Immigrant group welcomes deportation review

DENVER (AP):

Immigrant rights groups are enthusiastic about a plan by the Obama administration to review all of the pending 7,800 deportation cases in Colorado and 5,000 cases in Baltimore as part of an experiment to make enforcement agencies focus on high-priority cases.

About 300,000 cases pending nationwide could be affected if the experiment succeeds.

President-elect Laura Lichter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said yesterday that cases now pending in Colorado will be put on hold while they are reviewed to ensure that only the worst offenders are being deported. She said prosecutors across the country have discretion on those cases, but current enforcement programmes are not working.

Lichter said the current programme, known as Secure Communities, has been embraced by some states, including Colorado, and resulted in the deportation of people accused of traffic violations or other misdemeanours. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is reviewing the state's participation in the programme over questions of racial profiling and ensuring the rules are being followed.

Several states have said they don't want to participate, arguing that immigration is a federal, not state, responsibility.

"Over 60 per cent of those being deported have no criminal records or misdemeanours," Lichter said.