Thread: House Committee OK's Subpoena to DHS for Immigration Data

House Committee OK's Subpoena to DHS for Immigration Data

Politico
November 02, 2011
By Josh Gerstein

Dismissing Democtrats' vocal objections, a House subcommittee acted swiftly Wednesday to authorize issuing a subpoena to the Department of Homeland Security for a huge trove of information about illegal aliens DHS declined to pick up after local law enforcement reported taking them into custody.

The House Judiciary Committee's Immigration Policy and Enforcement Subcommittee voted 7-4 to authorize Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) to subpoena the data from DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division.

About 250,000 people are believed to have been flagged as illegal aliens by DHS's Secure Communities program but not put on an immigration detainer that would preclude their release.

DHS contends it lacks the resources to pick up every illegal immigrant arrested by local law enforcement.

Subcommittee Chairman Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) said the action was a very necessary response to DHS efforts to "stonewall" the request since they received it in August.

"We do not take this action lightly at all," Gallegly said. "It's the only remaining means to determine the impact on our communities of DHS [failing] to take criminal illegal aliens into custody."

Democrats said the House obtaining a database on a quarter of a million individuals could raise privacy concerns, but Gallegly committed to keeping the data private.

"The committee will not be making this information public," he said.

The ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), called the promise "very reassuring," but he faulted the subpoena effort as "premature."

He said there were numerous indications that the administration may be willing to produce the data.

"I am not convinced that it is appropriate for the subcommittee ... to be authorizing issuance of a subpoena today given the breadth of the information requested or the complexity of the privacy issues involved and the considerable effort that's been made by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to provide an adequate and timely response," Conyers said.

He said he'd been told "the information will be on its way either today or tomorrow or the next few days."

However, Gallegly said DHS has broken many previous commitments to deliver the information to Smith.

"He has been stonewalled from the git-go on this to the point where he’s ready to go out and buy a trowel," Gallegly said.

"The administration is obviously not acting in good faith. They are on the verge of obstructing the legitimate role of Congress."

A DHS spokesman, Matt Chandler, said the the agency was trying to fulfill the Congressional request.

"DHS has stated to the committee it would provide the data requested without being compelled by subpoena to do so. DHS is in the process of gathering the data and will provide it when complete," Chandler said in a statement.

The FBI, which reportedly has concerns about turning over some of the data to Congress, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) suggested Republicans were getting too bent out of shape over what amounts to a delay of less than two and a half months in getting the data sought. She said that pace was "like a model of swiftness compared with the response obtained when we sought information under the Bush administration."

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was the sharpest-tongued critic of the GOP effort. "The subpoena is a witch hunt," she said.

The subcommittee voted down an effort by Lofgren to table the subpoena, and Gallegly rejected suggestions from Democrats to adjourn the meeting for either 10 minutes or an hour and a half.

The 7-4 vote was entirely along party lines with all Republicans on the subcommittee voting to authorize the subpoena and all Democrats opposed.

Smith said in a statement after the session that he plans to issue the subpoena this week.

UPDATE: This post has been updated with comment from DHS.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post quoted Gallegly as saying Smith was ready to buy a "trout" to combat alleged stonewalling by DHS. In fact, Gallegly said Smith was ready to buy a "trowel," which makes a lot more sense.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerst ... _data.html

Oh, DHS as in "Department of Homeland Security." When I saw DHS I thought it meant "Department of Human Services" as in the welfare department. They really do need to supeona that agency for immigration data.

Related:
House GOP to subpoena immigration data
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1280309.html#1280309

The Congress needs to start to formally draw up charges if it can be proved that Obama and Nap are guilty of bypassing the laws of the nation. If need be bring charges of treason for weakening the security of the nation and the LEGAL PEOPLE living here

Subpoena OK’d for ICE’s illegal-immigration data


4 Comments
By Stephen Dinan

The Washington Times

Wednesday, November 2, 2011


Signaling growing unrest with the Obama administration’s level of cooperation, House Republicans on an immigration subcommittee voted Wednesday to authorize a subpoena to get data on illegal immigrants against whom the government has declined to pursue deportation cases.

The 7-4 party-line vote came two days after the Department of Homeland Security failed to meet an Oct. 31 deadline given to DHS Secretary Janet A. Napolitano last week by Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith. Mr. Smith said he could issue the subpoena as early as Thursday.

