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Mass illegal immigrant release could be headache for Obama, tricky for GOP
The Hill ^ | 3/02/13 | Jordy Yager

Posted on 03/02/2013 2:49:45 PM PST by Libloather

The release of hundreds of illegal immigrants into a federal monitoring system this week may be an ongoing headache for the Obama administration, as Republicans focus their scrutiny on uncovering potential missteps.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, “will be aggressively examining the ramification of this decision,” according to a committee aide.

And Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, pressed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to take more responsibility for the releases, which she says she did not know about beforehand.

“I am concerned that you have chosen to distance yourself from the actions of ICE,” said Coats in a letter to Napolitano on Friday. “As Secretary of Homeland Security, you have a responsibility to oversee the proper management of the department’s resources. I believe you should have been on top of this situation and taken steps far earlier to prevent this action.”

Napolitano will undoubtedly be pressed on the issue when she comes to testify on cybersecurity next Wednesday before Rep. Mike McCaul’s (R-Texas) House Homeland Security Committee. ICE Director John Morton promised to answer McCaul’s letter to him earlier this week in which he raised questions about exactly how many detainees had been released and what tools ICE was using to track illegal immigrants, a committee aide said.

But in the meantime, Republican criticism of the move could gain traction if negative reports about the actions of the illegal immigrants who were released begin to surface.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said his office has received information that some of the “several hundred” people released into the monitoring program had been previously convicted on fraud, theft, and drunken driving offenses. His office declined to make the specifics of that information available to The Hill.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Napolitano, and the White House have said the move was made by career agency officials in an effort to manage ICE’s resources ahead of the automatic spending cuts that went into effect Friday with the sequestration deadline.

Although ICE publicly says it is not planning to release any more illegal immigrants into the monitoring program at this time, the Associated Press said it obtained internal budget documents on Friday stating that the agency planned to released as many as 3,000 more illegal immigrants in March. The documents also stated that more than 2,000 illegal immigrants were released this week, far more than the “several hundred” ICE officials have said.

But Republicans may run into thorns of their own on the issue, as it was under President George W. Bush that the release program — known as Alternatives to Detention (ATD) — first began. Moreover, it was Congress itself that first mandated the ATD program’s initial creation in fiscal year 2002.

According to ICE documents from 2009, the agency launched three ATD programs in 2004 and 2007, which monitor the release of illegal immigrants still in deportation proceedings using a combination of GPS ankle monitors, telephonic reporting, and unannounced home visits. Of the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who have been placed in the programs, less than 10 percent have run away or escaped, according to the 2009 report.

Republican criticism has been steadily growing since the mass release came to light on Monday, with many GOP lawmakers expressing suspicions that the move was a political attempt to spur lawmakers into reaching a sequestration deal. ICE said the decision was made by career officials in preparation for the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts, which could limit the number of detainees ICE could pay to house.

A DHS official told The Hill that career detention facility administrators release low-risk illegal immigrants into the less costly supervision program on a nearly daily basis. Administrators make the call based on their budgetary and infrastructure constraints, without the need for sign-off approval from the White House, the official said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; gop; illegal; obama; release
which she says she did not know about beforehand.

Why not round up the perps and put them back?

1 posted on 03/02/2013 2:49:58 PM PST by Libloather
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To: Libloather

A million a month...that’s all we ask.


2 posted on 03/02/2013 2:55:01 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Hey RATS! Control your murdering freaks.)
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To: Libloather

I got a baaaad feeling about this. The release of these criminals show a pattern not uncommon with despots. With more crime there will be a demand for more government intervention.


3 posted on 03/02/2013 2:57:08 PM PST by VRW Conspirator (Sometimes it takes calamity to lead to serenity - FReeper RacerX1128)
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To: Libloather

Round up illegal aliens? That’s the wrong target for DHS. They prefer law-abiding citizens.

There is no downside for the GOP in this situation. None.

These escapees have nothing to lose and will committ more crimes. I say, pin it on the government, it is their fault.

Rule of Law - the conservatives can make huge gains just by concentrating on that one theme. Why?

Because right now, in this country, the rule of law is rapidly becoming extinct. This nation is sliding into massive corruption on all levels. Rule of Law is one of the most basic pillars of our nation’s existence and provide the safety and security all of us crave.

This is a golden opportunity for the GOP, to bring it back into the public forum.


4 posted on 03/02/2013 3:01:56 PM PST by SatinDoll (NATURAL BORN CITZEN: BORN IN THE USA OF CITIZEN PARENTS.)
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To: SatinDoll

Pin it on Obama. It’s a spiteful thing to do against Americans, and a dirty trick. Thuggery.


5 posted on 03/02/2013 3:26:13 PM PST by Twinkie (JOHN 3:16)
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To: Libloather

If we catch them can we shoot ‘em? Are they felons?


6 posted on 03/02/2013 3:37:32 PM PST by Candor7 (Obama fascism article:(http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html))
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To: Libloather

The GOPe should get these guys registered so they can be confiscated after they start doing 0bama-son type things.


7 posted on 03/02/2013 3:48:25 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: VRW Conspirator

“I got a baaaad feeling about this. The release of these criminals show a pattern not uncommon with despots. With more crime there will be a demand for more government intervention.”

