Thread: Immigration Official to Run New York’s Jails

Immigration Official to Run New York’s Jails

New York Times
By NINA BERNSTEIN
September 8, 2009

The corrections expert appointed just a month ago to direct an overhaul of the nation’s troubled immigration detention system is leaving the Obama administration to be commissioner of correction for New York City, Department of Homeland Security officials said on Tuesday.

The expert, Dora B. Schriro, did not return calls for comment, and the Homeland Security officials who confirmed her departure were not authorized to speak for attribution. But an administration official who discussed the decision with Dr. Schriro said her main reason was the needs of a sick family member in New York, not any policy disagreements with the administration.

Immigrant advocates who learned of her imminent departure from a reporter expressed dismay and concern that the ambitious overhaul announced by the Obama administration last month would be delayed, if not derailed, by her loss.

But in a statement sent by e-mail to The New York Times, the department vowed to conduct an immediate national search to replace Dr. Schriro as director of the new Office of Detention Policy and Planning, a position in which she was to reinvent the patchwork of private prisons and county jails where hundreds of thousands of people accused of being immigration violators are held each year while Immigration and Customs Enforcement tries to deport them.

Dr. Schriro, 59, was appointed to the post in August, and was expected to bring to bear the findings she made during a six-month review of the detention system as a special adviser to Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security.

“The Department of Homeland Security is grateful for Dr. Schriro’s service over the past six months in improving the ICE detention system, prioritizing health and safety while ensuring security, efficiency and fiscal responsibility,â€

That Sucks!