The Obama administration’s announcement this week that it will generally steer away from deporting certain groups of illegal immigrants is highlighting a disconnect between the federal government's goals and those of Georgia leaders who are pushing for a tough crackdown here.
Federal officials say they have limited resources for detaining and deporting illegal immigrants and are focusing on expelling violent criminals and those who pose threats to national security. They said they are now giving special consideration to illegal immigrants who were brought here as children, high school graduates and others who served or are serving in the U.S. military.
Complaining that the federal government has fallen down on the job of enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, lawmakers in Georgia and several other states have adopted sweeping measures to curb illegal immigration. They say illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from U.S. citizens amid high unemployment and burdening public schools, jails and hospitals.
Supporters of Georgia’s measure -- House Bill 87 -- accused President Barack Obama of playing politics and ignoring federal immigration laws. Meanwhile, civil and immigrant rights activists said the federal guidelines bolster their legal arguments against HB 87. The federal policy, they said, highlights this point: Police in Georgia can arrest as many illegal immigrants as they want under the state’s new law, but it is up to the federal government to decide whether they should face deportation.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano underscored the new federal guidelines Thursday in a letter to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Durbin had asked her to not deport people who could be eligible for legal status under the proposed DREAM Act. That measure -- which failed in Congress last year -- would have given illegal immigrants a path to legal status if they came here as children, graduated from high school and attend college or serve in the military.
Napolitano said the administration is now giving federal officials discretion to dismiss deportation cases in certain circumstances. Napolitano added that a team of federal officials will review all deportation cases “to ensure that they constitute our highest priorities.”
“DHS enforcement resources must continue to be focused on our highest priorities," Napolitano wrote. "Doing otherwise hinders our public safety mission -- clogging immigration court dockets and diverting DHS enforcement resources away from individuals who pose a threat to public safety.”
The new federal guidelines drew a strong reaction from Gov. Nathan Deal’s office Friday.
“It is unfortunate that the president is picking and choosing the ways in which he will enforce the law,” said Jen Talaber, a spokeswoman for Deal. “The lack of seriousness about illegal immigration is exactly why we have to take measures on the state level to protect Georgia's taxpaying citizens.”
Deal signed Georgia’s new immigration measure into law in May. Civil and immigrant rights groups quickly challenged it in court, arguing parts of it are pre-empted by federal law. In June, a federal judge temporarily put two parts of that law on hold pending the outcome of the case.
One part would empower police to investigate the immigration status of certain suspects. The other would punish people who -- while committing another offense -- knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants.
The new federal guidance supports legal arguments against Georgia’s law, said lawyers who have been fighting it in court.
Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-area immigration attorney who is fighting Georgia's law in court, said the federal guidance “completely eviscerates” the parts of Georgia's law the judge put on hold.
Supporters of the measure say provisions of the law that were not put on hold could help stem the flow of illegal immigrants to Georgia by making it tougher for them to get public benefits here.
“A primary objective of our state law is to ensure that our limited public resources are spent to benefit those individuals who are here legally -- not to benefit those who are here illegally,” state Republican Rep. Rich Golick of Smyrna, a co-sponsor of the law, wrote in an email. “This decision doesn't impact that initiative.”
Jessica Colotl, an illegal immigrant brought to this country as a child, drew national attention after she was nearly deported to Mexico following an arrest last year on a traffic charge. The federal government has granted her a yearlong deferment to allow her to complete a degree in political science. She wants to go to law school and become an immigration attorney. She hopes the new federal guidelines will clear the way to make that possible.
“It’s a relief to know that for the first time the laws won’t be misused to punish people who are not a threat to the country," Colotl said.
Bob Andrews of Smyrna, who supports Georgia’s law, said the new federal guidelines conflict with the nation’s immigration laws, and he predicted they will be successfully challenged in court.
“The president is pandering for votes,” he said. “And he expects to get them out of the Hispanic base.”
Staff Writer Laura Diamond contributed to this article.
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