The Migration Policy Institute, CIS's opposite number on the high-immigration side, has released a report estimating that fully 87 percent of the illegal population is exempt from immigration law following President Obama's November amnesty decrees. This is a change from the 2010-2011 decrees, under which only 73 percent of illegals enjoyed de facto amnesty.
That means the number of illegal aliens at least theoretically subject to immigration enforcement went from about 4 million before the latest round of lawless decrees to a mere 1.4 million now. And as a practical matter, few even of those will be sent home.
One of the main ways the new decrees expand the amnesty pool is by moving up the dates to cover more people. As the report notes:
In contrast with the 2010-11 guidelines, which prioritized immigrants who entered or re-entered the United States during the previous three years, the 2014 guidelines tie the second- and third-priority categories to the fixed date of January 1, 2014, targeting for enforcement those who entered on or after that date.
This is important because new illegals keep coming even as old ones stop being illegal (either by going home or finagling a green card). Since Obama was sworn in, some 2.5 million illegals have settled, so if he'd stuck to his earlier amnesty guidelines, they wouldn't qualify. What do you want to bet that a year from now he'll issue another decree moving up the effective amnesty date further?
The report dryly notes that "The net effect of the new policy guidance likely will be a reduction in deportations from within the interior of the United States." Ya think?