DHS Memo: Drunk Drivers, Drug Dealers Not Deportation Priorities

President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration is similar to the Justice Department's enforcement of marijuana laws around the nation, The Washington Post's GovBeat blog said Saturday, as the rule seems to be that since the laws can't be enforced, they won't be.

The problem is, writes The Post's Niraq Chokshi, the government does not have enough manpower or resources to ferret out either illegal immigrants or to enforce all of the nation's drug laws, so instead it has chosen to focus on just the worst offenders.

"That’s why we’re going to keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security," President Barack Obama said when discussing the action. "Felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mom who’s working hard to provide for her kids. We’ll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day."

However, even as the focus is on deporting criminals, "tracking down, rounding up, and deporting millions of people isn’t realistic," Obama said. "Anyone who suggests otherwise isn’t being straight with you."

That logic, Chokshi notes, is the same that allowed both Colorado and Oregon to pass recreational marijuana laws.

"If it wanted to, the Justice Department could have squashed them then and there," Chokshi writes. "Marijuana use remains federally prohibited, and the administration could have vowed to enforce those laws within those state borders."

Last year, Deputy Attorney General James Cole explained in a letter to U.S. attorneys that marijuana was still illegal according to federal law, and the federal government is "committed to using its limited investigative and prosecutorial resources to address the most significant threats in the most effective, consistent and rational way."

So, instead of going after all drug offenders, Cole said the government would insist on focusing more on the serious offenses, including gang activity and sales to minors.

Meanwhile, some violations of the federal immigration laws will be allowed to slide as the government focuses on the offenders who pose a threat to the safety of the United States.

A memo from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson outlining guidelines for the nation's immigration officers working to administer President Barack Obama's new executive order for amnesty said lower-tier criminals such as drunken drivers and drug dealers aren't on the top of the priority list of people to deport.

"Due to limited resources, DHS and its components cannot respond to all immigration violations or remove all persons illegally in the United States," Johnson's memo said.

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