Chron.com
WASHINGTON (AP) — The senior Homeland Security
Department official in charge of arresting and deporting illegal
immigrants announced his retirement the same day the agency said that
hundreds of people facing deportation had been released from immigration
jails due to looming budget cuts, according to a letter obtained
Wednesday by The Associated Press. The government said he had told his bosses weeks ago that he planned to retire.
Gary Mead,
executive associate director over enforcement and removal operations at
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, disclosed his departure in an
email to his staff Tuesday afternoon. The announcement of the release of
the illegal immigrants had come earlier in the day.
President Barack Obama's spokesman, Jay Carney,
said Wednesday that the decision to release the immigrants was made
without any input from the White House. He described the immigrants as
"low-risk, non-criminal detainees."
The
announcement that a few hundred illegal immigrants were being released
was among the most significant and direct implications described so far
by the Obama administration about the pending, automatic budget cuts
that will take effect later this week under what is known as
sequestration.-[Full Article]
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
DHS releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants, blaming budget cuts
Fox News
The Department of Homeland Security has started releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants held in local jails in anticipation of automatic budget cuts, in a move one Arizona sheriff called politically motivated -- and dangerous.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement released more than 500 detainees in his county alone over the weekend. A spokesman for Babeu told FoxNews.com that ICE officials have said they plan to release a total of nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants.
The numbers, though, are in dispute. ICE officials said that it's unclear how many ultimately might be released and that only 303 have been released from four Arizona facilities so far, though all those are in Pinal County. According to ICE, 2,280 detainees are still in custody in those facilities.
Babeu described the move as a "mass budget pardon" and suggested the administration was going to unnecessary lengths to demonstrate the impact of the so-called sequester.-[Full Article]
The Department of Homeland Security has started releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants held in local jails in anticipation of automatic budget cuts, in a move one Arizona sheriff called politically motivated -- and dangerous.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement released more than 500 detainees in his county alone over the weekend. A spokesman for Babeu told FoxNews.com that ICE officials have said they plan to release a total of nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants.
The numbers, though, are in dispute. ICE officials said that it's unclear how many ultimately might be released and that only 303 have been released from four Arizona facilities so far, though all those are in Pinal County. According to ICE, 2,280 detainees are still in custody in those facilities.
Babeu described the move as a "mass budget pardon" and suggested the administration was going to unnecessary lengths to demonstrate the impact of the so-called sequester.-[Full Article]
