Cornyn and GOP senators demand Napolitano report on deportation dismissals by Nov. 15

[peejay 327]

Cornyn and GOP colleagues demand Napolitano report on immigration cases by November 15

The seven Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are challenging the Obama administration for trying to end deportation proceedings against undocumented immigrants without serious criminal records.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-San Antonio, and six GOP colleagues on the powerful panel, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano demanding a full report by Nov. 15.

Citing news media reports including coverage by the Houston Chronicle, the lawmakers said Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the agency widely known as ICE — is seeking dismissal of deportation proceedings against undocumented immigrants in custody who have no felony convictions and no more than two misdemeanor convictions.

The Obama administration says it is targeting ICE's resources on capturing and deporting illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes in the United States rather than pursuing undocumented immigrants who entered the country illegally.

The new policy in Houston alone has resulted in an increase in dismissals of deportation cases by more than 700 percent — up from 27 dismissals in July 2010 to 217 in August, the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

"Numerous criminal aliens are being released into society and are having proceedings terminated simply because ICE has decided that such cases do not fit within the Department's chosen enforcement priorities," the senators told Napolitano in their letter.

"It appears that your department is enforcing the law based on criteria it arbitrarily chose, with complete disregard for the enforcement laws created by Congress."

Napolitano's department recently announced that ICE had deported 392,000 individuals in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Included in the deportations were 195,000 convicted criminals — including 64,000 convicted of aggravated felonies.

Both Napolitano and ICE chief John Morton have emphasized in congressional testimony that ICE will devote its efforts to deporting dangerous criminal aliens who have committed serious crimes in the United States rather than deporting ordinary undocumented immigrants whose only crime has been to enter the United States illegally.

The senators acknowledged that ICE has cited limits on resources for targeting criminal aliens for deportation rather than all illegal aliens.

"But to date, we have not seen any efforts by ICE, your department, or the administration to request an increase in ICE funding sufficient to address staffing shortages, detention capacity and coordination of enforcement efforts nationwide to achieve a streamlined and robust immigration removal system," the senators told Napolitano.

The senators emphasized that the department of homeland security is "charged with enforcing the law as written and it should not be adopting a lax approach to immigration enforcement" even though Congress has not enacted comprehensive immigration reform.

The senators asked Napolitano to provide by mid-November a detailed list of the number of cases that have been dismissed since January, a list of crimes for which targeted criminal aliens were convicted and a blueprint of "exactly how much funding your department would require to ensure that enforcement of the law occurs consistently for every illegal alien encountered and apprehended by ICE or U.S. Customs and Border Protection."

Napolitano spokesman Matt Chandler said the Department of Homeland Security would "respond to directly to the senators."

Chandler added: "The idea that DHS is engaged in 'selective enforcement' couldn't be further from the truth."

Chandler said the Obama administration "has fundamentally changed the way the federal government approaches immigration enforcement (by) doing more to keep criminal aliens who are threats to public safety — including murderers, rapists and child molesters —off our streets than ever before, issuing more financial sanctions to employers who knowingly and repeatedly violate immigration laws than during the entire previous administration, and conducting more overall removals than at any point in this nation's history."

http://blogs.chron.com/txpotomac/2010/10/post_348.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+houstonchronicle%2Ftxpotomac+%28Texas+on+the+Potomac%29

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Cornyn and GOP colleagues demand Napolitano report on immigration cases by November 15

The seven Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are challenging the Obama administration for trying to end deportation proceedings against undocumented immigrants without serious criminal records.

Yawn... another Republican challenging the Obama administration. No suprise the Big Government Republicans want to know how much to stroke a check for to expand the biggest Prison Industrial Complex on the planet.

The "real story" is not discussed here, who are the big players in the Detention Business and what candidates do they and their lobbyist play nice with?

CCA plays the game of politics like a pro. After all forty percent of its revenue comes from federal contracts. The company backs key politicians who support an immigration crackdown, and has intensified its lobbying in order to influence those still on the fence. For good measure, it hires former prison and immigration officials to coordinate its federal relations.

Republicans want to spend billions on enforcement

They do a great job for the money we pay them too;

The T Don Hutto facility held men, women (some pregnant), children, and infants

Edited October 22, 2010 by brokenfamily

[Danno 1,228]

Yawn... another Republican challenging the Obama administration. No suprise the Big Government Republicans want to know how much to stroke a check for to expand the biggest Prison Industrial Complex on the planet.

The "real story" is not discussed here, who are the big players in the Detention Business and what candidates do they and their lobbyist play nice with?

CCA plays the game of politics like a pro. After all forty percent of its revenue comes from federal contracts. The company backs key politicians who support an immigration crackdown, and has intensified its lobbying in order to influence those still on the fence. For good measure, it hires former prison and immigration officials to coordinate its federal relations.

