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Up to 600,000 illegal immigrants living in several southern states may have some basis for remaining in the U.S. despite their current lack of legal status, according to a new study from the University of California San Diego (UCSD).

A statistical review of immigrant screenings performed by Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), an immigrant legal aid nonprofit, found that about 15 percent of the 4 million illegal immigrants in seven southern U.S. states had grounds to apply for legal residence. Their potential claims are based on fears of persecution in their native countries, family ties and other factors.

UCSD political scientistTom Wong, who conducted the analysis for CLINIC, told Reuters that the results of his study should give the Trump administration pause as it looks to increase the tempo of deportations.

As we ramp up immigration enforcement in the United States, we should take this figure and remind ourselves that we shouldnt deport first and then ask questions, Wong said.

CLINIC and its affiliates interviewed more than 2,700 immigrants in seven southern states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Texas, reports Reuters.The largest share of those screened who could possibly attain legal status were those who had a legitimate fear of persecution in their home country, which would form the basis for an asylum claim. Other categories of illegal immigrants included those who were victims of serious crimes or who cooperated with law enforcement, and immigrants with family ties to U.S. citizens.

A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Reuters that the agency considers any pending appeals before making a decision about whether to initiate deportation proceedings.

Before carrying out a removal, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts a thorough review of each case to determine whether there are any reasons the removal order issued by the immigration court should not be executed at that time, Danielle Bennett said.

Unauthorized immigrants often turn to the asylum process to gain legal residence in the U.S. Normally, asylum applicants must prove they have a credible fear of persecution by their home country governments on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, political beliefs or membership in a particular social group.

Thousands of migrants from Central America, fleeing rampant gang violence, have used high crime as an additional basis for asylum claims. Many of the claims are difficult to verify independently, but immigration judges, carrying a heavy caseload and dependent on overworked asylum officers, often have to take asylum applicants at their word that they have credible fear of persecution.

This leaves the asylum process susceptible to fraud, according to a report from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a think tank that advocates lower levels of immigration.

The evidentiary burdens for aliens seeking asylum and withholding of removal are lower than for aliens seeking other immigration benefits, wrote CIS resident fellow Andrew Arthur. In fact, the testimony of [an] applicant [for asylum and withholding of removal] may be sufficient to sustain the applicants burden without corroboration.

The number of asylum applications received by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has risen dramatically in recent years, from 56,912 in 2014 to 115,888 in 2016.

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Report: 600K Illegal Immigrants In US South Have Potential Path To Legal Status - The Daily Caller

May 25, 2017 7:23 PM By Kristen Johanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) Immigration officials conducted a 10-day roundup operation this month, netting over 150 people in the tri-state area.

Immigration Custom Enforcement agents say the target was any illegal alien who is a threat to public safety, like registered sex offenders, gang members, convicted criminals, and those who have ignored deportation and immigration laws.

141 people in Pennsylvania were taken into Federal custody, 16 of which were arrested in Philadelphia.

Philly is a sanctuary city, meaning that it limits cooperation with federal immigration agencies, but the police department did work with agents in handing over criminals in their custody.

Authorities say detainees facing charges will go through the court system, and the rest will be processed for removal.

ICE officials say the operation was conducted in compliance with Federal law.

Kristen Johanson is a reporter for KYW Newsradio. She joined the KYW Newsradio news team after spending four years on the assignment desk at our sister television station, CBS-3, as planning editor. She also worked as a field producer for several...

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Federal Agents Net Dozens Of Illegal Immigrants In 10-Day Operation - CBS Philly

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By Will Racke

The Department of Homeland Security under former President Barack Obama knowingly admitted teenage members of a vicious transnational gang into the U.S. during a flood of illegal immigration, a leading Republican senator said Wednesday.

Sen. Ron Johnson, citing internal agency documents from a whistleblower, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that DHS allowed at least 16 MS-13 members to stay in the U.S. after border agents detained them in 2014. The gang members arrived in the U.S. as a part of a wave of unaccompanied minors from Central American countries, where MS-13 is a dominant criminal organization.

CBP apprehended them, knew they were MS-13 gang members, and they processed and disbursed them into our communities, Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said.

Johnson revealed the whistleblower documents during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to discuss the threat of MS-13, which has been responsible for a recent spate of grisly murders in several cities across the country. The police commissioner in Suffolk County, N.Y., the site of at least 17 MS-13-related murders since 2016, told the committee that gang members are often drawn from populations of Central American teens who came to the U.S. in the unaccompanied minor surge. (RELATED:Top Cops Sound Alarm On Gruesome MS-13 Violence)

Most MS-13 gang members have connections to El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras, Commissioner Timothy Sini said. Of a sampling of 143 active gang members plus 11 MS-13 victims, 89 entered the United States illegally and currently do not have legal status.

Suffolk County has been a common landing spot for unaccompanied minors since the height of the surge.From the beginning of 2014 through March 2017, more than 4,500 were placed in the county alone.

The Obama administration said children should be treated as refugees fleeing rampant crime and poverty in their home countries, though security analysts warned that hardened gang members were likely mixed in with the flood of migrants.

Johnson said the portrayal of unaccompanied minors as desperate children didnt paint the full picture of the situation.

Out of nearly 200,000 UAC apprehended between from 2012 to 2016, about 68 percent were between the ages of 15 and 17, reports the Washington Times. Most of the teenagers were male, meaning they were ideal recruits for MS-13.

