WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department released from its jails more than 2,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation in recent weeks due to looming budget cuts and planned to release 3,000 more during March, The Associated Press has learned.
The newly disclosed figures, cited in internal budget documents reviewed by the AP, are significantly higher than the "few hundred" illegal immigrants the Obama administration acknowledged this week had been released under the budget-savings process.
The government documents show that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement released roughly 1,000 illegal immigrants from its jails around the U.S. each week since at least Feb. 15. The agency's field offices have reported more than 2,000 immigrants released before intense criticism this week led to a temporary shutdown of the plan, according to the documents.
The states where immigrants were released include Arizona, California, Georgia and Texas.
The White House has said it was not consulted about the releases, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has acknowledged they occurred in a manner she regrets.
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Wednesday said the government had released "a few hundred" of the roughly 30,000 illegal immigrants held in federal detention pending deportation proceedings. Carney said the immigrants released were "low-risk, noncriminal detainees," and the decision was made by career ICE officials.
As of last week, the agency held an average daily population of 30,733 in its jails. The internal budget documents reviewed by the AP show the Obama administration had intended to reduce those figures to 25,748 by March 31.
The White House did not comment immediately Friday on the higher number of immigrants released.
ICE spokesman Brian Hale said Friday the numbers of immigration detainees fluctuate daily, but he reiterated only several hundred illegal immigrants had been released. "Beyond that normal movement, and as fiscal uncertainty remains over the continuing resolution and possible sequestration, ICE reviewed its detained population to ensure detention levels stay within ICE's current budget and placed several hundred individuals on methods of supervision less costly than detention," Hale said in a statement. "At this point, we don't anticipate additional releases, but that could change."
The immigrants who were released still eventually face deportation and are required to appear for upcoming court hearings. But they are no longer confined in immigration jails, where advocacy experts say they cost about $164 per day per person. Immigrants who are granted supervised release — with conditions that can include mandatory check-ins, home visits and GPS devices — cost the government from 30 cents to $14 a day, according to the National Immigration Forum, a group that advocates on behalf of immigrants.
The release of thousands from immigration jails is consistent with Napolitano's early warnings on Monday — hours before anyone knew publicly that any illegal immigrants had been released — that the pending, automatic budget cuts known as the sequester would limit the government's ability to maintain enough detention center beds for at least 34,000 immigrants.
"We're doing our very best to minimize the impacts of sequester, but there's only so much I can do," Napolitano said Monday. "You know, I'm supposed to have 34,000 detention beds for immigration. How do I pay for those?"
Late Thursday, after intense criticism over what the administration acknowledged was the release this week of several hundred immigrants, Napolitano told ABC News that she had been surprised to learn about the action.
"Detainee populations and how that is managed back and forth is really handled by career officials in the field," Napolitano told ABC. "Do I wish that this all hadn't been done all of a sudden and so that people weren't surprised by it? Of course."
The announcement that a few hundred illegal immigrants were being released was among the most significant and direct implications described so far by the automatic budget cuts. Republicans in Congress quickly criticized the decision and pressed the Homeland Security Department for details, including the number of illegal immigrants released and the nature of any criminal charges they were facing as part of the deportation process.
"Simply blaming budget reductions as a means to turn a blind eye toward the national security of the American people is a dangerous plan, and one that calls into question the department's preparations for sequestration," wrote two Republican lawmakers, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who sits on the Senate panel that oversees the Department of Homeland Security, harshly criticized the administration for downplaying the number of immigrants released, adding the revelation "makes it less and less possible for lawmakers to have productive negotiations with the White House over a comprehensive immigration bill."
The senior Homeland Security Department official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants announced his retirement to his staff on Tuesday, the same day the administration first openly confirmed the release of what it called several hundred immigrants. The executive associate director over ICE enforcement and removal operations, Gary Mead, told his staff he was leaving his job with mixed emotions. A career law enforcement officer, Mead will leave at the end of April.
After AP reported on Mead's retirement, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said his decision was not related to criticism over the jail releases and said Mead had notified the agency's senior leaders "several weeks ago" that he intended to leave. She also called AP's reporting about Mead's departure "inaccurate and misleading." On Thursday, ICE corrected her statement to say that Mead has notified his bosses "more than a week ago," not several weeks ago.
The later government statement also criticized AP's reporting as "ill-informed, inaccurate information" and complained that AP had failed to contact the agency before publishing what it called a "misguided headline," although the AP had noted its unsuccessful efforts to contact Mead directly by telephone and email.
samkat posted at 5:08 pm on Sat, Mar 2, 2013.
How many days could they have been held if Obama had no not been running all over the country glad handing pushing his personal agendas? At $176,000 per flying hour, I imagine we could have kept the illegals in detention for a while longer. Whats next? Will he release the ones in federal prisons?
Ateam1 posted at 7:08 am on Sun, Mar 3, 2013.
Many things are happening on Obama's Watch. The White House said they weren't aware! Yeah Right! This Was planned and everyone know's it.!!! If he can't get his way legally he will take the "Cop Out" Route and deny he knew anything. ASk him about Libya!
Brittanicus posted at 7:37 pm on Mon, Mar 4, 2013.
The Mandatory Nationwide E-Verify program and other essential immigration laws.
