Fwd: non-criminal illegal aliens

From: larry.r.trout

'The Obama administration soon will begin its systematic review of the approximately 300,000 pending deportation cases, separating "high priority" cases involving criminals it wants to deport from "low priority" cases it will drop, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress Wednesday.

The effort marks another point in an evolution of immigration enforcement away from the worksite raids of the Bush administration and towards deportations of illegal immigrants in prisons and jails.

Napolitano said a group of Homeland Security and Justice Department officials will begin a small "pilot" review of immigration cases in "two or three" weeks, and hopes to rapidly expand its efforts.

Under the policy announced last year, federal immigration officials will place the highest priority on deporting illegal immigrants who pose a danger to public safety and national security, while "administratively closing" other cases, taking into consideration a list of factors. Those factors include the person's length of time in the United States, whether the immigrant arrived as a child, served in the military and has a spouse, child or parent who is a U.S. citizen.

DHS officials say the new policy, which gives immigration officials "prosecutorial discretion," is similar to policies of previous administrations, and is a "common sense" approach to immigration enforcement…

Napolitano said the department's focus on criminal illegal immigrants is better than "the ad hoc approach where non-criminal aliens are more likely to be removed than criminals."'

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/19/politics/napolitano-deportation-reviews/?hpt=us_c1