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President Trump Executive Order on Criminal Immigration Cases in San Diego
What does the President Executive Orders Mean for Criminal Immigration Cases?
Understanding Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States Executive Order:
This kind of executive order is unlike any executive order in United States history. The ramifications of this order will have a significant impact in many San Diego criminal cases. While practicing criminal defense in San Diego there are many clients who face immigration consequences for the criminal charges that are alleged. The impact will be significant on any non-citizen facing any array of charges both in federal court and state superior court.
The purpose of the executive order is to build a closer relationship between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. The implementation of the order will depend on how both offices conduct their day-to-day activity according to the new executive guidelines.
The Implication of the guidelines of the Executive Order is as follows:
- Defendants who would not have been a priority for ICE enforcement before are now high priorities for removal prior to any conviction. There was once a 3-tier ICE enforcement priority under the Obama Administration. However, it has now changed to treat everyone on the ICE list as a high priority for removal. It is important to note that ICE cannot deport people who are currently in valid immigration status. Absence of any conviction, an individual cannot lose his or her immigration standing for being arrested or charged with a crime in San Diego. The conduct is governed by the Immigration and Nationality Act. Most people are deported based on the conviction of a criminal offense. The Executive Order has now broadened the offenses that are deportable even simple misdemeanor offenses. It is really going to depend on the risk to public safety. The Executive Order does not give any credence to green card holders and will treat everyone as similarly situated for purposes of removal. ICE and CBP practices will change when defendants are released on bond. In many cases, even if a defendant has an immigration hold on them while on bond they will be deported before the criminal case is completed. Prior to this order the ICE holds would fall off if the defendant was in custody and ICE did not pick them up. As soon as the ICE hold is released the bond would be posted in the case. Now this executive order is making it more difficult for ICE holds to be lifted prior to the bond being places.
- It is important to hire an attorney with a background in both immigration and criminal defense. These cases can be tough when dealing with different government agencies trying to punish an individual at every angle. Now all immigration and criminal government agencies are now required to work with one another in identifying and reporting all defendant’s immigration status in all criminal cases. This will be done by collecting quarterly reports on all non-citizens being held in detention facilities throughout San Diego.
- The current Priority Enforcement Program set up by the Obama Administration is called “PEP” and this executive order is going to scrap that program and create a new one through the Trump Administration. The new program is called Secure Communities Program or “S-Comm.” Under the previous administration program, ICE was able to determine citizenship bond holds through fingerprint cases using 1-247N detainer forms. This new program makes every case impossible to request a release on bond.
Other aspects of the order will to prosecute all noncitizens of the United States through the federal courts. This means putting more of a budget to the Department of Justice to have the resources to take on more cases. The DOJ is focused on targeting individuals from countries who appear to be a threat to the national security of the United States. This means hiring more agents and law enforcement to utilize all aspects of the executive order to procure more arrests and deportations.
If you have questions about your criminal case here in San Diego, feel free to contact San Diego Criminal Defense Lawyer Vik Monder at 619-405-0063 or visit San Diego Criminal Attorney
