The editors of National Review come out against the Julie Myers nomination. Excerpts:

Given the importance of the position and a history of mismanagement in the immigration service, Congress took the unusual step of inserting a statutory requirement that nominees have a minimum of five years of experience in both management and law enforcement. Even a cursory reading of her resume reveals that the well-connected 36-year-old attorney’s background fails to comply with this legal requirement; in fact, she meets the bare minimum only by counting her current stint as head of White House Personnel, where she manages, by her own account, “up to three deputies as well as support staff and interns.”

“…Her nomination highlights the administration’s desire to keep immigration enforcement on a short leash, lest some rogue official embarrass the White House by actually enforcing the immigration law. It exposes the administration to yet another Michael Brown fiasco if, as is eventually likely, a terrorist eludes the demoralized immigration agents at ICE on his way to killing Americans.”

“…The response of House Republicans to any talk of new immigration programs has been “Enforcement First.” Replacing Myers with a more suitable candidate would signal that the White House takes these concerns seriously. Obstinately sticking to the nomination would send the opposite message.”

Your move, White House.

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The 9/11 Families for a Secure America group has also come out in opposition to the Myers nomination:

The members of 9/11 Families for a Secure America are appalled by President Bush’s nomination of Julie Myers to head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Ms Myers is completely unqualified to lead the agency that is supposed to keep illegal aliens and the unknown terrorists among them from entering the United States.

With this nomination Mr. Bush continues his record of appointing unqualified individuals to positions of importance in America’s immigration bureaucracy.

The purpose of our immigration laws is to prevent dangerous aliens from entering our country. Failure of our government to enforce immigration laws played a large role in permitting 19 Arab terrorists to murder our loved ones on September 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks should have enlightened Mr. Bush on the need to staff our immigration agency only with people who have demonstrated the ability and willingness to enforce immigration law.

9/11FSA recommends Michael Cutler, former senior special agent who recently retired after three decades at INS, to head ICE. (More on Cutler at The Counterterrorism Blog. See left sidebar for bio info.) He or Pete Nunez would make excellent, seasoned, pro-enforcement choices.

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