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EXPLAINER: Breaking down today’s new immigration rules on undocumented, DACA, smuggling, border wall

By GSS Editors

NBC LibertyToday’s new immigration rules, announced by the Department of Homeland Security, are a sweeping shift in U.S. immigration policy, significantly expanding the definition of those eligible for deportation, giving more discretion to immigration agents in handling “removal” cases and deputizing local and state law enforcement as immigration agents.

They also would remove privacy protection for asylum seekers, making it more difficult for share information about their families or threats they face; require a border wall to use only “materials originating in the United States;” punish parents who pay smugglers to get their children across the U.S. border; set up a new video system called “Voice” to connect “criminal” undocumented people who have been deported with their families back in the States; and order federal agencies to “identify and quantify” all sources of aid to Mexico.

While President Trump said that his administration will “deal with DACA with heart,” there was no specific language in the two memos, encompassing 19 pages of regulations, directly addressing the situation of undocumented Americans who came to the U.S. as children. The Obama administration used the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act to protect young undocumented Americans. According to a Jan. 5 report by the Pew Research Center, more than 750,000 young unauthorized immigrants have received work permits and deportation relief through DACA since 2012.

The White House predicts up to one million undocumented Americans are eligible for immediate deportation, while the Los Angeles Times recently put the number much higher, at eight million.

Our tweet-by-tweet explainer on the two immigration memos released today by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly includes excerpts from the published memos. See them all @GSSVoices. Below are samples from the livetweet that began at 10:13 a.m. ET.

—Photo: The National Park Service posted this photo of a large “refugees welcome” banner hung on the Statue of Liberty today by unidentified activists. The banner was later taken down. National Park Service photo on Twitter/U.S. government work.

Beatrice

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