America
Up to 87 percent migrants could stay in US: Study
Washington, July 24
Up to 87 percent of
undocumented immigrants would be able to remain in the US if the
executive action measures on immigration taken by President Barack Obama
are implemented without modifications, according to a study.
The
report published by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) on Thursday
said that the net effect of the new policies will see a reduction in
deportations from the US.
The MPI study says that the Department
of Homeland Security will focus on deporting immigrants who are
considered to be a public threat, who have been convicted of serious
crimes, who have violated deportation orders or have recently entered
the country.
The authors of the report estimate that about 13
percent of the 11 million undocumented foreigners living in the US, or
some 1.4 million people, will fall within these categories, making them
the priority targets for deportations after the new regulations come
into effect.
In 2012, the US government launched the deferred
action programme that gave immigrants who have grown up in this country
permission to stay here and work, and that measure was broadened last
February to include a larger number of young people, as well as the
parents of children born in this country.
These two expansions of
the programme are currently on hold by order of a federal judge in
Texas due to a lawsuit presented by more than two dozen states and the
resolution of the matter in an appeals court is being awaited.
In
all, 5.2 million immigrants would benefit from these immigration relief
measures, but the MPI said that the implementation of new guidelines
for law enforcement and immigration authorities would broaden the number
of people who would benefit to 9.6 million.
It could bring the number of annual expulsions down to historic minimums.
According to the MPI, deportations would be reduced by 25,000 each year, falling under 100,000.
A record number of people were deported in 2011, with 180,000 immigrants, who had committed crimes, being expelled.