Barack ObamaDepartment of Homeland SecurityDHSMS-13Ron JohnsonTimothy Siniwhistleblower

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Whistleblower: Obama Administration Let In Known MS-13 Members During Illegal Immigration Surge - The Libertarian Republic

The administrations fiscal year 2018 budget just delivered to Congress contains a broad number of reforms designed to deter illegal immigration, locate and deport illegal aliens involved in criminal activities, and stem the fiscal drain caused by illegal aliens residing in the United States.

Unless you believe illegal aliens should be accommodated and given legal residence, you will be pleased that the Trump budget demonstrates a commitment to accomplish several of the presidents campaign promise to crackdown on illegal immigration. Although, still, the commitments to construction of the border fence and increasing the capacity of immigration courts, are severely short-changed in the proposed budget.

One of the clearest expressions that the true immigration reforms in the budget request will be opposed by the entrenched open borders network appeared in the May 20 New York Times from an avowed opponent of the reforms. Angela Kelley, who championed amnesty for illegal aliens as an advisor to Obamas White House staff, and now advises George Soross Open Society Foundation, commented on the budget proposals, If your single goal is to make life as miserable as possible for those who are here without status, then its about as effective as you can get. Her comment is, of course, biased. The goal of the reforms is not to make life miserable for illegal aliens, but to send a clear message that we will not tolerate unchecked illegal immigration making life miserable for American workers and taxpayers.

The budget measures include funding for more detention space, more enforcement personnel, expansion of the E-Verify system to deter employers from hiring them, eliminating the ability of illegal aliens to access social safety net benefits if they have U.S.-born children, and clarifying the requirement that state and local jails and prisons cooperate with the federal government in turning over detained illegal aliens for deportation.

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Trump Budget: A Broad Crackdown on Illegal Immigration - ImmigrationReform.com (blog)

President Donald Trump is proposing to trim the Justice Departments overall budget in the coming year, but he wants to boost funding for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

The Trump administration is proposing a $27.7 billion for the Justice Department in fiscal 2018, down $1.1 billion, or about 4 percent, from the continuing resolution the previous year.

But the administration proposed nearly $145 million in additional funding for immigration enforcement, adding 75 immigration judges along with about 375 support personnel, 70 new assistant U.S. attorneys focused on immigration and border crime, 40 deputy marshals, and new funds for prison space to detain more illegal immigrants.

With this budget we are also implementing the presidents promise to secure our borders and restore a lawful immigration system, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told reporters at a Justice Department briefing Tuesday. While dramatic progress has been made at the border in recent months, much remains to be done, and its critical that we focus on increased enforcement of our criminal immigration laws and that we enforce all immigration laws efficiently.

Weve asked all federal prosecutors to increase their focus on this area by making several immigration offenses a higher priority, Rosenstein said.

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Congress does not have to follow the presidents budget suggestions, but the document is considered a statement of the administrations priorities. Trump is also proposing nearly $4 million in additional funding for 40 new civil litigation positions that would address immigration-related matters, such as lawsuits challenging Trump policies or involving land seizures required to build the wall Trump has promised to erect on the Mexican border.

The budget proposal sent to Congress also contains language targeting so-called sanctuary cities by requiring that localities comply with federal immigration detainer requests in order to receive Justice or Homeland Security Department funding.

However, the Justice Departments top budget official said there is no funding for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

We do not have border wall money in the Department of Justice budget, said Assistant Attorney General for Administration Lee Lofthus.

Most of the cuts in the Justice Department budget involve grant programs or one-time funding, like money related to the presidential campaign or building projects.

One of the grant programs targeted for elimination compensates state and local governments for the cost of housing foreign nationals who wind up in prison.

For years, the Justice Department has recommended the end of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, but Congress regularly adds the funds back. The budget that passed earlier this month put $210 million into that reimbursement program.

Asked why the Justice Department would propose cutting that account when Attorney General Jeff Sessions has repeatedly complained about the burdens of illegal immigration, a Justice official said the Trump team wants to end the program for the same reason the Obama administration did.

The SCAAP program is an after-the-fact reimbursement program. It reimburses state and locals for what happens when we dont strictly enforce the law, when we dont have proactive enforcement programs, said DOJ controller Jolene Lauria. We only have a limited amount of resources. We want to enhance those that proactively prevent and prosecute those illegal aliens that cross the border. So for us, its not in contravention because we want to do it on the proactive side.

New legislative language in the budget proposal targets sanctuary cities, amending an existing statute to force state and local jurisdictions to comply with "detainer" requests, which ask localities to hold suspected undocumented immigrants up to 48 hours beyond their release time.

The provision could encounter resistance from law enforcement and elected officials, some of whom have questioned the constitutionality of the requests.

The revised statute would also require local jails to share more information about people in custody, including whether the individual is removable from the U.S. and the person's home address.

Under the reworked measure, the Homeland Security and Justice departments would be able to condition federal grants on compliance.

In January, Trump issued an executive order that included language billed as a crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities, threatening their federal funding.

Last month, a judge issued an injunction against part of that order, directing that it not be applied beyond the funding restrictions contained in a specific section of federal law focused on policies that interfere with local officials communications with the feds.

On Monday, the Justice Department asked the judge to dissolve that injunction, saying that it was unnecessary. But the budget proposal released Tuesday makes clear that the administration wants Congress to strengthen the requirements facing cities.

Ted Hesson contributed to this report.

Josh Gerstein is a senior reporter for POLITICO.

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Trump Justice budget targets illegal immigration - Politico (blog)