Report: White House didn't OK immigrant releases

[alp227]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) —More than 2,000 immigrants facing deportation in 2013 were released strictly for budget reasons by immigration agency officials who kept the homeland security secretary in the dark about the plan, according to a federal watchdog's report.

This lack of communication led the Obama administration to wrongly deny for weeks that 2,228 immigrants facing deportation had been released, according to the report Tuesday from the Homeland Security Department's inspector general.

It also said officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not adequately plan for the increase in immigrant arrests at the Mexican border and did not track available funds or spending accurately.

Spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said Wednesday that the agency "is committed to addressing the issues identified in the report and has already begun developing plans of action."

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/report-white-house-didnt-ok-immigrant-releases

[hedda_foil]

1. This plays right into the pugs' hands.

Data published by the government in May of this year revealed that the Homeland Security Department released 36,007 convicted criminal immigrants in 2013 who are facing deportation. That total includes those accounting for 193 homicide and 426 sexual assault convictions. The immigrants nearly all still face deportation and are required to check in with immigration authorities while their deportation cases are pending.

[groundloop]

2. Somebody needs to be fired immediately

released for budgetary reasons, kept homeland security secretary in the dark.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. So AP recycles a story they had from almost 1 1/2 years ago

where they came up with basically the same conclusions, and now are churning it back out into the wild again? Is this so they can fill up some column inches?

Gov't acknowledges thousands released from jails
Associated Press
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL March 14, 2013 3:03 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — After weeks of denials, the Obama administration acknowledged Thursday that it had, in fact, released more than 2,000 illegal immigrants from immigration jails due to budget concerns during three weeks in February. Four of the most serious offenders have been put back in detention.

The administration had insisted that only a "few hundred" immigrants were released for budgetary reasons, challenging as inaccurate a March 1 report by The Associated Press that the agency had released more than 2,000 immigrants in February and planned to release more than 3,000 others this month. Intense criticism led to a temporary shutdown of the plan.

The director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, told a congressional panel Thursday that the agency had actually released 2,228 people from immigration jails over the course of three weeks, starting February 9, for what he described as "solely budgetary reasons." They included 10 people considered the highest level of offender. After the administration had challenged the AP's reporting, ICE said it didn't know how many people had been released for budget reasons but would review its records.

Morton, who testified with two other agency officials, told lawmakers that the decision to release the immigrants was not discussed in advance with political appointees, including those in the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. He said the pending automatic cuts known as sequestration was "driving in the background." "We were trying to live within the budget that Congress had provided us," Morton told lawmakers. "This was not a White House call. I take full responsibility."

http://news.yahoo.com/govt-acknowledges-thousands-released-jails-145012657--politics.html

Must be the summertime doldrums.

[alp227]

4. No, the Homeland Security Inspector General released report today.

http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2014/OIG_14-116_Aug14.pdf

[BumRushDaShow]

5. But it's basically regurgitating what was said over a year ago. nt

[hughee99]

6. I wonder if, a year ago, someone said "I'll wait until this is properly investigated before

drawing any conclusions".

I hear you, though. When I hear news that I don't like, I like to say that it's all just speculation, and then when the investigation is done, if that speculation turns out to be true, dismiss it as "old news". It makes life so much easier.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. When you read the article from over a year ago

the guy comes right out in a House hearing and says "yes we did it" -

Morton, who testified with two other agency officials, told lawmakers that the decision to release the immigrants was not discussed in advance with political appointees, including those in the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. He said the pending automatic cuts known as sequestration was "driving in the background." "We were trying to live within the budget that Congress had provided us," Morton told lawmakers. "This was not a White House call. I take full responsibility."

http://news.yahoo.com/govt-acknowledges-thousands-released-jails-145012657--politics.html

If this was already admitted freely in a public hearing over a year ago, then how is the report actually changing anything except to say "yeah, that's what they did"? I think if he had equivocated or "took the 5th" or fought a subpoena, then the report might have established something akin to a cover up that did not come out at a hearing.