Republicans want to spend billions on enforcement

They do a great job for the money we pay them too;

The T Don Hutto facility held men, women (some pregnant), children, and infants

May come as a surprise to you but it's more than just contractors doing business with the Government in this area who are for better immigration control..... a lot of Americans do too.

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May come as a surprise to you but it's more than just contractors doing business with the Government in this area who are for better immigration control..... a lot of Americans do too.

Well if it had anything to do with that it would surprise me.

Contractors doing business with Government aren't interested in better immigration control, they are interested in profits.

CNN found that 37% of Americans wanted “all illegal immigrants currently in the country removed”—which is about half of the 73% who wanted less illegal immigration. The other half of the people who told CNN that they wanted illegal immigration to decrease favors a solution other than mass deportation. We can assume, therefore, that 2 of 3 Americans prefer a pathway to earned citizenship (legalization) for immigrants without legal status to mass deportation.

Since CNN didn’t bother to poll support for reform, however, we can’t draw firm conclusions, but it is no surprise that most Americans are upset with the status quo. If anything, it’s surprising that even 27% of respondents didn’t express a desire for an immediate solution to our nation’s immigration crisis.

[peejay 327]

Yawn... another Republican challenging the Obama administration. No suprise the Big Government Republicans want to know how much to stroke a check for to expand the biggest Prison Industrial Complex on the planet.

The "real story" is not discussed here, who are the big players in the Detention Business and what candidates do they and their lobbyist play nice with?

CCA plays the game of politics like a pro. After all forty percent of its revenue comes from federal contracts. The company backs key politicians who support an immigration crackdown, and has intensified its lobbying in order to influence those still on the fence. For good measure, it hires former prison and immigration officials to coordinate its federal relations.

Republicans want to spend billions on enforcement

They do a great job for the money we pay them too;

The T Don Hutto facility held men, women (some pregnant), children, and infants

Double yawn!

As long as illegal aliens break our long standing immigration and work authorization laws they are subject to the sanctions proscribed by said laws. There is no quota limiting enforcement by numbers whether it is 1 illegal alien or 10 million illegal aliens.

I know this is hard for the "open borders", "we are the world", "no such thing as an illegal human being", la-dee-dah land crowd to rationally comprehend, but countries have the sovereign right to regulate who gets to enter their country and for what purpose. There is no unalienable right for foreigners to immigrate to or even visit any country. The USA is no different than any other country in the world in regards to exercise enforcing its sovereign borders.

Edited October 22, 2010 by peejay

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I love this quote from Cornyn who is leading the charge on this initiative while he has already admitted its a futile effort:

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration Subcommittee, recently summarized this view saying, “[T]he dirty secret is that we couldn’t deport 10 million illegal immigrants if we wanted to.”

Like I said earlier, Yawn.. republican beating his chest and pointing fingers at Obama

[peejay 327]

I love this quote from Cornyn who is leading the charge on this initiative while he has already admitted its a futile effort:

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Judiciary Committees Immigration Subcommittee, recently summarized this view saying, [T]he dirty secret is that we couldnt deport 10 million illegal immigrants if we wanted to.

Like I said earlier, Yawn.. republican beating his chest and pointing fingers at Obama

A lot more than just your evil Republicans are pointing fingers at your messiah. There is a lot to point to.

In any event...we may not be able to deport 10 million, but we can deport as many as we can as a deterent.

Edited October 22, 2010 by peejay

[Pooky 3,844]

I love this quote from Cornyn who is leading the charge on this initiative while he has already admitted its a futile effort:

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration Subcommittee, recently summarized this view saying, “[T]he dirty secret is that we couldn’t deport 10 million illegal immigrants if we wanted to.”

Like I said earlier, Yawn.. republican beating his chest and pointing fingers at Obama

Go about it in the right way, penalize employers of illegals harshly, secure the border and deport the illegals we catch and the a large proportion of the rest are likely to make their own way back to their countries of citizenship.

We don't have to deport 10 million illegal aliens. And we don't need to do anything in a hurry. I don't mind if it takes 10 years to work, so long as we stop subsidizing those illegals already here.

Edited October 22, 2010 by Pooky

[Ban Hammer 13,659]

Well if it had anything to do with that it would surprise me.

Contractors doing business with Government aren't interested in better immigration control, they are interested in profits.

CNN found that 37% of Americans wanted “all illegal immigrants currently in the country removed”—which is about half of the 73% who wanted less illegal immigration. The other half of the people who told CNN that they wanted illegal immigration to decrease favors a solution other than mass deportation. We can assume, therefore, that 2 of 3 Americans prefer a pathway to earned citizenship (legalization) for immigrants without legal status to mass deportation.

