ICE will no longer deport illegal immigrants who are victims of a crime

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that the agency will no longer deport illegal immigrants who are victims of crime.

"This policy update facilitates victim cooperation with law enforcement, enhances ICE’s criminal investigative efforts, and promotes trust in ICE agents and officers enforcing our laws. It is ICE’s commitment to assist victims of crime regardless of their immigration status," said ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson of the updated policy in a press release Wednesday. "Through this approach, we minimize the fear of repercussions that enforcement decisions may have on the willingness and ability of noncitizen crime victims to contact law enforcement, participate in investigations and prosecutions, pursue justice, and seek benefits."

The agency said it will instead support "noncitizen victims of crime," offering them "access to immigration benefits."

"This new policy is designed to improve victims’ ability to seek justice against perpetrators of crime, including in cases of human trafficking," the press release reads.

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The change in policy comes after a July 30 memorandum calling for a review of the agency's policies to ensure that ICE was focused on a "victim-centered approach."

But President of America First Legal Stephen Miller, who also served as senior adviser to former President Donald Trump, said the updated guidance would simply provide another "pathway for people to take advantage of our immigration system and stay in our country unlawfully." 

Miller also expressed concerns that an illegal immigrant could seek to avoid deportation by simply saying they have witnessed a crime.

"It’s a very easy way to get amnesty, to merely state that you have witnessed a crime," Miller said. 

"The only people who would benefit from this - since illegal aliens are largely already shielded - are people who they themselves have committed serious criminal offenses or fraud," Miller told Fox News.

While Miller made clear that the agency has a place to protect victims of crime, he argued the updated policy would only weaken an "already fraud-ridden program that is used by illegal aliens and their advocates in order to remain unlawfully in the country."

"We're constantly told by political left that illegal aliens are essential to the function of our society, but according to the administration's position, they aren’t willing to cooperate with investigations of serious crimes unless granted amnesty," Miller said. "That’s a remarkable declaration from the Biden administration."

The story comes a day after the agency generated controversy when it was reported that Johnson granted a temporary stay of deportation earlier this year for an illegal immigrant who had a criminal record in New Jersey.

Internal emails obtained by Fox News showed that the decision to delay the migrant's deportation came the same day a left-wing immigration activist made a pitch to the agency for him to stay, citing the migrant's status as a former DACA recipient and his marriage to a U.S. citizen who has a two-year-old son.

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The migrant, Marvin Jerezano-Peña, was arrested for "robbery and simple assault" in 2015, then convicted a year later of knowingly receiving stolen property. He also had previous arrests for drug possession and was ordered by a judge to be deported to Mexico in 2019. An appeal to that deportation order had been unsuccessful.