Our Failing Immigration Courts ; Again, the Obama Administration Abandons the Rule of Law

Summary

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One month ago - without notice to Congress, without a word to the American people - the Department of Homeland Security began dismissing from U.S. immigration courts the cases of thousands of illegal aliens. The department says it will focus its efforts on removing criminal aliens. Aliens without serious criminal histories - 250,000 by some estimates - will be left alone. This policy closely follows last August's announcement by the department that it would not deport fugitive aliens - aliens who skipped court or disobeyed orders to leave the United States. These policies assure that more illegal immigration will follow - with illegals confident that the administration, which refuses to secure this nation's borders, will not remove those who enter and remain illegally.

This latest move by Homeland Security is unprecedented. What it is doing by wholesale dismissals is done routinely by immigration courts on a perceptive case-by-case basis every day. Aliens in deportation proceedings have for years asked courts to consider "other grounds" that would allow them to remain in the United States. The telltale failure of this policy is that no aliens who received those dismissals were pursuing "other grounds" of relief when the department initiated this scheme. Proof of failure is sure to come when few aliens return to court to seek the relief the department claims is present.

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Our Failing Immigration Courts ; Again, the Obama Administration Abandons the Rule of Law

Regardless of what becomes of these people, the rule of law has been ignored by an administration bent on pursuing policies without legal precedent or even - public support. Making matters worse, the hist...

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