Thread: REP ROGERS SAYS NAPOLITANO/DHS LAGS ON SENDING ILLEGAL IMMIG

ROGERS SAYS NAPOLITANO/DHS LAGS ON SENDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AWAY

States News Service
March 24, 2010
FRANKFORT, KY

The following information was released by the Kentucky Republican Party/Rep Hal Rogers:

The Obama administration is practically out of the business of deporting illegal immigrants arrested at work sites in America.

It has instituted a new version of "catch and release." What the new policy should be called is "virtual amnesty."

Last year in Bellingham, Wash., 28 illegal immigrants were arrested during a raid at a manufacturing plant after they admitted getting their jobs by false documents. Not only were these individuals released, 24 of them were given permits to find jobs!

Over the course of a year, the administration has quietly changed immigration policy by re-prioritizing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

This past year, ICE has been slowly and systematically de-emphasizing its capture and deportation of illegal immigrants in exchange for other priorities - namely identification and removal of illegal immigrants who are criminals.

I agree with the emphasis on the removal of criminals.

However, Napolitano's and ICE's performance statistics indicate the agency is no longer enforcing America's immigration laws by deporting noncriminal illegal immigrants who pose a threat to American jobs, our rule of law and the obvious way terrorists have exploited our immigration system.

The statistics don't lie. Last year, ICE's noncriminal illegal immigration arrests during work site enforcement operations declined 68 percent and trickled down to a mere 24 arrests this January.

Over the same time period, work site enforcement arrests for criminals also declined by 60 percent to just 20 in the month of January.

Similarly, work site enforcement indictments and convictions are down 58 percent and 63 percent respectively over this time frame.

Meanwhile, Napolitano and ICE reports that it has 3,800 detention beds that are empty, for the first time in years, although there are about 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

While some may argue that noncriminal illegal immigrants simply don't pose the same threat as arms dealers, human traffickers, violent offenders and international drug smugglers, it's important to note that all of the 9/11 hijackers would have been classified as noncriminal.

These extremists exploited our legal immigration system to overstay visas, exploit loopholes and ultimately conduct the most heinous of crimes against our country.

Moreover, in just this past year, we've seen three serious terrorism cases that involved individuals who could not be categorized as "criminal aliens" and all of whom manipulated the legal immigration system: the Najibullah Zazi case in Denver and New York, the Hosam Smadi case in Dallas and the Christmas Day underwear bomber over Detroit.

Given that known terrorists have flaunted our immigration system, why is Napolitano and ICE refusing to pursue these cases, incarcerate where necessary and deport as required by law?

The rapid decline in immigration enforcement also matters to the health of the economy.

With over 10 percent unemployment, mounting foreclosures and tight state and local budgets desperate for tax revenue, legitimate jobs matter.

While Wall Street seems to be rebounding, the recovery for Main Street has been slow in coming.

And yet Obama is giving near virtual immunity to some 11 million illegal immigrants working at our factories, on the construction site or in our fields as Americans look for jobs.

This shadow employment depresses wages, reduces tax revenue and in some instances leads to worker exploitation.

When we have hardworking American families struggling to keep food on the table, we should be utilizing every avenue to ensure that they are first in line for any U.S. job, not relegated to the back behind millions of others who came to this country illegally.

Finally, ICE's singular focus on "criminal aliens" is actually seriously hurting our efforts to contain violence on the border.

The violent drug war being waged by the Mexican drug cartels results in spillover violence along the southern border, and these illicit drug lords have infiltrated all of America's major cities.

Most recently, we've seen three Americans slain in Juarez, Mexico, the murder capital of the world.

Needless to say, these drug lords and gangs are extremely dangerous, and they will not hesitate to manipulate our legal immigration system in order to make a profit off our citizens addicted to these deadly drugs.

U.S. immigration enforcement is key to stopping these criminals from crossing our border and perpetuating the drug epidemic and the violence that comes along with it.

While no one is arguing against ICE's laudable efforts to lock up criminal aliens, let's be clear about what this immigration enforcement policy shift really amounts to - amnesty.

We have far too much at stake to play politics with the mission of ICE.

Regardless of anyone's opinion on comprehensive immigration reform, ICE still has a duty to use every tool at its disposal to fulfill its mandates and improve America's homeland security.

Napolitano and DHS need to fully enforce our immigration laws so that foreign terrorists can be stopped, Americans have a fair shot at getting a job and the violent domestic drug cartels are prevented from spreading their poison throughout the U.S. and our borders.

Failure in this regard is absolutely not an option.

Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) has served on the Appropriations Committee for more than 25 years and currently serves as the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

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Bravo! Well written!
The enforcers should be removed from their politically-swaying masters. They need to be independent from Washington's games while implementing the laws currently on the books.