Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and deportations have dropped under President Biden for the month of February after he issued new rules for the agency.
ICE apprehensions fell 60%, and the number of deportations dropped by a similar amount compared to the last three months of the Trump administration, according to the Washington Post, which obtained statistics from the government body. The data follows guidance from the president that mandated ICE officers seek approval from senior leadership before deporting anyone that has not crossed the border recently.
Biden’s policy also requires the agency to focus only on “threats to national security” and other more serious offenders.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION REPORTEDLY PLANNING TO DISMANTLE ICE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
“By focusing our limited resources on cases that present threats to national security, border security, and public safety, our agency will more ably and effectively execute its law enforcement mission,” ICE acting Director Tae Johnson said of the rules, which will be in effect for the next two months. “We must prioritize our efforts to achieve the greatest security and safety impact.”
Biden instituted a 100-day freeze on all deportations, but the move was blocked by a federal judge. The ruling was obtained after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the administration due to an alleged violation of an agreement that Texas, along with other states, had with the Department of Homeland Security before former President Donald Trump departed the White House.
The agreement, which was made shortly before Biden’s inauguration, mandated that DHS consult with states and local jurisdictions before overhauling immigration policies.
“On its first day in office, the Biden Administration cast aside congressionally enacted immigration laws and suspended the removal of illegal aliens whose removal is compelled by those very laws,” a complaint read. “In doing so, it ignored basic constitutional principles and violated its written pledge to work cooperatively with the State of Texas to address shared immigration enforcement concerns.”
In addition to Paxton’s lawsuit, Arizona and Montana filed suits against Biden’s Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday over the new ICE rules and the deportation moratorium.
“Although the moratorium in the Memorandum is purportedly for 100 days, and in the Interim Guidance for 90 days, no apparent limiting factor is explained: if this action is permitted to stand, DHS could re-assert this suspension power for a longer period or even indefinitely, thus allowing the current Administration to unilaterally amend the immigration laws as applied to the vast majority of the removable or inadmissible aliens in this country without the required congressional act,” the pair of states wrote in a complaint. “The Constitution and controlling statutes prevent such a seismic change to this country’s immigration laws by mere memorandum.”
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ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
