<p>The White House announced a new wave of immigration enforcement changes this Tuesday that promises to follow through with many of President Trump&rsquo;s campaign promises on illegal immigration. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is in the national interest of the United States to prevent criminals and criminal organizations from destabilizing border security,&rdquo; said Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.</p>
<p>Changes include ending &ldquo;catch-and-release&rdquo; policies, hiring thousands of additional officers, and starting work on the US-Mexico border wall. ;</p>
<p>The new initiatives, which follow up on Trump&rsquo;s controversial executive orders from January, aim to tighten enforcement by widening the groups of illegals targeted for deportation. The DHS will no longer &ldquo;exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement&rdquo; with the exception of &ldquo;dreamers&rdquo; &ndash; young adults who received protections from the Obama Administration.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to treat everyone humanely and with dignity, but we are going to execute the laws of the United States,&rdquo; said a DHS official amid unfounded worries that National Guard troops could be used to round up illegals.  ;</p>
<p><strong>The new set of initiatives includes:</strong></p>
<p>&bull; Prioritizing criminal illegals for deportation ;</p>
<p>&bull; Allowing local police to act as immigration agents ;</p>
<p>&bull; Planning and construction of the border wall ;</p>
<p>&bull; Hiring 10,000 additional ICE agents ;</p>
<p>&bull; Hiring 5,000 additional border patrol agents ;</p>
<p>The timelines and budgets for many of these projects ;are still unclear. Secretary Kelly has asked for &ldquo;identifying and quantifying&rdquo; sources of aid to Mexico, which implies that the DHS may use funds already meant for Mexico to start building the border wall. ;</p>
<p>This week&#8217;s changes ;come as the Trump Administration works to re-write the travel ban, which remains suspended after a federal court ruling. ;</p>
<p><strong>Author&rsquo;s Note: ;</strong>Rumors, accusations, and rants are sure to flow from the Left regarding Trump&rsquo;s new plans to crack down on illegal immigration, but what many people don&rsquo;t seem to realize is the conservative perspective on this issue: we feel like we&rsquo;re being invaded because our borders are not secure. ;</p>
<p>Once our border does become secure (with a border wall), the perception of &ldquo;invasion&rdquo; will disappear. Then, we can afford to be more compassionate with the illegals who are here. The change in attitude will be immediate and phenomenal. ;</p>