HOMELAND INSECURITY FILES
Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu of New Hampshire have discovered the feds’ old catch-and-release game…not with fish, but with illegal aliens. The Union Leader reports:
[Gregg and Sununu] want to know why federal immigration officials decided not to step in when New Ipswich police stopped a van carrying nine illegal aliens this week.
New Ipswich Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain said he contacted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau of the Department of Homeland Security Monday afternoon when a speeding stop led to the discovery of the illegal immigrants from Ecuador.
But ICE officials in New Hampshire and Connecticut both said they were not interested in taking custody. They advised Chamberlain to get identities and other information and release them.
The men told police through an interpreter that they had paid $10,000 each to be smuggled into the U.S. and that they make their living as day laborers in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Police cited the van driver for driving after suspension of his license and impounded his car.
Gregg and Sununu, both New Hampshire Republicans, said local police did their job in stopping a speeding vehicle.
But they said they want to hear what happened at ICE, which has taken many responsibilities of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Sununu said the ICE response “was disturbing and clearly unacceptable. It is the responsibility of federal officials to further investigate and prosecute any violation of immigration laws when alerted to possible violations by local and state law enforcement officials.”
Welcome to reality, gentlemen. This game has been going on a long time. You want answers? Have your staff contact Justice Department whistleblower Juan Mann at DeportAliens.com.
You want to know why consistent immigration enforcement is impossible? Well, when was the last time you voted to increase federal immigration detention space and take a stand against granting amnesty to immigration law-breakers? When was the last time you voted to punish cities that defy federal law and give sanctuary to illegal aliens? When was the last time you publicly stood up against the ACLU, CAIR, AILA, etc. etc., who scream “racial profiling” any time law enforcement officers enforce immigration law?
Look in the mirror, gentlemen (voting records here and here).
Update: Let’s play catch-and-release across the USA. Send me your examples. I’ll start…
July 14 – WENATCHEE, Wash. – The man now charged with the murder of deputy Saul Gallegos in Chelan was “voluntarily removed” from the United States three times in recent years but he always came back. Twice Jose Sanchez-Guillen was removed from the border at Blaine, and once in Wenatchee. Immigration experts say it’s part of an old loophole in the system, where unless local law enforcement specifically notified them of an illegal immigrant in custody, they didn’t know about it…
July 11 – LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Open borders activists oppose a plan by LA County Sheriff that would allow sheriff’s deputies to interview foreign-born jail inmates to determine their immigration status. The Los Angeles Times (registration required) reports:
Earlier this week, dozens of inmates bunched against the exit of the Inmate Reception Center, awaiting their release. The immigration agents began by interviewing as many of those men as possible, working down a list of foreign-born immigrants provided by the Sheriff’s Department. But they never finish the list.
“I guarantee you that some of the people right there, walking out the door, are criminal aliens,” said Chief Chuck Jackson, head of the jail system, as he walked past the prisoners.
July 12, DEL RIO, Texas – From the Del Rio News-Herald, we learn that 17 illegal aliens from Brazil were arrested by a local sheriff and almost released without any federal investigation. The sheriff’s complaints to Rep. Henry Bonilla resulted in immigration enforcement interviews that would otherwise not have happened. Sheriff D’Wayne Jernigan fumed:
“What are my concerns about these releases? They’re the same as yours. These people are unknowns, they were arrested in a different part of the country and transported to Del Rio. They can’t enter Mexico, so they are turned loose in Del Rio without any visible means of support and intent on going north to New York, Detroit or Chicago or west to Los Angeles,” Jernigan said.
He added, “What are they going to turn to, to get money? When people are desperate, they turn to crime. Even good people will turn to crime when they are desperate. And I don’t want to subject our local citizens to this potential for stealing and robbing,” Jernigan said.
“Another thing that concerns us: Are they criminals? Are they terrorists? We don’t know who they are,” Jernigan said. The sheriff, who retired from the U.S. Customs Service after serving as the resident-agent-in-charge of enforcement, said interviews of federal immigration prisoners can provide officers with valuable information…
“I raise the issue with our elected officials, so they can then question agencies at the headquarters level. The agency officials at this level here locally, I truly believe, are just as much against these releases as I am. They feel betrayed. They’re thinking, ‘We work hard to apprehend these people and then the next day someone at the Washington level orders their release. Why are we apprehending them in the first place?’” Jernigan said.
“They turn these people loose with a piece of paper that tells them to report (to an immigration hearing) at an unknown time and date, to an unknown place,. . .and there’s no way for the agency to get in touch with them again. Are they going to show up at those hearings? Will the agency ever be able to find them? Let’s be realistic. It’s ridiculous. A war on terrorism? Homeland security? Hah!” Jernigan said.
