Charles Shane Ellison and Virginia Maynes of Justice for our Neighbors were the guests for January’s Press Club Noon Forum.
Justice for Our Neighbors is a major immigration legal service here in Omaha. Ellison is a Regional Attorney and the Legal Director for J-FON while Maynes is a Staff Attorney.
The presentation focused on the implications of President Obama’s executive orders dealing with immigration, specifically his use of prosecutorial discretion.
Ellison said the US immigration authorities estimate there are 11.3 million individuals in the US that are theoretically subject to removal.
He said the Department of Homeland Security has the resources to remove about 400,000 each year.
"But that’s only about 3.5% of the overall number of people who could be removed from the United States. So in a given year, in a given individual case, DHS has to select who they will enforce the laws against. Since they can’t do that against everyone, they have to do that on the basis of making priorities.”
You can hear Ellison and Maynes’ entire presentation on KIOS Monday, February 16th at Noon.