Here’s an interesting shift in policy and it appears to be a more efficient way to address the problem. We’ll see if it works.
By Josh Meyer and Anna Gorman
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — Stepping into the political minefield of immigration reform, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napaolitano will soon direct federal agents to emphasize targeting American employers for arrest and prosecution over the laborers who enter the country illegally to work for them, department officials said Monday.
The shift in emphasis will be outlined in revamped field guidelines issued to agents of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division as early as this week, according to several officials familiar with the change in policy.
It is in keeping with comments that President Barack Obama made during last year’s campaign, when he said past enforcement efforts have failed because they focused on illegal immigrants rather than the companies that hire them.
“There is a supply side and a demand side,” said one Homeland Security official. “Like other law-enforcement philosophies, there is a belief that by focusing more on the demand side, you cut off the supply.”
