Several top officials seek to crack down on immigration as the U.S. heads into midterm elections

Stephen Miller, a senior policy advisor to President Trump and architect of many of his worst immigration policies, has been working with top officials from the Departments of Labor, Justice, and Homeland Security, as well as the Office of Management and Budget, to come up with tighter immigration policies leading up to national midterm elections. Because the administration has failed to secure funding for The Wall, the administration hopes to bump up enforcement statistics in other areas to appease the base.

The coalition of aides and officials is brainstorming a number of policy moves, including tighter controls on foreign students and seasonal farm workers, and making it harder for immigrants to obtain residence if they have applied for or accepted any ‘welfare’ aid. Another proposal seeks to expand the collection and use of biometric data of foreign nationals of certain countries.

The DHS in particular is proposing a change to a 1997 court decision, called the ‘Flores Settlement,’ that among other things “limits the amount of time migrant children can be kept in government custody.” It has long been a target of anti-immigrant hardliners, and President Trump himself attempted to make it the scapegoat for his administration’s brutal ‘family separation’ policy. The DHS hopes to put discretion over custody in the hands of ICE.

Even in the midst of the ‘family separation’ scandal, the Trump administration continues to scapegoat immigrants across a number of departments and agencies. It is important to note that at this time, these are simply proposals. We hope that these past few weeks have exposed the ugly truth about the president’s anti-immigrant furor to a broader audience, and that voters will actually repudiate them during this year’s midterm elections. Every vote will count.

For further details: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/18/trump-aides-plan-fresh-immigration-crackdowns-before-midterms-652246