The E-Verify pilot computer program was introduced in 1997, but has only been on a volunteer basis. It is now proven to detect illegal alien workforce, specifically as it is continually upgraded adding new tools, including the usage of Drivers License Records. This is probably is one of the most important potential mandatory laws other than THE BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL, that will prevent illegal alien children smuggled into the United States gaining automatic citizens. It has billions of dollars in costs in free education, free health care, cash payments and other citizen benefits. Whether people find access across the border illegally, or the other 46 percent who stay after arriving here on a flight the revenue spent to cater to them all, would save hundreds of billions in senseless spending annually. It must be voted on immediately, but instead is hidden away by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada so it cannot reach a reading. The Birthright Citizenship bill needs to be amended, so only children whose parent is a U.S. citizen can collect this great incentive.
E-Verify which is a mandatory provision of THE LEGAL WORKFORCE ACT should also voted on without reservation, and also immediately before any new Amnesties are voted on in Congress. If there is a mismatch with documents to identify the worker, E-Verify alerts the employer and the employee is allowed to work while he or she resolves the issue. With the future usage of E-Verify as it is, only affects new labor, not previous hires that may be unauthorized to work? This part of an upcoming law needs to encompass both every worker, new and old hires? Since its inception the corporate world, unions and Department of Commerce have repudiated its positive outcome on the job market, trying to overcome any possibility of it become a mandatory law.
A new study conducted by Senior Quantitative Analyst Jason Arvelo with Bloomberg Government reports have found that there is evidence to support E-Verify has the ability to deter the hiring of unauthorized workers. The study evaluates the impact that state-passed E-Verify laws had on different industries within those states.
The study came away with two key findings. First, State legislatures have experimented with E-Verify laws varying how fast they're rolled out and how strictly they're enforced. This study finds that strict penalties probably lead to higher compliance rates among employers. Second, the research suggests that E-Verify mandates, when rolled out to all employers, influence worker behavior. Soon after E-Verify laws were signed in Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina, unauthorized workers in specific industries appeared to drop off employer payrolls. This prompted employers in many cases to fill positions with authorized workers.
In Arizona, the Bloomberg study found a significant shift in the legal status of workers in apparel manufacturing, commercial bakeries, and taxi and limousine service. In South Carolina, Bloomberg found evidence of shifts in the legal status of workers in crop production, commercial bakeries, and special food service.
Eventually all legislators will have to decide what to do about the border fence? Not the well publicized sectors with large populations on either side of the Southern border, which have been cleverly grafted on the retina of journalists, investigative reporters and politicians eyes to illustrate a firm barrier. But the regions further afield that wouldn't even keep out an elephant out, never displayed to the dignitaries or working press. With nothing to show for the border line but some heavily leaning rusty barbed wire, that is evidently where a whole retinue of criminals and welfare illegal aliens are able sneak across bringing with them new strains of diseases? Some areas have nothing at all and nothing to mark where the two countries meet? The tremendously high outlay of complying with the Secure Fence Act's mandate was estimated at US$4.1 billion, or more than the Border Patrols entire annual budget of 3 billion in 1986, supposedly the foremost reason that it was not satisfied; however the business community didn't like being severed from cheap labor. In just a few years the cost of financially supporting the illegal aliens crossing borders would revitalize every state treasury. Every American must demand from Washington the 2006 Secure Fence which was originally passed and then more or less killed, from the ravings of special interest groups and their lobbyists.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, (R-TX), into the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Homeland Security funding bill, H.R. 2638 purposely exempted the DHS from having to build any fence at all. While these lawmakers living in their isolated gated homes in Washington continue to play political sport with one another and conspire with the dictatorial Mexican government, while Southwest landowners suffer from Drug cartels, criminals with guns and illegal aliens disrupting their lives; repeated incidents of violation of US sovereignty policies, including some known elements of terrorists cells with unnerving intentions. Later Rep Duncan Hunter (R-CA)voted for the construction of a 14-mile, triple-layered fence along the U.S.- Mexico border near San Diego in the Illegal Immigration Reform bill, which has far surpassed the rest of the border regions fencing complete with razor wire, which minimizes the single fence that has been constructed and remains uncompleted.
Sign a petition against the Gang of Eight's proposal in opposition to 23 million unemployed Americans at: NumberUSA You can also contact every Representative demanding no Amnesty and no Path to Citizenship at 202) 224-3121, the general Washington switchboard. YOU THE CITIZEN VOTER HAS MORE INFLUENCE OVER CONGRESS, THAN YOU RECOGNIZE.
Over 7000 Americans/legal residents are killed by illegal aliens annually, unfortunately officials as Homeland Security as Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder and many state judges and prosecutors remain unconcerned about the slaughters on the highway. Read the heart wrenching story and the fight for justice at the Drew Rosenburg families “Unlicensed to kill” website. We are seeing these terrible injustices growing day by day under the Obama administration.
Masterrogue666 posted at 3:33 pm on Wed, Mar 13, 2013.
"significantly higher than the "few hundred" illegal immigrants the Obama administration acknowledged this week had been released under the budget-savings process." -- Wake up America, POTUS Obama has been caught AGAIN giving "misinformation"! Should we multiply (negatively) anything he claims by a factor of ten?
Tell me, Mr. President, when will YOUR LIES and the LIES of your administration cease?