Posted on 01/22/2006 2:58:29 AM PST by anymouse
Count Tom DeLay as one of those upset about Thursday’s roundup of day laborers in League City.
But the Republican congressman wasn’t troubled to see that 62 suspected illegal immigrants were rounded up in the sweep.
Instead, he was dismayed because almost all were let go.
“I am very encouraged we have local law enforcement that wants to go after criminals who happen to be illegal immigrants and that (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) would help,” said DeLay, who has made immigration one of the top issues of his re-election campaign. “On the other hand, I am disheartened that they had to release 60 illegal immigrants.”
In a joint sweep Thursday morning, League City police and agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided two hangouts for day laborers.
League City police said they were searching for three men wanted on charges ranging from sexual assault of a child to intoxicated manslaughter.
An immigration spokesman said her agency was there to assist in determining the immigration status of those rounded up and to detain only those who posed a risk to the community.
“It’s a matter of setting a priority because we simply do not have enough beds to take them all into custody,” said Louisa Deason of the immigration and customs agency.
Those not deemed a threat or not wanted by law enforcement were let go and told they must get their immigration status worked out, said Deason.
Two people were taken into immigration’s custody because they had warrants for their arrest.
None of the three men League City police were seeking was caught in the sweep. A police spokesman said the raid did not net any new information on their cases.
DeLay says none of those let go should still be free.
A staunch advocate of tougher enforcement of immigration laws, DeLay spent part of the day Friday on the phone with John Clark, deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and Gene Lowery, assistant special agent in charge of the Houston office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expressing his exasperation.
DeLay said the philosophy within immigration enforcement is changing from a policy of catch and release to catch and remove from the country.
“We are changing the philosophy of enforcing the law,” said DeLay. “Changing the philosophy takes money and organization.”
DeLay said Clark assured him the regional immigration office would soon get the money it needs to contract with area jails to detain illegal immigrants.
DeLay is not likely to find much support for his stance from members of the League of United Latin American Citizens.
A top official with LULAC’s district office said he would ask for the local chapter of the organization to investigate.
The Latin American Organization for Immigrant Rights as well as the Progressive Workers Organizing Committee plan to protest in front of the League City police department this afternoon.
David Michael Smith, one of the organizers, said his group is promoting an immigration policy that establishes a process for illegal immigrants to become legal residents.
But the U.S. House of Representatives rejected such a measure, backed by President George W. Bush. That legislation would have offered limited residency and a guest worker program.
Instead, a bill that would classify illegal immigrants as felons passed the House. That bill was backed by DeLay.
“The American people, particularly in my district, do not believe us when we say we can secure the border,” said DeLay. “So, until we can prove to them we will secure the borders first, no guest worker program will have any support from the public.”
Groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Service Employees International Union — usually on opposite sides on workplace legislation — back the Bush guest worker policy.
DeLay may have found support for the catch and deport philosophy from his likely opponent in the fall election — Democrat Nick Lampson.
Lampson, a former congressman, said he, too, is opposed to the current catch and release policy.
“We have to enforce the law,” he said. “If people are found to be violating the law, we cannot just look the other way.
Lampson said he wants to toughen enforcement against businesses that hire illegal immigrants.
“If you go back and look at how much action has been taken against those employers, it’s pretty clear we are not enforcing the law on either side of the problem,” he said.
Just last Oct, Congress appropriated the money for 2000 new beds. Doesn't it seem logical to you that if DeLay and the others were really serious, they would have created 4000, 6000, 10000 new beds?
And what about this "get tough" House bill passed in Dec. How many new beds are in that bill?
You seem to be making the assumption that what's true of the whole must also be true of each part. Yes, Congress (as an entity) is failing to deliver, there's no question about that. That doesn't necessarily mean that DeLay himself bears part of the blame for that. At least, there'd have to be some evidence that he does, in order to justify calling him a hypocrite for the bemoaning of the lack of beds that he's done in the instant article.
As I said, the biggest problem is in the Senate.
And what about this "get tough" House bill passed in Dec. How many new beds are in that bill?
I don't know. Whatever's in that bill, I'm sure it doesn't go far enough. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be supported. In deciding whether to support it, the only real question ought to be whether it will improve the situation or make it worse. If it'll improve the situation, then get it passed so that we can have something to build on.
He's just grandstanding. Going thru the motions of calling various officials when he knows exactly why they were released.
Clark assured DeLay that the check was in the mail and they would have the money soon. A grant from the justice dept? Or a n item in an appropriation?
I'm not sure of what you're getting at with this question. I'm assuming that the money was already appropriated by Congress, but for some reason hadn't yet made it to the field, and that that was what DeLay was inquiring about.
Build some fenced-in camps in the desert, have a doctor, many cots and a couple meals a day. This is a lot cheaper than what these people are costing us otherwise.
