The Trump administration has issued new immigration guidelines which could affect up to 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, including an estimated 50,000 undocumented Irish.
The US department of homeland security on Tuesday announced plans to hire up to 10,000 extra immigration enforcement staff and 5,000 more border control officers, in a move intended to tighten up existing rules on illegal immigration and speed up deportations.
Under the new plans, any immigrant living in the US illegally who has been charged or convicted of any crime – and even those suspected of a crime – will be an enforcement priority.
The measures are in addition to US president Donald Trump’s controversial travel ban, which has been stalled by the courts.
The president is expected to issue a new executive order on immigration as early as this week.
While the Trump administration stressed on Tuesday that the new guidelines aimed to prioritise for deportation those who had committed crimes or were deemed to be a threat to the public, the White House did not rule out that any person residing in the US illegally could be targeted under them.
“Everyone who is here illegally is subject of removal at any time,” said White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
“If you’re in the country in an illegal manner, obviously there is a provision that you could be removed, but the priority . . . is the people who have committed a crime, or pose a threat to public safety,” he said.
“At some point, laws are laws.”
Memo
The message was reiterated by the department of homeland security (DHS), which said in a memo that, “with extremely limited exceptions, the DHS will not exempt classes or categories of aliens from potential enforcement.
“All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to enforcement proceedings, up to and including removal from the US.”
The White House stressed the guidelines were about implementing existing immigration law, and would focus on the one million illegal immigrants whose deportations had already been adjudicated on by the courts.
DHS officials also stressed that the new measures would take time to implement and were not designed to “go into communities and round up people”.
Outlining the measures, homeland security chief John Kelly highlighted the fact that the number arrested while crossing illegally into the US from Mexico had risen by 42 per cent in the last year.
The announcement came as US secretary of state Rex Tillerson prepares to travel to Mexico later this week for meetings with the Mexican president.
Mr Spicer also said Mr Trump remains confident that his order of January 29th prohibiting travel from seven countries will ultimately be upheld by the courts.
The new measures do not have any impact on a Barack Obama programme that has protected more than 750,000 young immigrants from deportation.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals remains in place, although immigrants in the programme will still be eligible for deportation if they commit a crime or are deemed to be a threat to public safety or national security, according to the department.
Anti-Semitism
On Tuesday, Donald Trump also denounced recent threats against Jewish community centres in the US as “horrible” and “painful”.
The US president said the threats are a “very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil”.
He was speaking after touring the newly-opened National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington.
“This tour was a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms,” Mr Trump said.
His comments marked the first time he had directly addressed a recent wave of anti-Semitism in the US and followed a more general White House denouncement of “hatred and hate-motivated violence”.
The White House statement earlier on Tuesday did not mention the community centre incidents or Jews.
Mr Trump “has made it abundantly clear that these actions are unacceptable”, the statement said.
The FBI said it is joining with the US justice department’s civil rights division to investigate “possible civil rights violations in connection with threats” to the centres.
On Monday, Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka wrote on Twitter: “We must protect our houses of worship & religious centres.”
She converted to Judaism ahead of her 2009 marriage to Jared Kushner.
Ms Trump joined her father at the museum tour on Tuesday.
The White House was criticised by Jewish groups last month after issuing an International Holocaust Remembrance Day statement that did not mention Jews.
Jewish community centres across the country had recently received phoned-in bomb threats, according to the JCC Association of North America.
The threats proved to be hoaxes, the association said in a statement.
All of the affected centres have returned to normal operations.
Additional reporting: AP
