Chamlee talks about her piece, which zeroes in on Big Sugar, and about the larger series the story is a part of, which you can find out more about at CampaignCash.org.

The implementation of a case by case review of at least 300,000 deportation proceedings, announced by the Department of Homeland Security last week, has left room for questions among immigrant advocate groups.

With this announcement, Homeland Security said it will implement prosecutorial discretion measures laid out in a June 2011 memo issued by John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (aka ICE).

Melissa Crowe, director of the Legal Action Center at the American Immigration Council, said on a conference call Monday, ”We are not sure how” Homeland Security’s commitment “will play out in practice” and what recourse individuals will have “if they believe their cases have been mischaracterized as high priority.”

Crowe added that in an ideal world, Homeland Security “officers throughout the country would stop issuing charging documents on low priority cases so they never enter the system to begin with.”

Mohammad Abdollahi of DREAM Activist writes in an email that “the decision from [Homeland Security] and Obama was nothing new, it pretty much just spelled out what they already had on the books.”

Last week’s announcement, based on the June 2011 memo issued by Morton, lays out a path to implement immigration law enforcement priorities put forward in a 2010 memo also issued by Morton that prioritized the detention and deportation of three groups: “aliens who pose a danger to national security or a risk to public safety,” “recent illegal entrants” and “aliens who are fugitives or otherwise obstruct immigration controls.”

That 2010 document adds, “Nothing in this memorandum should be construed to prohibit or discourage the apprehension, detention, or removal of other aliens unlawfully in the United States. ICE special agents, officers, and attorneys may pursue the removal of any alien unlawfully in the United States, although attention to these aliens should not displace or disrupt the resources needed to remove aliens who are a higher priority.”

Cecilia Muñoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, wrote last week that Homeland Security, “along with the Department of Justice, will be reviewing the current deportation caseload to clear out low-priority cases on a case-by-case basis and make more room to deport people who have been convicted of crimes or pose a security risk.”

“There is a lot of uncertainty about what could happen,” Jonathan Fried, executive director of We Count!, writes. He says that ICE “clearly did not implement” its June 2010 priorities.

Fried adds:

There is a lot of room for interpretation of who should or shouldn’t have their deportation proceedings dismissed. Just because someone is a low priority doesn’t mean that she or he won’t be deported. And finally, a lot may depend on who is making the decisions. If the same agents on the ground who have been resisting using their discretion and have falsely denounced previous statements from the administration as a “back-door amnesty” are going to be the ones making these decisions about whom to place in proceedings, the announced changes may amount to a lot less than we hoped.

Chris Crane — president of National Council 118-ICE, which represents approximately 7,600 bargaining unit employees at ICE — told the Independent that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE immigration detention reforms excluded ICE managers and officers, adding that “detention reform intended to provide better conditions for non-criminal immigrants made things worse for them and our officers.”

Crane added that ICE management gave no reason why “law enforcement professionals have been excluded from the detention reform process” and that “we are left with one conclusion: This is being done because this administration wants to please special interest groups.”

The union recently said that the policy laid out by Morton in his June 2011 memo is a “law enforcement nightmare,” developed by the Obama administration to “win votes at the expense of sound and responsible law enforcement policy.”

The union added: “Tell any ICE agent he or she will have the final say on making an arrest or holding someone in custody and they’ll tell you you’re crazy. Officers will be ordered not to make arrests and failure to comply will result in the end of the agent or officer’s career. That’s business as usual at ICE. It’s unfortunate but the administration protects foreign nationals illegally in the U.S. but does nothing for our employees.”

B. Loewe of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network tells the Independent that the announced case review “may bring with it an expansion of the definition of criminal, because the damaging label is never actually defined. As we’ve seen in Secure Communities, those who they define as criminals are people whose only offense may be driving without a license or may actually only be immigration-related. There’s the potential for many to be condemned under the agency’s new scarlet letter, the title of ‘criminal.’”

Loewe says that the case review means temporary relief, and shows that the president can “provide an executive order that prevents the deportation” of DREAM Act-eligible youth.

The Rick Scott administration’s proposal to privatize portions of state parks is running up against increasing opposition. Now the issue is gaining national attention.

On a recent segment on his progressive talk show, The Big Picture, Thom Hartmann discussed a plan to turn portions of some of Florida’s most renowned state parks over to private corporations — for use as high-impact camping and RV sites.

From the segment:

Gov. Scott is telling his state’s Department of Environmental Protection to draw up plans to sell off huge chunks of 56 Florida state parks to private corporations. And, as you can imagine, corporations don’t really give a damn about the metaphysical experience you might enjoy while camping. They care about the bottom line. And what can be built on campsites to make the most profit. As in — let’s give Smokey the Bear a break from patrolling wildfires at campsites and put him… behind a McDonald’s counter to make sure the deep fryer doesn’t catch fire.

This is how Gov. Scott plans to deal with his state’s budget shortfall. A budget shortfall that was partly created by massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and corporations that Rick Scott himself pushed through as his first priority when he took office at the beginning of the year — plunging his state’s budget into the red.

Watch the full segment below:

Tampa Bay’s WMNF 88.5 FM invited The Florida Independent’s Travis Pillow onto the airwaves this morning to discuss his important reporting on a state House measure that would grant Gov. Rick Scott wide leeway in rolling back regulations enacted by state agencies, and you can listen to the show in full after the jump.

The segment appeared on the show Radioactivity, hosted by WMNF News & Public Affairs Director — and Florida Independent Community Advisory Board member — Rob Lorei. Check it out:

WMNF 88.5 FM Radioactivity, March 29, 2011

This week on Florida Watch, I join host Doug Miles of The Bradenton Times, former CBS correspondent Gary Schuster and special guest Susan Nilon of Talk Suncoast to discuss the Florida legislature’s first week of action, as well as congressional terrorism hearings and a host of other important topics. Check it out after the jump!

In episode No. 6 of Florida Watch, presented by The Bradenton Times and Manatee Educational Television, I join panel members Doug Miles, Dennis Maley and Gary Schuster in discussing the 2012 GOP presidential field, as well as Florida’s role in picking the party’s nominee. Check it out after the jump.

In episode No. 5 of Florida Watch, brought to you by The Bradenton Times and Manatee Education Television, the team chats about the situation in Tallahassee with just a week to go till the legislature’s 2011 session kicks in, as well as a variety of other topics. Catch it after the jump!

The Bradenton Times and Manatee Education Television last week put together another episode of Florida Watch, and invited me to participate. The topic? Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to turn down billions of dollars from the federal government earmarked for high-speed rail, of course. Check it out after the jump.

After discussing a Florida judge’s ruling in the Sunshine State’s lawsuit challenging federal health care reform last week, the staff at Florida Watch — The Bradenton Times’ Doug Miles and Dennis Maley and former CBS correspondent Gary Schuster — invited me back to chat about Gov. Rick Scott’s 2011 budget proposals, as well as the future of Social Security.

Check it out after the jump.

After appearing on the inaugural episode of Florida Watch, hosted by The Bradenton Times and Manatee Educational Television, I was lucky enough to be invited back to participate in yet another political roundup. This week’s topic? Florida Judge Roger Vinson’s ruling that federal health care reform is unconstitutional.

Check it out after the jump.

FLORIDA WATCH 2/6/11 from The Bradenton Times on Vimeo.