Breitbart — On Tuesday, President Barack Obama admitted that most of the seven million illegal immigrants who do not qualify for his executive amnesty are not likely to be deported unless they are violent criminals. He also said it was a long-term goal to “retrain” ICE officers to not deport illegal immigrants if it would result in families being separated.
At a Nashville town hall event, Obama was asked by a former illegal immigrant and current community organizer what happens to the seven million illegal immigrants who were not granted executive amnesty.
Obama told him that the new “prioritization” rules on deportations apply to “everyone even if you don’t do anything.” The President said it would take some time to get “ICE officers at the ground level to apply” the new prioritization rules in a consistent way. Obama said said that he wanted to “retrain, reprioritize, and refocus ICE officials” to deport only criminals and not separate families.
He said that even though seven million illegal immigrants will not qualify for formal work permits, “if they are law-abiding, working, peaceful… then they’re much less likely for deportation than they were in the past… and they don’t have to do anything for that.”
But even before Obama enacted his executive amnesty, illegal immigrants who were not violent criminals were less likely to be deported. Immigration officials have actually sued the Obama administration, alleging that the Obama administration is forcing immigration officials to release illegal immigrants—even those who are criminals.
Obama did acknowledge that getting a formal work permit under his executive amnesty “is powerful because you are able to go to work without being in the shadows.”
