Lawmakers to probe Obama's 'cooking the books' allegations
Lawmakers to probe Obama's 'cooking the books' allegations
September 9, 2012
By: Jim Kouri
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee will begin its probe of alleged abuse of power by the Obama administration, according to the committee's chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX). Among the abuses addressed will be an accusation that President Barack Obama's minions are "cooking the books" in order to achieve a so-called record number of deportations of illegal aliens.
Throughout his reelection campaign, President Obama has touted his administration's "historic number of deportations." But many believe the figures given to backup his assertions are fabricated. In fact, members of the Department of Homeland Security have been critical of Obama and his DHS appointees especially those in charge of border security and immigration enforcement.
“In a campaign season when Administration officials have made a habit of spinning their numbers to ignore their real record, it’s no surprise that they are doing the same to their immigration record. It seems like President Obama is trying to trick the American people into thinking he is enforcing our immigration laws. But no amount of spin can cover up the facts. It’s bad enough that the President has neglected to enforce our immigration laws but it’s even worse that his Administration would distort statistics to deceive the American people,” stated Chairman Smith.
In a surprising move, on August 23 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents filed a lawsuit in Texas, which argues that the Obama administration’s amnesty program commands ICE officers to violate federal law and their oaths to uphold and support federal law.
The agents also assert that the Administration’s directive violates the Administrative Procedure Act, unconstitutionally usurps and encroaches upon the legislative powers of Congress, and violates the obligation of the executive branch to faithfully execute the law.
Chairman Smith and Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Chairman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano requesting that the agency not retaliate against those ICE agents.
Lamar's committee has obtained internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) documents, which show that "the Obama administration is cooking the books to achieve their so-called ‘record’ deportation numbers for illegal immigrants and that removals are actually significantly down -- not up -- from 2009."
Lamar said in a statement that beginning in 2011, his committee discovered that Obama's appointees at the Department of Homeland Security began to include numbers from the Alien Transfer Exit Program (ATEP) in its year-end removal numbers. The ATEP is a joint effort between ICE and Customs and Border Protection that transfers illegal immigrants apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border to another point along the Southwest border for removal.
"But it is illegitimate to count illegal immigrants apprehended by the Border Patrol along the Southwest border as ICE removals," said the statement.
The DHS internal documents also reveal a discrepancy between arrests and actual removals. Specifically, ICE has reported 221,656 arrests yet report 334,249 removals for 2012 so far -- a discrepancy of nearly 112,000 removals. ATEP accounts for 72,030 removals within this discrepancy, but there are over 40,000 removals that remain unknown.
"This is one hearing I don't want to miss. I want Obama's minions to explain how you arrest fewer illegal aliens than you deport in one year," said former police detective and military intelligence officer Michael Snopes.
Chairman Smith has slammed the Obama administration for artificially enhancing their successes such as deportations of illegal aliens, many of whom committed criminal offenses while in the United States.
“Internal Department of Homeland Security documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee reveal that President Obama and other administration officials have falsified their record to achieve their so-called historic deportation numbers. Administration officials claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deported a record number of illegal immigrants but the facts show that they have fabricated their deportation statistics by illegitimately adding over 100,000 removals to their deportation figures for the past two years," said the Texan.
Lamar maintains that since 2011 the Obama administration has included numbers from a Border Patrol program that returns illegal immigrants to Mexico right after they cross the Southwest border in their year-end deportation statistics.
Lamar flatly stated that it is "dishonest to count illegal immigrants apprehended by the Border Patrol along the border as ICE removals; these ‘removals’ from the Border Patrol program do not subject the illegal immigrant to any penalties or bars for returning to the U.S."
He claims that a single illegal immigrant can show up at the border and be removed numerous times in a single year – and counted each time as a removal. When the numbers from this Border Patrol program are removed from this year’s deportation data, it shows that removals are actually down nearly 20% from 2009. Another 40,000 removals are also included in the final deportation count but it is unclear where these removals came from.
source: Lawmakers to probe Obama's 'cooking the books' allegations - National Law Enforcement | Examiner.com
