Thread: Janet Napolitano: Deportation Numbers Will Be 'Very Robust'

Janet Napolitano: Deportation Numbers Will Be 'Very Robust' Under New Policy
huffingtonpost.com
By Elise Foley
Posted: 8/30/11 11:47 AM ET



WASHINGTON -- Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, defended the administration's new deportation policy on Tuesday, saying she expects more undocumented immigrants convicted of other crimes to be deported. If states want to see more deportations overall or more funding of border security, though, she said they need to look to Congress.

"The numbers are going to be very robust in terms of numbers of removal -- we don't fool around about this," Napolitano said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "Our border enforcement is second to none."

The administration announced earlier this month that it would conduct a case-by-case review of 300,000 deportation cases, closing those that are deemed low-priority because they involve undocumented immigrants who haven't committed other crimes. Meanwhile, the government is expanding its ability to catch undocumented immigrants using the ongoing Secure Communities enforcement program.

The combined effect should be to deport more criminals and fewer undocumented people who are merely living their lives in the United States, Napolitano said.

"As Secure Communities gets implemented and as it works as it should ... I expect that the ratio of [criminal to noncriminal] will increase" among those deported, she said. "I think the noncriminal number will drop under Secure Communities."

Some conservatives have been critical of the new deportation policy, arguing it will allow some undocumented people to go free. "Obama issues executive amnesty to illegals," Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a vocal proponent of harsher immigration enforcement, tweeted last week. "Deportation is inconvenient. No criminals deported unless 'serious.' I insist on [congressional] hearings."

Napolitano said the policy is a matter of prosecutorial discretion, which is necessary because Congress does not appropriate enough funds to deport all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States.

"Congress should look at numbers if they want more deportations," she said.

She also called on Congress to deal with the issue of border security funding on the heels of a letter from GOP presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry requesting $349 million to cover the cost of incarcerating undocumented immigrants in his state. Perry billed the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly doing too little to secure the border, saying the cost of incarcerating undocumented people was being left to the states.

It's a complaint that Napolitano herself made when she was governor of Arizona, and she joked that Perry seemed to have copied her letter and substituted Texas. But she said border security is stronger than ever and that such a request should go to Congress.

"This is not something that Congress has been willing to appropriate funds for," Napolitano said. Her role, she said, "is to do everything I can to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who enter Texas and Arizona and New Mexico."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/3 ... 41804.html

"This is not something that Congress has been willing to appropriate funds for," Napolitano said. Her role, she said, "is to do everything I can to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who enter Texas and Arizona and New Mexico."

I knew she wasn't doing anything to stop the illegals from coming into California!

"is to do everything I can to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who enter"

She should have added: "and leave alone those that do get through."

"Our border enforcement is second to none."

Oh, yeah? Try sneaking into Israel.

Napolitano Says She's Deporting Enough Illegal Immigrants
usnews.com
By Paul Bedard
Posted: August 30, 2011

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano indicated today that the U.S. doesn't need to boost the annual number of illegal immigrant deportations, now 400,000 annually, because she's grabbing most of the criminals and sending them home.

"If we come to the point where we are unable to remove everybody we know has a threat to security or has a criminal record, violated criminal laws, or that we've caught right at the border, or is a fugitive, or has multiple reentries and we don't have the resources to remove those, then the Congress should look at the resources they give us," she told Washington Whispers during a roundtable interview sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.

[Check out political cartoons about illegal immigration.]

Napolitano, who recently changed the priorities on who gets the boot, said that the focus will now be more on criminals. Currently, the annual 400,000 deportations are split evenly between those with criminal records and those with no record.

But she didn't downplay the threat illegal immigrants, estimated at 12 million, are to the nation.

"Let's not minimize. Almost half of the 400,000 people we deported last year had a criminal record of some sort. So that's a fairly robust [statistic]," she said. What's more, under the controversial new rules changes, she said that "the composition of who we deport is going to be changing and going in that direction over time. That's what it's designed to do, turning the ship" to kick out more criminals.

[Read about how President Obama can move forward on illegal immigration.]

The new rules were heralded by immigrant groups and Democrats who view them as more lenient to those here illegally. Essentially, it will mean that Homeland officials will perform a case-by-case reviews those slated for deportation, giving violent criminals and other high-priority cases a ticket home while likely closing the books on those not considered to be a threat.

Critics say it amounts to an open-door policy to the millions of illegal immigrants who don't have a record.

But Napolitano called the changes "common sense" solutions to the massive immigration problem. Noting that Congress only appropriates enough money to remove 400,000 a year, she said that "you can either just take kind of an anybody is anybody approach, or you can say, look let's focus on those who have an impact on public safety, who may have a connect with national security, who we catch right at the border, who are multiple reentrants so they are gaming the system like a revolving door or who are actual fugitives."

[Read about the obstacles Obama faces on immigration.]

Napolitano said that the numbers of deportations is "robust" and she added that the southwest border with Mexico has never been more secure.

She joked that "you get yanked from both sides" when it comes to immigration policy.

Her interview came right before she was to travel to Virginia and North Carolina to meet with homeowners and officials in need of federal relieve due to destruction from Hurricane Irene. For the trip, she wore a blue shirt emblazoned with the logo of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washin ... mmigrants-

First article above added to Homepage with amended title--

http://www.alipac.us/article-6543--0-0.html

Janet Napolitano: Deportation Numbers Will Be 'Very Robust' Under New Policy

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Disingenuous Janet.