Hah, indeed.
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Categories: CAIR, Catch-And-Release, Immigration
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This won’t stop until we stop grumbling and organize. Please get involved:
* Fax your congressman for free at
http://www.numbersusa.com
* See the legislative action center
http://www.fairus.org
We must let our reps know we are sick
of the illegal alien fiasco. They disaster won’t stop unless you speak up!
This is a routine occurrance. Even on the rare occassions that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does apprehend illegal aliens, they are usually released voluntary departure. This gives them 120 days where they become “untouchable.”
Plus it gets them into the system so that if amnesty is granted, they will qualify.
I’ve heard from good sources that previously deported alien felons are being released this way.
Once it gets around, illegals will be turning themselves in just to get temporary status.
The only way to stop illegal immigration is to change the laws.
How about a Constitutional Amendment that states:
“The rights and priviledges in this Constitution apply only to United States Citizens and lawfully present aliens.”
That would allow ICE to quickly deport illegal aliens without all the court proceedings. Bed space would no longer be an issue.
Well said, very well said, Peachy and Michelle. We need to hold Tom Ridge and Asa Hutchinson to the fire- Hutchison, who was recently interviewed on KFI AM in LA refused to give any answers to the questions posed to him about why we have suddenly ceased in going after known illegals after the successful roundups last month that netted about 450 of the felons. And yes, to enter the US illegally is a felony. Why? Seems back when representatives had more clarity, they put 2 & 2 together and saw the link between border control, security and ultimately sovereignty.
What I think each of us should be doing is calling our representatives every single day when we get up, during lunch or when we take our tea- just make it part of the daily routine
This happened here in Mesa, Arizona just last month. The police stopped a van with 23 illegals in it. The INS told the police officers to let them go because they didn’t have anyone to handle it. They let them all go right there on the freeway. The police gave them “directions” and they all ran up the embankment right into the nearby neighborhoods!! Argh!
Funding is only partially the issue when it comes to immigration. Congress needs to create a special Immigration court to help streamline the process. Furthermore, Congress needs to state in a statute, the exact level of “Process due” to illegal immigrants(5th amendment procedural Due process requirements). Next, the enforcement of immigration needs to be either compartmentalized in the Justice Department( as in thats all they do 24 hrs a day) or legal prosecution authority given to INS. Finally, a army of prosecution and defense Lawyers needs to hired and on call 24 hrs a day, to hear cases and process illegals so that they can be deported rather quickly without a long detention time. Of course, all this takes a commitment by our legislators and by LOCAL and Federal law enforcement authorities that I do not see. The Problem can be solved, someone just needs to prod our government into doing so.
And that takes a commitment from citizens to keep the heat on our fine feathered friends in the federal government and hallowed halls of congress. I think it also is key at the back end of your idea, lawguy, to make it a punishable crime for any immigration enforcement officer to knowingly and willingly refuse to follow his sworn duties. This is surely Tammany Hall here folks and we need to get the bureaucrat-strength bug spray out from under the sink.
First off, Asa Hutchinson: he said that such raids have to be coordinated with ICE. And since ICE simply does not conduct such sweeps due to current priorities of smuggling, terrorsim and sexual predators, well, such sweeps will never happen again if left to ICE to coordinate. ICCE stopped doing virtually all raids about 10 years ago, including employers, It’s a low priority, and with 2,000 agents nationwide, they are spread too thin already. The BP used to routinely do such sweeps a decade ago, but the Clinton administration stopped it. The fact that all interior BP stations have closed down are testament to this. The BP made ICE look bad for interior enforcement, regardless of whether or not it was wildly successful and fulfilled the demands of the community. And without effective interior enforcement – be it by BP or ICE – we will continue to have illegals preying ont he community, since your run of the mill illegals are ignored until they commit a heinous crime.
It’s the immigration courts that need to be overhauled – right now, if an illegal alien wants to stay, evne a criminal, all they have to do is demand a hearing. Due to the backlogged court system, too few judges and a willingness to put off hearing cases by liberal judges holding out for potential benefits the illegal might qualify for at some later time or a change in law, an illegal can screw around in the court system with continuance and appeals for 4-7 years – longer in some cases – and avoid deportation. Plus, if all else fails, there always asylum to claim, no matter what country you are from. Depending on what judge you get, you might have a good shot if your story is good enough, and you have a do-gooder lawyer to help whose main mission in life is to ensure every illegal alien – criminal or not – stays firly planted in the US. All becuase illegals have the “right” to due process. Yep, see deportaliens.com on how this farce plays out every day.
