Executive Action Shields Nearly All Illegal Aliens from Deportation

A new report from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) finds that President Obama's executive amnesty will shield nearly all illegal aliens from deportation. In particular, the report focuses on two aspects of the President's November 2014 decrees unrelated to deferred action: the administration's new enforcement priorities and replacing Secure Communities with the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). (See FAIR Legislative Update, Nov. 24, 2014) According to MPI, "While much of the attention to the president's executive action announcement has focused on the deferred action programs, which could grant relief from deportation to as many as 5.2 million unauthorized immigrants, implementation of the new enforcement priorities and the PEP program are likely to affect a substantially larger number of unauthorized immigrants, about 9.6 million people." (MPI, Understanding the Potential Impact of Executive Action on Immigration Enforcement, July 2015 at 1) Since MPI calculates the entire illegal alien population at 11 million, this means approximately 87% of illegal aliens are exempt from removal. (Id.)

Last November, President Obama unilaterally overhauled our immigration system through ten policy memoranda that are sweeping in scope. One of the memos rescinded the Morton Memos — the administration's 2011 enforcement "priorities" policy and created a three-tiered enforcement priority. Under these priorities, the Obama administration will only enforce immigration laws against: (1) aliens who pose a threat to national security, border security, or public safety; (2) misdemeanants and new immigration violators; and (3) aliens who have been issued a final order of removal after January 1, 2014. (FAIR Legislative Update, Nov. 24, 2014) Another memo gutted the successful Secure Communities program and replaced it with PEP, a limited program that is designed to deport convicted criminals by using fingerprints and working with the Justice Department to remove illegal aliens in federal prisons. (Id.; see FAIR Legislative Update, June 30, 2015)

According to MPI, the change in enforcement priorities has cut in half the number of illegal aliens who fell under the Administration's previous enforcement priorities set in 2011. Under these priorities (established via the Morton Memos), MPI calculates that 3 million illegal aliens (27% of the illegal alien population) were subject to removal. (MPI, Understanding the Potential Impact of Executive Action on Immigration Enforcement, July 2015 at 11) However, MPI calculates that only 1.4 million illegal aliens (13% of the illegal alien population) will fall within new enforcement priorities. (Id. at 10) Specifically, MPI calculates that 690,000 illegal aliens fall under priority 1; 640,000 under priority 2; and 60,000 under priority 3. (Id.) Therefore, MPI determined that this change will result in 25,000 fewer interior removals per year. (Id. at 9)