DHS broke law in releasing hundreds of criminal aliens: Auditadministration broke the law when it released thousands of illegal immigrants, more than 600 of whom had criminal records, last February as a result of poor planning and micromanagement from Washington, according to an internal audit released Tuesday that says things have not improved in the 18 months since.
Compounding matters, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) gave bad information to Congress, initially blaming the looming budget sequester, rather than the agency’s own budget pressures, the Homeland Security inspector general concluded.
In the new report the IG does clear top Homeland Security officials of accusations they pressured ICE to do the releases in order to create more pain from the sequesters. Instead, investigators said the problems lay at the senior levels of ICE, itself, finding that top officials botched planning, didn’t inform their own superiors of the problems, and didn’t even know the law required them to hold 34,000 immigrants a day until they were reminded of it by congressional staffers.
“In this single action, ICE undermined its own credibility, the rule of law, and the safety of Americans and local law enforcement,” said Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who requested the report along with Sen. John McCain. “This report provides more evidence that our nation’s immigration laws are being flagrantly disregarded. Americans need to be assured the problems within ICE that led to the dangerous release of illegal aliens will be fixed and DHS and ICE will never again violate the law by releasing known criminals into our streets.”
ICE released nearly 1,500 immigrants in one late February weekend, just ahead of the March 1, 2013, start of the sequesters, or across-the-board cuts.
When the releases became public, ICE agents had to try to round up many of the immigrants they had released after being told the law designated some of them as “mandatory” detainees because of public safety risks or fears they might abscond.
In its official reply, ICE said it was “committed to addressing the issues” raised, and asserted it’s already begin.
Part of the problem is that while the law requires ICE to maintain a daily average of 34,000 detention beds, it only has funding for about 31,000. The rest of the money comes from fees and other uncertain income, which fell short in 2013.
Instead of asking for full funding for 34,000 beds, the administration has asked to lower the number to about 30,500 beds instead — even as it acknowledges it needs more beds to house the Central American families surging across the border this year.
In its official response, ICE also took pains to distinguish between detention beds and actual detainees — suggesting that while Congress requires it to maintain space, the administration argues it is not required to make sure those beds are filled.
“The language of the provision from the appropriations act does not indicate a specific daily population, but rather requires DHS to maintain a level of detention beds,” said Radha C. Sekar, executive associate director of management and administration at ICE, adding that it was “important to clarify” the difference.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/12/dhs-broke-law-releasing-criminal-aliens-audit/
