AZMEX UPDATE 2 27 FEB 2013
Note: It don't even come close to passing the smell test. The BS
has reached flood level .
DHS official retires after immigrants are freed
Posted: Wednesday, February 27, 2013 5:25 pm
Associated Press |
http://www.themonitor.com/news/article_f21f4ed8-8134-11e2-
b4ee-001a4bcf6878.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
Gary Mead, executive associate director over enforcement and removal
operations at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, disclosed his
departure in an email to his staff Tuesday afternoon. The
announcement of the release of the illegal immigrants had come
earlier in the day.
President Barack Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney, said Wednesday that
the decision to release the immigrants was made without any input
from the White House. He described the immigrants as "low-risk, non-
criminal detainees."
The announcement that a few hundred illegal immigrants were being
released was among the most significant and direct implications
described so far by the Obama administration about the pending,
automatic budget cuts that will take effect later this week under
what is known as sequestration.
Republicans in Congress quickly criticized the decision and pressed
the Homeland Security Department for details.
In an email to his staff obtained by the AP, Mead said he was leaving
the agency at the end of April "with mixed emotions." He did not say
what prompted his departure. Mead did not immediately respond to an
email and a telephone call.
A spokeswoman for the agency, Gillian Christensen, said there was no
connection between Mead's announcement to his staff and the decision
to release the illegal immigrants. She said Mead had told senior
leaders in the agency several weeks ago that he planned to retire.
Mead said Tom Homan will succeed him as acting executive associate
director.
At the White House, Carney said the decision to release what he
described as "a few hundred" of the 30,000 illegal immigrants in
federal detention was made by "career officials" at the immigration
agency. He said the immigrants who were released were still subject
to deportation.
"All of these individuals remain in removal proceedings," Carney
said. "Priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders
and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety."
ICE is required by Congress to maintain 34,000 immigration jail beds.
As of last week, the agency held an average daily population of
30,733 in its jails.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned this week that
DHS might not be able to afford to maintain those 34,000 jail beds
and that mandatory budget cuts would hurt the department's core
missions.
"I don't think we can maintain the same level of security at all
places around the country with sequester as without sequester," said
Napolitano, adding that the impact would be "like a rolling ball. It
will keep growing."
According to the National Immigration Forum, it costs the government
about $164 a day to keep an illegal immigrant facing deportation
jailed. In a report on immigration detention costs last year, the
advocacy group said costs for supervised release can range from about
30 cents to $14 a day.
Republican lawmakers have decried the jail releases. The chairman of
the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas,
sent a letter Wednesday to ICE Director John Morton asking who was
released and what was being done to keep track of them.
"This decision reflects the lack of resource prioritization within
the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement and is indicative of the department's weak stance on
national security," McCaul wrote.
___
Homeland Security official resigns after immigrants are freed
By Alicia A. Caldwell / Associated Press
Posted: 02/27/2013 01:39:25 PM MST
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_22680225/homeland-security-
official-resigns-after-immigrants-are-freed
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Associated Press has learned that the Homeland
Security Department official in charge of the agency's immigration
enforcement and removal operations has resigned after hundreds of
illegal immigrants were released from jails because of government
spending cuts.
In an email obtained Wednesday by the AP, Gary Mead told coworkers
that he was leaving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the
end of April. Mead is the head of enforcement and removal operations
at ICE.
Mead had told co-workers of his resignation in the email sent
Tuesday, hours after U.S. officials had confirmed that a few hundred
illegal immigrants facing deportation had been released from
immigration jails due to budget cuts.
President Barack Obama's spokesman said Wednesday the White House was
never consulted but described the immigrants as "low-risk, non-
criminal detainees."
No comments:
Post a Comment