{"id":7035,"date":"2014-06-23T10:38:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T14:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=7035"},"modified":"2018-12-28T14:54:25","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T19:54:25","slug":"this-date-in-obamas-administrative-amnesty-june-23-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2014\/06\/23\/this-date-in-obamas-administrative-amnesty-june-23-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"This Date in Obama\u2019s Administrative Amnesty: June 23, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"This<\/a>Three years ago on this date, the President of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council, a union which represents approximately 7,000 ICE agents, officers and employees, criticized a memo<\/a> issued by former ICE Director John Morton.<\/p>\n

On June 23, 2011, Chris Crane, the National ICE Council President, issued a press release<\/a> declaring that the June 17, 2011 Morton memo was \u201caimed at stopping the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws in the United States.\u201d Furthermore, Crane said<\/a>, \u201cUnable to pass its immigration agenda through legislation, the Administration is now implementing it through agency policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only did the substance of the memo (see<\/i> FAIR\u2019s last This Date blog<\/a>) concern ICE officers, but the way it became ICE policy was questioned. Crane said<\/a>, \u201cit was all kept secret from us, we found out from the newspapers. ICE worked hand-in-hand with immigrants\u2019 rights groups, but excluded its own officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just weeks earlier, the membership of the ICE union cast a vote of no confidence in Morton and the agency\u2019s leadership. The ICE officers declared<\/a> that Morton had \u201cabandoned the Agency\u2019s core mission of enforcing United States Immigration Laws and providing for public safety.\u201d The vote was prompted by a previous memo<\/a> which also had weakened enforcement.<\/p>\n

Despite the ICE union expressing its concerns, the Obama Administration would continue to issue further policy directives that like these first two \u201cMorton Memos<\/a>\u201d further relaxed immigration laws without the involvement of the law enforcement.