Apr 20 2006

DHS Announces New Plan to Enforce Immigration Regulations in the U.S

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a new, comprehensive immigration enforcement strategy for the nation’s interior. This new strategy is the second phase of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI), the DHS’s multi-year plan to “secure America’s borders and reduce illegal migration.”

The first phase of the SBI is focused on operation aspects of controlling the nation’s borders through the addition of new personnel and technology, and the restructuring of the detention and removal system to ensure that illegal immigrants are removed from the U.S. in a quick and efficient manner.

This second phase, which was introduced this week by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will be focused on targeting employers of illegal immigrants and immigration violators within the U.S. The primary goal of this second phase of the operation is to reverse the “tolerance of illegal employment and illegal immigration in the United States,” according to DHS.

DHS has established three primary goals to be carried out simultaneously:

• DHS will identify and remove criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and other immigration violators from the U.S.;

• DHS will work to build strong worksite enforcement and compliance programs to minimize illegal employment in country; and

• DHS will work to dismantle the criminal infrastructure that supports illegal immigration in the U.S. and throughout the world.

“Illegal immigration poses an increasing threat to our security and public safety, and hard-hitting interior enforcement will reinforce the strong stance we are taking at our borders,” said Chertoff. “With the interior enforcement strategy of the Secure Border Initiative, we will aggressively target the growing support systems that make it easier for aliens to enter the country and find work outside of the law. This department will counter the unscrupulous tactics of employers with intelligence-driven worksite enforcement actions and combat exploitation by dangerous smuggling organizations with the full force of the law.”