Thread: Wave of Illegal Aliens Released Ahead of Automatic Budget Cuts

Wave of Immigrants Released Ahead of Automatic Budget Cuts

By KIRK SEMPLE

Published: February 26, 2013

In a highly unusual move, federal immigration officials have released a wave of detainees from immigration detention centers around the country in an effort to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said.

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The government has not dropped the deportation cases against the immigrants, however: The detainees have been freed on supervised release while their cases continue in court, officials said.

The releases, which have taken place over the past few days, were approved “in order to make the best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate and to manage our detention population under current congressionally mandated levels,” Gillian M. Christensen, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. The budget cuts, also called the sequester, are scheduled to take effect Friday.

The agency, Ms. Christensen added, “is continuing to prosecute their cases in immigration court and, when ordered, will seek their removal from the country.”

Officials did not reveal how many detainees were released or where the releases took place, but immigrants’ advocates around the country have been reporting that hundreds of detainees were freed in numerous locations around the country, including Hudson County, N.J.; Polk County, Texas; Broward County, Fla.; and New Orleans; and from centers in Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and New York.

While immigration officials occasionally free detainees on supervised release, this mass release — so many in such a short span of time — appears to be unprecedented in recent memory, immigration advocates said.

Under supervised release, defendants in immigration cases have to adhere to a strict reporting schedule that might include attending appointments at their regional Immigration and Customs Enforcement office as well as telephonic and electronic monitoring, immigration officials said.

Immigrants’ advocacy groups, citing the cost of detaining immigrants, have for years argued that the federal government should make greater use of practical and less expensive alternatives to detention, particularly for low-risk defendants being held on administrative charges.

The National Immigration Forum estimated last year that it cost the federal government between $122 and $164 per day to hold a detainee in its immigration system. In contrast, the organization said, alternative forms of detention could cost between 30 cents to $14 per day per immigrant.

Advocacy groups applauded the releases but pressed the Obama administration to do more, including adhering more closely to its declared enforcement priorities like focusing on serious criminals and those who pose a threat to public safety, rather than immigrants accused of misdemeanors and administrative immigration violations.

“It shouldn’t take a manufactured crisis in Washington to prompt our immigration agencies to actually take steps towards using government resources wisely or keeping families together,” said Carolina Canizales, a leader of United We Dream, the nation’s largest organization of young illegal immigrants.

At a White House news briefing on Monday, Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, seemed to hint at the move. “All I can say is, look, we’re doing our very best to minimize the impacts of sequester,” she told reporters. “But there’s only so much I can do. I’m supposed to have 34,000 detention beds for immigration. How do I pay for those?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/us/immigrants-released-ahead-of-automatic-budget-cuts.html?_r=0

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"Wave of Immigrants Released Ahead of Automatic Budget Cuts" N.Y.Times

N.Y.TIMES:

They aren't immigrants.

They are ILLEGAL ALIENS.

N.Y.TIMES now has a new headline, online.

Looming Cuts Spur Release of Illegal Immigrants

New York Times 13 minutes ago

Written by Kirk Semple

In a highly unusual move, federal immigration officials have released hundreds of detainees from immigration detention centers around the country in an effort to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said . . .

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ICE releases several hundred illegal immigrants from detention centers facing budget cuts.
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WH points finger at ICE in detainee release

"This was a decision made by career officials at ICE," it said.

DHS official retires after immigrants are freed


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ICE releases hundreds of detainees as budget cuts loom

Wed, 2013-02-27 07:30 AM
By: Mark Rockwell
Government Security News

“Several hundred” detainees at Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation centers around the U.S. were released the week of Feb. 18 to reduce spending in the face of looming budget cuts in Washington, ICE officials confirmed.

The immigration detainees, according to ICE officials, were still under supervision and will continue to face deportation proceedings.

"All of these individuals remain in removal proceedings. Priority for detention remains on serious criminal offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety," said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christiansen on Feb. 25.

The releases were an effort “to ensure detention levels stay within ICE's current budget,” said Christiansen. ICE and a host of government agencies and the defense department face deep budget cuts on March 1, when $85 billion in federally-mandated reductions are set to take effect. DHS secretary Janet Napolitano has said significant reductions in the number of Border Patrol agents might also result from the cuts.

Republicans and Democrats have been battling over how to solve the budget impasse for months, but resolution seems remote.

The release of the detainees became fodder for the budget argument in Washington. The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) called the mass release “unprecedented” and “shows that the administration does not plan on negotiating with Congress to avoid the sequester.” Sequester is Washington jargon for the forced budget cuts. He accused the Obama administration of using the sequester crisis “to achieve its desired goal of shifting money away from detentions and returning to a de facto catch-and-release policy.”

He said the administration had looked to decrease the amount of detention space by $53 million last year, but Congress had denied that request.

“Releasing several hundred individuals could save money, but will still amount to a small percentage of what DHS must cut if we go into sequestration,” he said, calling the release “not a responsible option” that could put U.S. national security at risk.

DHS, he said, spent $648 million on headquarters, management and administration. “A reduction in its bloated administrative budget, which includes worldwide conferences costing millions of dollars, would cover the cost of keeping these detainees in federal custody,” he said.

ICE releases hundreds of detainees as budget cuts loom | Government Security News

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