Thread: Immigration dismissals draw Senate scrutiny

Immigration dismissals draw Senate scrutiny
7 Republicans on judicial panel demand inquiry
By SUSAN CARROLL and STEWART POWELL
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Oct. 22, 2010, 12:02AM

The seven Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday called for an investigation into the dismissal of hundreds of immigration cases in Houston, accusing Homeland Security officials of selectively enforcing the law.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn and six GOP colleagues on the powerful panel wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano demanding a full report on the dismissals by Nov. 15.

In early August, Homeland Security trial attorneys started filing unsolicited motions to dismiss hundreds of cases on Houston's immigration court docket involving suspected illegal immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for more than two years without committing serious crimes.

News of the dismissals, first reported in the Houston Chronicle in late August, caused a national controversy amid allegations that the Obama administration was implementing a kind of "backdoor amnesty" — a charge officials strongly denied.

"It appears that your department is enforcing the law based on criteria it arbitrarily chose, with complete disregard for the enforcement laws created by Congress," the senators wrote. "The repercussions of this decision extend beyond removal proceedings, because it discourages officers from even initiating new removal proceedings if they believe the case ultimately will be dismissed."

According to data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which administers the nation's immigration court system, the number of dismissals in Houston courts shot up from 27 in July to 271 in August, an increase of more than 700 percent. In September, judges dismissed 174 pending cases.

In other cities
Immigration attorneys in several other cities, including Dallas and Miami, were reporting recent increases in case dismissals, although there was no national data available this week.

Matt Chandler, a DHS spokesman, said Thursday the agency will respond directly to the senators.

"The idea that DHS is engaged in 'selective enforcement' couldn't be further from the truth," Chandler said. "In fact, this administration has fundamentally changed the way the federal government approaches immigration enforcement, doing more to keep criminal aliens who are threats to public safety - including murderers, rapists and child molesters - off our streets than ever before."

Despite reporting record deportation numbers this year, the Obama administration has been criticized by Republicans as lax on immigration enforcement, particularly in the run-up to the November elections.

The senators took particular issue with the fact that some of the illegal immigrants who had their cases dismissed had criminal records, although DHS criteria required that they have no convictions for felonies or certain misdemeanors, including sex crimes, driving under the influence or family violence.

"Numerous criminal aliens are being released into society and are having proceedings terminated simply because ICE has decided that such cases do not fit within the Department's chosen enforcement priorities," the senators wrote.

Crowded dockets
Supporters of the review said it will help immigration agents better target dangerous, felony offenders for deportation and cull cases from the nation's overburdened immigration court system. In June, the number of pending immigration cases nationally reached 247,922, including 7,444 in Houston.

"I don't see how they can handle this unless they prioritize," said John Nechman, a Houston immigration attorney. "They need to do something to move the less serious cases off so they can really focus on those that are more important."

The dismissals do not convey any kind of legal status, so recipients remain illegal immigrants and cannot work legally in the U.S.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 58528.html

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-5767--0-0.html

"The dismissals do not convey any kind of legal status, so recipients remain illegal immigrants and cannot work legally in the U.S. "


This is a joke ? right ?

What do they consider to be "serious crimes"? I'd bet their definition, differs from mine.

Although traffic tickets might not be considered to be serious crimes in the over all picture of the criminal world, I personally don't want my taxes to pick up the slack for the penalties not collected from violators from Mexico. I don't care to travel through the city with drivers who have no insurance and are from Mexico because if they crash into me and flee, who's going to pay for damages? My insurance.
I consider purposefully and deliberately having a baby in my country to get access to citizenship and benefits a crime and also something else that I would be party to paying for. As a of fact, I consider it a crime for our government to make unilateral decisions about such things without the slightest care in the world as to the affect it has on my family and many others. I consider it also to be a crime that the entire school system in El Paso revolves around illegal immigrants who don't speak English in that my children were cheated out of having a "REAL" education because everything has been dumbed down to accommodate those students and because of them the schools also revolve around the holy "bilingual program".
Also....please don't condemn all of DHS when it comes to this. It's the fact cats at the top...not the underlings who bust their butts every day attempting to do their job with their hands tied behind their backs. I know many people who hold jobs under DHS who are disgusted with how they are blamed for merely following orders and then stabbed in the back by the order givers who run away from controversy leaving the underlings to be publicly flogged in the media. We're actually extremely lucky that ANYONE would hold those jobs under such duress.

