Thread: Reps. tell Obama to let police arrest illegal immigrants

Reps. tell Obama to let police arrest illegal immigrants
October 27th, 2009, 3:56 pm · 17 Comments · posted by Dena Bunis,

More than 50 lawmakers, including all five GOP House members from Orange County, have written to President Barack Obama asking him not to restrict the ability of local police to arrest illegal immigrants.

Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano – a former Arizona governor- recently set limits on local law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration laws, saying that they should limit their efforts to immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

“The Obama administration should not politicize this highly effective immigration enforcement and public safety’’ said Rep. Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who drafted the letter to Obama. It was signed by 53 Republicans and one Democrat, Heath Shuler of North Carolina. Click here to read the letter.

Smith, along with former Orange County Rep. Christopher Cox, co-authored the so-called 287g provision of immigration law. That measure allows local police and sheriff’s department to sign an agreement with federal officials to help enforce immigration laws.

Orange County has such an agreement that gives the Sheriff’s Department the ability to screen jail inmates and turn over illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement once they have served their sentences.

Sheriff’s Department spokesman John McDonald said the department is still negotiating with federal officials on a new agreement that would comply with Napolitano’s new guidelines.

So far this year 45,741 inmates at the Orange County jail have been screened and 2,383 have been turned over to federal immigration officials.

McDonald said the fact that only 6 percent of those turned over to ICE has wound up back at the jail shows the program is successful. That 6 percent, he said, is far less than the recidivism rate of general population inmates.

The DHS secretary just might be doing something right given that Republicans are complaining that her new rules will hamstring law enforcement while immigration advocates are also critical of her for not ending the 287G program.

“Thanks to the 287 G program, Smith says, “thousands of illegal immigrants that are identified in jails and through task force operations are being identified and deported.’’

Those task force operations are no longer going to be part of the agreements. A General Accountability Office report and immigration advocates have said that some law enforcement officials have been guilty of racial profiling and overstepping their authority under these 287 G pacts.

Napolitano had suspended the 287g program, requiring all the law enforcement agencies with agreements to renegotiate them. Before it was halted there were 66 agencies all across the country taking part.

DHS decided to tighten up the program, both in terms of looking out for people’s civil rights and making sure that only people who committed “seriousâ€

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Jamie Zuieback
202-225-6906

54 Members of Congress to Obama: We Support 287(g) Program

Washington, DC – Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX) and 53 other Members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama today expressing their support for a broadly-applied 287(g) program. The letter comes just days after the Obama administration implemented limits on state and local law enforcement agencies who participate in the 287(g) program. The limits prevent state and local law enforcement officers from arresting many of the illegal immigrants with whom they come into contact.

Ranking Member Smith, who co-authored the legislation that created 287(g), said:

“The Obama administration should not politicize this highly effective immigration enforcement and public safety program. Thanks to the 287(g) program, thousands of illegal immigrants that are identified in jails and through task force operations are being identified and deported.

“Claims that the program was supposed to focus only on ‘serious’ crimes are false. The program was created to let state and local law enforcement officials help enforce all immigration laws, not just a select few. One of the most effective things we can do to prevent illegal immigrant crimes in the first place is to deport illegal immigrants before they’ve committed one, whether they are identified in jails or by law enforcement task forces.

“The open borders crowd doesn’t like the 287(g) program because it is working -- thousands of illegal immigrants are being identified and deported. It is so popular that the Department of Homeland Security rejected dozens of applications due to funding shortfalls in the last few years.

“Local law enforcement agencies deserve our thanks for helping to remove illegal immigrants from our communities before they threaten American lives and property. The Obama administration should not limit local agencies’ ability to help enforce our nation’s laws.â€

http://republicans.judiciary.house.gov/ ... g%20(FINAL).pdf

good luck trying to figure out who some of those names are.
WHERE did these idiots learn to write

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-4633--0-0.html

GO REPUBLICANS and 1 DEMOCRAT!

well as encouraging as that sounds, how far will hussain take it? i think as far as to the oaval office trash can. sounds like the repubs are making an effort of come kind anyway. napolitano wont let it fly,imo.

Janet is not doing her job....FIRE HER!!! she should not be allowed to pick and choose the laws she will enforce, it is not her decision!!! she must enforce the laws congress passes!

This is why we can not repeat 1986 amnesty, it is clear they never intend to enforce the laws! Open Borders to the whole world is out of the question!

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

Janet is not doing her job....FIRE HER!!! she should not be allowed to pick and choose the laws she will enforce, it is not her decision!!! she must enforce the laws congress passes!

This is why we can not repeat 1986 amnesty, it is clear they never intend to enforce the laws! Open Borders to the whole world is out of the question!

Unfortunately Janet is doing exactly what Obama and Masters want .......that is where her loyalty is, not with us.

Originally Posted by April

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

Janet is not doing her job....FIRE HER!!! she should not be allowed to pick and choose the laws she will enforce, it is not her decision!!! she must enforce the laws congress passes!

This is why we can not repeat 1986 amnesty, it is clear they never intend to enforce the laws! Open Borders to the whole world is out of the question!

Unfortunately Janet is doing exactly what Obama and Masters want .......that is where her loyalty is, not with us.

What a shame huh!! But this is just the kind of thing she did in AZ and Obama knew it, another radical left as is his whole administration!

I'm thinking this is just window dressing.