The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security sent a memorandum to the leaders of the federal government’s three primary immigration agencies on January 20, 2021 – Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The memorandum directs DHS to conduct a review of policies and practices concerning immigration enforcement and it halts most deportations for 100 days beginning on January 22, 2021. The memorandum does not stop court hearings and does not prevent immigration judges from ordering removal – it just stops Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from carrying out any deportation orders.
The memorandum also puts in some interim enforcement priorities which will go into effect on February 1, 2021 and will include:
More detailed enforcement priorities should be released within the next few months.
The order also rescinds previous enforcement memos such as the “NTA memo” which ordered USCIS to initiate removal proceedings in nearly all cases.
You can read the full memorandum here.
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