What Loretta Lynch said on immigration that has people talking

Undocumented immigrants who receive work authorization and deportation reprieve under President Obama’s recent executive actions on immigration could still find themselves at risk of deportation, U.S. attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch said at her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.

Lynch, a federal prosecutor in New York nominated to replace Eric Holder as U.S. attorney general, told the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee that she read and agreed with an opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel that said Obama’s executive actions on immigration were legally justified. But she also said actions may still be taken to deport immigrants even if they qualify for Obama’s unilateral moves.

“As a prosecutor I always want the ability to still take some sort of action against those who may not be in my initial category as the most serious threat,” Lynch said during Wednesday’s hearing. “And I didn’t see anything in the opinion that prevented action being take [against] individuals who might otherwise qualify for the deferral.”

SEE ALSO: Jeh Johnson pushes back against GOP’s border security bill

Her comments raised eyebrows and had some people talking. For example, Breitbart News reported that Lynch essentially “undercut Obama’s legal argument” over executive action with her comments. Buzzfeed also reported that undocumented immigrants could feel scared to apply for Obama’s executive actions if they believe the Department of Justice or the Department of Homeland Security may come after them.

Much ado about nothing?

But Crystal Williams, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said Lynch’s comments were “not surprising.” Instead, she said Lynch was only trying to explain the definition of prosecutorial discretion.

“She’s an experienced prosecutor talking about what a prosecutor does in exercising discretion,” Williams said. “Basically, she was referring to what discretion is.”

Williams went on to explain that prosecutorial discretion refers to the power any law enforcement agency or prosecutor’s office has to decide when and how to enforce the law. She said deferred action—which essentially gives immigrants temporary reprieve from deportation—is a form of prosecutorial discretion. Under Obama’s executive actions, a new deferred action program would be created for parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

“It is not a set in stone thing—it’s a set of guidelines,” Williams said about prosecutorial discretion.

SEE ALSO: Government tells agents to ID which immigrants not to deport

Karen Tumlin, managing attorney with the National Immigration Law Center, also doesn’t think that what Lynch said is concerning at all. Instead, Tumlin said Lynch’s comments reflect how the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects undocumented youth from deportation, works today. Currently, if an individual commits a serious crime after being approved for DACA, that person may not only become ineligible for the program, but may also be put in deportation proceedings.

“That is the reality that we face today,” Tumlin said. “It’s absolutely not a change, and it’s commonsense from a law enforcement perspective.”

Tumlin also said undocumented immigrants shouldn’t be afraid to apply for Obama’s executive actions given that Lynch indicated during Wednesday’s hearing that she believes the president acted well within his legal authority. She added that if elected U.S. attorney general, Lynch would likely defend Obama’s immigration actions “just like the DOJ is doing currently in the lawsuit in Texas.”

“What we’ve seen in the testimony of this nominee is someone who full throatily is supporting the president’s actions,” Tumlin said. “I think that should give people security.”

SEE ALSO: Where parents were born affects Hispanic low-income children

(function(d, s, id) {

var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];

if (d.getElementById(id)) return;

js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;

js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=313098648827735&version=v2.0”;

fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);

}(document, “script”, “facebook-jssdk”));

The post What Loretta Lynch said on immigration that has people talking appeared first on Voxxi.