The Washington Post reports that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano postponed a planned worksite immigration raid in Chicago last week because she thought the investigative work that had been done to prepare for the raid was insufficient. According to the Post, the decision was just one sign that the administration may be shifting focus in its immigration enforcement strategies.

 

The Post reports:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has delayed a series of proposed immigration raids and other enforcement actions at U.S. workplaces in recent weeks, asking agents in her department to apply more scrutiny to the selection and investigation of targets as well as the timing of raids, federal officials said.

A senior department official said the delays signal a pending change in whom agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement choose to prosecute -- increasing the focus on businesses and executives instead of ordinary workers.

 

In a March 25 op-ed in USA Today, Dora Schriro, special advisor to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Detention and Removal, on the eve of the release of Amnesty International's report on the U.S. immigrant detention system, describes her ongoing review of the system and indicates that some reforms were on the horizon. Schriro writes:

Secretary Napolitano and I share a sense of urgency about this work, and I will present her with my preliminary findings and recommendations for measurable improvement as soon as possible. I have always believed that how we treat those who are in detention for whatever reason reflects who we are and what we believe as a nation; we must transform a detention system that has been a source of outrage into a reflection of our best selves. The opportunity for meaningful reform is ripe. Secretary Napolitano is committed to measurable, sustainable progress. ICE pledges to ensure this happens.

In the meantime, immigrant rights advocates continue to call for meaningful and humane reform of the U.S. immigrant detention system. Amnesty International has launched a petition to Secretary Napolitano asking her make the ICE detention standards enforceable, increase use of alternatives to detention, ensure humane conditions for detainees, and increase opportunity for judicial review of individuals' detention.