Officials Still Targeting Non-Violent Immigrants, Despite New Obama Guidelines

Fox News Latino

Obama administration guidelines issued in December calling for immigration detainers to be reserved for the most dangerous foreign nationals are going largely ignored, according to a new analysis of federal data.

Fewer than 10 percent of detainers actually targeted people who are considered a threat to public safety and national security, contrary to the stated objective of the new guidelines, said a report by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC.

Slightly more than a third, or 38 percent, of people who had detainers requested for them had a record of a criminal conviction, including minor traffic violations, the report said.

“If traffic violations (including DWI) and marijuana possession violations are excluded, then only one-quarter (26 percent) of the individuals against whom detainers were issued had any conviction,” said the report.

“In fact, comparing agency data from both before and after the new [federal immigration] guidelines were issued reveals that fewer — not more — individuals on whom detainers were placed have had any record of criminal activity, let alone serious criminal conduct.”

A detainer is the term used for requests that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency sends to local police asking them to hold immigrants who are arrested so that ICE can take them into custody. Many police agencies, however, have said they will no longer honor ICE requests to hold immigrants who are not violent offenders.

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