Up to 87 percent migrants could stay in US

The refocus in law enforcement efforts has effectively protected 9.6 million of the United States’ estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, the report found. In all, a full implementation of Obama’s changes would reduce annual deportations to approximately 25,000, with law enforcement resources increasingly devoted to finding and removing potentially risky individuals. Under the Priority Enforcement Program, federal agents ask local police to notify them if an illegal immigrant is arrested and fits one of those categories. Both changes are included in the sweeping series of executive actions announced by Obama in November and have already begun to be implemented, according to the report.

Overall, according to the report, the U.S. population of illegal immigrants has remained “roughly constant” in recent years, despite surges.

An average of between 300,000 and 400,000 new illegal immigrants joined the U.S. population each year of Obama’s presidency. These estimates have a margin of error of 10 percent.

It is a “significant narrowing of who falls into the priorities”, said Mark Rosenblum, deputy director of the institute’s program on US immigration policy.

Immigration advocates aren’t sure that the program will do less harm than its predecessor, Secure Communities.

The Priority Enforcement Program tried to answer those concerns.

The report comes as sanctuary cities are in the national spotlight following the murder of Kathryn Steinle, allegedly by a multiple deportee, multiple felon illegal immigrant who was released from custody due to San Francisco’s sanctuary policy of not honoring immigration detainers.

Hundreds of local and state governments refused to cooperate or enacted policies to limit law enforcement from cooperating with the program. The legislation passed largely along party lines with a vote of 241-179.

The revelation that illegal immigration numbers were actually higher during the previous administration could create trouble for a GOP continuously attempting to sell itself as being tough on immigration.

“Essentially, the administration has been engaging in nullification of most immigration laws by simply ruling out the possibility of deporting 87 percent of people who are breaking immigration laws by executive inaction, granting de facto amnesty to people who are here illegally”, he said.