MORTON
MEMO EXPLAINED
Guidelines for and against
Deportation
On June 17, 2011, the Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement—ICE—John
Morton,
issued this memorandum concerning deportation priorities:
http://www.ice.gov/doclib/secure-communities/pdf/prosecutorial-discretion-memo.pdf
The following Internet file is an attempt to put this memo
into
language that everyone can understand.
(Altho
one national administration (in January 2017)
rescinded this memo,
it still shows a serious attempt to set reasonable priorities for
deportation.
Four years later (January 2021),
a new President reversed the previous President's executive order,
thereby reestablishing reasonable criteria for deportations.)
The presentation below is addressed to the individual foreign national,
who is now settled in the United States of America without official
permission.
This is a policy decision,
rather than a change of
immigration law.
Before any immigration reform,
ICE nevertheless must decide which foreign nationals to deport
and which to allow to remain in the USA.
When new immigration laws are finally enacted,
they might include something from these operating principles.
FIFTEEN FACTORS THAT WILL
SUPPORT YOUR APPLICATION
FOR EITHER TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT
RESIDENCE IN THE USA
If you are discovered by ICE,
the following factors will count toward the decision NOT to deport you:
1. How long have you lived in the USA?
If you have lived in the United States for some months or years,
during what part of this time (if any)
did you have permission
to be present in the USA?
The longer you have lived in the USA
(especially with a visa for at least part of that time),
the less likely you will be deported.
If you have lived in the USA since childhood,
you are more likely to be offered
a pathway to permanent residence or even citizenship.
2. When and how did you enter the United States?
If you entered by some legal
means,
the more likely you will be
permitted to stay.
If you were brought into the
USA as a child,
your chances of staying are improved,
since the immigration violation was not your own fault.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
now allows you to register and receive permission to stay in the USA.
3. What legal immigration status have you held in the past?
Were
you ever granted temporary
resident status?
Have
you been a long-time
permanent resident?
Any such positive immigration status in the past
will help your claim for renewed status.
4. What education have you pursued while in the USA?
The more advanced your educational achievement,
the better your chances of staying in the United States.
Document all of your education in the USA.
5. Have you (or any close relatives) served in any U.S. military
forces?
If you are currently serving in any branch of the U.S. military forces,
you have a better chance of being allowed to remain in the USA.
If you are a veteran,
especially if you served in combat,
you are more likely to be granted permission to live in the USA.
Even the military service of a close relative will count in your favor.
6. What ties do you have to the community where you live?
If you have close family relationships,
these will help your application to remain in the USA.
What organizations do you belong to?
Have you make positive
contributions to your community?
7. How old are you?
If you are very young
or very old,
these factors will favor your remaining in the USA.
8. Are any of your relatives citizens of the United States?
If you have a spouse, child,
or parent who is an American citizen,
your chances of remaining in the USA are enhanced.
9. Are you the primary caretaker for someone else who needs you to
stay
in the USA?
Do you have minor children
who depend on you?
Are you caring for someone with a physical or mental disability?
Are you caring for a
relatives who is seriously ill?
All such responsibilities for others support your case for staying in
the USA.
10. Are you or your spouse pregnant or nursing?
If either of these situations applies to you,
you will have a low priority for deportation.
11. Do you or your spouse have a serious physical or mental
illness?
If you are currently coping with serious health problems or
disabilities,
you are not likely to be deported.
12. Will your home country refuse to accept you back?
If you can show good evidence that you will probably be harmed
if you are returned to your homeland,
then you have a better chance of remaining in the USA.
13. Are you already in the process of applying for an upgraded
status
in the USA?
Are you likely to be granted either temporary or permanent resident
status?
Based on similar cases, will an immigration judge
probably grant your
wish to stay in the USA?
Are any of your relatives U.S. citizens
or lawful permanent residents (Green-Card holders)?
14. Have your been harmed in your homeland?
Are you seeking political
asylum for good reasons?
Were you a victim of domestic violence in your homeland?
Were you a victim of sexual trafficking in your homeland?
Were you a victim of any other sort of crime in your homeland?
All such evidence will support your case for staying in the USA.
15. Have you been cooperating with various forms of law-enforcement in
the USA?
Cooperation with local, state, and/or federal
law-enforcement agencies
will improve your chances of being granted permission to remain in the
USA.
Such agencies include:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Justice,
U.S.
Attorneys, Department of Labor, National Labor Relations
Board.
Your past history of cooperating with all branches of law-enforcement
will strengthen your case for being permitted to stay in the USA.
Or the other hand, if you have mainly sought to avoid law-enforcement,
your case for staying will be weakened.
FIVE FACTORS THAT WILL GIVE
YOU A HIGH PRIORITY FOR
PROSECUTION
FOR VIOLATING THE LAWS OF
IMMIGRATION
If you are discovered by ICE,
the following factors will count AGAINST your case for staying in the
USA:
1. What contacts have you had with any level of law-enforcement?
If you have ever been arrested, tried, or convicted of any crime or
violation,
this criminal record will count against you.