Michael Dukakis was winning the presidential race. He had allowed furloughs for prisoners serving life sentences. Willie Horton, a lifer, was leaving prison on Friday nights, killing people, and then going back on Sunday evenings. Then, he got caught killing somebody. They didn’t believe it was him because he was in prison…well, he wasn’t. This ended Dukakis’ presidential bid.

These guys will commit crimes. The GOP has to repeatedly publicize this as the press won’t. If one of these guys kills or kidnaps a beautiful little blond girl and that makes the news before they find out who did it, then, Obama is cooked. Imagine the 24/7 coverage and then, they find the killer and they drop the story? Probably not.


8 posted on 03/02/2013 3:52:33 PM PST by Gen.Blather
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To: Libloather
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney (was ordered to lie)----to say the decision to let the criminals go was made by ICE "without any input from the White House."

He said "ICE" made the decision?

Ut, oh, ICE is not gonna like that.

LOOKS LIKE ANOTHER CASE FOR the 7,000-member union---the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council.

BACKSTORY Chris Crane, president of the 7,000-member union---the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council---has filed a lawsuit against DHS Secy Janet Napolitano, challenging Obama's newly-minted non-deportation policies that make most illegal immigrants ineligible for deportation — policies that ICE agents say force them to ignore their own sworn duty to uphold US law.

============================================

At last Wednesday’s Senate hearing on immigration reform, Mr. Crane was forced to testify alongside an illegal immigrant vote-crazed Senate Democrats called in to testify.

Under legacy-obsessed Obama's suck-up, illegal aliens are a low priority for deportation (b/c they each cast several votes for vote-crazed Democrats---using multiple identities).

9 posted on 03/02/2013 4:17:18 PM PST by Liz
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To: Gen.Blather

These guys will commit crimes.


Not if Americans shoot ‘em. That is one problem the dictator wannabe has not been able to fix yet.


10 posted on 03/02/2013 4:18:03 PM PST by SaraJohnson
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To: Libloather

Lock and load, Arizonans. Texans are ready.


11 posted on 03/02/2013 4:32:16 PM PST by txrefugee
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To: Libloather; mickie
"GOP lawmakers expressed suspicions that the move was a political attempt to spur lawmakers into reaching a sequestration deal".

Ya think? Ya think the Obama thugs really were stickin' it to the "suspicious" lawmakers?

Ya think these same GOP lawmakers observe the sky getting lighter at 6 AM and they're "suspicious" the sun is about to rise on the horizon?

Or is the truth too hard for these GOP geniuses to handle....and it's just safer for them to say they're "suspicious" that Obama is stickin' it to 'em.?

We are so screwed.

Leni

12 posted on 03/02/2013 4:35:01 PM PST by MinuteGal
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To: VRW Conspirator

The criminals to fear are the ones in Washington.


13 posted on 03/02/2013 4:36:03 PM PST by sasquatch
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To: Libloather
"But Republicans may run into thorns of their own on the issue, as it was under President George W. Bush that the release program"

Of course it goes without saying . . . it's George's fault again.

unfrickin believable

14 posted on 03/02/2013 5:11:43 PM PST by saywhatagain
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To: SatinDoll
"This is a golden opportunity for the GOP, to bring it back into the public forum."

Yeah, we all know the track record those GOP a-holes have with "golden opportunities". Why will this time be any different? Half of them don't even think the illegals should have been in jail anyhow.

15 posted on 03/02/2013 7:02:24 PM PST by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: Libloather

If the GOP is concerned about any backlash for criticizing the release of illegals they should concentrate thie crtiticism on the fact that these are known criminals arbitrarily turned loose by the administration.

It wouldn’t matter if they were illegals or not - it is a bad policy move for the administration to release criminals of any background just to help the president make his point that the budget cuts will be harmful.


16 posted on 03/02/2013 7:22:28 PM PST by Iron Munro (I miss America, don't you?)
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To: Libloather
But Republicans may run into thorns of their own on the issue, as it was under President George W. Bush that the release program — known as Alternatives to Detention (ATD) — first began.

I remember what George W. Bush and the GOP did to stop illegal immigration when they controlled the entire federal government - absolutely nothing. If fact, they did everything they could to encourage it save shipping them up in cattle cars and cargo ships.

I don't know why people think the GOP is going to do anything about it now aside scoring cheap political points with slogans and platitudes.

17 posted on 03/02/2013 8:26:51 PM PST by Count of Monte Fisto (Republicans are to the Democrats as the Generals are to the Harlem Globetrotters)
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To: Count of Monte Fisto

excellent post.


18 posted on 03/02/2013 9:52:26 PM PST by Pelham (Marco Rubio. for Amnesty, Spanish, and Karl Rove.)
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To: Gen.Blather
The GOP has to repeatedly publicize this as the press won’t.

And blame Obama. I read that Napalitano "did not" know about the release. Obama will distance himself and the media will echo him. He never gets blamed for anything. Yes, I remember the revolving door of justice with Dukakis.

19 posted on 03/03/2013 4:50:47 AM PST by VRW Conspirator (Sometimes it takes calamity to lead to serenity - FReeper RacerX1128)
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