Sep 1, 2010 6:12 pm US/Eastern Backlash Builds Over Homeland Security Program
Reporting Tiffani Helberg
MIAMI (CBS4) ― AP

As detention facilities and immigration courts bursting at the seams, the Department of Homeland Security is revamping it system to give amnesty to thousands of undocumented immigrants.

Currently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyers are reviewing cases. The ones that involve detained immigrants could be dismissed if they meet the following conditions: the person must have been living in the U.S. for at least two years, does not have a criminal history and has a strong case.

"It's better for everybody," said an undocumented immigrant who didn't want to be identified.

Cheryl Little from the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in Miami said it's a win-win situation for everyone.

"It's a win for ice because they can focus their scarce resources on targeting dangerous criminals," she said. "It's a win for immigration judges who have been complaining for years about the enormous back log of cases and it's certainly a win for immigrants who could benefit from this because they'll be spared the often terrifying experience of appearing in court before an immigration judge."

The reforms also focus on improving detention conditions for undocumented immigrants. It is a revamp of the system that has outraged some ICE agents.

Seven thousand of them signed a vote of no confidence in their leadership.

In part it reads, "This action reflects the growing dissatisfaction and concern among ICE employees and Union leaders that Director John Morton and Assistant Director Phyllis Coven have abandoned the Agency's core mission of enforcing United States Immigration Laws and providing for public safety, and have instead directed their attention to campaigning for programs and policies related to amnesty and the creation of a special detention system for foreign nationals that exceeds the care and services provided to most United States citizens similarly incarcerated."

Click here to read the full ICE no confidence statement.

ICE union representatives did not respond to CBS4 requests for an interview. But the Department of Homeland Security issued this statement:

ICE meets regularly with representatives of the union to discuss our goal of ensuring public safety by focusing on finding criminal aliens and removing them from the country. We have fundamentally reformed immigration enforcement and we are removing record numbers of criminal aliens because of it. We understand the union's reason for engaging in creative collective bargaining tactics and regardless, we remain committed to working with them to address substantive issues in the interests of making our communities safer.

http://cbs4.com/local/immigration.polic ... 91731.html