A memo obtained by BuzzFeed News outlines the deportation cases the administration wants to prioritize and which should be taken off court calendars.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced plans to end Title 42, the Trump-era policy that claimed the pandemic made speedy expulsions necessary.
The memo is the latest effort on the part of the Biden administration’s push to reshape the role of immigration enforcement in the US.
Critics have long accused the US of using the pandemic as an excuse to get around asylum obligations and discourage immigrants from attempting to cross the border.
Immigrants in shelters near the US border report having to deal with restricted access to phones, lack of privacy, and threats of being kicked out. Some disappear after venturing outside.
Immigrants sent back to dangerous border towns in Mexico while trying to obtain asylum face gang violence, rape, and kidnapping.
After Congress demanded changes, ICE officials will now have to get approval from senior leaders before issuing an administrative subpoena to members of the media.
The recommendation to remove all detainees was met with a blistering response from ICE officials who called into question the integrity of the report.
As with other immigrants and asylum-seekers, border authorities have been told they can make exceptions for Ukrainians on a case-by-case basis.
The move, allowing more than 70,000 Afghans in the US to apply for TPS, is designed to protect them from returning to unsafe conditions in their homeland.
“By the time I get them out, they are half the person they used to be.”
Earlier this month, a local judge signed a warrant authorizing his arrest on suspicion of felony drug possession and weapons possession.
“It’s very hard to relive the death of your child each and every time,” Wanda Johnson told BuzzFeed News.
Immigrants and advocates say it represents a shift away from “dehumanizing” language.
The Department of Homeland Security also argues that using the information is perfectly legal and that the agency does not need a warrant to purchase it, according to a memo obtained exclusively by BuzzFeed News.
Inspectors also found that nearly a dozen immigrants detainees were kept in solitary confinement for more than two months.
O'Neill, Nebraska, had become a refuge for scores of Central Americans fleeing poverty and unrest. An ICE raid changed all that.
"The place I used to work at before is closed. I have no way to pay the rent, or food for my daughter,” he told BuzzFeed News while in self-isolation.
"They are so well taken care of. They're in facilities that were so clean."
The email indicates that a federal ruling on Thursday will have major implications for ICE and how it operates.