Sean Spicer says Trump isn’t aiming for mass deportation

White House press secretary Sean Spicer clarified on Tuesday that mass deportation is not the goal of US President Donald Trump’s administration. He said the real aim is to prioritise the removal of undocumented immigrants that pose a threat to the security of the nation.

"The message from this White House and from the DHS is 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 and we will aggressively be making sure that that occurs,” Spicer said. He warned that illegal immigrants in the US are subject to removal at any time.

Spicer justified that the policy is being followed in other countries too, not only in the US.”If you're in this country in an illegal manner, then obviously there's a provision that could ensure that you be removed,” he maintained.

Under the new policy, a person who cannot prove that he has been residing in the US for two years can be a candidate for expedited removal. The past administration had previously limited expedited removal to undocumented immigrants encountered within 100 air miles of the border and within 14 days of entry into the country.

But Spencer has reinstated that the president wants to deal first and foremost to those who have committed a crime or pose a threat to public safety. The White House press secretary said the president has always been clear about the issue, even during the 2016 presidential campaign, and will continue to fulfil his campaign promises.

BBC notes that the new blueprint from the Department of Homeland Security keeps Obama-era protections for immigrants who have entered the country legally. However, it expands the more restricted guidance issued under the administration of former POTUS Barack Obama.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implementation memos, the new administration will "prioritise" the deportation of almost all undocumented immigrants. It also authorises local and state law-enforcement officials to arrest unauthorised immigrants.

The DHS plans to hire 10,000 agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 5,000 more border patrol officers for the enforcement of the new guidance. “The surge of illegal immigration at the southern border has overwhelmed federal agencies and resources and has created a significant national security vulnerability to the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly wrote in a memo. The memo also states that Trump administration will limit parole into the US.