WASHINGTON, DC - Today the Department of Homeland Security issued a letter to Congress announcing that all 300,000 cases currently in deportation proceedings will be reviewed by DHS, one-by-one, in an effort to focus purely on “high-priority” cases of criminals and individuals who pose a serious threat to the US.

Cases deemed “low-priority” as children, military families, individuals brought here at a young age, same-sex couples, and sole-bread winners will be completely removed from the case log y non-criminal immigrants once facing deportation, will have the possibility to obtain work permits.

The Center for American Progress released this statement, “We applaud the Department of Homeland Security for taking this welcome and important step toward aligning our immigration enforcement practices with our nation's values and priorities. By focusing our enforcement resources on those who pose threats to our communities, rather than on immigrants who have committed no crimes, these guidelines will make our communities safer, save taxpayer dollars, and uphold our nation’s commitment to the rule of law.

This initiative represents another step in the ongoing process of making our immigration enforcement regime more effective and coherent by building on the prosecutorial discretion memo issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton on June 17, which clearly articulated the agency’s enforcement priorities.

The initiative launched today takes a giant step forward operationalizing the guidelines laid out in the Morton memo and extending their application throughout the entire immigration system. This unprecedented cross-agency effort, including the Department of Justice, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and Citizenship and Immigration Services, will standardize removal and enforcement practices to ensure that resources are deployed effectively across the system.

As Angela Kelley, Vice President of Immigration Policy and Advocacy, notes: "Prioritizing resources and allowing prosecutors the discretion ...