The Obama administration is expected to announce a new policy initiative that would decrease the number of deportations of nonviolent undocumented workers.

According to the LA Times, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson will recommend small and significant changes to the controversial Secure Communities program that currently ranks and lists both repeat immigration violators and violent criminals as a priority for deportation.

Under the enforcement program, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) federal agents request local authorities to detain some jailed immigrants up to 48 hours after their scheduled release for further investigation into their legal background. Although the program was created to detain and deport "the worst of the worst" criminal immigrants, it has persecuted and deported thousands immigrants guilty of misdemeanors like traffic violations, reports the New York Daily News.

As a result, a number of cities and counties, including Baltimore and Philadelphia, have decided to stop adhering to Secure Communities' rules due to its history of unfair deportations and its negative impact on police relations with immigrant communities.

The new program changes will slow the pace of deportations and help mend immigrant relations who live in fear of law enforcement officials.

Earlier this month, Johnson told PBS NewsHour that Secure Communities needed "a fresh start." Further, in private meetings with police, he announced that he is considering placing limits on when immigration agents can contact local jails to ask them to hold undocumented immigrants.

Advocates for immigrant rights say the move would help local police concentrate on dangerous criminals, while making immigration enforcement more humane.

It also could help ease political pressure on the White House from activist groups that have dubbed President Obama as the "Deporter-in-Chief" since he is on track to deport more people than any president in U.S. history.

Obama is driven by "the issues and concerns of families being separated" but is leaving the policy analysis to Johnson, said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

In response, congressional Republican officials have vowed to oppose any effort to scale back Secure Communities through rule changes before a bill to overhaul immigration reformed is passed.