Very timely Justice Department data obtained and analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) show that immigration enforcement under the Obama Administration is returning to the unusually high levels that were reached under President Bush. The clearest sign of the administration’s current immigration enforcement policy emerged from the monthly growth in such prosecutions — up from 6,562 in January when the president came into office to 9,037 in April. But the government’s initial decision to step up immigration prosecutions goes back to FY 2004 with the launching of a program called “Operation Streamline.” While the monthly number of prosecutions varied during President Bush’s second term, it hit an all time high of 11,454 in September of 2008. For TRAC data on a wide range of current enforcement trends, g to http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/
The Obama administration hopefully has a plan — much talked about but yet to be unveiled — about successfully moving comprehensive immigration reform through Congress. (Click here for one optimistic view of the current politics surrounding immigration reform, and here for Robert Gittelson’s views.). While enforcement appears to be the current priority, we can only hope that it is not the only immigration initiative taken by the administration.
KJ
