President Trump is reopening deportation cases against illegal aliens who had their cases dismissed, in a stark reversal from Joe Biden's "quiet amnesty."
Democrats have often cited the overwhelmed immigration courts as an excuse to go soft on immigration. During the Biden era, "quiet amnesty" was all but official policy as immigration officials threw out hundreds of thousands of cases - supposedly to ease the burden on the "broken system" that many say Biden tried to destroy deliberately.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the Trump administration has been opening dormant cases back up - causing panic among "thousands of immigrants who have built lives around the assumption they are safe from being detained and deported."
Illegal aliens have long taken advantage of the overwhelmed system by lodging spurious asylum claims to get a foothold in the country - with the assumption that once they get in, they will never be removed. That is because cases take years to adjudicate, and by the time they are found meritless - as they almost always are - those facing removal have already set down roots in the country.
Some of the cases that Trump officials are bringing back were closed years ago, well before Biden became president. But under Biden, immigration cases were dismissed at a historic pace as border crossings hit record highs.
An investigation by House Republicans last year, led by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), concluded that 700,000 aliens had their immigration cases dismissed or "administratively closed," allowing them to live on U.S. soil without facing consequences for illegal entry.
"This sort of quiet amnesty has become a staple of the Biden-Harris Administration’s immigration courts," said the House Judiciary report.
In April, the Trump administration rescinded Biden's liberal approach to granting administrative closures, which Sirce E. Owen, acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, described as "a de facto amnesty program with benefits."
Now, immigration lawyers throughout Los Angeles and San Diego report "shock and despair" from their clients, many of whom believed they were safe, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The newspaper cited the case of a woman who was charged with a misdemeanor DUI, and then obtained relief from deportation during the Biden administration after marrying a U.S. citizen. She was close to getting her visa when her immigration lawyer called to notify her that she is facing removal proceedings once again.
This is another example of how Trump is putting immigration policy on a path back towards strict enforcement after years of chaos under his predecessor.
"Biden chose to release millions of illegal aliens, including criminals, into the country and used prosecutorial discretion to indefinitely delay their cases and allow them to illegally remain in the United States,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Now, President Trump and Secretary Noem are following the law and resuming these illegal aliens’ removal proceedings and ensuring their cases are heard by a judge."