Clark said the money was on the way yet we know that Congress has not appropriated any money for this, tho they say that they will. We have to assume that this "money on the way" is a grant because Operation Linebacker kicked off with grant money.
Once you start down this path of the locals taking care of it, your right back to the problem of the feds re-imbursing the state/local for these costs. The record on this is not too good.
And even if that money is forthcoming, these local jurisdictions don't have a significant amount of space to hold detainees so your back to the feds picking up the detainees when they are supposed to.
The reality is that it is going to take a lot of money to change the philosophy of law enforcement. Delay and other Congressmen know this. Everybody likes dog and pony shows.
Thanks for the article. - fla
Re: Deportation
The big problem is lack of Federal enforcement, States thumbing their nose at Federal laws, and neither the Dems or Repubs, House nor Senate, have the spine to do anything about this horrible out of control problem.
Houston for example has been a Sanctuary City since 1992. City law enforcement officials have been fired/demoted for trying to properly enforce illegal immigrant laws. So illegals see nothing happens to them, tell their friends back home, and the illegal flow races out of control. Don't even get me started talking about South Florida.
The moral among the U.S. Border Patrol on the Mexican border is at an all time low. Many of these fine men and women didn’t sign up to be low paid narco agents. They signed up to protect our borders and their hands are totally tied on this illegals issue.
Living most of my life in Houston, and now Miami, I’ve seen it all on this subject.
Are you certain? Congress has recently appropriated a 10% increase for two border security agencies, so are you sure that none of the funding was earmarked for more detention capability?
Once you start down this path of the locals taking care of it, your right back to the problem of the feds re-imbursing the state/local for these costs. The record on this is not too good.
Why is the record not too good? Is it the fault of Congress not appropriating it, or the executive agencies not being forthcoming with it for some reason?
Would it be better to give the available detention beds to the 60 illegals detained in the article or to 60 OTMs?
As for why Congress has always been dragging feet in re-imbursing the border states for the cost that they incur, this mainly boils down to congressmen from other states not wanting to spend the money. So as the illegals show up around the country, they will want their share also. If Texas gets re-imbursed, GA and NJ will want to be re-imbursed also.
Do would these funds get disbursed directly from the treasury to the states, or would they go through DHS? Is it possible that DeLay was trying to find out what the "delay" was in getting these funds to their destination?
Back up 2 steps and look at this logically. There's only about 2 zillion illegals in metro Houston. If you counted all the jail space in all the county and munincipal jails in that metro area that might be un utilized by normal criminals, there is probably not a great deal of space available.
Why would you target 60 illegals? 2 zillion less 60 = 2 zillion. It makes no sense.
OTOH, at the border, where illegals can be returned without detention or hearings, it make sense. In fact the Dec. House bill specifically mentions funding the border counties.
It's not about targeting them. They had already been caught. At that point, it would make sense to deport them. That one action, by itself, might not make much of a dent in the overall number of illegals, but the more it's done, the more of a deterrent it would be against them coming. Yes, I agree that the bulk of spending should be on the border itself, but there should still be some backup in the interior, so that the illegals don't think that if they can just make it past the border, they're golden.
Sanctuary cities are darn sure the problem here. Where do you think all these millions of illegals are being legally warehoused. If the Feds and Congress would step in and enforce the laws, and nullify these State/City sanctuary laws, I guarantee we would lose millions of illegals.
It makes no sense to deport a handful of illegals only for them to sneak back and legally live in our major U.S. sanctuary cities, and be rehired by all these corporations that also ignore the laws. I concur, that deporting some illegals would help to get the message across, but it would have no long-term real effect on slowing down this epidemic.
For example, in Houston and Miami, every time there is a deportation scare, the public schools have no-attendance rates of 27 - 34%. But then the City officials, and the school board members, via the local MSM, publicly come to the aid of the illegals and assure them there is no deportation issue.
If the Federal government would cut the legs out from under these Sanctuary cities, and their bogus laws on this subject, then this Country could seriously start addressing this epidemic problem. But our worthless and spineless Federal Government will not address this serious issue, and it has never had anything to do with Tom DeLay’s long-term attitude on this subject.
Point of Order:
The Galveston Daily News is a liberal Dems slant rag, and no Tom DeLay fan. Like the liberal flakes, and public officials in Austin, this paper was also opposed to the Texas Constitutional gay marriage ban, which was heavily passed by Texas voters, just three months ago.
As the Austin press, the Galveston Daily News used their opposition to the gay marriage ban to trash Tom DeLay, the Texas GOP Governor, and others involved in supporting the constitutional amendment.
I don't recall the exact number, but it was like 83% of the voters in DeLay's home County voted for the gay marriage ban. I remember it was one of the highest in the State of Texas.
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