In public, President Barack Obama has insisted that new deportation priorities mean the Department of Homeland Security targets violent criminal immigrants rather than children and families. This rhetoric does not seem to hold up, according to a new review conducted of US deportation records.
The information was published by the non-profit news organization, the Marshall Project, on Monday. It gives details of over 3000 deportations undertaken since the announcement of the changed deportation priorities by the President back in November 2014. The data demonstrates that an estimated 60 percent of deported undocumented immigrants were those with no criminal convictions other than immigration-related issues and that fewer than 20 percent of those deported had potentially violent criminal convictions.
The number of deportations has fallen in the last few years. However, the new report shows that the administration’s outlining of Obama’s new priorities may have resulted in guidelines that are still too broad, with low-level offenses that would never result in imprisonment now being enough to start deportation proceedings. Also, offences such as shoplifting are now categorized as making one an ‘aggravated felon’, according to immigration law.
The legacy of President Obama in regard to deportations and immigration as a whole is likely to be a mixed one, having been responsible for more deportations than any other US President in history. This has been simultaneous with Obama having made public and vocal pushes for legislation promoting immigration reform during his tenure.