Heads need to roll for this as well as many other things.

http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.c ... 46a89f22b7


SENATE REPUBLICANS DEMAND THAT ICE STOP SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT OF IMMIGRATION LAWS
Senator Cornyn Leads Letter from Judiciary Republicans to Sec. Napolitano on Criminal Alien Dismissals
Oct 21 2010

WASHINGTON — Upon learning that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are dismissing pending removal proceedings in record numbers, including proceedings against some criminal aliens, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) today led a group of Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, demanding detailed information about the dismissals. Senate Judiciary Republicans also asked how much funding DHS requires to ensure that it continues to enforce laws against all criminal aliens.

According to recent news reports, immigration judges have dismissed a significant number of cases against criminal aliens in Houston pursuant to a recent policy change by ICE Director John T. Morton. The policy change directs ICE attorneys to review pending cases and seek dismissal if the cases do not involve aliens convicted of felonies or two or more misdemeanors. In Houston, the new policy has resulted in an increase in dismissals of more than 700 percent—up from 27 dismissals in July 2010 to 217 in August. Although the reports focus on Houston immigration courts, the implications of the new policy change are widespread. The new immigration policy affects removal proceedings against criminal aliens nationwide and essentially discourages DHS officers from initiating any new removal proceedings for some criminal aliens.

Read the letter here

Signed,
John Cornyn
Jon Kyl
Chuck Grassley
Orrin Hatch
Tom Coburn
Lindsay Graham
Jeff Sessions


http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/?a=File ... 7031a095f5

Between 1977and1979 I received 3 driving while suspended tickets, the third one turned into a felony, the 90days in jail cost me my marriage. The felony cost me any chance at the time of being all I could be. I was 19 with a wife and child, and just like that many avenues became closed to me. When I see crap like this, what was closed to me is open to them.

Of the 55,322 illegal aliens studied, researchers found that they were arrested a total of 459,614 times, averaging about 8 arrests per illegal alien

"I'll just go home you Pinche' Gringo!"

Originally Posted by stevetheroofer

Between 1977and1979 I received 3 driving while suspended tickets, the third one turned into a felony, the 90days in jail cost me my marriage. The felony cost me any chance at the time of being all I could be. I was 19 with a wife and child, and just like that many avenues became closed to me. When I see crap like this, what was closed to me is open to them.

Of the 55,322 illegal aliens studied, researchers found that they were arrested a total of 459,614 times, averaging about 8 arrests per illegal alien

"I'll just go home you Pinche' Gringo!"

I'M SO SORRY THAT YOU LOST SO MUCH AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE. THINGS IN THIS COUNTRY SOME THINGS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE JUST NOT RIGHT, AND WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU IS ONE OF THEM THESE ILLEGALS CAN BREAK ALL MANNER OF LAWS AND JUST GET AWAY WITH IT. I'M SICK OF THIS DUMBED DOWN GOVERNMENT PANDERING TO THESE PEOPLE. HERES HOPING THAT IMPEACHMENT WILL TAKE PLACE AFTER THE NOV ELECTIONS. THE COUNTRY IS IN A MESS, AND ALL THEY CAN THINK ABOUT IS HOW MUCH MORE THEY CAN KISS @*S WITH THESE ILLEGALS AND THEIR GOVERNMENT.

Matt Chandler, a DHS spokesman, said Thursday the agency will respond directly to the senators.

"The idea that DHS is engaged in 'selective enforcement' couldn't be further from the truth," Chandler said. "In fact, this administration has fundamentally changed the way the federal government approaches immigration enforcement, doing more to keep criminal aliens who are threats to public safety - including murderers, rapists and child molesters - off our streets than ever before."

He admits in this statement that DHS does engage in selective enforcement!

Selective Enforcement: The application of a policy, law, or regulation to certain members of a group when that policy, law, or regulation is mandated to apply to all members of the group.

It's a simple concept.

And if they really wanted to make the argument about "prioritizing", they would've scheduled later hearings for the less threatening illegal aliens instead of just dismissing their cases entirely.

(Yeah, I know any illegals rescheduled probably wouldn't show up anyway, but you understand my point.)