Commentary: Discretion Policy on Deportations of Gay Immigrant Spouses Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Columnist Erwin de Leon argues that a recent letter from DHS Secretary Napolitano isn’t the welcome news that many gay immigrant advocates believe it to be.
Tag: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
De Leon: Obama Administration Signals DREAMer Reprieve
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that undocumented children and youth eligible for the federal DREAM Act, as well as others not deemed to be serious criminal threats, will not be deported. Once their outstanding deportation cases are closed, these individuals will be able to apply for work authorization.
Immigration Agency Denies Deportation Quotas After Memo Is Leaked
ICE chief John Morton quickly denied the agency sets quotas for deportations, after a Washington Post story revealed an internal memo stating just that.
Napolitano: White House to Push Immigration Reform “Until We Get it Over the Finish Line”
The Obama administration will continue to push for immigration reform until it’s done, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday, according to local media.
Napolitano Insists on Obama’s Commitment to Pass Immigration Reform in 2010
Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano renewed the Obama administration’s promise that it will deal with immigration reform early next year, political calculations in an election year notwithstanding.
Immigrant Advocates Welcome Napolitano Statement, Will Hold House Parties for Reform
Organizations working for comprehensive immigration reform welcomed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s statement on Friday that Congress needs to move forward with an immigration overhaul early in 2010.
Ambivalence After White House Immigration Reform Meeting Featuring Obama and Napolitano
Obama keeps revving the immigration reform engine, advocates want to take it for a spin already. (Photo: The White House)
The second White House meeting on immigration reform under President Barack Obama went well. Or did it? It depends on whom you ask.
Much like the overall situation since Obama took office, the meeting left room for conflicting interpretations: some came out thinking the president is committed to passing immigration reform despite his overloaded agenda, others emerged with a sense that Obama and Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano need to start backing up their promises with action.
A glass half-full example: Politico‘s headline, “Obama addresses immigration reform,” when all the president did was show up at the meeting to give a brief pep talk.
Glass half-empty: The Wall Street Journal’s take, “Some Hear More PR, Less Policy at White House Immigration Meeting.”
Even WSJ Wants Immigration Reform, But Obama's ICE Chief Stresses Enforcement
While even such a conservative stalwart as The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page asks for comprehensive immigration reform and a stop to the Bush-era enforcement-only approach, the Obama administration’s chief of immigration enforcement has reiterated this week the government’s commitment to a hard-line approach.
At the same time, Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano will host a meeting on immigration Thursday at the White House “with advocates, religious groups, businesses and law enforcers,” The Associated Press reported.
These latest developments seem to continue the Obama administration’s pattern of talking about reform while acting on enforcement.
John Morton, ICE chief. (Photo: ice.gov)
“We will try to apply immigration laws in a tough, smart and thoughtful manner,”* said John Morton, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), during a visit to Los Angeles, according to a Spanish-language article in La Opinión by Feet in 2 Worlds contributor Pilar Marrero.
Morton signaled there will not be a stop to immigration raids.
Immigrants Protest Napolitano as She Asks the Public to Join Fight Against Terrorism
Advocates are getting frustrated with Obama’s immigration policies. (Photo: New York Immigration Coalition — Click to see more photos.)
NEW YORK — More than 30 immigrants and immigrant advocates demonstrated on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Wednesday to protest U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as she visited the Council on Foreign Relations. Napolitano was in New York to announce a new strategy to involve individuals in the fight against terrorism.
The demonstration, which ended with a press conference, is one of the most visible signs to date of immigrant advocates’ growing frustration over the Obama administration’s immigration policies.
“By the end of this year, we hope he (President Obama) will have much more to show. He has to switch from talking to actions. Right now, statements are positives and actions are negative. There is a big gap,” said the director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), Chung-Wha Hong.
Immigration Reform Advocates To Protest Against Napolitano in New York Wednesday
NEW YORK — Local immigration activists plan to demonstrate against U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano Wednesday morning when she comes to the city to deliver a speech on terrorism, in what may be the first significant protest by presumed Obama administration allies against a member of the president’s cabinet. (Editor’s note: We previously reported incorrectly that the demonstration was scheduled for Thursday. We regret the error.)
A previous demonstration by New York immigration groups, on May Day. (Photo: Maibe Gonzalez Fuentes)
Several pro- immigration groups are organizing a demonstration and press conference at the Council on Foreign Relations, where Napolitano will deliver a speech titled “Common Threat, Collective Response: Protecting Against Terrorist Attacks in a Networked World,” which will be broadcast live on the web.
The groups plan to protest Homeland Security’s “backward policies such as the implementation of e-Verify and the expansion of 287(g)” (a program that deputizes local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws) said Norman Eng, a New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) spokesman. The demonstration comes on the heels of the release last week of a report that found Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a DHS agency, violated the Constitution by conducting home raids without warrants and appropriate documentation under the Bush administration.
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