The Department of Homeland Security issued the new rules on Tuesday; rules that call for increased border security and stricter enforcement of immigration laws.
"Those people who are in this country and pose a threat to our public safety, or have committed a crime, will be the first to go," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters.
Under the new rules, the department would greatly expand the number of immigrants who are prioritized for removal. This includes a person in the country illegally who may have committed a crime but not been charged.
But for undocumented immigrants without criminal records and removal orders, an arrest and "notice to appear" by ICE agents is just the beginning of the deportation process which could take years.
Michael Sharma Crawford is an immigration attorney in Kansas City, Missouri.
"It's essentially a ticket. An allegation that says you're not a citizen of the United States. It says you're a citizen of some country." said Sharma-Crawford. "It alleges that you should be expelled from the United States for a particular reason."
Ice agents have 48 hours to make a custody determination. The next step, in a very complicated process is standing in front of an immigration judge, which typically leads to applications to stay in the country, appeals and sometimes a trial.
There are 3 immigration judges in the entire state of Missouri.
According to ICE, there is no time element during the deportation process. It could take years.
But once a judge issues a "final order of removal, ICE must carry out that order as quickly as possible.
"If you're a Mexican national, then the plane from Kansas City leaves once a week. Every Friday, a plane leaves from Kansas City. They're transferred from a plane, to a bus, to the bridge and they're lined up so they walk across the bridge into Mexico," said Sharma-Crawford.
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Lisa Benson can be reached at lisa.benson@kshb.com.