If there are any outstanding warrants for your arrest,
you might be handed over to some part of the criminal-justice system
instead of being given a low priority for deportation.
Are you a serious felon? A repeat offender?
Do you have a lengthy
criminal record of any kind?
If you have been incarcerated in any U.S. jail or prison,
you have almost no chance
of avoiding deportation.
2. Are you a known gang member?
If you have ever been part of a criminal gang,
you will have a high
priority for prosecution for immigration violations
and you are likely to be deported.
3. What prior contacts have you have with immigration officials?
Your past record of denials of permission to reside in the USA,
any times you were returned to your country of origin,
and any evidence of prior attempts to defraud immigration officials
will count heavily against your application to remain in the USA.
Are there any outstanding
orders for your removal from the USA?
Do you have an "egregious record of immigration violations"?
Have you been convicted of illegal re-entry?
Any and all such attempts at immigration fraud
will probably result in you being given a high priority for
prosecution.
4. Are you a terrorist or some other kind of threat to public safety?
If anything in your history suggests that you endanger national
security
or if you have committed any acts that threaten other people,
you have little chance of being offered a pathway to American
citizenship.
5. What ties do you have to your country of origin?
Do you have relatives in your original homeland?
Have you ever sent money to
anyone outside the USA?
Would it be easy to re-establish yourself in your original homeland?
Or do conditions in your country-of-origin mean that you might be
killed?
PROSECUTOR DISCRETION CAN LEAD TO
IMMIGRATION REFORM
These factors were listed as a guide to helping
clear up the backlog
of cases pending before U.S. immigration judges and courts.
Immigration officials at all levels were hereby granted discretion
to prosecute or not to prosecute each
individual case.
All of
the relevant factors should be considered in
each case.
And no single factor alone will determine whether or not to prosecute.
The immigration laws have NOT yet been changed.
There is no immigration reform embodying the principles named above.
But the ICE employees who decided which immigration cases to take to
court
were hereby given some guidelines for deciding which cases to pursue
and which cases to drop or postpone.
All foreign nationals who come to the attention of
ICE
should be registered with the Department of Homeland Security.
Because millions of foreign nationals are already settled in the USA,
it would be impossible to
deport them all.
Therefore, even at the beginning level of enforcement,
some priorities must be established.
Those foreign nationals who were given a low priority for prosecution
(see the first 15 factors above)
were permitted to apply for some form of temporary permission
to continue living and working in
the USA.
Those foreign nationals who were given a high priority for
prosecution
(see the second 5 factors above)
were to be kept in custody until they could appear before an
immigration
judge.
Immigration enforcement was focused on the worse of the worst.
And I (James Park) would recommend that
immigration enforcement
begin first by determining the citizenship
of all 2 million prisoners
in U.S. jails and prisons.
Probably 200,000 of these are foreign nationals
who were arrested for other crimes while living in the USA.
But their immigration status can be investigated
while they are serving their
sentences for ordinary crimes.
Where else would we expect to find the "worst of the worst"?
In the long run, the factors first articulated in
the Morton Memo
might serve as the basis for immigration reform in the USA.
New factors could be added
as needed by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE).
And these 20 named factors might be spelled out in greater detail.
Some of the on-line essays linked below
offer other
ways to review the cases
of foreign nationals found to be settled in the USA without permission.
Pathways to American citizenship will be the next step
after all foreign nationals are identified and registered.
In the meantime, foreign nationals already settled
in the USA
should do their best to create clear documentation
of all of the factors that should favor their staying in America.
And they can create lists of witnesses
who would testify in support of their case for staying.
Both paper records and personal testimony
will be considered by
immigration judges.
Unless and until some other numbering system is created,
you can begin to collect your evidence using this numbering system.
How do you answer the 20 questions
that form the backbone of these guidelines concerning deportation?
Created
September 23, 2011; Revised 9-28-2011; 10-26-2011; 4-5-2012;
10-25-2013; 9-8-2014; 4-8-2017; 1-26-2021
AUTHOR:
James Park is himself a grateful immigrant to the
USA.
He was admitted as a child with his whole family in 1949.
And he was naturalized in 1955.
The United States has been enriched by each member of his family.
Immigration reform will allow millions more
to become open, meaningful members of the American family.
Which of the following essays about
immigration seem most relevant?
End
Deportation of Persons Likely to Qualify for
a Pathway to Citizenship under Immigration Reform
25
Million
Foreign Nationals in the USA:
How Many Will Stay?
Earning
American Citizenship:
Be Above Average
IDEAL
IMMIGRANTS:
New Criteria for Selecting New Americans
IMMIGRATION
REFORM:
Selecting New Americans
I
am an
Immigrant
Immigration
Problems and Solutions:
Keeping the Debate Constructive
IMMIGRATION
REFORM:
A Range of Options
If
They Cannot
Work, They Will Not Come:
And Many Will Return to their Homelands
Born in the USA:
The Easy Way to Become a U.S. Citizen
Comprehensive
Repatriation of Citizens of other Countries and their Families
National
Identity File:
Directory
USA
links to similar interpretations of the
Morton Memo
The new deportation guidelines are NOT amnesty
http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=36705