Obama Wants to Make Deportations More Humane

In a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, President Obama ordered a review of deportation practices in an effort to make the process more humane.

President Obama has ordered a review of deportation practices in an effort to make the process more humane.

The announcement came during a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about the record number of deportations during Obama's presidency. An immigration bill that could have reformed the process and created a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants has stalled in the House.

Obama told attendees that he was asking Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to review current deportation practices to, according to the AP, "see how it can conduct enforcement more humanely within the confines of the law."

Though Obama said in 2011 that the Department of Homeland Security would focus on deporting people with criminal records rather than non-criminals and people brought to the country involuntarily as children, immigrant rights activists say that families are still being broken up and the way deportations themselves are carried out can be dangerous.

In Seattle, dozens of undocumented immigrants being held at a deportation center have been on a hunger strike since last Friday.