WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) today led 39 of his Congressional colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, requesting DHS properly adhere to its new immigration enforcement priorities. The letter comes after community members, advocates and media reports indicate that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has failed to apply, or inconsistently applies, mandated exceptions within each of these enforcement priorities and, in some cases, even targeted individuals who fall outside the enforcement priorities within DHS’s Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants.

“This is about more than ensuring the federal government lives up to the spirit of its directives,” said Rep. Grijalva. “This is about minimizing uncalled-for human suffering and ensuring law enforcement targets the individuals who actually pose a threat to our society – not just those who aspire to join it.

“President Obama did his part to right our broken immigration system in the face of Republican intransigence,” Grijalva continued. “Now the responsibility of proper implementation falls to DHS, and we need to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that harmful practices of the past aren’t continuing today under the guise of new directives. I urge Secretary Johnson to act quickly in providing the assurance to the American people that those who deserve protection from deportation are no longer living with a target on their backs.”

The full text of Rep. Grijalva’s letter is available here.

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