Yuma, AZ-The Obama administration is now implementing a new controversial immigration policy that will focus on deporting illegal immigrants with a criminal history.
It can have a direct impact on our local borders.
Immigration lawyers and prosecutors nationwide are re-prioritizing their cases now.
A memo sent from the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement basically tells ICE officials to focus on deporting those with criminal history.
"This is going to impact people that don't have criminal records," Rudy Cardenas, an El Centro immigration lawyer said. "If you're in immigration proceedings and you have no criminal record, they'll probably give you a break and release you or dismiss your case."
The memo states guidelines they'll help decipher which cases should be dismissed or which cases should be continued.
For example, individuals present in the United States since childhood or who completed high school will be given a break.
Cardenas calls the policy effective.
"The Obama Administration is focusing on criminal aliens and I think that's proper use of resources that Department of Homeland Security has," he said.
Cardenas also said this will help alleviate the congestion of immigration courts.
According to stats from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, nearly 290,000 immigration cases are pending in immigration courts nationwide.
"I get a lot of cases at the border, at the port of entries that they'll admit they've used drugs in the past and then they're placed in proceedings," he said. "Well now they might not put them in proceedings because they're thinking that's a waste of government resources."
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