Since CNN didn’t bother to poll support for reform, however, we can’t draw firm conclusions, but it is no surprise that most Americans are upset with the status quo. If anything, it’s surprising that even 27% of respondents didn’t express a desire for an immediate solution to our nation’s immigration crisis.

i see your cnn poll and raise you:

-When asked what they saw as the cause behind illegal immigration, the respondents answered:

Hispanics: Just 20 percent said illegal immigration was caused by not letting in enough legal immigrants; 61 percent said inadequate enforcement.

Asian-Americans: 19 percent said not enough legal immigration; 69 percent said inadequate enforcement.

African-Americans: 16 percent said not enough legal immigration; 70 percent said inadequate enforcement.

-When asked if they thought we needed more foreign workers, or if there are enough Americans willing to fill the jobs, the respondents said:

Hispanics: 15 percent said legal immigration should be increased to fill unskilled jobs; 65 percent said there are plenty of Americans available to do unskilled jobs, employers just need to pay more.

Asian-Americans: 19 percent said increase immigration; 65 percent said plenty of Americans are available.

African-Americans: 6 percent said increase immigration; 81 percent said plenty of Americans are available.

-When asked if they believed illegal aliens living in this country should be sent home through tough enforcement of immigration laws, or if they should be granted amnesty, the respondents said:

Hispanics: 52 percent support enforcement; 34 percent support conditional legalization.

Asian-Americans: 57 percent support enforcement; 29 percent support conditional legalization.

African-Americans: 50 percent support enforcement; 30 percent support conditional legalization.

link

Seventy-eight percent (78%) of likely voters were opposed to legalizing the status of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. with only 19% supporting it. 88% of African-Americans were opposed to legalization. Pulse Opinion Research, LLC, September, 2009

71% of Americans want to see the bosses who hire illegal immigrants arrested while 64 percent support police conducting surprise raids on businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants (The Raids Obama has stopped) Rasmussen Reports poll, October, 2009.

80 percent of U.S. voters oppose proposals for government-backed health-care plans for illegal immigrants Rasmussen Reports poll, June, 2009.

a whole lot more to read here

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i see your cnn poll and raise you:

71% of Americans want to see the bosses who hire illegal immigrants arrested while 64 percent support police conducting surprise raids on businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants (The Raids Obama has stopped) Rasmussen Reports poll, October, 2009.

a whole lot more to read here

Here is the one I like the best.. any speculation as to why this hasn't been happening?

[Pooky 3,844]

71% of Americans want to see the bosses who hire illegal immigrants arrested while 64 percent support police conducting surprise raids on businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants (The Raids Obama has stopped) Rasmussen Reports poll, October, 2009.

Here is the one I like the best.. any speculation as to why this hasn't been happening?

Ummm, I don't know if you noticed, but the answer was in the quote.

This administration, like many before it, has no interest or advantage, monetary or otherwise, in listening to the voice of the majority of the American people. There is more money and influence to be gained by allowing the current state of affairs to continue, while making only token efforts to enforce the law to assuage public opinion. With luck this time around, the electorate won't buy the BS and we might get some traction in getting the immigration laws already on the books enforced.

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Ummm, I don't know if you noticed, but the answer was in the quote.

This administration, like many before it, has no interest or advantage, monetary or otherwise, in listening to the voice of the majority of the American people. There is more money and influence to be gained by allowing the current state of affairs to continue, while making only token efforts to enforce the law to assuage public opinion. With luck this time around, the electorate won't buy the BS and we might get some traction in getting the immigration laws already on the books enforced.

Actually it wasn't. As I am sure you are aware, when they were doing the raids the "bosses" cooperated with ICE , or in other words cut a deal. So they detained and deported the individuals the bosses went to great lengths to recruit and then the bosses were home by supper time. Of course they simply now just pay a fine, go get another few truck loads of illegals and get back to work.

I don't like the Big Government Republican Approach to this. If you strike at the source, and strike hard send a few dozen "bosses" owners and plant managers to jail and you will see an impact because the attraction "jobs' will be diminished. At least in theory. But we haven't been aggressive enough here because.. well white collar criminals are pampered in US. Obama has in fact stopped the raids, but is going after employers but until they start doing some hard time... we probably won't see much "change" in the demand for workers to exploit.

As far as "token" efforts look at total numbers trends of deportations, that simply isn't true. There is tremendous incentive, power and influence behind enforcement only mentality regardless of its effectiveness or the social consequences or ultimate cost to taxpayers. Its more open checkbook mentality brought to you by the Big Government Republicans, see Cornyn's comment in the original article that started this thread. "just tell us how much money you guys need to get this done".