Meanwhile, late Wednesday, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced its investigative subcommittee will hold a vote early Thursday to authorize subpoenas for documents related to Solyndra, the failed solar-technology company that received special attention from the White House.

Together, they show an increasing belief among Republicans that the administration is stonewalling requests from the new GOP majority in the House.

At issue in the immigration subpoena are the identities of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who have been arrested by state and local police and run through the government’s Secure Communities program, but whom the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has declined to put in deportation proceedings.

“The American people have a right to know what crimes these 300,000 illegal immigrants committed after ICE intentionally chose not detain them,â€

House Panel to Subpoena Homeland Security for Information on Illegal Immigrants
Published November 02, 2011

The House Judiciary Committee, in a rare move, is planning to subpoena the Department of Homeland Security for information about illegal and criminal immigrants whom the department has declined to deport.

A subcommittee on the panel voted 7-4 on Wednesday to authorize the subpoena, which Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is expected to issue later this week. It would be the first subpoena issued by the committee since it came under GOP control.

Smith and other Republican lawmakers want the department to provide detailed information about the thousands of immigrants who are flagged but not arrested or deported through a program known as Secure Communities. Smith had given the department an Oct. 31 deadline to provide the information voluntarily.

"The administration is obviously not acting in good faith and is wrongfully trying to keep crucial information from the American people," Smith said in a statement. "They are on the verge of obstructing the legitimate role of Congress."

Homeland Security spokesman Matthew Chandler said in response that the department does not need to be subpoenaed in order to comply.

"DHS has stated to the committee it would provide the data requested without being compelled by subpoena to do so. DHS is in the process of gathering the data and will provide it when complete," Chandler said in a statement.

Secure Communities is a program that allows federal immigration officials to check the names and fingerprints of suspects booked at federal, state and local jails against their immigration databases.

Smith raised concerns about those illegal immigrants who were not being pursued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A Congressional Research Service report released in October showed the department had flagged 318,000 people through the program, while arresting 73,000. Smith said in an August letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that between October 2008 and April 2011, ICE had more than 536,000 matches -- but took about 227,000 of them into custody, while deporting about 109,000.

Smith asked for a list of all "low-level criminal immigrants" who were looked over in the course of Secure Communities.

ICE originally wrote back to Smith and said it would take at least two weeks to compile the information. Then in late October, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Nelson Peacock wrote a letter explaining to Smith that many of the immigrants whose names show up in their system through Secure Communities are legal and would simply not count as a "removable alien."

He said naturalized U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents could show up, and that ICE would not take somebody into custody if they are already serving time for a criminal offense.

"In that circumstance, even though the alien will ultimately be removed by ICE, his or her removal would not yet appear in the statistics related to Secure Communities as the removal cannot occur until the individual's criminal sentence is complete," he wrote. Peacock provided statistics similar to those cited by Smith in his August letter, without giving information on individual identities.

But Smith is also inquiring about the program at a time when the Department of Homeland Security is changing the way it approaches deportation cases. ICE has authorized officials to use "prosecutorial discretion" to prioritize violent criminals and other serious offenders for deportation, while potentially giving lower-level illegal immigrant offenders a pass.

Chandler said ICE's approach is "enhancing public safety" across the country, resulting in the total removal of 216,000 criminal aliens in fiscal 2011 -- an increase of 89 percent over 2008.

"DHS has implemented immigration enforcement priorities that focus limited resources on convicted criminals, repeat immigration law violators, fugitives and recent entrants," he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11 ... mmigrants/

Added an article from above with slightly amended title:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6734--0-0.html

House Subcommittee Subpoenas Immigration Files From DHS


November 3, 2011

The House Judiciary subcommittee Wednesday granted a subpoena against the Homeland Security Department for information regarding undocumented immigrants who have been identified but not deported.

The authorization cleared the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration policy and enforcement by a 7-4, party line vote. Democrats voted against the measure, saying it was premature to issue a subpoena because Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is cooperating with the committee.

House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, says the subpoena authorization is necessary because the Obama administration hasn't responded quickly enough to his request, which was made in August. He had set a Monday deadline that the department failed to meet.

