Free Republic

The Obama administration doesn’t have watchdogs. It has whitewash puppies. The president’s Chicago bullies have defanged true advocates for integrity in government in D.C. from day one. So the latest report by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Operations Committee on corruptocrat Charles K. Edwards, the former Department of Homeland Security inspector general, isn’t a revelation. It’s confirmation. Investigators found that Edwards compromised the independence of his office by socializing and sucking up to senior DHS officials. “There are many blessings to be thankful for this year,” the sycophantic Edwards wrote to the DHS acting counsel on Thanksgiving 2011, “but...

WASHINGTON — The director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said on Monday he will step down at the end of July to go to the private sector after heading the agency for four years. "I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished together during that time and look with awe on the incredible progress ICE has made as an agency," ICE Director John Morton said in making the announcement in an internal message to employees that was made available to Reuters. "ICE has truly come of age and become an innovative, leading force in federal law...

The second of two reports examining who's to blame over the federal anti-gunrunning scheme known as Operation Fast and Furious exonerates top officials at the Department of Homeland Security, but paints a picture of ineptitude, ignorance and mismanagement at the DHS operations in Arizona. A report by the Homeland Security inspector general, obtained Friday by Fox News, concluded many in the agency's Arizona operation knew for a long time the U.S. helped criminals smuggle guns to Mexico in violation of policy, but did nothing to stop it. Further, the report said word of the gun-smuggling operation within DHS never traveled...

by John HillStand With Arizona We have chronicled Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) outrageous new directives, instantly removing between 300,000 and 1.4 million illegal aliens from the "enforcement priority" list - in effect granting them indefinite amnesty from deportation, without any authorization from Congress whatsoever. The rationale given for this lawless amnesty from ICE Director John Morton is that he would have a "sustained focus on criminal offenders". Instead we have chronicled one failure after another by ICE to detain or even keep track of criminal illegals and repeat offenders who present imminent risks to the public - such as...

In late winter of 1654, four-year-old Lars, and nine-year-old Mårten, followed their father’s icy breath forward, as they hurried with their few belongings toward the ship. They paused in awe as they got closer to the Eagle. It was largest ship they had ever seen, as it laid anchor in Gothenburg Sweden. It was the largest ship yet to sail to America.  The boys wished their mother were alive to see it, as she used to tell them bedtime stories about the "tall ships" that sailed from Sweden to far away places. Like most of the 350 passengers who boarded that...

In an unprecedented move within the Department of Homeland Security, the detention and removal officers and agents responsible for and sworn to enforcing our nation's immigration laws issued an exhaustive, scathing letter simply titled "VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN ICE DIRECTOR JOHN MORTON AND ODPP ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PHYLLIS COVEN" on June 11, 2010. The letter, acquired through sources, provides a litany of examples of how ICE's mission is being skewed towards supporting an unflinching goal of amnesty by refusing to allow agents to do their job; allowing criminal aliens to roam free; depleting resources for key enforcement initiatives that preceded...

The letter they wrote PDF File

In a stunning move out of Washington today, it was revealed by John Morton, Assistant Secretary to Homeland Security for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement that top officials may choose NOT to process any illegal aliens referred to them from Arizona. Later Janet Napolitano said, “ICE has the legal discretion to accept or not to accept persons delivered to it by non-federal personnel. It also has the discretion to deport or not to deport persons delivered to it by any government agents, even its own.” John Morton continued spouting, “I don’t think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are...

A top Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said his agency will not necessarily process illegal immigrants referred to them by Arizona authorities. John Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, made the comment during a meeting on Wednesday with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper reports. "I don't think the Arizona law, or laws like it, are the solution," Morton told the newspaper. The best way to reduce illegal immigration is through a comprehensive federal approach, he said, and not a patchwork of state laws. The law, which criminalizes being in...

WASHINGTON – President Obama announced today his intention to nominate John Morton to be the Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano named Esther Olavarria as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy.... John Morton is a career official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with lengthy experience in immigration enforcement and criminal prosecution.... Esther Olavarria brings nearly 20 years of experience...Most recently, she was Director of Immigration Policy at the Center for American Progress, where she was responsible for planning and administering the organization’s work on immigration issues, with a...

The memory of John Morton has faded even more than his signature on the original Declaration of Indepedence. He was the first of the signers to die, and since then his name has been largely been forgotten. I'll be visiting the National Archives in Washington, DC in April and would like any recommendations on how to best research pre-1776 documents kept there. John Morton is my relative and I'm trying to do research on why he changed his mind at the last minute and decided to vote in favor of independence; even though he was sent by his Tory constituents...