NYT challenges DHS Sec’y Johnson on immigration reform in 2014

In case you missed it, The New York Times published on Dec. 26 an editorial titled, “Homeland Security’s New Chief,” which lays out the challenges and expectations for Jeh Johnson on immigration. Here are the important highlights from this “call-to-action” editorial.

Immigration needs enforcement [and consistency]. Under Johnson’s predecessors, the department’s continually shifting strategies against illegal immigration had two things in common. They were ineffective and cruel. The administration of George W. Bush specialized in high-profile deportations. In one notorious instance, the government professed itself shocked to find Hispanics without papers working in a meat plant in Iowa, so it swooped in and removed them, devastating scores of families and the town they lived in.

The Obama administration promised greater prosecutorial discretion to focus more on removing violent and dangerous criminals, but, nevertheless, it ramped up deportations to record levels. Deportations roared along at about 400,000 a year, a record number that smelled like a quota. Though the rate has subsided in the last year, thousands of noncriminals and minor offenders are still being swept into the dragnet, while complaints persist of overzealous, unconstitutional enforcement.

Although comprehensive reform lags in Congress, President Obama has taken some steps to take the pressure off unauthorized immigrants who pose no threat, including a laudable program to defer the deportations of some young immigrants. Though he has been accused of intruding into Congress’s authority, the program is a legitimate stopgap to protect a group of potential citizens who have been stranded by Congressional inaction.

Obama and Johnson should now find ways to expand [efforts to defer some deportations.]

In a Dec. 12 letter to Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, Johnson said deferred deportation had been a success and promised to keep it that way. He added, “I do not believe that deportation quotas or numeric goals are a good idea,” and he promised to investigate reports of abusive conditions at detention centers. These are good signs.

The staffs of Produce Grower and Greenhouse Management encourage you to stay tuned and to stay involved as 2014 promises to be an important year for immigration reform.