Thread: Immigration Case Hurt San Diego's Lam

Immigration case hurt San Diego's Lam

Cases that allege GOP corruption were not a factor in her firing, says ex-aide to attorney general.

By Erica Werner
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department fired San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam because of a problem with her immigration prosecutions, not because she was pursuing a political corruption case involving Republicans, a former top agency official testified Thursday.

Kyle Sampson, who resigned this month as chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, got his first chance to explain an e-mail he wrote this past May 11 mentioning "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude" she should be replaced.



The day before Sampson wrote that e-mail, Lam had notified the Justice Department that she'd be issuing warrants in an investigation stemming from the 2005 bribery conviction of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

"There was never any connection in my mind between asking Carol Lam to resign and the public corruption case that her office was working on," he said. "The real problem ... was her office's prosecution of immigration cases." said Sampson, who appeared voluntarily before the committee to testify under oath about the dismissals of Lam and seven other U.S. attorneys last year.

Lam was under fire because tough prosecution guidelines she was using led to fewer case filings on immigration violations, though she argued that her approach resulted in longer jail sentences for the most dangerous felons.

Lawmakers, particularly House Republicans, wrote a number of letters to the Justice Department complaining about her.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was among those who'd questioned Lam's prosecution guidelines, but she has said she was subsequently satisfied by the explanation she got from the Justice Department. On Thursday she read aloud from a letter sent by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official praising Lam for strengthening efforts against migrant smuggling.

"It is a real surprise to me that you would say here that the reason for her dismissal is immigration cases," Feinstein told Sampson.

Questioned by Feinstein, Sampson said he knew little beyond media reports about the two figures in the Cunningham case who were the subjects of Lam's ongoing investigation -- San Diego defense contractor Brent Wilkes and Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, former No. 3 official at the CIA. Foggo was the target of the search warrants Lam disclosed to DOJ headquarters last May 10, but Sampson said he didn't remember ever seeing that notification.

"You're saying you knew nothing about it, and nobody told you about it?" Feinstein asked.

"I don't remember ever hearing about those searches, and I certainly didn't associate in my mind the idea of asking Carol Lam to resign with the fact that her office was doing an investigation of Mr. Foggo and Mr. Wilkes," said Sampson. "That office's investigation and prosecution of Duke Cunningham was a good thing."


http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/nationw ... 86797.html

Smelly kettle of fish.

Dixie

I think that is in direct conflict with the way Bush loves his illegals, they put that story out to make people feel the gov was getting tough on illegals we know better then that!

Its all another pack of lies!! I wish they would let go of this idea, thinking all U.S. citizens are stupid.

"The real problem ... was her office's prosecution of immigration cases."

Are they so STUPID as to think WE believe that?!!!!!