Item 21 - Assembly Bill 937 (the “VISION Act”)

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AB 937 Page 7 Security Secretary John Kelly issued a pair of memoranda changing immigration enforcement policy. In those memos, Secretary Kelly directed ICE to prioritize: Removable aliens who: (1) have been convicted of any criminal offense; (2) have been charged with any criminal offense that has not been resolved; (3) have committed acts which constitute a chargeable criminal offense; (4) have engaged in fraud or willful misrepresentation in connection with any official matter before a governmental agency; (5) have abused any program related to receipt of public benefits; (6) are subject to a final order of removal but have not complied with their legal obligation to depart the United States; or (7) in the judgment of an immigration officer, otherwise pose a risk to public safety or national security. (See John Kelly, Enforcement of the Immigration Laws to Serve the National Interest, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Feb. 20, 2017) at 2, available at https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/17_0220_S1_Enforcement -of-the- Immigration-Laws-to-Serve-the-National-Interest.pdf.) ICE’s role in family separations. On April 6, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions notified all U.S. Attorney’s Offices along the southwest border of a new “zero -tolerance policy” for both actual and attempted illegal entry into the United States by any individual, as provided under 8 U.S.C. Section 1325(a). The zero-tolerance policy directed these U.S. Attorney’s Offices (which included specified districts in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) to adopt a policy of prosecuting all Department of Homeland Security (DHS) referrals of illegal entry or attempted illegal entry to the extent practicable. (Attorney General Announces Zero-Tolerance Policy for Criminal Illegal Entry, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs (Apr. 2018), available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-announces-zero-tolerance-policy- criminal-illegal-entry.) On May 7, 2018, Sessions elaborated on the policy by stating, “If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you don’t like that, then don’t smuggle children over our border." (Attorney General Sessions Delivers Remarks Discussing the Immigra tion Enforcement Actions of the Trump Administration, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs (May 2018), available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-sessions-delivers-remarks- discussing-immigration-enforcement-actions.) Unaccompanied minors taken into DHS custody are supposed to be transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services. ORR is then required to care for the children in accordance with the Flores Settlement Agreement. This Agreement sets the minimum nationwide standards for the detention, housing, and release of non-citizen juveniles who are detained by the government and, according to the Ninth Circuit United States Court of Appeals, “obliges the government to pursue a ‘general policy favoring release’ of such juveniles.” (Flores v. Sessions (9th Cir. 2017) 862 F.3d 863.) Flores created a presumption in favor of release of the detained minor, and particularly favors release that results in family reunification. The Agreement provides that, unless immigration authorities determine the detention of a minor is req uired to secure the minor’s timely appearance before the immigration court, or to ensure the safety of the minor or others, the authorities must release the minor from their custody without unnecessary delay, to a parent, legal guardian, or other person or entity as specified. (Ibid.) Instead, as a result of the Trump administration's zero -tolerance policy, thousands of children were separated from their parents and housed in group facilities while their parents faced prosecution for illegal entry into the United States—a crime that may ultimately result in their