White House Says ICE to Blame for Release of Illegal Aliens
“The White House said Wednesday that it had nothing to do with the decision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release immigrants awaiting deportation back into the country in order to save money ahead of the looming budget ‘sequesters.’
‘This was a decision made by career officials at ICE without any input from the White House as a result of fiscal uncertainty over the continuing resolution as well as possible sequestration,’ spokesman Jay Carney told reporters,” the Washington Times reports.
House Panel Says No to Rushed Immigration Debate
“The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee laid out a go-slow approach on immigration Wednesday, saying he doesn’t think having President Obama write a bill and demand that Congress vote on it would be successful. Senators are racing against a White House-imposed deadline to write legislation before Mr. Obama sends his own version. But Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, said his panel will take time to hold hearings on each part of immigration reform and that he hasn’t decided whether to write a single broad bill, as Mr. Obama has requested, or to take it up piece by piece,” the Washington Times writes.
What’s Are DHS’ Real Priorities – Sequester Edition
“The very first dollars the federal government stopped spending in the face of sequestration were the $16,400 to $164,000 per day it spends detaining ‘several hundred’ illegal immigrants,” National Review’s Jim Geraghty says.
“I suppose you could say not informing local and state law enforcement was a cost-saving measure, too. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery tells Arizona reporters that ‘we don’t know what the criteria was to determine who was safe to release… we don’t know why they were detained in the first place, or the crimes they may have committed.'”
“The editors of the Arizona Republic reassuringly inform us, ‘These may all be non-violent offenders, but no one knows. We simply have no way to measure how much, if at all, our communities have been made less safe.'”
DHS Official Resigns in Wake of Illegal Alien Release
“The senior Homeland Security Department official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants announced his retirement the same day the agency said that hundreds of people facing deportation had been released from immigration jails due to looming budget cuts, according to a letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The government said he had told his bosses weeks ago that he planned to retire,” the AP reports.