SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL

Troubling changes

Raids must stay a part of immigration reform

2:00 a.m. April 3, 2009

- Major changes are brewing at the Department of Homeland Security.

And, from the sound of it, not for the better. Officials might be preparing to surrender a valuable tool in controlling illegal immigration: workplace raids.

In a meeting this week with the Union-Tribune editorial board, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano denied this was the case. But, clearly, a shift in policy is brewing. Napolitano has stopped a planned series of raids, pending further review. Napolitano has reportedly asked agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to scrutinize targets more closely, be conscious of the timing, and focus more on employers instead of on illegal workers. A change in policy is in the works, and we'll know more in the next few weeks.

Napolitano told the editorial board that there was no actual hold on raids, only an attempt to make sure that resources are well spent.

“Sending 40 or 50 agents in with full gear to pick up a dozen or two dozen illegal immigrants at a work site, to me is not the best and most effective use of our immigration enforcement abilities,â€