By NICOLE DURAN • 11/5/15 1:49 PM

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday morning that President Obama's executive actions on immigration a year ago were necessary and are helping to keep dangerous immigrants out of the country.

The Homeland Security Department changed how it asks cities and municipalities to deport criminals to get greater cooperation from so-called "sanctuary cities," Johnson said. By sending detainers outlining an immigrant's dangerous crimes, instead of just lists of arrested illegals, DHS is gaining more assistance from local authorities, he said.

Most of the 340 "uncooperative" cities and municipalities "are now working with us on the priority enforcement program," Johnson told the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman's annual conference in Washington on Thursday. He directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus on convicted criminals for capture and deportation.

"Quality over quantity," he told the audience.

He called on Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform, such as the "terrific" bill passed by the Senate in 2013 but that the House never took up. "We are disappointed by that," Johnson said, speaking for the entire administration about the House's refusal to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.

Absent congressional action, "the president and I have acted on our own, within our existing legal authority, to do what we can to fix the broken immigration system," Johnson said. He said the 10 executive actions from last year take "smart, common-sense" approaches to prioritizing which of the country's illegal population, which is the size of New York City and Chicago combined, to deport.

"Felons, not families" he said, underscoring the directives he has given ICE and local authorities in "reprioritizing" which illegal immigrants to target.

Despite Johnson's remarks, Republicans have argued that the Obama administration actually relaxed the procedures that were used to deport criminal illegal aliens, and at the same time has failed to take a tough line on "sanctuary cities" that decide against following the federal government's lead on immigration. The GOP says the latter failure in particular has allowed illegal immigrants to harm and even kill U.S. citizens.

Johnson also said that the administration is disappointed in the legal challenges to Obama's orders regarding such prioritization, known as DACA and DAPA. "We will fight on; we will defend the program," he said.

Underscoring Johnson's comments, ICE on Tuesday said that six-day push to remove dangerous illegal immigrants culminated in the arrests of 235 criminals, many of whom were convicted child sex offenders.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/dh...rticle/2575737