocumented immigrants.

DHS officials repeatedly tried to emphasize that the policies are not an expansion of existing law.

“We’re just simply trying to execute what Congress and the President has asked us to do,” an official said. “We’re going to do so professionally (and) humanely … but we are going to execute the laws of the United States.”

Read more: http://cnn.it/2kHXstI

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