I'm all for stimulating the economy but this is building a bridge to nowhere in the most insidious way. We get nothing for the cash, money down a rat role. How about taking these folks, putting them on road crews and fixing the crumbling infrastructure?

What we are doing now is billions of dollars down a rat hole.

[Pooky 3,844]

Actually it wasn't. As I am sure you are aware, when they were doing the raids the "bosses" cooperated with ICE , or in other words cut a deal. So they detained and deported the individuals the bosses went to great lengths to recruit and then the bosses were home by supper time. Of course they simply now just pay a fine, go get another few truck loads of illegals and get back to work.

I don't like the Big Government Republican Approach to this. If you strike at the source, and strike hard send a few dozen "bosses" owners and plant managers to jail and you will see an impact because the attraction "jobs' will be diminished. At least in theory. But we haven't been aggressive enough here because.. well white collar criminals are pampered in US. Obama has in fact stopped the raids, but is going after employers but until they start doing some hard time... we probably won't see much "change" in the demand for workers to exploit.

As far as "token" efforts look at total numbers trends of deportations, that simply isn't true. There is tremendous incentive, power and influence behind enforcement only mentality regardless of its effectiveness or the social consequences or ultimate cost to taxpayers. Its more open checkbook mentality brought to you by the Big Government Republicans, see Cornyn's comment in the original article that started this thread. "just tell us how much money you guys need to get this done".

I'm all for stimulating the economy but this is building a bridge to nowhere in the most insidious way. We get nothing for the cash, money down a rat role. How about taking these folks, putting them on road crews and fixing the crumbling infrastructure?

What we are doing now is billions of dollars down a rat hole.

Your main mistake is branding this a Republican issue. It's not. It's a Washington issue.

Neither side has enough incentive to resolve the illegal alien issue ... yet.

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Your main mistake is branding this a Republican issue. It's not. It's a Washington issue.

Neither side has enough incentive to resolve the illegal alien issue ... yet.

I am branding the enforcement only proposed solution a Big Government Republican spending spree because it is.

Are there considerably less expensive alternatives that would garner the same results? I think yes.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats gave a rats behind about illegal immigration pre-9/11 because the economy was humming along fine despite the fact we had the highest number of illegal aliens we have ever in our countries history hosted.

9/11 was Cheny's opportunity to pad the pockets of some of his best buddies. He capitalized on the fear and shock of the nation to quietly begin building 'terrorist detention centers" with full support of both the dems and his own party and the american public largely unaware of it and mostly sheep slept right through it.

Contrary to PJ's opine, I am not an open borders advocate or a bleeding heart, I am a pragmatist and if anything a taxpayer advocate. We are a sovereign nation and we have the right to control our borders as well as the duty, but we don't need to bankrupt the country with this out of control spending on a problem that is largely hype and has become fodder for xenophobic Congress critters to exploit peoples fears.

While it is easier to blame someone and use the issue of Undocumented Worker Migration as a sounding board for the frustrations of what has happened in our economy, its poppy ####### and quite frankly fueled the worst of our human tendencies. The best they can come up with for a solution is kicking babies and college kids out of the country? I think we can do better. Emulate China and Russia and build some walls and start shooting people? Come on.

I have yet to hear one of these "brilliant thinkers" address the issue of outsourcing, as perhaps a reason the Americans don't have jobs. We send all these customer service jobs which are similar to the lawn raking chicken chopping jobs in terms of compensation.. but where is the outrage? Where is the consumer protections in banking transactions when you outsource your most private financial transactions to a third world country where there is no privacy protection? Wheres the outrage over that? What about our IT jobs and the parents who got stuck with the big college bills but their kids got no job prospects? Is it really "the solution" to have Jose hand over the rake? Don't even get me started on the loss of the manufacturing industry in the United States and all those missing jobs. Where is the outrage? The protests? The mass hysteria over that? The undocumented exploited workers didn't decide to tank our economy for the fun and profit and amusement of our wall street traders. The economy and our jobs lost don't ride on the backs of migrant farm workers.

I am simply challenging you to think beyond the political rhetoric and seek solutions that are not only workable, affordable but practical and if they happen to also be humane so much the better.

Edited October 23, 2010 by brokenfamily

[Pooky 3,844]

I am simply challenging you to think beyond the political rhetoric and seek solutions that are not only workable, affordable but practical and if they happen to also be humane so much the better.

Then read what other people write and avoid being partisan in your own appraisal of the problem.

I have posted what I believe needs to be done, as have others, many times. Take some time to read.

And both sides have a stake in perpetuating the illegal alien trade, Democrats and Republicans alike. Blaming one side or the other is just being a political apologist, when it is the very culture in Washington that needs changing.