photo credit: rare.us
NumbersUSA tracks legislation, executive orders, developments, and issues
concerning immigration laws and enforcement. I thought I would share their lead
story from today’s depressing newsletter.
Top Obama official admits executive actions & sanctuary
cities to blame for lower deportation numbers
Fri, May 20th
The days of Pres. Obama being called
the "Deporter-in-Chief" are long over. Overall removals are way down
and removals of illegal aliens from the interior by Immigration Customs and
Enforcement (ICE) agents are down 70% from the early years of the
Administration.
Why such a decline?
A Senate panel heard the answer
Thursday from Thomas Homan, Executive Associate Director for ICE's Enforcement
And Removal Operations. He said the decline is a result of both the
Administration's executive actions issued in 2012 and 2014 and the existence of
sanctuary jurisdictions.
"There are a number of reasons
why the numbers are down," Homan said and listed them.
"Sanctuary cities"
"Jurisdictions not honoring my
detainers"
"The Trust Act [2013 California
law limiting holds on illegal aliens]"
"In 2012, John Morton, the
Assistant Secretary of ICE, issued a policy in who we issue detainers on.
Virtually took Level 3s off the table. This is a law-abiding society, so most
crimes are Level 3."
" Executive actions. Executive
actions have narrowed my target pool down."
EXECUTIVE ACTIONS RESPONSBILE
Then, there was this exchange between
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Homan.
SESSIONS: Isn't it true that ICE gets
calls every single day from police officers all across America that are not
Sanctuary Cities and you're not responding to them because they don't meet the
guidelines or the priorities established by the President?
HOMAN: That is true.
SESSIONS: So it's not true then that
the reason your numbers are down is because you don't have people to deport.
You have them to deport, but you have policies that tell you not to deport
whole categories that are here unlawfully. Isn't that correct?
HOMAN: That's a factor, yes sir.
Homan made it a point to praise the
men and women of ICE, and their commitment to the "mission". Of
course, he's not allowed to comment on his opinion of Pres. Obama's policies,
so we don't know where he, a career ICE agent stands, but morale among ICE
agents is among the lowest of all federal employees, which would lead one to
believe that the agents don't necessarily agree with the Administration's
policies.
UNION CHIEF SAYS BORDER PATROL
RELEASES ALMOST EVERYONE
Border Patrol Union President Brandon
Judd also testified and shed further light on the Administration's policies,
specifically its catch-and-release policies. According to Judd, the Border
Patrol releases almost every illegal alien it comes into contact with -- even
if the alien has a criminal history.
"The second part of the
catch-and-release program is releasing people without NTAs [Notices to Appear].
This is actually the most disconcerting part. We can actually arrest somebody
with an actual criminal arrest record here in the United States, and if it does
not meet these priority guidelines, we have to walk them out the door if
they've been here since, if they claim to have been here (his emphasis), since
January of 2014, we have to walk them out our door. And we don't even issue
them an NTA. In effect, we're saying stay in the country as long as you
want."
Judd went on to say that anyone caught
crossing the border illegally who is not from Mexico is released by the Border
Patrol and that approximately 80% of Mexicans who are caught crossing the
border illegally are released. Again, all of this is not a reflection on the
men and women of the Border Patrol or of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It's all under the direction of the Obama Administration.
Civil Rights icon and Chair of the
last bipartisan Commission on Immigration, Barbara Jordan, once told Congress,
"Credibility in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: those
who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and
those who should not be here will be required to leave."
The Obama Administration has sent a
message to the world that unless you're convicted of a violent crime, you'll
never be required to leave.
Maybe Rep. Paul Ryan can put a stop to this.s/o Anyway, the NumbersUSA website is here.
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