Ebun Francis with agency report|| President Trump’s administration has issued tough guidelines to widen the net for deporting illegal immigrants from the US, and speed up their removal in line with the administration’s campaign promise.
According to the guideline, undocumented immigrants arrested for traffic violations or shop-lifting will be targeted along with those convicted of more serious crimes.
The memos do not alter US immigration laws, but take a much tougher approach towards enforcing existing measures.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday explained while taking questions from Journalists at the White House, that the new guidelines would not usher in mass deportations, but was designed to empower agents to enforce laws already on the books.
According to him, “The president wanted to take the shackles off individuals in these agencies.”
“The message from this White House and the Department of Homeland Security is that those people who are in this country, who pose a threat to our safety, or who have committed a crime, will be the first to go.”
There are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the US.