In a party line vote, the House Judiciary subcommittee granted a subpoena against the Homeland Security Department for information regarding undocumented immigrants.

"The administration is obviously not acting in good faith," Smith said. "They're on the verge of obstructing the legitimate work of Congress."

Nelson Peacock, an assistant secretary for Homeland Security, said in a letter to Smith Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is working expeditiously to turn over the information the committee has requested but that it will take significant analysis.

"As we have explained, ICE does not track the circumstances of cases where no action is taken," Peacock wrote. But he said the agency is committed to satisfying the committee's request and is working through its records to get as specific a response as possible.

In August, Smith formally requested information from the Obama administration about its so-called Secure Communities program. Under the program, names and fingerprints of people arrested are scanned through a federal immigration database to check their legal status to be in the U.S.

Smith has said he wants the information so he can determine what crimes were committed by as many as 300,000 undocumented immigrants DHS has chosen not to detain. The Obama administration recently said it would prioritize deportations by putting illegal immigrants with criminal records first. Unauthorized immigrants who are otherwise law-abiding would be given a chance to apply for legal status.

We have every reason to believe that the administration is working diligently.

- Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich

Smith has been a harsh critic of the administration's approach.

Wednesday's hearing divided sharply on partisan lines. Democrats said Republicans were eager to try and embarrass the Obama administration and were rushing to issue a subpoena.

"We have every reason to believe that the administration is working diligently," on the request, said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.

Conyers said Democratic and Republican members of the committee's staff had spoken to Homeland Security officials two hours before the hearing and the department was cooperating. He cited the request's breadth as a hold-up.

This is the first authorization for a subpoena issued by the House Judiciary Committee since Republicans took control of the House early this year.

Republicans said issues involved with Smith's information request made it critical to move forward with the subpoena.

"This will help the committee uncover how many of these aliens committed additional crimes after ICE declined to detain them," said Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif. "What price do the American people pay for ICE's current policy?"

Based on reporting by the Associated Press.

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Napolitano subpoenaed for illegals data

15 Comments
By Stephen Dinan

The Washington Times

Friday, November 4, 2011

The House immigration subcommittee issued a subpoena Friday demanding Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano turn over records showing which illegal immigrants her department has declined to pursue deportation cases against.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, set a Nov. 10 deadline for turning over the information, which includes the identities of any foreigners who have been arrested and referred to Homeland Security, but whom the government either didn't take custody or didn't put into removal proceedings.

A spokesman for Ms. Napolitano said they were working to turn over the information even without the subpoena.

Mr. Smith first requested the on Aug. 22, and personally gave an Oct. 31 deadline to Ms. Napolitano last week. But the administration missed that target. Members of the committee said the department told them some of the information requested belongs to the FBI, which doesn't want to release it.

"Are administration officials afraid that the information will show that illegal immigrants intentionally released by ICE have committed crimes that could have been prevented?" Mr. Smith said. "Why else would they hide the information?"

The subpoena specifically names Ms. Napolitano.

Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for Homeland Security, said they have assured the committee they will send over the information.

"During numerous conversations over the past week, including this morning, DHS stated to the committee it will provide the data requested with or without a subpoena," he said.

The immigration subcommittee voted along party lines earlier this week to authorize Mr. Smith to send the subpoena, with Republicans saying they wanted a way to make the administration back up its promises of compliance.

That subpoena was one of two that Republicans in the House authorized this week. The other, which came out of the Energy and Commerce Committee's investigations subcommittee, seeks White House documents related to Solyndra, the failed solar technology company that received special attention from President Obama and his top staff.

Late Friday afternoon Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton announced he had issued that subpoena and had it served on White House Chief of Staff William Daley and Bruce Reed, chief of staff for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Upton also set a Nov. 10 deadline for the Solyndra documents.

"We need to know the White House’s role in the Solyndra debacle in order to learn the full truth about why taxpayers now find themselves a half-billion dollars in the hole," Mr. Upton said.

In both cases, Democrats opposed the subpoenas, saying they were premature and accusing Republicans of looking for a fight rather than working to get information. They said the administration had signaled a willingness to work to turn over the data, but said the GOP rejected those overtures.

Republicans want the immigration data so they can see what kinds of decisions the administration is making about who it chooses to deport and who it decides not to pursue.

www.washingtontimes.com