Just in one Arizona Border Patrol Sector alone, they release an average of 80-100 illegals (non-Mexicans) a week with a promise to appear at their court hearing a year down the road. How many show up? Maybe 10%. How many of these graduate to crime while they are hanging around or after they have blown off their court hearing?
And Mexicans get the advantage of voluntary departure – those not convicted of a felony get to choose the option of voluntary departure – immeidate transport to the border, where they get to try again,and again to return right back – and with no penalty if caught again. Even if they were released from jail and are awiating a court date for a felony offense. As long as you aren;t convicted, you can qualify for voluntary departure. Unlike a deportation, which is a felony upon reentry after a formal deportation – a voluntary departure contains no penalty and no threat of prosecution or jail time. But there aren’t enough judges or ICE personnel to deport -or evne prosecute – everyone. So the US and its immgiration system gets made into a mockery every day.
The community might want something done about the millions of illegals – but the way the current system is, not until they commit some heinous crime (and in many cases, until they are convicted of a crime) and make the newspapers. The reaility is that politics and budget constraints ensures that there really is no enforcement in interior enforcement. Reactive, not proactive.
Well, if the FBI’s activity “creates fear in the community and accomplishes absolutely nothing”, who’s rights are being violated? Where is my constitutional right for you not to be afraid of me if it doesn’t do anything? But as Michelle rightly points out, the interviews are voluntary, which means the ACLU crowd are actually trying to **limit** the civil liberties of those willing to be interviewed with their rhetoric, which I find worthy of poking at.
Hi,
I look forward to your next Radio Visit to KSFO560 in San Francisco. Thank you for keeping up on this story as well. I guess we shall see how it goes.
Re: KB: Reactive on a **good** day, I should say.
Glad to see that the incident was picked up by your service. It appears that those who check the millions of tourists, returning US residents, and legitimate persons entering the country are more worried about how much tobacco and alcohol one brings into the country rather than apprehending a dozen illegal aliens.
Ive got a million of these. Working for the INS on the California/Mexican border for the past eight years i’m no longer surprised that my job is almost a complete waste of time.
Did you know that we, the old INS and now called Customs and Border Protection release illegals into our country every day? If you are from a country other than Mexico we refer to you as an OTM (Other than Mexican). If you jump the fence and we catch you we put you in a holding cell. We then enroll you in our system called IDENT. We fill out some paper work, take down an address where you tell us you will be staying and then we give you a notice to appear (NTA). The notice to appear is for an IJ (Immigration Judge), you are supposed to voluntary appear before this IJ and then when he deports you you are supposed to leave.
Can you guess what percent of these people never show up for their hearing? No one knows for sure but it’s over 90 percent.
It’s not hard to get into our country illegally, really, its not.
BorderAgent,
Given the number of illegal aliens that attempt to cross the border (and the many that succeed in making it to the interior).
How would the enforcement of immigration law change if 1 percent of the aliens were armed? With the manpower of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs Border Protection (CBP) combined, do you think the armed illegal aliens could be stopped?
What would you do differently in your job?
I think the main reason that the invading illegal aliens are not armed is because of the gun control in Mexico.
Once here it is not that difficult for the illegals to get guns.
If you were an illegal alien here in the United States with your family and you knew deportation would endanger the lives of your wife and children, would you resist?
And if your reponse is that they should go back to Mexico and come in legally, that you really don’t understand the visa issuance system. The poor hard working Mexican without education, family, or influence won’t qualify for even a visiter’s visa.
There is a reason ICE does not conduct massive interior sweeps. It is because if ICE did, then it could cause unified resistance and ICE does not appear to have the leadership or the resources to respond to such an internal threat. So they would lose that authority and funding.
What happened to the CBP Managers in California after Asa Hutchingson stopped the sweeps?
Did anyone catch the USA channel’s 4400? It is the story about 4400 UFO abductees being returned.
Which federal agency investigates UFO aliens? According to the story line, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)!!!
But the best part was when the DHS agent says, “We are not the police. We are Homeland Security.”
If, in real life, DHS has as much success in stopping UFO aliens as they do with illegal aliens, then we all had better pray that the UFO aliens are vegetarians!
May I respectfully suggest that you’re directing your fire in the wrong direction?
You can find countless stories from Consular Officers who have refused visas to bad-looking, would-be immigrants only to have letters of “Congressional Interest” showing up in their mail (as well as the mail of their bosses and the Secretary of State) threatening job-loss if the visas aren’t issued, pronto.
Congress leans like a redwood on bureaucratst who take (proper) actions that result in constituent letters of complaint. It doesn’t matter if the bureaucrats are State, FBI, CIA or ICE. Congress interferes remorselessly if it becomes a matter of a constituent threatening to withhold a vote.
Don’t trust me: ask around.